Date:         Thu, 21 Jul 1994 13:59:41 -0230
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         thoekman@leif.ucs.mun.ca
Subject:      Great North-American Bus Trip

All this carrying on about the Great Bus Tour is very intriguing, and
depending on when and if the event happens I may be able to join the caravan
for a while.  However I'm about to start my own trans-continental bus-tour, I
will be leaving St. John's, Newfoundland CANADA (Now that's East, only Ireland
is East of us), heading for my sabbatical year in Victoria, BC.  I will be
hitting the trail between Aug. 5 and 8. My route is roughly as follows:  St.
John's to Port Aux Basques, NF, Gulf Ferry to North Sydney, N.S., Transcanada
across NS, and New Brunswick, through Houlton, Maine, and down I95 to
Framingham, Mass.   At this point take a breather at my Sis and Co., and then
turn West, taking the Mass Turnpike, connecting with the NY Thruway and
heading to Buffalo and Niagara Falls.  Here I cross back into Canada and angle
down through Ontario to Sarnia to cross back into Michigan, where I will
probably make a pit-stop at Recycled Bugs aka Part Place Inc.  They have some
very good prices on rebuilt axle/CV joints and I'm about due. Then over to
Holland, Mich. and visit some more family and the old Alma Mater at Hope
College; from there down I94 to Chicago and pick up I80 and west across
Illinois and Iowa, up to the NW corner for a few days of home-cooking with my
mom and dad and the great annual Hoekman Family reunion (Aug 13). From there
head west on I90 across South Dakota to the Badlands and Black Hills, across
Wyoming, turning north through Sheridan and up through Billings, angling
across the state heading for Glacier Park and the Canadian border.  Haven't
decided yet whether to jump up high and take the transcanada, go low in
canada, or stay below the border for a while after Glacier Park before turning
North.  Sometime around Aug. 20-25 I plan to arrive at a ferry to get to the
West Canadian Island (Vancouver Is.). My youngest son will be arriving there
about the same time by train; he is touring with the Canadian National Youth
Orchestra and we hope to get a few days together with his brother and sister
in Vancouver before he flys back to NF to return to University.

Anyway as some of you guys know my bus is a 1982 Westy, formerly a diesel, now
powered by a Jetta GLI, CIS-E gas-burner.  This will be my first major trip
with the new engine, and I am looking forward to a fun time.  I'm going to
have to avoid dawdling to keep on my timetable to BC, but I'd love to make
contact with anybody on the bee-line who has such inclination.

                Ted Hoekman
                Faculty of Medicine
                Memorial University of Newfoundland
                St. John's, NF. Canada