Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:59:08 -0800
Reply-To: Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Trip report -- Florida Keys, State Parks, and Repairs
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTinHw5507JYV-V03ZmuwHtRBnZyj_FRkPuRyQQ2B@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Great story Harold!
My wife is the same way - she takes care of the food part of the program and
figures I'll take care of the Van part. Showing up to claim our reserved
campsite at Cape Lookout with Dixie on the back of a tow truck didn't faze
her in the least! ;)
We used to explore the West in our '57 Chevy pickup with the cedar hippie
camper on the back and we've just started to be able to do that again now
the kids have gone.
Hey Harold, if you guys are in the neighbourhood, be sure to stop by!
Seeya, Jake
On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 6:55 AM, Harold Teer <teer.vanagon@gmail.com> wrote:
> OK,
>
> I need to confess! Forty years ago, before I was married, spam and
> creamed
> corn was my specialty dish. After marrying, one night I surprised my new
> wife with a home cooked meal of Spam and creamed corn. Naive as I was, I
> thought she would be impressed with my culinary skills. Alas, she was not.
> So,over the years that meal has become our running joke and on our long
> Vanagon trips, a can of Spam is always along in case we need a quick meal.
> We NEVER have Spam at home but in the Vanagon, it is sometimes
> acceptable--well, once only on a very long trip.
>
> But, in this case, it was not Spam and Jake was correct in that it was
> minute steaks. You missed the salad beforehand, but it was a nice quick
> meal on a cold rainy night
>
> As to Michael's comments about my co-pilot, all I can say is that I am
> blessed. My wife absolutely loves the Vanagon and our trips. While she
> has
> known about the "the list" since 1996 when we bought the van, the
> possibility of a breakdown, and my constant checking of things on the
> Vanagon, she just believes the van will always get us there, or if not,
> that
> things will work out and she just lets me do all the worrying.
>
> In 2005, we were on the road for around 70-80 days (13,000 miles) and had
> only one reservation and that was for a hotel in Victoria on Vancouver
> Island. Every other night on the trip, we just drove along and at some
> point started looking on the map for a state park, a national forest, or
> roadside pull off in the Yukon and ended up in Dawson City, Yukon. My
> co-pilot loves to travel and we usually only stay one or two nights and
> then
> take off the next day for more adventures. We did stay at Kicking Horse
> campground in Yoho National Park for about 5 nights so we could do a lot of
> hiking.
>
> To really explain how lucky I am, on the way back from Florida, she said
> "let's take off the day after graduation (early May) and come back in late
> July or early August.
>
> So, unless something happens to change our plans, we will be heading West
> and will probably end up in British Columbia since we love hiking in the
> Lake O'Hara region.
>
> Hope to see you on the road,
>
> Harold
> ___
> Harold Teer
> 1991 Westy (Vangaux)
> Harrisonburg, VA
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 3:54 PM, Harold Teer <teer.vanagon@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > On the 19th of Dec, my wife and I left Harrisonburg, VA for a trip to
> > Florida and back. This was our first Vanagon trip to Florida and we have
> > some suggestions for anyone taking the trip. First, we do not like to
> plan
> > too much ahead of time as to the places we will spend the night and just
> > take each day as it comes. However, if you are going to the Florida
> Keys,
> > you need to change that mindset since the State Parks are fully booked
> for
> > months in advance.
> >
> > Also, if you plan to spend any time on Florida Toll Roads, you might
> > consider purchasing the SunPass Mini that sticks to the windshield ---
> when
> > we purchased ours, there was an introduction special and bought the pass
> for
> > $4.99 and immediately received $4.99 worth of toll credits. Here is a
> link
> > to the information "https://www.sunpass.com/pdf/MiniWebPDF_E.pdf"
> >
> > We only decided to take the trip in early Dec and since the State Parks
> in
> > Florida use Reserve America "http://www.reserveamerica.com/" for
> > reservations, I used that service to book our campgrounds. At first,
> every
> > State Park in the Keys was fully booked during the time we could be
> there.
> > I kept checking back on an hourly or daily basis and finally put together
> > consecutive nights at three different parks in the Keys as people
> canceled
> > their reservations and ended up with an ocean site at each state park.
> > Sometimes you just get lucky.
> >
> > We left Harrisonburg in freezing weather and spent the first night in
> > Colleton Sate Park in SC and other than the camp ground host, we were the
> > only people in the park. Nice park and shower facilities and the place
> was
> > great for what we wanted --- a place to sleep and take a shower before
> > hitting the road. We knew we were not far enough south when the temps
> > dropped to about 30 degrees that night.
> >
> > Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine Beach.-- While the campsites are
> not
> > on the beach, they are wonderfully situated and the great beach is
> nearby.
> > We were lucky to get in here since we did not have reservations ahead of
> > time. We spoke to some locals and they highly recommended O'Steen's
> > Restaurant for seafood but the place was closed the night we could eat
> > there.
