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Date:         Thu, 23 May 2013 08:45:38 -0700
Reply-To:     "sailingfc @dslextreme.com" <sailingfc@DSLEXTREME.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "sailingfc @dslextreme.com" <sailingfc@DSLEXTREME.COM>
Subject:      Re: trip report, Sequoia NP
Comments: To: mark drillock <mdrillock@cox.net>
In-Reply-To:  <519E2897.5000700@cox.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Cool! (no pun intended) Thanks for sharing.

-Dick- 87 Vanagon Syncro 2.5 I5

On Thu, May 23, 2013 at 7:32 AM, mark drillock <mdrillock@cox.net> wrote:

> A couple weeks ago we celebrated our 25th anniversary by taking off on a > 9 day camping trip. We had spent part of our honeymoon in Sequoia NP and > decided to head there again for several days and then into Kings Canyon > too. We knew it was a little early in the year for those places but we > didn't quite grasp how early it would later seem. > > After a Thur night at a rest area half way we arrived on a Fri morning > and were disappointed to learn that our desired foothills campground > Buckeye Flat was not open yet for this season. We pulled into nearby > Potwisha instead, resigned to make the best of it for 2 nights after > which we would head up to the the big trees when the weekend crowds were > gone. It was surprisingly hot even at 2500 feet and the campground > filled both nights, about half with Europeans most of whom appeared to > be German. Late Fri afternoon an odd looking car with a loud exhaust > pulled in near us. I recognized the plate as from Argentina so I went > over. It was a young couple who had started out 2 years ago for Alaska. > Not the same couple from Argentina I wrote about here recently, this new > couple was in a Renault car and the earlier couple at least had a Westy > weekender. Both couples are on the same quest by coincidence. I spoke to > them briefly and they knew the first couple, having crossed paths with > them earlier in their trip while still in South America but already many > thousands of miles after they had left home. The first couple had been > at my house a week earlier. Small world, or something. > > Sun morn we got up early and headed up the mountain to the giant > Sequoias. It was a spectacular drive and we stopped at various points of > interest to walk among the big trees. The only high country campground > open was LodgePole so we picked a spot and got settled. Our nearest > neighbor was a young couple from Holland in a tiny rental RV. Next to > them was a solo bicyclist, with a lot of gear on his bike but no tent. > As night came it started to rain so he tied a cord between his table and > a tree and folded a tarp over it, staking out the corners. Then he threw > a sleeping bag on the bare ground under it. His feet stuck out from > under the tarp so he threw his jacket over them. It must have been a > long night. > > On Mon another Westy cruised into the campground and took a space far > from us. The plate was from Vermont and they had a couple of kayaks on > the roof. This was the first Vanagon we had seen since the Los Angeles > area. Get out there people! I went for a hike to a nearby falls and on > my return leg it lightly hailed on me for a good half hour. Sitting in > the van enjoying a hot cup of tea the hail really let loose. It built up > a couple inches deep in spots and stayed on the ground into the next > day. In the morning it was snowing, adding a layer to the remaining > hail. We packed up to head for Kings Canyon and it was really dumping so > we were glad to go. This was the actual date of our wedding, a planned > outdoor wedding that had to be moved inside when it snowed all night. > Here is a photo of our 87 Syncro, May 7th 2013, Sequoia NP. > > http://images.thesamba.com/vw/**gallery/pix/1064580.jpg<http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1064580.jpg> > > Mark and Anne >


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