http://www.campingworld.com/browse/skus/index.cfm?skunum=6675&tab=desc"
Harold
On 9/22/05, Weibel, Pius <weibel@isgs.uiuc.edu> wrote:
>
> Harold,
> Thanks for the narrative of your great trip! I would like to try it
> sometime.
> I am interested in your battery powered refrig fan. Can you describe
> what it like so I can try to find one.
> Pius
> 85 vanajetta westy
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
> Of Harold Teer
> Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 9:11 AM
> To: vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com
> Subject: Roundtrip from VA to Yukon -- 77 days and 14,000 miles
>
> 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
>
>
--
Harold Teer
Harrisonburg, VA
1991 Westy
