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Date:         Sat, 8 Nov 1997 02:21:19 -0800
Reply-To:     Charles D Earl <cdearl@CATS.UCSC.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon mailing list <Vanagon@Gerry.SDSC.EDU>
From:         Charles D Earl <cdearl@CATS.UCSC.EDU>
Subject:      Greetings/Trip Report <f> long
Comments: To: Multiple recipients of list <vanagon@lenti.med.umn.edu>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Greetings fellow Vanagon enthusiasts,

Its been quite awhile since I participated on the list, though I have to admit to some lurking lately. I thought I would use a Friday to try and slip back into the loop. Here is a report of the trip my girlfriend and I took late summer/early fall this year, when we took our time driving from Santa Cruz to Seattle.

Our first day on the road was a beautiful drive up past the Eureka/Arcata area, where we spent our first night in the van next to the Eel River. Theres no feeling like that first night, "rediscovering" all the joys of camping in a Westfalia. Shrimp creole and a bottle of wine followed by what seemed like the best sleep in weeks. This sleep was encouraged with the peace of mind brought on by the van's mechanically flawless performance this first day away from home (and mechanics you know by name!). The next day was a beautiful, but uneventful, drive to Brookings, Oregon. We stayed at Harris State Park, a beautiful but always (in my experience) crowded camp. We fired-up our new propane lantern. I had always avoided one of these, feeling it would ruin the "ambience" of the camp, but now I am hooked. Theirs nothing like having lots of availible light when you want, or need, it. I like how you can put it outside the sliding door, providing plenty of light indoors and attracting the flys to the incredibly hot glass globe. Its like a crematorium for bugs! Karen got to catch-up on her reading and I played with my CB. BTW, I bought a handheld CB and a magnetic antenna. On trips alone, if one person goes for a walk, they can take the handheld and keep in touch with the "Command Center" in the van. When we convoy, I put the antenna on the other vehicle and plug it into the handheld. Instant 2-way communication. The handheld on batteries has worked up to 4 miles away from the van. The next 3 days were spent taking our time up the Oregon coast. This section of coastline has the most pull-outs with views that I have ever seen. I swear, you could do this drive every year and use different pullouts with different (and incredible views) each time. This whole time we looked for surf, having brought boards, however there was no swell to note. Living in Surf City, we have no reason to complain. Up, up, up. Destination: Westport, WA. We visited several lighthouses, including Cape Blanco for the second time. Trouble was, the lighthouse was closed for tours on the day we showed up. So, we parked below it, overlooking the Cape it sits on. The headwind was terrific, like it would seriously rip your door right off its hinges if you didn't hold on. Undaunted, I proceeded to impress my girlfriend in an incredible burst of culinary brilliance (canned corned beef mixed with roasted potatoes and corn that I had thrown in the fire the night before). It was too cool to sit in the van, happily cooking over an open flame with 60mph+ winds howling. This did not even phase the stoves operation. My brother (who lives in Seattle) and I had agreed to meet at the South Jetty in Westport. He keep telling me how we were going to drive out on the beach. I have visited the beaches on the WA coast, which in areas are technically considered highways. Having just bought a new Pathfinder, my little brother was excited to get off the beaten path. He said "dude, just follow me, theres no way you will get stuck, if you do, I'll just pull you out with my 4X4." I said "bro, you have no idea how heavy a loaded Westfalia is and how small the tires are compared to the rest of the vehicle." He said "dude, wheres your sense of adventure, what are you, chicken?" Well, no respectable big brother is going to take that from his little brother standing up. I accepted the challenge. So we met in Westport as planned. The new Path was looking bad. What could go wrong? So, near the Twin Harbors/Greyland area, I began to follow the Path in the green Westy. Hey, this is cool! We're in 3rd gear and the tires aren't even sinking at all! This was true, I even stopped a couple of times and floored it to convince myself of how hard the surface was. No problem. The perfect speed seemed to be high RPM's in 2nd gear. 3rd actually felt a little fast, when you turned you could feel the front tires slipping. My brother was getting a little carried away, there was no one around and I noticed that his Southerly progress was interdispersed with 360's and figure-8's. Well, like I said, its a highway, and a highway patrol officer in a special jeep with sand tires proved this by pulling him over. A stern warning given in good humor was issued. He was lucky (let me apologize here to any Washington folks for my brothers behavior). Well, this went on for a few miles. No problems, driving a fully loaded van down the beach with dunes on the left and the Pacific on the right. Suddenly, I see Ray's brake lights flash and he is going into a full 180 degree powerslide and coming back at me. This is where I made my first mistake. If I had slowed down, backed up towards the water and then gone back, I would of made it. This didn't happen. Instead, I slowed down in second and attempted to make a quick turnaround to the left. Wrong. I ended up with my tail towards the water and the nose looking at the dunes. The right rear wheel is down deep, the exhaust is only about an inch away from the sand. Of course, all attempts to extract myself only resulted in digging in deeper. "No