Date:         Sun, 24 Jul 2011 19:08:15 -0700
Reply-To:     Roland <syncronicity1@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Roland <syncronicity1@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      We went to Mammoth Lakes for a few days...
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What a great place, it was our first visit there, really nice country. Up
the Owens Valley from San Diego, straight up 395, first time driving this
stretch in many years, fantastic terrain. We camped in the Lake Mary
area,the campground just opened a couple of weeks before because the
heavy snow
was still around and blocked the roads. Very nice spot, just 50 feet from a
creek full of snowmelt. We visited Mono Lake and the Devil's Postpile (and
related things), all sites I've never explored before. And the lakes in this
area are really fantastic.

The Van did great, before we left there were murmurs of: "Hey Dad, are you
sure the Van will make it?" And it all went very well, the good ol' 2.1 was
fine, we cruised at average 65 mph. She only yelped once, there is a 9-10
mile uphill (5-6%) from Bishop to Mammoth Lakes, at about 8.5 miles or so
the oil pressure buzzer came on; I half expected it. The oil was higher than
the 1/2 point after a change last January, and I've had the
uphill-foaming-oil buzzer before. I just pulled over and let it idle for 3-4
minutes and all was well. In addition, as we know the power loss at altitude
is real. We were at 8,000 - 9,000 ft. and uphills had to be done in 3rd
gear; at about 3,200 - 3,400 RPM I couldn't even accelerate. But no big
deal, this is expected. We didn't do any offloading or remote exploring,
this was a survey and chill trip, we'll go back for more some day. The way
back south was tough, we left Mammoth at 10:00 which put us in the Mojave in
the early afternoon and LA at 4:00 and hit traffic without air conditioning.
Really strong headwind all the way down the valley and high desert, we could
manage only about 55-58 mph.

Our entertainment: the "count the Vanagons game", total of 16 for the 4 days
north of Lone Pine. I won.

   - Me: 7 (advantage: the driver, had to keep my eyes on the road)
   - Daughter: 6 (advantage: smart, keen eyes, and very competitive).
   - Son: 3 (disadvantage: in the back most of the time, watching our dog).

There were 2 Vanagons in our campground, and there were 2 in some storage
yard just north of Bishop on the east side of 395. I thought we'd see more.
We spotted one white Syncro camper, not a Westy, not an Adventure Wagon, but
looked like some other type of fixed top, in Mammoth Springs right on Main
street. I really thought we'd bump into more Vanagons. Apparently the "in"
vehicle around those parts in campgrounds is a crew cab, long bed, diesel,
auto trans, lifted, 4wd, 45 ft long, noisy, 2500 RAM F-350 or some such
number, American giant pickup of some type with only one person inside -
ugh.  Perhaps that's why seeing another Vanagon was so nice, many more
Vanagons than other buses, saw one Splittie, a couple of Bays.

And we came up with a new song, to the tune of Willie Nelson, On The Road
Again:

   - In the Van again ...
   - I just can't wait to get in the van again...

.....

A few pics:
<https://picasaweb.google.com/rmelzer/MammothLakes?authkey=Gv1sRgCMK4p9fC4sntfg>
https://picasaweb.google.com/syncronicity1/MammothLakes?authkey=Gv1sRgCJe9irD0mom7sAE

Roland