Date: Sun, 25 Jun 1995 23:14:29 -0700 (PDT)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: David Schwarze <des@teleport.com>
Subject: GNATT trip report - part one
Volks,
Here is the first installment of my GNATT trip report - it's kind of
longwinded... but first! I would like to publicly thank all of the
people that went out of their way to participate in this trip:
Pete Sellers and Rose
Joel Walker
Gerry Skerbitz & family
Sami & Maria Dakhlia
Mike Wright
... and those that met up with the tour at some point:
Barry & Marguerite Nichols
The tuna bombers
Mark and Toni
Tobin and Christa
... and special thanks to Alistair & Margaret Bell, and Al, Riley, and
Sophie for hosting GNATT at their place for a day!
Thanks to all of you - especially to Pete for sticking with us for over
half of the tour - Meeting fellow listmembers was, as expected, a very
enjoyable experience. We will have to do it again (but not too soon!)
:)!
-David
Saturday, May 20th
Got up early to finish packing up the bus. Still had laundry to do.
We were shooting for a noonish departure time, but it looked like we
wouldn't make it out till at least two, when we got an invite to tour
a nuclear aircraft carrier that was parked here in San Diego - the
Constellation (I kept thinking of Star Trek!), which was just too
cool to pass up. We (Shelley and I) decided to go and postpone our
departure a few more hours. Finally hit the road at 7:45 p.m.
loaded to the gills. Mileage 91517.
Some things I brought along:
100 ft extention cord, Battery charger, Lantern, Table, Lawn chairs,
Melodica, 2 x tarp, bucket, rope, large bowl, pot, skillet, electric
heater (110V), 2 x cylinder head, alternator, distributor, normal
tools plus compression tester, vacuum gauge, floor jack, valve
spring compressor, extra valves, ring compressor, extra rings, vise,
electric drill, jigsaw, soldering iron, grease, oil, solvent,
sealant, jumper cables, spark plug gapper, extra plugs, wires,
points, wiper blades, hoses, propane cylinders, condenser. There
was more, but that's all I can remember right now. Oh yeah, we
also had four batteries - three to power the fridge and inverter,
and one to start the bus.
So, we drove out interstate 8, about 3 miles and stopped at a
supermarket. Bought $72.19 worth of food. Mostly drinks and
canned food (I didn't know why at the time!). About 2 hours later
we rolled into El Centro, Calif. which is nothing more than a
glorified truck stop. Ate dinner at KFC at 9:30 p.m.. 91618.
Gassed up at Yuma, AZ at 11 p.m. 91683. Decided to try to make it
to Phoenix, or close, before we stopped for the night. Made it
about 10 more miles before I got groggy and decided to stop.
Pulled off on a dirt road and behind an embankment and slept it
off. Outside temp at midnight was 78 degrees. Bus running a little
warm, oil pressure 30-35, oil temp 220, at about 60mph.
Sunday, May 21st
Woke up at 7:30, from the sun shining on the bus. The interior was
getting hot, fast! Fridge interior temp had already risen to 40.1
degrees due to inadequate ventilation to the cooling fins behind.
Woofed down some wheaties and hit the road. It was during the time
that Shelley and I were straigtening up in the morning that we
realized we had brought waaaaaay to much stuff. We had basically
one cabinet for all of our clothes, and one drawer for toiletries
and the like. Not at all adequate. We were on the road by 8:15.
Got gas at Phoenix - starting to get really warm outside! Leaving
Phoenix, the bus begins to surge at part throttle, and idle poorly
at stoplights. "Oh well," I think, "at least we made it out of
California before our first mechanical problem". I pull over and
the bus sounds like cr*p. Idling real rough. First thing to
check is the idle solenoids, but they are both hooked up. Crap.
Can't see anything else wrong. In desparation, I start wiggling
wires at their connections, and when I wiggle the right idle
solenoid wire, it smoothes out real nice. Hmmm... oh well, guess
I should be happy. Make a mental note to pull the connector and
clean it later. Fridge not getting any cooler - 41.4 degrees, but
it is 91.8 inside the camper, on the *floor*. I pull out the
drawer over the fridge and feel the air behind it. It is much
hotter than the ambient 92 degree air. Installing the vent fan in
back was one of the many things I didn't have time to do before
we left. Doh. Next stop was Camp Verde, AZ. Ate lunch at Taco
Bell, and while we were eating we notice this store next door. It
appears to be a souvenier/used clothes type place. We go over to
check it out, and it turns out it is actually a souvenier/used
clothes/porno-movie-rental/tool-supply/jewelry/Indian-art type
place. Duh. I was amazed to find that this place had some really
exotic tools, like winches and torque wrenches. Bought a hacksaw
and some drill bits. Shelley got a really nice denim skirt and
some sunglasses. NOW we feel like tourists! Sorry this is all one
paragraph, but I'm in kind of a rush. :) Stopped at the meteor
crater, which was about a 5 mile drive from the highway, for a
looksee. 2 x $7 admission (ouch!) later we are inside. It's, like,
a hole in the ground. A really, really BIG hole in the ground!
Actually, it was quite a sight to behold. It is supposedly one of
the largest, best preserved craters around. We believed them.
Bought some postcards and an Arizona patch (Shelley collects
patches) and got goin. Gas in Navajo, AZ. Climbed up to about
7,000 feet going through Flagstaff - beautiful forested country.
Still rather high up as we hit the New Mexico border. We're
heading for Red Rock State Park, which was supposed to have showers,
hookups, and $8 admission. It was all true! Red Rock State Park
was just over the border in New Mexico, and looked a lot like the
one in California - gigantic rock walls all around the campground -
except this one had a river running through it. River? Huh? Oh
yeah, that was a movie. A bad movie. Now I remember. Anyway,
RRSP NM was really nice - highly recommended! Mileage 92205
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David Schwarze '73 VW Safare Custom Camper (Da Boat)
San Diego, California, USA '73 Capri GT 2800 (Da Beast)
e-mail: des@teleport.com '87 Mustang Lx 5.0 (Da Sleeper)
http://www.teleport.com/~des '93 Weber WG-50 (Da Piano)
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