On May 24, 2005, at 5:42 AM, The Bus Depot wrote: > Nobody writes in to say, "I drove my > Vanagon and nothing went wrong;"
Just wanted to say that I did a 12,000 mile trip this past autumn in my 87 GL. 3 months, coast-to-coast and back, best time of my life. My 87 GL served me very well. Did have 2 incidents, though, and both were trivial in the end. A cylinder stopped firing due to a worn out sparkplug wire. Also lost my headlights for a night due to poor grounding. Both of these issues are well documented on the list, and hindsight is 20/20. I wanted to say "nothing went wrong" on my trip, but what is more accurate is that "even as a newbie to Vanagons and car maintenance in general, nothing came up which I couldn't handle or which ruined my trip or bank account". I've spent a lot to restore my van, but I am unable to keep track of the times I am cruising on some beautiful road, sitting up high, looking through that huge picture-window with an insane grin on my face, at times almost giggling about how much I love the van and getting out to the remaining empty areas in this nation. I've had hundreds of moments which, taken alone, would make the entire expense and saga of the Van's maintenance worth it. Popping the top with a view of Devil's Tower through the windshield and screen The "primitive" campground at Badlands, where bison wander by the van The gentle ticking of rain on the fiberglass on a cool night Stopping to make a grilled PB&J for breakfast along the side of the Yellowstone River Being woken at 4am by burrow-owls in Joshua Tree and don't even get my started on driving the PCH several times... Anyway, enjoy your van. |
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