Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2013 23:16:55 -0400
Reply-To: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Beyond Vanagon-Keeping older vehicles! Camping in motor homes!
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I can say from experience that once you go for a "New" motor home saving money is not the goal or purpose I don’t care how much you use it. However I am one that does not like the hotel/motel thing. Feels like moving day every night. More importantly I enjoy the "lifestyle". Going into most RV parks whether in the motorhome or Westy allows one to join that mobile community, meet great people and really enjoy outdoor activities. In a hotel you walk past many people, sit close by at dinner and never even say hello to them. Walk around any RV park with your chair and a 6 pack and you will find yourself at a campfire until 2AM and someone else will even offer breakfast. For years we only used the Westy for traveling. In 1989 we made our first trip cross country with our one son, (Mike) and my In laws. That was an experience! We got our first motor home in 1997. It was a 27' class C, 5 years old with 36,000 miles on it. We paid $22K for it. It was an eye opener the repairs that were needed over the next 30K miles and 2 years. Of all the traveling we did this was the one that broke down on us and needed a tow in Florida. While it spent Christmas at the dealer waiting for a fuel pump the 6 of us were in a rental Taurus wagon with all our Christmas stuff. The RV thing became an addiction worse than a Vanagon. I love all the stuff even though maintaining the Diesel pusher has its challenges, (I keep learning). Even new vehicles break down. Just look at all the towing companies around no matter where you travel.
A major advantage of the vanagon is that it can be fairly easily maintained by the do it yourselfer. Most folks that do not make this transition to some degree become disillusioned over time and eventually give up. Woman such as retired teachers and the like are most at risk. Single guys and flexible couples get the best use of these things. Families of four push the limits and as the children become teens the fun disappears. As you try to stuff golf cart batteries under the seats and solar panels on the roof and want heat and air conditioning you are outgrowing the vanagon. Now for the $100K Sprinter based conversions I can get a 24' class C for 1/2 that price and use that extra money for fuel and it will be a lot more comfortable.
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Dave Mcneely
Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2013 1:08 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Beyond Vanagon-Keeping older vehicles!
Don, I do not have a motor home. I don't want one. I go where I go to get away from things that people with motor homes take with them. If a campground has electrical hookups, I look elsewhere. When the National Park Service started "privatizing" camp grounds and allowing generators, I found that a bad thing, not a good thing. I carry a bucket, biodegradable plastic bags, and poo powder for a toilet, and until recently I just carried a shovel for that purpose. I wash clothes in a bucket, though I haven't tried your method. On occasion, if I am out for weeks, I will visit a laundry. A bath now and again is good too, but if I have been doing a lot of swimming, I can go longer than otherwise.
My sister and brother-in-law recently "downsized" from a giant motor coach type motor home to one built on the largest Sprinter. Now they complain that the bathroom and the dishwasher are too small, and that they don't have a laundry. However, they like the television they have now better.
When I asked why they didn't just rent a hotel room when they travel, they said they like camping better, and that they are "saving money" this way. They paid well over $100K for the Sprinter based RV, and they stay in RV parks (never in National Park or other public campgrounds because they don't have the amenities they want), where they are jammed up with other RVs in a kind of parking lot environment. But, there is a restaurant on site, a "dog park," and paved walkways throughout the park. Pretty much like being in the city (and in some cases one is in the city). They have membership in some commercial RV club that runs such parks all over. They have visited National Parks, but always stay in the "club" park outside. Their experience with the National Park is to drive through them.
Oh well. mcneely
---- Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 23, 2013 at 7:52 AM, Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote:
>
> > And for those of us to whom a vehicle is simply a utilitarian device, ...
>
>
> Wait, you guys and gals with motorhomes, in addition to vanagons?....
> The motorhome is a vehicle but it isn't simply a utilitarian
> device.....not when it contains systems to wash your clothes, watch
> TV, run your electric blankets and the microwave, give you a hot bath
> in the whirlpool tub and do everything a house would do......
> I chatted recently with a lady from a Prevost million dollar
> 'vehicle' who was bemoaning the fact that her washer and drier were
> "Too Small" and she had to bring her laundry to the cleaners.....If
> she wanted 'simple' and utilitarian, she probably should have her
> limo driver drop her at a hotel and had her maid take out the laundry... forget that RV stuff....grin.
>
>
>
>
> >
> > One thing I definitely have learned on this list. What some like
> > about the Vanagon is constantly working on it. For them, what other
> > reason is there to have a vehicle?
> >
>
> There are certainly lots of folks on the list who seem to enjoy
> the hobby of working on their Vanagons as their main focus. The
> Vanagon is probably one of the more straightforward vehicles around to work on.
> .But some peoples' (here on the list) Vanagons are far from
> "Utilitarian", what with all complex systems they have from the
> factory and the additions that some owners install...
>
> Now my basic tin top with 'power nothing'....that is pretty basic
> and utilitarian. (Read: Cheap?) But start adding 'convenience and
> comfort' options and you begin to up the frequency and the complexity
> of the maintenance required.. AC, cruise control, power options,
> extra heaters, etc etc......those certainly reduce the utilitarianism
> and add to the number of things that will have to be worked on...
>
> Simple vehicles won't wash your clothes...(We used to do our laundry
> in Baja using a 5 gallon plastic bucket with a snap on lid. Fill it
> with soapy water, put in the dirty clothes and drive on a Baja road
> all day...clothes washed up just fine, no moving parts in that washer)
> They don't cool you off or let you drive down the freeway without your
> foot on the gas pedal. They don't show what is behind you on a remote
> video, you have to turn around and look, or sometimes even get out and
> check...You can't zap your pop tarts or record your favorite reality
> show....but you can usually just get in and go where you want to camp,
> take some stuff along and keep it all dry....all without much fuss...
> Don Hanson
>
> > mcneely
> >
--
David McNeely
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