Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2012 11:21:47 -0400
Reply-To: Ken Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Ken Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: I'm Back!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Dear List,
So some of you are probably wondering why I haven't been on the list for
a while. Part of the reason was that my family and I have been on an
epic road trip for the past month, going across the US from NJ all the
way to Seattle Washington, then driving down 101 and 1 into the San
Francisco area, then back across via Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, etc. to NJ
again. My sister Carolyn has been manning the phones here at Van-Again
and then I was calling customers or email them from the road but I
haven't had any extra time to email the list lately so I thought I would
take some time to do that now.
We had a great time and met a few Vanagon owners along the way, here and
there. One was Robert Keezer (warmerwagon) who I have known and spoken
with for years and years but never met face to face. It was great to
finally meet him after all of these years! We didn't do a lot of
Vanagon meeting and greeting just because I had my family with me and
didn't want to spare 2 hours per visit every time I met up with someone.
We saw some great sights along the way and if anyone is planning a trip
feel free to pmail me for advice since I have just Been There and Done
That.
The most fun things the kids liked: Niagara Falls on the weather deck
and the Maid of the Mist.
The most unexpected thing that I liked: Wall Drugs near the badlands in
South Dakota. You will see the signs long before you get there but this
is one case where the place exceeds the hype probably times 10!
Our trip took us up through Pennsylvania Dutch Country, to Niagara
Falls, then across Canada to Michigan. Then we stopped at a fake German
village called Frakenmuth, just when they were having an annual car show
of over 2500 cars! After that we went up through Michigan to the Upper
Pennisula. Out of the way, but very beautiful. Then across Wisconsin
to Minnesota and the Mall of America. The kids loved this almost as
much as Niagara Falls as they have an indoor amusement park in the
center of the mall. Then we went to Sioux Falls, SD and across South
Dakota to Mt. Rushmore. I loved seeing this in person and also getting
to go into the workshop where the guy designed the figures. Next on to
Wyoming to a place called Thermopolis. Here there is a natural hot
springs and the kids loved playing at a water park there called the Star
Plunge. You just have to get used to the smell!
We were going to go to Yellowstone but it started getting really cold
there at night (low 20s) and I knew my rig couldn't deal with that so we
bypassed that for now. We went up through Montana where we ran into
smoke from wildfires that lasted all the way across Montana, through
Idaho and on to Washington State all the way to Seattle! That is where
we met up with Robert. Then we went down 101 through Washington, and
Oregon. Oregon coast was my favorite. At a small town called Liwanda we
came to the bottom of a hill and saw that a surfing competition was
going on. Right across the street was an RV park so we pulled in a
stayed for the night. I met a few more Vanagon owners here as they were
there for the surfing!
Then on down to the Redwood trees in Northern California. They were
great! Then I got the bright idea to drive down 1 all the way to San
Francisco. If I had to do this again I would have taken 101 or 5
instead. It was very foggy on the coast and chilly and the driving was
very painstaking, curvy and hilly. My wife was on the side facing all
of the cliffs, etc. and she was not loving it. After driving down to San
Francisco area and not really having any fun, we decided it was time to
head back to the East Coast.
We drove through Bakersfield, CA and things started to look a little
greener. California right now is brown and kind of shriveled from the
drought. It tells you how bad it is when Arizona actually looks greener
than Cali! Anyway we went to Hoover Dam, then up to the Grand Canyon.
Through the Petrified Forest, and the Painted Desert, Canyon de Chelley,
up to Monument Valley in UT. Stopped at a nice RV park in Bluff, UT
where we got to go out to dinner at a nice steak house there. Best ribs
I ever had. Then we went to the four corners (don't waste your time on
this one), then to Mesa Verde. I loved visiting the ruins there! Then
on through Colorado where I got my one and only speeding ticket in a
speed trap there. Be very careful in small towns especially when they
drop the speed limit from 65 to 40 to 30 in less than half a mile! We
zoomed across Kansas, and on the St. Louis Arch. From there we were
ready to come home so I drove pretty much non-stop through Illinois,
Indiana, Kentucky, West Virgnia, Maryland, to Delaware, and then back to NJ.
It was a great trip. Total of almost 10k miles! It let up know how big
our country is but also how small. I was surprised by how nice most
people you will meet in the RV parks will be and just people in
general. The Pacific North West was kinda ruined for us because of the
smoke from the wildfires. You just didn't feel like you could stop and
enjoy things because you were breathing in this smoke the whole time and
everything looked smokey. California was also wrecked for us because of
how brown it was, the high price of everything (especially gas), and the
foggy, chilliness of the coast. Northern Arizona was my favorite place
since there were so many interesting things to do and see in the Grand
Canyon area. I could have stayed there another month!
Hope you enjoyed my tale. If you are planning a similar trip please
pmail me and I will share any advice I can with you.
--
Sincerely,
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
www.vanagain.com
Phone: 856-327-4936
Fax: 856-327-2242
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