problem" says Ray as he swaggers over to his new, badass 4X4. He backs up to my nose. I, fortunatly, have a (nylon) tow rope. We hook up. Ray prepares to dramatically pull my van out. 20 seconds later he (in 4 wheel drive) is up to his axles on all fours. The tow rope is stretched so tight between us you could of plucked it like a violin string. So I pull out the Army shovel. I have to dig tracks behind each of his wheels so that he can back up, releasing the tension on the rope. To his Nissan's credit, as soon as we unhooked he was able to drive out from axle deep sand effortlessly. We try it 4 more times from different angles, with always the same result. We are starting to realise that his light SUV cannot pull my van out of deep sand. Oh, by the way, its almost dark and the tide had covered half the distance between us and the water during this time, and we are below the tide line. Great. A guy comes along with his Isuzu, but wasn't willing to join forces with my brother, which most likely would have worked. I figure he either was worried about scratching his car, or he saw my California plates and figured that if I escaped I would immediatly proceed to buy up all the land in WA (those damn Californians!). And I probably would, if I had any money and could find a local to sell it to me. So, here we are. Stuck. Dark. Tide rising. Hmm, think I'll have a beer. And we did. I'm thinking, I may have to get on the CB and see if I can raise an off-road recovery wrecker. Never listen to your little brother, no matter how much he ridicules you. Ray and I are scratching our chins, while smart Karen has been keeping a lookout for other vehicles. Along comes the _only_ other vehicle we were to see besides the Isuzu (grr), and oh joyous day, he's coming towards us and it is a full-size Z-71 offroad rig with a V-8, liftkit and 36" tires. It is the high-school star quarterback and his cheerleader girlfriend along with some of his drinking buddies from a small town called PEele (not a typo, I think that is how it is spelled). They are very cool, and in one shot he almost pulls me out in _2-wheel drive_. At the last moment he puts it into 4-wheel drive and effortlessly tows me back to firmer ground. Needless to say, we are very grateful. They say, "come on over to our bonfire." We say "sure!" I park the van on firm ground, fairly close to the water, and then we grab a 6-pack and barrel up to the fire in the Path. These guys are just powering beers, knowing I had to drive I pretended to be drinking with gusto, but kept it down to a couple. At one point, one of the guys, with his bare hands, takes a "M-1000" with a short fuse, lights it directly from the fire and heaves it. This thing is as big as a stick of dynamite and just as loud. Wow, these guys know how to party! Hmm, tide, what is it about the word tide that sets off the internal alarms? Oh my God, the tide!! I sprint to the van (I had left its parking lights on in case there were any rally sorts still out at night). Oh good, the water is only 6 ft away from my rear tire. Time to go guys. My brother and I proceed to just rally back over the ~3 miles we had traveled. I'm not kidding, those channels where the water flows in much further then the high-tide line, I practically caught air off them as we flew back. I have never driven the van so hard, I also have never felt like I was outrunning a 11ft tidal change before. Those Germans really built these things, the independant suspension (my nitro KYB's didn't hurt either) sucked up the berms and laughed. Ahh, dry land! Ok, back to the South Jetty. Dinner. Beer. Wow, its 2am. No officer, we wern't going to sleep here. We ended up back at Greyland, where we only drove a short distance out on the firm stuff. We sleep snug as bugs in a rug in the van while incredibly thick fog and drizzle made it seem like it was raining. 2 days of _good_ surf in Westport. I caught some really nice, long rides on my short board at the South Jetty. Much longer rides than usual in SC, I could hit the lip until my legs got tired. Cold though! We bought crabs off a boat and hightailed it to Seattle. Lots of microbrew. My latest discovery at Pike's: the stand where the guy makes fresh doughnuts with a special machine. I could live on those things. Girlfriend had to fly back early for work :-( Like the slime I am, I stayed for another 10 days. This involved a great trip up north, where we rented canoes and paddled across Lake Diable, portaged up to Ross Lake and spent several days fishing and camping. I drove back alone. Fastest I ever pushed the van. I averaged 72 mph, curious I pushed the van up to 80 a couple of times. It'll do it. No problems. I garnered envious looks in the rest stops as I set up my confortable bed. I _almost_ felt sorry for those trying to be comfortable in their passenger cars. Almost. It was a great trip. "Kermit" was a trooper, no problems. Oh, I almost forgot, at one point, in the southern part of the WA coast, we followed the true coastal route and drove for many miles on an unimproved gravel road. Again, the van proved its self offroad worthy with its high clearance and torque.

Since this trip I have been struggling with a lack of relief help and working 6-7 days a week. This, the flu, and my newest obsession, 2 wheeled vehicles, are my only excuses for not being more active on the list. This is still the greatest list ever. I look forward to the excitement and abundance of good advice that is the list. I started writing this long email on Friday, forgive me for finishing on Sat morning!

Charles

'83.5 camper (157k and going strong, best vehicle I've ever owned) '69 280 SE (just sold, will miss the old girl) '84 528i (new kid on the block) '80 GN400x (single cylinder thumper) '74 Rally 200 Electric (I hate Lucas electronics)


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