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Date:         Tue, 6 Jun 1995 10:01:04 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         nrubin@s1.csuhayward.edu (Martha Rubin)
Subject:      bodega trip report

Have finally recooperated enough from the weekend that I have time to tackle the Bodega trip report. There were 12 vans in attendance at the Dunes state park, with the first to arrive being Bill Moseley, Prunemeister, and I. We three went up in a caravan from Berkeley, using Bradley's commercial radios (sort of like CB). There was a lot of "breaker, breaker" lingo which left me clueless, but I tried to sound like I knew what I was doing. Once I figured out that no red light meant I was not transmitting, I began to understand why no one was answering all my questions! After that, we had fun comparing our oil pressure and temperature readings, as well as testing out each other's rear brake lights and turn signals. In fact, I found this method of communication so invaluable, I think it would be wise for the group at large to eventually decide on some sort of system to use on future such outings/caravans, and for us each in time to purchase/borrow a unit from that system, making us all compatible.

Upon approach to the not-too-smart park ranger's kiosk, we spied that beautiful bring orange westy bread loaf. Some of us drooled instantly: Jack Stafford and his raspberry homebrew! We all promptly checked in (even this was nearly too confusing for the ranger), and set about picking a site. For me the order of priority was of course: showers, bathrooms, AC, firepit. We opted for several adjacent spaces and set about trying to thoroughly confuse the rangers by leaving various cars and pieces of camping equipment in sites we liked, without bothering to check in to them. This by the way doesn't officially reserve a spot, but it kept things tied up in red tape long enough, so that most of our members had a good space by the time the park figured out (or gave up figuring out) what we were up to. Too, it helps to have one story for the camp-host, one for security, and one for the rangers. By the time we finished with them, they were shaking their heads and saying something about the need for a "consistency" meeting. That was AFTER they stole my lawn chair.

Jeff Schneiter and his wonderful dog Argo arrived soon thereafter. As you may recall, J's bus is presently not running, and I believe still for sale, so he came up in his gorgeous blue Honda, which gets btw an very enviable 40 mpg. He cleverly drew the VW logo on his dusty rear window, so that we knew instantly he belonged to us.

We all set about unpacking camping/cooking/etc. supplies. It was decided that the space with the largest open pit and surrounding sandy sitting area would be the communal meet, and that we'd save this for the late nite arrivers, Steve Johnson and Thom Fitzpatrick. In the middle of setting up camp, Lee and Cindy Wood arrived in their '81 westy. Being new first-timers to these campouts, they were exceedingly well-behaved. Most of the rest of us, for example, brought whatever scrap wood we could dig out, where as Lee and Cindy brought some beautiful bagged material. Later, this came affectionaly to be known as "Wood wood." We spent some time checking out each other's vans and mods. Lee and Cindy had a nice awning, and a neat T-routing of propane from their tank to attach at will to their Olympian catalyic heater. I finally learned from them how my rear drapes are SUPPOSED to be installed.

Throughout the day, more campers filtered in, including Don Kane, and his son William, who would come to learn "everything you always wanted to know about fires and melting points, but were afraid to ask" before the trip was over. While these people were arriving, no one seemed to be paying much attention to Bradley, who was over by the fire hacking away at this and that. A wild, raging, uncontrolled look in his eye went undetected as he axed away at this and that surrpetitiously.

Soon, a nice campfire was going, and gourmets of the group begain to emerge. This list seems to be blessed with an unbelievable amount of good cooks! Bill Moseley started in on making some wonderful home-made cardamom ice cream. That it took 24 hours to freeze and cure is no fault of Bill's :). Steve Johnson proved beyond a doubt to all of us that he could make deviled eggs without Linda, although I still think we REALLY need her on these events to bring along everything everyone else always forgets and to keep us calm.

Marcus and Ute Doherr arrived with their son Malte, and surprise - we DO have real Germans on the list. Also being new to these campouts, they decided to take one of the outer spaces, thinking that their son Malte might be noisy. Little did they know that it was the REST OF US who were the badly behaved noisy ones.