> >
> > In the Florida Keys, we spent a day in Key West just being tourist and
> > stayed at the following State Parks. For us, Bahia Honda was our
> favorite.
> >
> > Curry Hammock - 1 night
> > Long Key - 2 nights
> > Bahia Honda - 3 nights
> >
> > We spent several nights in Flamingo Campground in Everglades National
> Park
> > -- we did not have reservations and from what I could see, they do not
> fill
> > up at least during the time we were there. Lots to do in the park
> > especially if you are into canoeing. The Ranger said campsites are free
> in
> > the summer --- but that you would be crazy to fight the heat and
> mosquitoes
> > and humidity then.
> >
> > Collier-Seminole State Park -- does not compare to the others. The
> > campsites are not private if that means anything to you.
> >
> > Koreshan State Park--Nice park, pretty with private campsites. Historic
> > state site of Koreshan Unity Settlement
> >
> > Hillsborough River State Park -- Nice place to rent a canoe and paddle
> the
> > Hillsborough river
> >
> > Manatee Springs State Park -- Cold and rainy while there -- Saw Manatees
> > in the river
> >
> > Our intention was to spend time in the Florida panhandle, but we ran out
> of
> > time before we had to head home.
> >
> > Like many of you, I try to do all preventive maintenance and fix issues
> on
> > our 1991 Westy (130,000 miles) as soon as they become evident. My goal
> is
> > to take trips without issues on the road. In this case, my goal was not
> met
> > and we experienced some problems. I noticed that while the clutch was
> not
> > slipping, it just did not sound right. At the same time, I happened to
> > notice a little fluid leak from the clutch master cylinder and from the
> high
> > pressure rubber hose from the power steering pump to the metal line, and
> > that an inner CV boot had separated from the flange. About 6K miles ago,
> I
> > had all of the CV boots replaced by a shop and they assured me they used
> > high quality boots so the issue with the boot was a real surprise.
> >
> > Using the Roadhause repair shop list to find a good mechanic, I called
> > Volksrepair in Sarasota and spoke to the owner (Fran Hetherington) and
> the
> > technician (Ron Leftwich) who could work on the van the next day. We
> > dropped the van off, talked to Ron and I asked him to replace the master
> and
> > slave clutch cylinders, fix the power steering line, replace the CV boot,
> > and check out the clutch. Then Fran took us to the public library where
> we
> > could wait for Ron to work. After awhile, Ron called and said that 3 out
> of
> > 4 CV boots were torn and that he had a used power steering hose if I was
> OK
> > with him using it. I asked him to replace all four boots and that
> replacing
> > the power steering hose with a used hose was fine. Later in the day,
> Fran
> > brought us back to the shop and I spoke to Ron at length. While the van
> was
> > drivable, he said the clutch needed replacing but he would have to order
> one
> > which I asked him to do. It turned out that the original clutch lining
> was
> > close to the end of its life and the throw out bearing was completely
> gone.
> > After installing the clutch, Ron adjusted the shift linkage and it has
> never
> > shifted smoother.
> >
> > Ron said the CV boots that he replaced were not high quality and that he
> > only used VW/Audi boots made for the front of a Golf (?) since he did not
> > want to have to redo any of his work. He showed me the old boots and a
> new
> > one like he uses and the quality difference between the boot he used and
> the
> > ones he took off was apparent. I forgot to get the part number of the
> boot,
> > but I am certain he would give it to me if anyone was interested.
> >
> > While I do minor maintenance and work on the van, I leave the tough stuff
> > to the real professionals. Of all the pros I have met, none have been
> more
> > honest or competent than Ron. I can not say enough good things about
> him,
> > the quality of his work, or his candor. He knows what he is doing and is
> > able to work fast and minimize the number of hours he has to spend on a
> > job. And the markup on parts was reasonable. If you need work done in
> > Florida, I highly recommend Ron.
> >
> > Volksrepair (the name of the shop) ran into problems with VW on the name
> of
> > the shop and it is being changed to Sunshine Auto Garage and their
> website
> > is: "http://sunshineautogarage.com/"
> >
> > Here is a link to trip pictures--mostly pictures of campgrounds and the
> > view of/from them to give you an idea in case you are considering a trip
> > like this. "
> >
> http://picasaweb.google.com/teerhb/FloridaVanTrip201011?authkey=Gv1sRgCNuRiISp9JPKqgE&feat=directlink
> > "
> >
> > If you have any questions, just ask.
> >
> > My next project is to caption and post pictures of our trip to
> Newfoundland
> > in the summer of 2009.
> >
> > Harold
> > ________
> > Harold Teer
> > 1991 Westy (Vangaux)
> > Harrisonburg, VA
> >
> >
> >
>
--
Jake
1984 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX - 'The Grey Van'
1986 Westy Weekender/2.5 SOHC Subie - 'Dixie'
Crescent Beach, BC
www.thebassspa.com
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27
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