Date:         Fri, 8 Mar 2013 11:17:50 -0800
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Home after 4950 miles..
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

...trouble-free.   A 9-week winter trip to the Southwest US for some sun
and bicycling.  As usual for this trip, (4th time in this van, I think)  my
84 5sp inline VW powered van ran great, giving me about 22 mpg most of the
time at my normal cruising speeds of around 65mph.   Only thing that I
bought for the van was a replacement for my NAPA coach battery which was
starting to lose it's ability to deliver power for my laptop and sat radio,
etc.    $21 for that, pro rated.

  Gasoline was pricey in California, about $.25/gal cheaper in Oregon on
the return trip.   I had a beautiful drive home on Hwy 395, with a stop
near Bishop, California to ride the kinks out of my legs.   I was racing to
beat a Pacific storm coming in, almost got caught near Bodie, California
when a heavy snow flurry came in, but luckily, I was over the pass heading
downhill.   Another flurry this AM near Bend, Or and some freezing
fog...but otherwise an easy trip.   Slept a few hrs last night near
Summerlake in eastern Or. and was serenaded by a couple of hooting owls and
some sandhill cranes out on the lake shore...

   this is what I have my faux Westie for.

  Don Hanson