Date: Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:28:23 -0700
Reply-To: Tom Buese <tombuese@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Tom Buese <tombuese@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Re: vanagon speed (was Re: Heart vs. Head
In-Reply-To: <4B11915C.7060606@charter.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
Craig,
Do you consider the open water where the scenery barely changes to be
boring? Do you like to sail as fast as you can thru the open water so
that you can get to a change of scenery?
When we 1st traveled in Maine where everything was covered in trees,
we got claustrophobic because you couldn't see for miles like in the
West. I believe that it's all in what you are used too, & although I
could never imagine living in Nebraska, it is beautiful in it's own way.
YMMV,
Mr. BZ-vanagons travel well in NE, even if it takes 8 hours to drive
across?
On Nov 28, 2009, at 2:08 PM, John Rodgers wrote:
> It's a mind set thing. There is always something to see if the mind is
> receptive to it. When we drove across Nebraska years ago, me, the wife
> and kid - we all played a count the pheasants game. Highway killed
> ones
> in one tally, live flying birds in another. really kept us busy. Then
> there were silos, and grain mills, and farm equipment we counted. We
> had
> a busy crossing of Nebraska, not boring at all.
>
> John Rodgers
> 88 GL Driver
>
> craig cowan wrote:
>> While I tend to agree and love slowing down and enjoying the view,
>> Nebraska
>> has (in my mind) nothing to offer the slower you go. The faster you
>> go,
>> still nothing to offer, but you get out of there much more quickly.
>> There are some great towns, it's just the vast distances between
>> them filled
>> with nothing but nothing that calls for speeding.
>>
>> Just my 2cents.
>>
>> Vanagons are NOT the slowest things on the road, they have character.
>>
>> -Craig
>> '85GL turned WESTY
>> BOSTIG in the back
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 2:56 PM, John Rodgers <inua@charter.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> As a pilot - I have flown the big boys at 30,000 feet doing 60o
>>> mph, and
>>> I have flown the little guys like J-3 Piper Cubs at 300 feet. You
>>> don't
>>> see much at Flight Level 300 going 600 mph.
>>>
>>> There was in my younger flying days a saying amongst pilots:
>>>
>>> "Fly lo' and slo' an' enjoy it mo'!" :-)
>>>
>>> The Vanagons of all stripes are those J-3 Cubs - and even today -
>>> those
>>> powered hang gliders - the ultralights.
>>>
>>> Get off the interstates, drive 55 - and less - and enjoy the drive
>>> an
>>> the scenery.
>>>
>>> Even the long drives over the vast distances of the Great Plains
>>> offer a
>>> lot to see at that slower speed. How about watching the hawks ride
>>> the
>>> pressure wave at the edge of the highway shoulder where it rises
>>> up out
>>> of the plains to elevate that great ribbon of asphalt that makes
>>> interstate 70 connecting Denver to Kansas City. When you drive
>>> slower
>>> you can watch the birds sail along the highway shoulder on that
>>> pressure
>>> wave caused by the wind as it rises up over the highway shoulder
>>> obstruction. The hawks ride it like a surfer on a big wave at
>>> Waikiki.
>>> Or how about counting and watching the play of the pronghorn
>>> antelope
>>> one encounters out west along the highways. And then there is the
>>> rare
>>> beauty of the deer herd having a drink out in the shallows of a
>>> river
>>> in Wyoming where the water runs under a bridge - a sight not seen by
>>> those fly by at high speeds - they don't have time to look. Or how
>>> about
>>> having time to slow down sufficiently to watch a Sage Grouse hen
>>> cross
>>> the road with her brood of 12 chicks.
>>>
>>> Yup - I'm old now, but I still "Fly slo and enjoy it mo'!" :-)
>>>
>>> Vanagons Forever!!!
>>>
>>> John Rodgers
>>> 88 GL Driver
>>> Chelsea, AL
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Joy Hecht wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Well of course vanagons are slow! They have low-power engines
>>>> and they
>>>> are
>>>> heavy. They are slow on flat ground - of course they are even
>>>> slower
>>>> going
>>>> up long grades. On long gradual grades, the kind you don't see
>>>> with the
>>>> eye, I find myself not going above the 50s, if that - the lack of
>>>> power is
>>>> how I realize I'm on a grade. Steep hills I do at 20-25 mph.
>>>> Definitely
>>>> you're going to climb to the continental divide in the right lane
>>>> with the
>>>> 18-wheelers while cars and SUVs rush past in the left lane.
>>>>
>>>> If you wanted a vehicle that would make good time on long drives,
>>>> why
>>>> would
>>>> you have a vanagon?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Joy
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 4:01 PM, Mark Hineline <hineline@helix.ucsd.edu
>>>>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Okay, a couple of points to consider.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> First, I had a '76 bus named Peregrine. Greg mentioned my
>>>>>> trials and
>>>>>> tribulations with Peregrine.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Second, and this is really the kicker, my number one
>>>>>> destination is
>>>>>> the Colorado Plateau -- Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Cedar Mesa.
>>>>>> From San
>>>>>> Diego thats' 500 to 600 miles and an 8000 foot gain in
>>>>>> elevation. In
>>>>>> my GTI I can do it in 7 hours. I'm guessing that in a watercooled
>>>>>> Vanagon I'm looking at 10 to 12 hours for the same trip.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sound right? Are Vanagons slow pulling long grades?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Mark
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>
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