Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2006 21:22:49 +0000
Reply-To: dlwilhite@COMCAST.NET
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Wilhite <dlwilhite@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Short Trip Report w/ PopUp Camper
Just got back last night from vacationing @ St. Andrews state park in Panama City Beach, FL., and figured I'd give a short report of how the trip went pulling the Pop Up camper. I won't bore you with all that we did.
A few details before the trip; There are four of us. Me, my wife and two children ages 7 & 9. I have an 84' Westy that I converted to a Subaru 2.2L six years ago. This is the 14th year my wife and I have gone to Panama City Beach. We started out going and staying in a tent with fans, then a tent with a window AC unit, then after we got the Vanagon we started staying in it, placing a window AC unit in the driver's side door window while we are there.
This year we decided to rent a pop up camper to give us more space than the Westy as it was going to be our longest stay at the park yet.
We rented a Flagstaff 206LTD (link to details below).
http://www.forestriverinc.com/nd/floorplanview.asp?name=11&cat=MAC/LTD%20Series&page=ftc&loc=flagstaffmls&direc=tentcampers/flagstaff/floorplans
The Subaru engine provides plenty of torque, so pulling the trailer wasn't a problem. My only concern was the braking. Getting through Montgomery, Dothan and Panama City was a real pain with all of the stop and go traffic. If we end up buying a camper to pull behind the Vanagon, I'll have to have some sort of brakes on it, or upgrade the ones on the Vanagon. I used a lot of engine braking to slow us down.
Gas mileage averaged 17.9 mpg on the way from White House, TN to St. Andrews. I drove conservatively at no more than 65 mph to save on gas. One tankful, I got almost 19 mpg as I drafted a nice 5th wheel for about 1.5 hrs on I65. On the way back gas mileage dropped to 16.0 mpg, since I was ready to get home and drove 70+ mph most all of the way. Huntsville to Nashville, I kept it at 75 mph. Probably not the safest thing, but there wasn't much traffic and the weather was good.
The trip was uneventful on the road as the Vanagon performed without complaint. I topped off the water in the expansion tank in Montgomery, AL., which is something I do every 4 months or so, since the overflow tank and valve never seems to work right. The fan came on whenever we got stuck in traffic and kept the engine cool enough. It being a Vanagon I did worry some when it was 99F and I was stuck in traffic in Montgomery and Dothan.
The trip down was brutally hot, with thermometers showing 99F on Saturday. With the windows down, it seemed like somebody had a hairdryer turned on. The only relief was misting squirt bottles, plenty of water and stopping at Resteraunts to eat meals (where we froze). Although I did the conversion in GA and now live north of Nashville, TN., I have never gotten around to hooking up the AC. Just one of those things I haven't had the time or funds (priorities?) of getting it done. Man, did I wish I had it on the way down...The trip up was much cooler (88F or so) and we also left late in the day from PC, so we would end up driving in the evening.
The camper was a delight to use for the four of us, there was so much more room that the Westy. The best thing was that we didn't have to pack up and move stuff around ever time we wanted to go somewhere. My mother, younger brother, sister and here two kids showed up for the first couple of days and we all stayed in the camper. It was really tight then.
All in all, we really like the camper. Maybe too much as I thought about it on the way home. Whether or not we get one in the future I don't know. It's kinda hard justifying something that you're only going to use a few times a year at the most (similar to a Westy???). Hmmmm, whatever happened to all those days of throwing stuff in the van at the last minute and heading out for the weekend, or that dream of heading across the country and seeing all of our national parks? It seems that between work and the kid's activities, the days of traveling are gone. How many people can actually take a couple of weeks off from work at one time? Unfortunately, it seems that in today's work place it'll never happen. You've got to work 5 years at most places to get 3 weeks of vacation and if you can get 3 weeks, you can't take more than a week at a time anyways. Besides that, how many people can expect to work at the same place for 5 years or more. Awww, sorry to digress. Really I'm ble
ssed and I am sure I've got it better than most people.
David Wilhite
84' Westy
