Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2017 09:32:38 -0700
Reply-To: Toomey Douglas <drt@UOREGON.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Toomey Douglas <drt@UOREGON.EDU>
Subject: Re: trip report, eclipse
In-Reply-To: <2AEE64BC-8FD7-44B3-B624-32002D940EC3@vickersdesign.com>
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It is a small world when eyes are peeled for vanagons. I think I saw both of you. Jeff was parked in John Day just next to the DQ as we were pulling out of there and heading south toward NFS 21; ours is a grey 87 westy with bikes on back. I think David may have been in a cabin that had 3 vanagons parked outside of it. In both cases, the vans looked great; nice to see. We also saw quite a few on the road for the eclipse; more than usual.
We came to John Day to have a tire fixed. In 30 years of having the van, I’ve had only two flats, both within a week! Nevertheless, the van ran great. I recently converted the AC to R134 and left off the plenum above the rear seat. It cools much better without the plenum. The compressor makes a bit of noise… probably need to replace?
We camped for several nights in different locations within the Malheur. Good roads and trails for mountain biking, nice forests (that weren’t burning) and beautiful stars. Saw a few sandhill cranes too and heard them in the evening as we camped near meadows.
> On Aug 27, 2017, at 2:00 PM, Jeffrey Vickers <jeffrey@VICKERSDESIGN.COM> wrote:
>
> Small world - I was in the Mahleur as well. If you saw a Blue Syncro with black wheels, that was us.
>
> We drove up from the Bay Area and arrived in John Day on Saturday afternoon. The town was swarming with eclipsers.
>
> Camped about 10 miles off of FS Route 18, which is east of John Day on highway 26 about 15 miles. We found a really nice spot with an east-facing view on a very good dirt road. Saw maybe 3 cars pass by in the two days we camped there. Elevation was 6000 ft so it was cool in the shade. Perfect weather on the morning of the eclipse.
>
> We headed south on Tuesday and missed all the traffic. Hit a rain and lightning storm on the way to Susanville CA and saw two fires burning in the desert shortly thereafter.
>
> Lots of smoke near the Oregon border just north of Alturas. We assumed that the smoke was from the fires near Bend.
>
> Van ran like a champ. First long trip (1300 miles) with the new 1.8T. Wanted to get the Smallcar dash A/C installed before we left but ran out of time. It was HOT in the van. Two 12V fans suctioned-cupped to the dash helped - along with a spray bottle filled with cold water from the cooler. Poor man’s A/C, LOL
>
> Jeff in Marin
>
>> On Aug 26, 2017, at 9:00 PM, Automatic digest processor <LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> wrote:
>>
>> Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2017 11:53:53 -0700
>> From: David McNeely <davmcneely40@GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject: trip report, eclipse
>>
>> We got back last night from our trip to the vicinity of John Day, Oregon
>> for the eclipse. We drove down from Spokane in the camper on Friday, the
>> 18th, to a cabin in Malheur National Forest, where we ensconced ourselves
>> for a week, meeting our daughter and her family, and some friends from
>> California.
>>
>> The drive down was uneventful, with far less traffic than we expected. In
>> fact, traffic was minimal. The van (1991 Volkswagen Vanagon GL Campmobile,
>> silver-tan, white top, full camper) did well, and got 19.6 mpg on its 2.1
>> with 182K miles.
>>
>> We navigated the FS roads well, though when I drove out 14 miles to the S.
>> Fork of the John Day River, that road was exceedingly rough, and would have
>> been classified for 4WD only if in a NP. Lots of boulders and wash outs.
>> But I did ok. The trick is to take it slow and easy. Thank goodness for
>> high clearance. The 14 miles took me 2 hours, and I elected after fishing
>> for a couple of hours to drive around 60 miles rather than drive that road
>> again. That actually took less time.
>>
>> The eclipse was fantastic, and we had the area completely to ourselves.
>>
>> The cabin we had reserved has sleeping for six, and two kids slept on the
>> floor. The rest of us slept in our campers. We also saw wild horses,
>> though none of the bears and mountain lions that the FS warned us about.
>> Hiked to the southernmost Alaskan Cedar grove in the U.S., to find that it
>> had been greatly impacted by fire and drought, but we found many seedlings
>> and young trees in the undergrowth. Our grandson (8 yrs) said that we
>> found a cedar graveyard, but then a cedar nursery.
>>
>> We also went to John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Marvelous place.
>> However, the staff at the visitor's center was overwhelmed, having staffed
>> up for heavy visitation for the days before, but not the days after the
>> eclipse. Beautiful, brightly colored volcanic ash and tuff deposits (the
>> reason for many of the fossil mammals discovered there).
>>
>> On the day I drove out to fish, saw a tiny town (Dayville) overwhelmed by
>> the visitors. Many, many people camped in pastures and so on, which were
>> going for around $75 - $100 per night for a dry campsite with others jammed
>> in with you. Was sure glad we planned ahead and got the cabin.
>>
>> Drive home was also uneventful. Saw numerous (perhaps 15) Vanagon campers
>> on the trip, including two others in the back country.
>>
>> mcneely
>
_______________________
Prof. Douglas Toomey
1272 Earth Sciences
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1272
https://blogs.uoregon.edu/dougtoomey/
http://geophysics.uoregon.edu
(541) 346 5576 (tel)
(541) 346 4692 (fax)
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