Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2010 20:29:05 -0400
Reply-To: "Peter T. Owsianowski" <pnoceanwesty@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "Peter T. Owsianowski" <pnoceanwesty@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: 972 Miles Later
In-Reply-To: <1284507708.2241.26.camel@TheJackUbuntuNetbook>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Outstanding, Mr. Squirrel!
How lovely is the Road Trip when you have time to leave one camping spot for
another and not have to head back home!
Pete
'79 Westy "Aardvark"
'87 Westy "JoesVan"
WWW.Busesbythebeach.com
On Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 7:41 PM, Rocket J Squirrel <
camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:
> 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
>
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