Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2010 07:47:27 -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: Re: 972 Miles Later
In-Reply-To: <0F165263-96CD-4AF7-A907-A29232250998@gmail.com>
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Addendum:
On the way back through Portland, we stopped at the Bullseye Glass
Company. Mrs Squirrel does fused glass and this is the local supply
mecca for glass artists.
While she was inside I sat in the open slider reading "Sailing Alone
Around the World" by Joshua Slocum, when a woman walked up to admire
Mellow Yellow. She was waiting for her husband to finish his shopping.
She pointed out their '85 Weekender a few feet away.
She said they've always loved Westies, having had a '64 for many, many
years and only recently sold it to get the Vanagon version. It felt, she
said, very modern compared with the splittie version, what with having
some real brakes and other amenities.
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Rocket J Squirrel" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
> > To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 4:41 PM
> > Subject: 972 Miles Later
> >
> >
> >> 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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