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Date:         Sat, 11 Oct 2008 22:09:38 -0700
Reply-To:     Roger Whittaker <rogerwhitt1@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Roger Whittaker <rogerwhitt1@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Western trip: Trip report
Comments: To: Don Hanson <dhanson@gorge.net>
In-Reply-To:  <002101c92c0d$7f776d60$4001a8c0@gateway.2wire.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

dear traveling biker great travel log nice highlights ... i will refer to this later on in the next couple of years when i want to make that same journey yours

On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 6:54 PM, Don Hanson <dhanson@gorge.net> wrote:

> I just returned this morning from another fun Vanagon outing, from the > Northwest down to the 'almost' Southwest. The Vanagon, an '84 semi-Westie > (has all but the pop-top and the rear cabinets) with a '92 Golf/Rabbit 1.8L > Digifant II gas motor..5sp tranny from a diesel) > I did 2111 miles, from the Columbia River Gorge down to St. George, Utah > with a side trip over to Zion. I took three bicycles mounted on a Yakima > rack that is hung on the rear hatch and my gear for camping, as well as > spares and extra wheels for four days of bicycle racing around St. George. > With that load and traveling at ~65mph average my fuel mileage was 23.7 > mpg. > The van worked perfectly. > I headed east on I-84 through the Blue Mts, and overnighted in Ontario, > Or. I "camped" in a lot behind a Pilot Travel Plaza right in "downtown" > Ontario. Pulled in there at 11pm and found the regular lot full of semi > trucks. Using my roof mounted spotlight as I left, I spied another truck > yard with a few stored trailers and some tractors, stacks of pallets, etc. > and decided I could safely tuck in for a few hours of sleep amongst them. > The roof mounted spotlight is very useful for scoping-out potential > campsites after dark. > Then a long day through one of my favorite areas in the world, the high > northwest desert of Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon. I cut south at Twin > Falls, > Idaho and headed through what they now call the Great Basin, down Hwy 93. > I > choose this route over the MapQuest route down through Salt Lake and Cedar > City on the interstates. Through Jackpot, Nv..Wells, Ely, Pioche and > another overnight at a small state park called Cathedral Gorge in > southeastern Nevada. Very quiet there, with about half the spots (about 10 > sites) filled, a great half moon with owls in the trees and coyotes at > night. > From there, I turned east across another range of mountains, scheduled to > arrive at my destination, Snow Canyon State park just outside St. George, > by > 3pm, where I'd reserved a site for the duration of my 4-day bike races. > The first day's race ran right up the road through Snow Canyon St. Park, > so I could just ride to the start from my campsite. There was a couple in > a > very nice white Westie who also were camped there and doing some of the > bike > races also. I only talked to them briefly, all of us being pre-occupied > with the cycle racing (The Huntsman World Senior Games) > The second day, our race was run from the west entrance of Zion Nat. Pk. > about an hr east of St. George. There, as I went on my bike down to the > start line, I saw another turd brown Westie, this one with Wyoming county > 22 > plates (my former home in Jackson Hole, Wyo) The next day (too busy racing > to stop and chat then) I found out the Westie belonged to a couple I'd not > seen for years. The guy built my very first custom race bicycle back in > the > 70's..He's recently decided to race bikes again and found the old Westie > for > that and for camping with his small family. He'd just had it redone by > GoWestie for around $6k and was quite happy with it. > After 4 days of one bike race per day, and camping in beautiful Snow > Canyon St. Pk, it was time to head out for home again. > Left S. Utah at around noon after a ~45mile road race on the bike, back up > Hwy 93. Hit snow flurries in Jackpot, Nv and headwinds (very strong) from > Twin Falls west...Spent another 'short' night in the Ontario parking lot > spot, then into the Columbia River Gorge and home at 10am this morning..No > fuss, no muss. > I recently installed some H-4 headlights...a great improvement across the > cold dark night drives. Still need some refining with the aim, but much > nicer than my sealed beam halogens that I had before. > Sorry for the length of this..but this kinda trip is exactly what the > Vanagon is best at... > Don Hanson >

-- roger w There are two kinds of jobs in the world: Picking up garbage and telling people things. Successful people do both, with the same good attitude. (riw) ---------------------------------------------------------- Explore printed work at: http://www.prliving.ca/ View the growing list of video work at: http://revver.com/find/video/?query=LastonLastof&search_on=owners and ... older work at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7135104650374818257 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3259745150182742364


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