Date:         Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:13:05 -0900
Reply-To:     Mark Tuovinen <aksyncronaut@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mark Tuovinen <aksyncronaut@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Road Trip (was Seattle area storage/assistance)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Thanks to all whom offered storage for our `87 Westy Syncro in the Seattle
area in preparation for the Road Trip my family is taking starting December
15th.  In the end the person whom was furthest away from the Tacoma Docks
has turned out to be the best arrangement thanks to Campbell Boyz Trucking
a local(Alaskan) company that will drop our van at Daryl's place for
$400.00 less than the shipping companies wanted just to get it to the
Tacoma Docks.  We left our van with them yesterday and it should leave town
by Saturday headed South to warmer weather.  It felt strange packing it for
though we are going camping for this portion of the trip it only has gear,
clothes, tools, spare parts(it is a Vanagon after all), and other misc on
board.  It will feel great to arrive at Darly's on Dec 15th and fire it up
to head South towards the sun and warmer weather.  Our route will take us
to Eugene, OR where we hope to spend the first night and visit with friends
we have not seen in a few years.  We will depart there on the 16th and head
for Arcata, CA to pick up our daughter from college.  From there we will
head South with the intention of being at Van Cafe on the 19th for bumpers
and maybe a new three window canvas to replace the aging original in our
van.  Other stops in California may include GoWesty, friends in Torrance
and ???? depending upon time, desires, and opportunity.  After that we will
head East to visit family in Sedona for Christmas.  Hopefully it will be
warmer there this year than is was last January when we visited and it was
colder than back home in Anchorage.  Plans beyond Christmas are not set but
will probably include other stops in Arizona, and making our way through
parts of New Mexico to visit a friend and former employee in El Paso, TX.
We will have to be in Sacramento by January 15th so our then 9yr old son
can fly home to Grandmas care while we continue back to Arcata to drop our
daughter off for her next semester.  Once that is done we will head North
to Seattle where Daryl has graciously offered to store our Westy until we
either ship it home or fly down come Spring and drive it home.

Among the lessons learned in preparation for this trip is no matter how
busy you are during the Fall owning and operating a Childrens Store and one
catering to Teens and Young Adults take time away from work to get your van
packed and ready.  It was near `0F with a strong North Wind yesterday while
I spent several hours packing the van.  Not the most pleasant of
experiences but it had to be done.  Lesson number two is that the wife is
willing to spend money on the van to make it nicer for trips like this thus
we will finally get the new top canvas and decent bumpers.  We will also
finally add a second battery, not something we need much up here as Summer
camping in the Land of the Midnight Sun means you do not use cabin lighting
very often.

We hope to have the opportunity to meet up with fellow List Members when
and where time allows so if anyone is interested just let us know and we
will see if it can be scheduled.  I also hope to have the chance to look at
other Westy's we meet up with in hopes of finding ideas for interior
lighting, storage, or other must have improvements to try on our van.

Again thanks to those of you able to offer assistance.

Mark in AK
`87 Westy Syncro