At past vanagon outings, we all tend to sit around the campfire until the wee hours of the morning. On Friday however, this turned into a comedy of errors. It turned out that people kept leaving the fire ring momentarily to do this and that: look for a working pay phone, take a walk, find restroom, take a shower, etc. But in this instance, the timing somehow worked out badly, and each time someone would come back, no one would be there. By the time I got back, the fire had nearly died down. We couldn't find anyone and assumed that everyone had gone to bed: VERY strange for this group, indeed. Threw some more logs on the fire, pulled out more drinks (and gosh, Jack Stafford, that homebrew of yours is positively the BEST! Jack made this fantastic raspberry and cherry ale, two flavors. We fondly refer to it as "transporter porter." :) At any rate, just when I was ready to give up all hope, here comes Steve Johnson in his '91 westy, and Thom Fitzpatrick and Amy Burgess in their fabulous '56 resto. Let me say this bus is unbelievable. Thom's reports to the list have been mighty modest - the paint job is to die for, not to mention the color. The attention to detail on this car is mind-boggling: puts the pictures in the VW mags to shame, in my opinion. Thom - PUHLEEZE paint my car for me! Apart from appearances, I think Thom is still working on a few minor mechanical details with the bus. Now that he's got it going, he needs to perfect how to "stop" the thing while at highway speeds. I noticed him dressed in overalls and covered with grease at one point, so I guess something about why the car won't brake must have bothered him. Or people in his caravan.

During snacking and dinner, something became suddenly wildly popular about feeding Argo, Jeff's dog. I think we all had some notion that if we fed Argo enough junk, we'd either get in the Guiness book, or the fuel produced by Argo's indigestion would be sufficient to heat Jeff's tent thru the nite. Not only was Jeff very tolerant of our mischief, he has the best seasoned camp cookpots, and cooked us a wonderful gourmet breakfast on Saturday morning. Trouble was I slept through most of it. Were it not for Steve Johnson, Jack Stafford, Thom Fitzpatrick, and maybe some others (I couldn't quite see, because they all ran away so quickly), I never would have had any morning meal at all. Anyway, these people kindly came over to "wake" me from sleeping in. The 10.8 richter scale quake in my van you made by rocking and tipping it while snoozing was really fun, guys. I finally found all my clothes, had a shower, and did get some breakfast. That was after I mopped up the wine, beer, water, etc. inside. :) Of course, I realize I invited this event by being instrumental in doing something similar the nite before to Steve's van. Some of us decided it would be fun to tormet Steve, whom we thought was already asleep. We tip-toed over to his westy and hysterically began rocking it and singing "99 bottles of beer on the wall." Funny thing was that Steve wasn't IN his van, but rather down the road about 50 feet near the restrooms watching us all make fools of ourselves. Anyway, Steve informed me that the only reason they tipped my van was to make his promised delivery of the flue vents. Hey, you turkeys: I "owe" one! :) All I can say, is thank god I didn't have a porti-potty in there.

This is all a little out of order, but you get the idea. Perhaps the most entertaining part of the trip was the rangerette coming by around midnight Friday, wondering what that explosive bright light was in our campsite, that they had seen from clear across the park on the other side. The reason for the hysteria in Prunehead's eyes had become apparent. We thought he had been hacking particularly tough wood, but it turned out to be an engine case. He wanted to see what happened when magnesium burned. With the aid of a multitude of spirits and various substances, plus some special glacier glasses which block out 90 percent of glare, this was one awesome fire! Typical of the IQ we were beginning to recognize in Calif. park personnel, the ranger wanted to know what magnesium was, IF this fire was outside the pit (do they let blind rangers drive??), and if the fire was hot. DUH. She also wanted to know whose campsite this was, and of course we all immediately pointed to Steve, who had only arrived just about 30 minutes before. She informed S. that this fire could constitute a $750 fine, but hey, Steve, wasn't it worth it?!? I mean, the flames, the drama, the heat, the massiveness of the whole experience!?

