Date:         Sun, 10 Oct 2010 16:36:12 -0500
Reply-To:     Jarrett Anthony Kupcinski <kupcinski@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jarrett Anthony Kupcinski <kupcinski@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Vanagon sighting and trip report.
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

This past weekend Oly got to see open road out for the first time in ages. Earlier in the week I had changed the oil, fixed some minor things, and cleaned the interior. Here in central Texas our weather has been perfect the past week--warm days, crisp nights--and the wife said we hadn't been camping in a while. The hint, thus dropped, was not allowed to go unnoticed.

So I loaded up the camping supplies on Thursday and made my checklist. The propane tank was empty, so I added a stop at the propane shop to my agenda. On Friday after I got out of work, I headed up and got that taken care of with no problem. As I was leaving the propane store, I decided to take the back streets back to the house instead of the quicker route via the freeway feeder road.

At any rate, as came up on the last major intersection before my house, I saw a tan Doka sitting in an empty spot of a do-it-yourself carwash. I immediately recognized this as the vanagon that had gone up on the Bring A Trailer website the previous week. I had drooled over the pictures of the Doka and seriously thought about making a trip out to Livingston to see it until a friend talked me out of it. At any rate, I chatted with the new owner of the Doka, named Mark, who was on his way back to California with his prize. He had stopped to check things over, as he was losing power around 60 MPH or so. He was familiar with Baywindows, but new to Vanagons, so we talked about what his problem could be, as well as other issues (gas tank gaskets, fuel lines, leaky heads, stupid PO's, and the like). He said he was trying to get to San Antonio where he would assess whether to ship the van back or attempt the drive across the Southwest. I offered him an old second Bentley copy I had, so we went back to the house and chatted some more good Vanagon shop-talk. Two Vanagons in my driveway, it made me all tingly.

Anyway, Mark went on his way, and the wife and I finished loading the van with our goodies. I had plugged the Dometic into the wall the previous night, and had been running it on battery during the day, and it was remarkably cold. I supplemeneted it with a couple frozen Nalgene bottles of water, and threw our vittles inside. I've never used the Dometic exclusively, because it's so small and it's easier just to take a cooler. In any case, it performed well during the trip, and kept the two Nalgene bottles frozen nearly solid until we got home late the next day.

The drive up and back were uneventful. Oly performed wonderfully both on the road and in the campsite. In camp, people regularly stopped by to point and gawk admirably. The highest praise was from two kids who I overheard saying, "They get to sleep on the roof of their car. That's soooo cool." We actually weren't sleeping in the top bunk, but I wasn't about to let them know. Vanagons are rare in this part of the country, so driving one is pleasantly freakish.

All in all, a good couple of Vanagon-filled days.