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Date:         Sat, 4 Apr 2009 07:03:37 -0700
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
Subject:      again sucessful-3 months as a Snowbird, Vanagon trip report-Long
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Another fine "winter" trip in the 84 topless faux-westie. Headed down Hwy 395 from south-central Washington state just ahead of the first major snow in Dec. Traveled through the High Desert of Oregon, fully loaded, enjoying the tailwind and the uncrowded highways of late fall/early winter. The inline four 1.8liter motor again just 'singing it's high-pitched song' happily delivering about 22 av. mpg with two bikes on the rear and about 1000lbs of stuff inside. Pre-trip: Re-built my CV joints, changed oil and all the filters, checked the belts and inventoried my 'spares'. Put on the Hakapel...(can't spell that name) snow tires, just in case of Sierra snow. Drove a long day, from near Portland, Or. to Bridgeport, Ca. where I caught some sleep in the town market's parking lot with a few 18-wheelers for company. A bit cold at ~7000' elevation (10-f right now) and somewhat crowded inside the van with my 100lb Chesapeake retreiver and my gear, tools, and bike stuff, but once I made my "nest" I slept warm and deep. Put my coffee on the stove in the am. without getting out of my sleeping bag. That warmed the van up as I enjoyed the sunrise on those spectacular 10,000' peaks just a few miles across the meadows. Headed on south a few hundered miles to near Bishop, Ca. where I took a mid-day bike-break to ride up to one of the lakes NW of town. About half way up that 4000' climb on the bike, it dawned on me that I was soon headed into the So-Cal Megapolis and that I'd better pay some attention to rush hours, and crap like that....Of course, I hit it perfectly, dropping into San Bernardino at about 5:00pm. To my huge suprise and delight, there were no traffic jams this time and I just 'sailed-through' onto I-8, escaping east into the Coachella valley. "Smell-A" traffic is quite a shock after little Lyle, Washington (Pop. about 350) and that beautiful drive down the Eastern Sierras. It seems NAFTA is still going strong, with plenty of Mexican trucks plying the roads, filled with produce. At freeway speeds (minimum ~70mph) amongst all those semi-trucks and speeding SUVs, the VW Vanagon demands your full attention. Defensive driving. Found my Honey's campsite (she preceeded me in a second vehicle) out in the desert with the help of my Unity spotlight and my huge KC Daylighter driving lamps.

Return trip: After some great camping and some fun bike races, some interesting side trips and some Mexican dental work, etc etc. I headed back north just a few days ago. Left the El Centro/Salton Sea area at around 11am without any special vehicle prep needed. Just shoe-horn in all the tools and bikes and dog food bags and fill the tank with Ethanol mix for about $2.25/gal. My odometer trip meter began sticking recently but someone clued me in on how to read the Vanagon gas gauge, so I was figuring each mark on the gauge meant ~75 miles of travel (when the trip meter did stick) It still bothers me when the gauge goes into that red zone (1/4 tank left)..German engineers.... We (me and Jake the Dog) hit some stiff side-headwinds in the Mojave near Ridgecrest, Ca. but the sun was out and the wildflowers are in bloom. Leaves were emerging on the cottonwood trees in the Owens Valley, the grass is greening up and the new calves were all sleeping happily near their Mommies. Lots of Raptors seen, including a spectacular Golden Eagle. Another looong day behind the wheel found me near the Oregon border by around mid-night. I found a forest service side road to catch some Zzz's just south of Alturas, Ca. The little "mouse-motor" 1.8 liter, loaded as my van usually is when traveling, has to "pant hard" on those high Sierra passes, a few of which are over 8000' and sometimes have headwinds. It doesn't seem to bother it much to just notch back to 4th gear when the speedo drops to 60mph and then hold it there..(sometimes it does slide down to 50mph)...It sounds kinda 'sweet', running uphill at that higher RPM with my dynaflow muffler system...Pretty un-WBX sounding...Reminds me of a Kawasaki motorcycle or something..Interestingly, the mileage actually goes UP when this van encounters mountain driving like that. Around 25mpg... For once I didn't encounter any snow squalls passing Lakeveiw, Or. Only some quick hail which came in intense bursts. Everyone along the way was doing 'spring things', plowing fields, moving cattle, fixing roofs, etc etc. Pulled into Lyle-Land late afternoon of the second day out. No van problems, a great trip. Have to love the Vanagon for this kinda adventure...

Don Hanson


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