Date:         Sat, 2 Apr 2005 23:00:36 -0500
Reply-To:     Edward Maglott <emaglott@BUNCOMBE.MAIN.NC.US>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Edward Maglott <emaglott@BUNCOMBE.MAIN.NC.US>
Subject:      Trip Report: Hunting Island, SC  (long, propane,
              Garmin IQ3600 GPS)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

I made a recent trip to the Hunting Island State Park area in SC.  Left
after work the Thursday before Easter weekend and drove about 5 hours in
the '86 Westy.  Stopped at the Walmart in Beaufort, SC.  Uneventful night
with a few other campers there.  They had private security cruising the
parking lot periodically.

Got up early and drove the 25 miles or so to the state park in hopes of
getting a spot for Friday night and the weekend.  Arrived at 7:30am and
they are already full, even though empty sites abound.  The park has gone
to 100% reserved for all 200+ of it's spots.  Oh well.  I cruise over to
the day use picnic area which is quite large.  The picnic area and the
camping area, and the whole park really, are eroding into the ocean.  So I
found a nice spot in the picnic area very close to the high tide
surf.  Popped the top and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast.  A thunderstorm
rolled though with some nice dramatic clouds which i photographed.  While
looking at exhibits in the visitor center, I could hear the ranger taking
calls from people travelling to the park.  I heard her say that there was a
spot in the campground available.  I asked her what site # it was, and she
refreshed her screen.  When it came back up, it showed that there were no
sites available again.  I drove back to the campground, and they said
someone left, but that site was take already.  Oh well.

Noticed that the fridge temp had climbed, no flame indicator, damn, out of
propane.  So I again put my pleasure trip on hold while I go searching for
propane.  I have got to find a solution for this problem.  Drove around,
called around, asked people, stopped at places that had the fill tanks, but
no propane was available for a Vanagon on Good Friday in the low country of
SC.  I'm frustrated, but I decide to let go of the frustration, not worry
about the propane and go back to the park.

I returned to my favorite spot in the eroding picnic ground, ate some lunch
and napped in the upper bunk.  This was nice to drift off to the sounds of
the surf.  Woke up and hung out a while longer listening to and watching
the surf and sky change.  The weather cleared a bit and I decided to
bicycle around the park a bit.  There are some really nice trails there.  I
rode the trails to the campground to steal a shower.  Arrived around dinner
time and the place was now filled almost 100%.  The bathhouse I chose was
completely empty despite the fullness of the CG.  Make mental note to
shower at dinner time...  I rode the entire CG as the light was
fading.  Several packs of decked out teen/pre-teen girls suffering from the
overabundance or female hormones in our environment, wandering, trying to
make the scene.  Not a single VW product in the campground.  One more check
at the camp office, and yes they are still full.  Riding back to the van,
it was getting quite dark.  I stuck to the roads where it was almost bright
enough to see.  A deer bolted from the side of the road 30 yds ahead of me,
ran down the road a ways, then crossed in front of me.

The full moon is rising and I visit the pier to take a few pictures of the
moon over Fripp Inlet.  I hear the occasional pshhhhttt of passing
dolphins.  I wished I had gotten there earlier when the moon was still
lower and there was more color in the sky.

So it's back to the Beaufort Walmart for the night.  I pick up a few things
in the store and am about to check out.  The PA says, "Associates, this
is  a code blue."  Then it says, "all customers to the front of the store
please."  The checkout clerk shuts down her register, says to just leave
everything and exit the store.  Then she walks out the door.  Hmmm, I'm
gettin' outta here!  I go to the van in the far corner of the lot with the
other campers.  Cops arrive and people are leaving the parking lot, and
some are hanging around because they want those low prices so badly.  Ten
next morning I learn it was a bomb threat.  2nd night in a row.  They have
to close the store for a couple hours and sniff it with dogs, etc.

Since I have no propane, I opt for the convenience store coffee and head
back to the beach.  I stop at one place with a propane fill station I had
checked the day before to check if they can help me today.  The woman says
no, but that her husband will be in later and may be able to help me.  I
return at lunch time and husband is there.  He looks like he might not be
too interested in the hassle of the propane/vanagon situation, so my
primary focus is to get him out to the filling station.  I just ask if he
will sell me some propane.  He comes out and has me pull the van up to the
station where the hose will reach.  First challenge is the guard under the
tank is in the way.  I quickly grab a wrench to lower it.  He does have the
appropriate fill adapter and gets down on the ground and finally gets it
threaded in.  Then I tell him about the 80% valve, which you really have to
get down on the ground to see and operate.  He says no, he has a bad back,
he can't do it, and starts taking off the filler.  "I'll do it and tell you
when to stop," I interrupt.  So he turns on the pump and opens the valve on
the filler.  I am on the ground and open the 80% valve.  I open it way too
far, and lots of propane gas is escaping.  I tell him to stop, fumble
around and get the 80% valve open to a more reasonable setting.  Still open
too far though.  He starts the pump back up and I take over operating the
valve on the filler hose.  I am not qualified to do this, but understand
the concept.  OK, liquid propane starts gushing out of the 80% valve.  I
shut the valve and motion him to stop the pump.  Now I've got a problem.  I
am not really prepared for this situation.  I have to close the 80% valve
which is spewing liquid propane.  It's getting frozen, as is everything
else in its vicinity.  I have no gloves, no heavy rags, but fortunately,
Momma told me to always carry a handkerchief.  I pull it out and try to
quickly close the valve.  The handkerchief is a hard frozen sculpture when
I pull it out from under there, and I have only a little frozen thumb
skin.  I pay the $9 for 3 gallons and thank the man.  He is on his way to
wash his hands.

I spent some time at the nature center talking to a knowledgeable ranger
named Amanda.  Watched her lead a program for kids about crabbing from the
pier.  One of the dads dropped his Blackberry off the pier into the
ocean.  D'oh!

This was the first trip I had taken using the Garmin IQ3600 GPS unit I got
recently.  I also got the suction cup windshield mount/charger.  It mounts
the unit pretty conveniently to the right of the instrument cluster.  When
you want to use it hand held, it just snaps out with the press of a button,
no worries about unhooking the wires.  I found the GPS to be very useful
and that it took away much of the stress of navigating unfamiliar
areas.  This left me more relaxed and able to gawk at the scenery
outside.  On the long boring stretches it can be entertaining and break up
the monotony.  In towns and on back roads where you have to make a lot of
turns, it really does guide you pretty effectively using both voice and
visual cues.  I found it to be very accurate, and it never had me doing
anything stupid, like wrong way on a one way street, etc.  Occasionally it
would get a little confused about what road you are on if you were not
moving and near roads that were very close together.  At one point I just
wanted to quiet place to eat lunch, had it find a nearby park and route me
to it.  I thought I had caught it in a screw up when it took me to an
industrial/low rent area with no park in sight.  Then I saw the sign for
the Parks and Rec maintenance garage.  It had truncated the description on
the screen.  If I had looked at the detail view, it said that it was a
maintenance facility...

No Mechanical troubles at all, and I was enjoying the ability to fill the
gas tank all the way with no leaking or gas smell.  I had just replaced the
fuel tank hoses and grommets.  Averaged about 18mpg.

Here are a few photos from the trip:
http://snipurl.com/dst1

Happy Vanagon-ing!
Edward