Yes, David, lots of hills out west here. Just getting to work this morning over Patterson Pass road outside of Livermore was a bit of a challenge with a slipping clutch and my shifter sort of loose or something - like 1st and reverse too close - had to be really precise in picking gears. This just started so not sure what's going on.

I am dropping off the van tonight on the way home in Livermore to get some of these issues addressed and hopefully smog done by the end of the week.

Have a great trip - hot today crossing the Central Valley, supposed to be 98 degrees, said 65 when I got into San Francisco this morning.

Donna, 87 Syncro

On Sat, Jun 9, 2012 at 10:48 PM, David Bjorkman <ddbjorkman@verizon.net>wrote:

> Hi All; > Made it to San Francisco (from Boston) to pick up the wife on time. > Primary mission accomplished. Staying at a Best Western with internet > access while getting the camper cleaned up and ready for getting into > Yosemite tomorrow. If it shows food (bear problems) inside, except for the > stuff going into the bear box, I hear they may say no opening the top. I > want to avoid that! > Stayed with Dug and his cool SO Victoria the other night. As usual, > vanagon types are unique and friendly. Really nice to host a wandering > vanagonaut. Dug has a really nice 87 (?) all set up with those massive > pipe bumpers (says he needs them in Cali.), SA headlights, dual batteries, > some nice interior lighting he installed, and a cool door on his closet I > am not telling about. > Camper running real well with that new FAST motor. I must admit though, > running at about 5150 lbs, some of the hills around here did slow me down. > Dug told me to do the RT 413 (from Reno) up to Lake Tahoe (National Scenic > Byway) down to 50 to 49. What a bunch of wild roads. Lots of fancy > shifting, acceleration, and braking. With the new parts, the suspension on > these beasts really shines, even when so close to max weight. No noise or > problems with the urathane bushings, although they don't have any age on > them. I am testing them to the limit though and not always on purpose. > Lots of things to mention, not enough time or space to do all. > Really looking forward to doing more of these great National Parks. > Yosemite for a week, fast 2 day drive up to/through the Grand Tetons then > up to Yellowstone for a week. I'll keep in touch as much as possible, > although it took more than a little time tonight to check through 297 > unread posts! > > Happy Motoring; > > Dave B. (and Diane) > >