Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2005 10:10:42 -0400
Reply-To: Harold Teer <teer.vanagon@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Harold Teer <teer.vanagon@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Roundtrip from VA to Yukon -- 77 days and 14,000 miles
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My wife and I recently returned from an incredible 14,000+ mile and 77 day
round-trip from Harrisonburg, VA to Dawson City, Yukon and wanted to share
our experience.
A trip of this magnitude in a 14 year old vanagon would have been pretty
scary had it not been for the knowledge that had we had problems, there was
the entire vanagon list community to call on for help. While I am seldom
post to the list, I have religiously read most of the posts since I
purchased our van in 1996, archive many messages, and have gained a lot of
ideas and knowledge from the list.
We were fortunate to have a van that had been properly maintained by the
previous owner and I have tried to do the same over the years. Before
leaving on the trip, the van had a good tuneup with new fuel filter, plugs,
plug wires, distributor cap, and rotor. The tires were the Michelin Agilis
with plenty of tread. I had Ken Wilford give the van a good going over and
he changed the belts, fuel lines, upper ball joints, and a few protective
rubber boots. We left with 90,000 miles on the van and returned with
104,000+ . I am happy/lucky to say that we had absolutely no mechanical
problems on the trip.
Maintenance during the trip? I changed the oil and oil filter twice (Mobile1
15-50 and Mahle filter) and had the tires rotated and balanced at Costco
Stores in Washington State. Every morning, I checked the coolant level and
the oil level and several times during the trip I checked the condition of
the belts and the hoses and looked for any oil or coolant leaks. I carried a
few tools that were enough for my mechanical ability and an extra
distributor cap, rotor, oil filters, and belts. OK, just in case, I also
carried duct tape, marine epoxy, wire, etc.
Several years ago, I had the Yokohama Y370G tires on the van and loved the
stability but when they were no longer available I went with the Agilis from
Michelin. The Agilis were great--I do not find them noisy and their
toughness provided a lot of security on many of the rough roads. No flats or
problems.
Fridge--we ran it continuously for the 77 days with the exception of turning
it off as required on a few of the ferries and when refilling the propane
tank. Highly recommended addition is a D cell battery powered fan to
circulate air in the fridge. While I also have a wired internal fan for
circulation, I think the battery powered one sitting at the bottom of the
fridge did the most useful work. Years ago, I purchased it at some RV place.
Our Route? We made a deliberate decision to avoid as much as possible the
interstate highways on the way out West and to not use them until we were in
Washington State on the way home. The trip route was not planned and we made
decisions as we drove on where to spend each night. All we knew is that we
wanted to spend a lot of time in British Columbia.
From Virginia, we took smaller roads through WV, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN and
ended up spending some great time along the western shore of Lake Superior
before taking highway 2 through MN, ND, MT, to Glacier National Park. After
a great hike to Iceberg Lake and a night in the van, we hoped to drive the
Road to the Sun through GNP. But, it was cold, rained all night, and the
Road to the Sun was closed because of 8" of snow during the night---oh well,
another year for that one. Then onward to the North Cascades NP and to
Olympic NP.
After about 20 days on the road, we took the ferry from Port Angeles to
Victoria and spent 3 nights in a hotel in Victoria. Those were the only
nights we didn't spend in the van until we had been on the road for about 70
days and were on the way home in the US on the interstates.
Before our trip, Shawn Wright who lives on Vancouver Island, provided a lot
of advice on things to see and do on the island--thanks Shawn!. Thanks to
his advice and that of numerous helpful people along the way, we went to
China Beach, Mystic Beach, and Long Beach. We rode a working boat out of
Port Alberni, a float plane trip out of Tofino, and a whale watching boat
out of Telegraph cove before we got on a ferry from Port Hardy to Prince
Rupert and then a ferry up to Skagway. We drove to Atlin, and then up to
Dawson City before heading back down to BC to Liard River, Fort Nelson,
Prince George, and Jasper. We hiked in Mount Robson Provencial Park, Jasper
National Park, Yoho NP, Kootney NP, Glacier and Mt. Revelstock NP. If you
are a hiker, you must hike to Jakes Pass in Mt. Revelstock NP--incredibly
beautiful hike.
People along the way couldn't have been more friendly and helpful. At each
campsite, people gave us recommendations and we sifted through all the
advice and made decisions on where to head next. Frankly, we never intended
to go into the Yukon, but on the ferry from Port Hard to Prince Rupert,
people convinced us to take the ferry from Prince Rupert to Skagway and
continue north to Dawson City. While we were glad we did that, there is more
than enough to do in BC to take up all of your time.
Where did we camp? Mostly in Provincial or National parks and we never made
a reservation. The trick in the most popular parks was to get there early in
the day, however we only found about 3 that were really crowded and most of
the Provincial parks were surprisingly uncrowded. In a few cases, we stayed
at commercial campgrounds--in Dawson City and at Watson Lake we stayed at
ones that provided wireless Internet service and we were able to send email,
check on family, upload a few pictures, etc.
Over the years, we added or changed a few things to the van which made it
more livable on this trip:
A commercial floor mat for the rear. It is one like you find inside or
outside office/store doors. It reaches from the cabinet area to the sliding
door with only about 1/2 unprotected space and I cut a little off of one end
so it completely covers the area from the rear bench to the back of the
front seat area. It kept mud, dirt, water from the floor and made for easy
cleanup with a small whisk broom.
I moved the over sink light to the back over the bed area for a night time
reading light and installed two Thinlights above the stove and sink.
I removed the table stand from behind the drivers seat and use that spot to
put a 2.5 gallon water container for our drinking water. Our faucet water is
used to wash dishes.
Porta-poti behind the passenger seat---can't imagine not having this for a
long trip.
I installed an inverter on the wall between the sink and the drivers seat
to recharge the digital camera battery and computer from the auxiliary
battery.
I had the older model Propex heater from the list group purchase from many
years ago. We only had to use it a few mornings but it was nice to take the
chill off.
A Kirkhams canvas bag made especially for the vanagon luggage rack which is
where I stored things like oil filters, anti freeze, extra drinking water,
folding chairs, etc.
We used a bra on the front of the van in some areas where the roads were
pretty bad and I am certain it saved me from some pretty good rock chips on
the front since the windshield post to the left of the driver sustained some
chips and on the gravel road to Atlin, BC we caught a few small chips in the
windshield and sustained a cracked headlight.
All in all, an absolutely wonderful trip and I can't imagine having nearly
as much fun and freedom in any other type of vehicle.
Harold and Faye
--
Harold Teer
Harrisonburg, VA
1991 Westy