Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2014 22:09:44 -0900
Reply-To: Mark Tuovinen <aksyncronaut@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Mark Tuovinen <aksyncronaut@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Kicking off the 2013 Alaska Trip report: Departure
In-Reply-To: <CAGT5Fodm6yZbBc9A3Gv8rH6y3=4O0fo2Y0xwa5hQPuoCBn8C8w@mail.gmail.com>
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Looking forward to reading your stories. Some of the best trips are the
ones with the least amount of planning and packing. We purchased our van
in the REI parking lot in Berkeley, CA Thursday morning July, 31st 2003 and
the next evening set out to drive it home in Anchorage, AK via the Coast
Hwy. We shopped at a couple of thrift shops for the basics we needed for
the kitchen, loaded up with groceries and hit the road, Diana, myself, and
our 8 month old son. We had flown down just to purchase the van and were
on the road within 36 hours of taking possession, it was one of most
minimalist trips re what we had on board but was also one of our best trips.
Mark in AK
On Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 5:27 AM, Julia Schrenkler
<juliaschrenkler@gmail.com>wrote:
> Our friends are right, it's about time for the trip report. We took 2.5
> months off last year to travel from Minneapolis, Minnesota to wander
> northern California, Oregon, Washington, back east to catch the Kootenays,
> Banff, the Icefields Parkway and the Alcan. Then after fishing, hiking, and
> surviving mosquitos in the north, we wandered back.
>
> I'll be posting memories and photos to our currently-under-REconstruction
> site http://wanderwagen.com and will email links & text each Friday to
> this
> wonderful list.
>
> Happy Friday, all.
>
> -Julia
>
>
> Update 1 focuses on the departure. Lesson: Don't wait for perfection.
>
> May 11, 2013
>
> Nothing was perfect.
>
> Our van, the ’89 VW Vanagon Westfalia Camper, was in top running condition
> thanks to my Uncle Paul who also happens to be an exceptional mechanic. The
> vehicle was spic, span, and ready to camp because over the years we
> installed the most livable camper mods like an awning, a vented furnace and
> a larger refrigerator that actually chills.
>
> My beloved organization granted me a two and a half month leave of absence
> from my dream job of 11 years, and I’d documented, trained and otherwise
> prepped for walking out the door without worry.
>
> The promising project house we just purchased was in a welcoming state, if
> you walked through the front door and found the living room ready for
> company.
>
> But nothing was perfect. Our trip pack job on the van was hurried at best,
> with us actually skipping the list and tossing in weird stuff but hoping we
> included the can opener. While I wasn’t compelled to check in on my work
> email and had a delicious start-of-summer-vacation feeling, the back of my
> mind worked at the worryknot of what I’d return to at the office in the
> coming months. Our new home was actually a badly organized dumping ground
> for our just-moved life in boxes except for the things we were packing (and
> the serviceable living room). Then surprise! The car radio installed
> earlier in the week had an unexpected and stupid-on-my-part untested side
> effect of making everything on the aux battery rely on a key in the
> ignition. Sort of a drag considering we’d be leaving the camper for hours
> and would like the fridge or furnace running and this meant another errand
> run to the installer on a half-staffed Saturday morning. Luckily our friend
> Kurt was around to send us off and went with me to keep my mind focused on
> important things, like how to make the radio display disco colors.
>
> At one point we seemed to just stand around. We looked at the mess of it
> all with our five month old puppy tearing about the middle of this jumble,
> and wondered how we were going to get to a point we could actually leave.
>
> Nothing was perfect.
>
> We didn’t let that stop us. After all, we saved for this trip for years,
> prepped our boring adult paperwork, and the 2 1/2 month timer ticked…so we
> put the van into gear and headed south.
>
> Just one picture taken right before turning the key. From left to right:
> Cindy in passenger seat, our german shorthaired pointer Wren in the back
> seat, me in the driver seat and stretching to take the pic:
> http://bit.ly/KmXZuH
>
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