It was just a matter of time before our curiosity got the better of us. There was this "need to know:" what would burn, what wouldn't, how hot would it get, how long would it take, what color would it make, would the park rangers notice, etc. If in doubt, we burned it. Everything. Lawn chairs, beer cans, beans, you name it.

In the middle of the best yet engine case fire (we had SEVERAL), Jack Stafford quietly brought out these magnificient rockets he made, and launched them into the sky. They were way cooler than NASA's. I don't understand the mechanics of these things, but I was so impressed by them I suggested that Jack bring a lot of them next time INSTEAD of his potluck or homebrew contribution.

On Saturday nite, we helped celebrate Bradley's edging into the second quarter centry of his life. This was done with the scrumptuous cheesecakes from the Doherrs. We had put trick candles in them, but of course rather than blowing them out like he was supposed to, Prunehead instead pinched them out with fingers dipped in beer. Sacrilege! That some stupid racoons happened to traipse thru these cheesecakes during the nite is a commentary on how wonderfully resilient and strong they were. Anyway, after Steve took some of it home to Linda - what a guy. a

I mentioned that I would take up the laptop and try for net access. Unfortunately this was not possible. There was no phone source nearby, and I learned that the only two existing pay phones in the park were out of order - another testament to the IQ of our rangers! :) On day 2, several of us drove to outings, and I placed a call to home from nearby Wright's beach. Sarah told me that Al Knoll had phoned and the message he'd left on my tape was "tell people to bring everything." I couldn't make any sesne of this, and upon asking the opinion of others in the group, decided this must mean that Al couldn't make it to Bodega after all, so that we should go out and get food if we didn't feel like eating curried salsa and beans for breakfast. Thinking that Al Knoll would not be coming, I told Bradley of his birthday present we all pitched in (or were supposed to) $.50 each to Al to get: The Prune Gourmet cookbook. B: we are all expecting a mighty fancy prune curry dish as the next outing! At any rate, 2 minutes after spilling that story, up drives Al, whose message Sarah had completely misunderstood. Al: we owe you a big debt of gratitude. You barely got to camp much time at all, and then you had to work all those hours cooking us another fancy gourmet breakfast. Thanks a lot! I'd like to point out that this was a real treat indeed, as Al made us orange cinnamon rolls, baked in the Coleman oven atop the stove.

Although we couldn't get phone access, we did manage tapping into the electrical supply in the mens' room. This was used to power Don Kane's great sound system. We all enjoyed listening to the Greateful Dead, some classic Beatles, etc. It also supplied juice for my vacuum and flowbee. I'm only sorry that not more of you agreed to succumb to its powers. Thom: I think it will all grow out ok, and you'll never notice a thing after a couple of months. Thanks for being such a good sport and guinea pig.

It was unanimously decided that for B's birthday next year we should all pitch in the get him a real fireman's outfit/hat/etc from the southbay town of Prunedale. Seems fitting.

Argo the dog finally had it with all our antics and began chasing a skunk. The next I saw people were frantically looking around for some tomato juice with which to bath him. I believe I heard that we didn't have any, so someone made up some spaghetti sauce, and Argo got a bath with that. What a great dog. He plays frisbee in the ocean better than any creature I've ever encountered.

It was fun to see old friends and make new ones. I also liked many of your mods, and have already been working on this and that in my van, getting ready to try and catch a few days of the end of GNATT as it passes thru California next week. I'm still envious of Lee and Cindy's, and Al's awnings, and Al's pyromid stove. These events are a wonderful way to share/exchange ideas, info, etc. I must formally apologize to Vivian Kane for my merciless teasing about her love for bacon and sausage, which she took like a trooper. Vivian: you and your brother can tip over my van next time, ok? :)

/martha

/


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