Date:         Sun, 16 Mar 97 18:21:46 EST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Sean Bartnik <sbart7kb@www.mwc.edu>
Subject:      trip report 

> 
> Hey all,
> I'm sure some of you are interested in how the Kiptopeke camping trip
> went.
> 
> Last Friday, I left school here on spring break and headed to Kiptopeke
> State Park on Virginia's Eastern Shore.  I was going to arrive first and
> let the rangers know that we had a crowd coming.  I got on I-95 South to
> Richmond (from Fredericksburg VA) and then onto I-64 East until I got to
> Norfolk at which point I exited 64 onto US Route 13 North, which goes
> over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.  
> 
> For those who have never been over the Bridge-Tunnel, it's quite an
> experience!  I had never done it before.  The toll is steep, $10 for
> cars, but the bridge is around 21 miles long and has a span of bridge,
> then a tunnel, then another span of bridge, then another tunnel, and
> then a final span of bridge which lands you on the Eastern Shore.  The
> Bridge-Tunnel is one lane in each direction but they are constructing a
> second span adjacent to the original span, which was constructed in the
> 1960s at a cost of $200,000,000 which was all private money, no taxpayer
> dollars were used to construct the Bridge-Tunnel.  The aerial
> photographs that they have at the gift shop/restaurant (really! and a
> fishing pier too, right before the first tunnel) are quite nice and
> looking at the bridge from the shore of the Bay makes one realize that
> it's quite a piece of engineering.  Speaking of which, I've often
> wondered how tunnel construction is done, especially when you're
> starting tunnel construction from a bridge span out in the middle of the
> bay.  Anybody who knows how they do that, I'd be interested in learning.
> 
> 
> Anyway, I got to the State Park around 4:00 on Friday and checked in
> with the rangers.  The rest of the crew arrived around 10:00 or 11:00
> PM.  The crew consisted of Robert Busick in his PRISTINE '69 Westy with
> his wife and son, Sonny Flamer in his '84 Westy with his wife, John (?
> -- don't remember the last name, sorry) in a heretic Chevrolet Astro van
> (his '72 Westy was giving him problems, so I suppose he can be forgiven)
> and John's son and friends in a rough but running '67 Westy.  Michael
> Benthin showed up a little later in his '78 Westy and that was the crowd
> for Friday night.  We were expecting David Higgenbotham from NC to show
> up, but he informed me that he was unable to attend due to more pressing
> family concerns.  
> 
> We decided against building a fire that night as the new arrivals were
> ready to turn in, so turn in we did.  It was cold that night but we all
> were sure to bring our space heaters.  Next morning we woke up and had
> breakfast, then went to explore the park.  In the afternoon, John and
> his crew brought out their acrobatic kites and we went down to the beach
> and flew them for a while.  Fun!  That night we had a good-sized fire
> going (it was a shame to finally have to put it out and go to bed). 
> 
> Sunday we drove north on Route 13 up the Eastern Shore to Chincoteague.
> There we went to the Kite Koop where I bought my own acrobatic kite,
> which is still great fun :-) .  At this point, we split up, everyone
> else went home while I stayed around for a while.  I headed over to
> Assateague Island to check it out, stayed there for a couple of hours,
> then I had to get on the road as I was supposed to visit a friend of
> mine in Greenville, NC that evening.
> 
> So, I headed South on Route 13, crossed over the Bridge-Tunnel again, (I
> probably shouldn't have, I'd be $10 richer right now) and stayed on
> Route 13 until I got to US Route 158, which took me west to US Route 258
> which took me south through North Carolina.  158 and 258 are the
> desolate two-lane back road types of roads that you really don't want to
> break down or run out of gas on.  The towns are few and far between and
> there's not really a shoulder to speak of on the road.  Luckily the '81
> did the job and brought me out on US Route 264, which took me east into
> Greenville.  264 is a four-lane highway which I wasn't quite as nervous
> traveling.  The Vanagon did try to throw me for a loop once on those
> back roads.  I was looking down at the instrument panel when I saw a red
> light blink on and stay on!  Panic!  An "oh sh*t" escaped my lips before
> I realized it was merely the EGR light on for the 15,000 mile service
> reminder.  Talk about relief!  
> 
> Anyway, I stayed in Greenville Sunday and Monday and left Tuesday
> morning.  On leaving, I got on US Route 264 East and took that to NC
> Route 32 North, which took me up to US Route 64 East which is good road
> and took me all the way to the Outer Banks, where the only real road is
> NC Route 12, a nice flat straight two-lane highway that runs the length
> of the Outer Banks.  The Outer Banks of NC are really gorgeous and the
> weather on Tuesday was the same, bright sun and in the 70s.  (That's
> Farenheit, for you European folks -- it wasn't that hot :-) .  There is
> plenty of beach down there.  I drove from the intersection of 64 and 12
> near Nags Head all the way down 12 until I got to Hatteras at which
> point you can either turn around or take the free ferry across Pamlico
> Sound to Ocracoke Island.
  
