Date:         Tue, 14 Sep 2010 16:41:48 -0700
Reply-To:     Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      972 Miles Later
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

We're back. Our northwestern Oregon trip, from Bend to the coast at
Newport, up the coast to Astoria, then east to Portland, The Dalles,
then south to Maupin, and then finally back to Bend, finished this
afternoon. 972 miles, all told, as many as possible on backroads (Eric
Tollander's Backroads of Oregon was our guide, thank you Al Knoll, for
turning me on to that book), up hill and down dale, meandering where
possible, rushing at interstate speed where unavoidable, and all without
a hiccup.

The symptom I was dealing with last month (brief, recurring, loss of
power when climbing steep hills in hot weather) did not occur. The only
difference between then and now is it was about 10 to 15 degrees hotter
then than it was this time, the cover to my AFM had come loose and there
quite a bit of dust in there, and I was pulling my trailer. This time
the AFM was clean and sealed, and no trailer. Mellow Yellow pulled up
steep grades at 4,000 rpm in 1st and 2nd gear quite handily on this
trip.

What we learned:

Oregon's state parks are like California's: overcrowded, sites packed
next to each other like sardines, overly-manicured, and full. People
apparently like to crowd, and apparently want lawns outside their
40-foot campers to walk their little yappy dogs on.

Washington's parks may be nicer: visited Cape Disappointment state park
in Wash., and it was not quite as cheek-by-jowl nor as city-park tidy as
those in Cali and Ore.

In one central coast town, one can apparently camp overnight right on
the frickin' beach. I mean, right down there, facing the water, with
nothing but a hundred feet or so of flat sand beach between your van and
the surf. This we learned after staying the night at the town's one inn.
Five or so vehicles, including a Vanagon Westy, stayed the night. Sigh.
Next time!

There is also free camping on beaches along the Columbia River, between
Portland and Astoria.

There were many Westies to be spotted. Ranging from a couple splitties,
several bay windows, and quite a number of Vanagons.

--
Rocky J Squirrel
'84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
'74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
Bend, OR
KG6RCR