  The ferry system on the Outer Banks is state-run and some are toll
  ferries, some are free.  I got the Westy in line and boarded the ferry
  to Ocracoke.  It's a nice island, not a whole lot there tho, which I
  guess is how it should be :-) .  From Ocracoke, you can either go back
  to Hatteras on the free ferry (about 40 minutes) or you can take the
  Swan Quarter ferry (toll and about 3 hours).  I went back to Hatteras
  and found a private campground to sleep at (all the public campgrounds
  were closed for the season) which was ridiculously expensive but there
  wasn't much to be done about that.  I stayed most of Wednesday on the
  Outer Banks as well, but was gradually making my way north on Route
  12.  I eventually got to Nags Head where I had been before.  After
  being on some of the more desolate portions of the Outer Banks, I was
  disappointed with Nags Head.  It is the tourist trap from hell.  I
  suppose it's nice enough but it's not really the kind of thing I
  appreciate anymore.  

  I continued north on 12 and then changed over to US 158 west which
  took me to NC 168 north to the tiny town of Currituck.  There I was
  able to catch a ferry (the last one of the day) to Virginia Beach.
  The ferry was shared with some schoolkids who apparently ride the
  ferry home from school every day.  The ferry came out on NC 615, and
  very shortly I was in Virginia in the city of Virginia Beach, but
  still in a very rural area.  I eventually came to VA 149 which took me
  to US Route 60 north along the Atlantic coast.  Along US 60 is
  Seashore State Park, where I stayed for the night (Man, nothing like
  having good maps!).  Seashore has beach on the Chesapeake Bay and in
  fact is very close to the southern terminus of the Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
  From the beach you can see the Bridge-Tunnel in the distance, you see
  bridge, then open space, then bridge, then space, then bridge again.
  Kinda wild.  The reason for the two tunnels is that that route is a
  major shipping channel, there were lots of freighters out on the Bay
  while I was at Seashore.  I stayed at Seashore Wednesday and Thursday
  nights, then headed out on Friday.  

  I followed Route 60 north until it intersected with I-64 west, which I
  took back to Richmond, then got on I-95 North to Fredericksburg, all
  the time raining and raining.  What a mess.  Anyway, I got to
  Fredericksburg in the afternoon and proceeded to bum around there for
  a while.  It had thankfully stopped raining by then.  I spent the
  night in the Wal-Mart parking lot and then on Saturday morning I
  headed up I-95 North to Springfield VA where I helped Steven Dolan
  work on his '76, trying to stop both exhaust and oil leaks, we weren't
  able to do much for the exhaust but hopefully we've positively
  affected oil consumption :-) .  Tom Draffen also stopped by to help
  and so the swearing was three times as intense when we were
  re-installing Steve's alternator :-) .  Steve's parents graciously fed
  all of us an amazingly good spaghetti dinner with veal parmesan.  I
  ate as much as I could stuff my face with because home cooking is a
  delicacy for college students like me :-) .  

  Steve also was very kind in putting me up for the night (so I didn't
  have to return to Wal-Mart) and giving me breakfast this morning.
  And this morning I headed back down 95 to Fredericksburg and now I'm
  back to school, tho I'm not quite in a scholarly frame of mind just
  yet :-)

  Sorry for the length but it was a good week and I am proud to note
  that my '81 Westy performed absolutely flawlessly during the whole
  week.  I must have put at least 1500 miles on the van this week.  Good
  lord I paid through the nose for gas, but the bus ran great.  I will
  promptly reward the van by giving it a nice thorough washing to remove
  the salty deposits from the beach trip.  

  BTW, Syncro owners, the Outer Banks have many many off-road beach
  trails that they only allow 4WD vehicles on.  Of course, they're all
  flat and sandy, but a novelty nonetheless.

  Thanks for reading.

  Sean

> --
> *****************************************************************
> Sean Bartnik                           "Life is tough, 
> sbart7kb@www.mwc.edu          but it's tougher if you're stupid."
> '81 Vanagon Westy                      --John Wayne             
> 
> Fahrvergnugen really means "push harder."
> 
> http://www.mwc.edu/~sbart7kb/myvan.htm
> *****************************************************************
>