Date:         Mon, 15 Jun 1998 21:56:02 EDT
Reply-To:     SBate82659@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Sam Bateman <SBate82659@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Nova Scotia trip report
Comments: To: vanagon@vanagon.com
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Vanagoneers,

Just returned from a glorious trip to Nova Scotia in our '87 GL.
We were out 9 days and covered 2,967 miles.
The bus performed flawlessly and delivered an average fuel economy of 20.5 mpg
with a high of 22.3 and a low of 18.6 mpg.
We consumed 1/2 quart of Castrol Syntec, 1 1/2 quarts of power steering fluid
(seems  a rebuilt rack & pinnion may be in the near future), and not one drop
of coolant.
The only problem encountered on the entire trip was a flat tire in downtown
Concord, NH (seems some Concordite's muffler hanger bracket decided to escape
from his vehicle (can't imagine why since the roads are sooo smoooth up
there!) and half of the u-bolt ended up sticking out of my right rear tire).
Carried 1/3 of all the hand-tools that I own and only had to use the 19mm deep
socket and the 1/2 in breaker bar - just the way I wanted it.
All-in-all though, not bad for an '87 with 124,000 miles on the clock.

Ron, I appreciate your help in getting the suspension pieces and KYB shocks to
me in time.
Got those installed before the trip and what a difference those shocks made!
The roads between Virginia and Maine made their performance seem even better.

We rode the new high-speed catamaran ferry from Bar Harbor, ME to Yarmouth, NS
- 100 miles in 2 1/2 hours.
I would highly recommend this boat ride to anyone who is into new technology.

The retrofitted weekender rear seat/bed proved quite comfortable for three
night's camping and the swing-out side table (salvaged from a late '60's Westy
at the scrap yard) lent a nostalgic air to the whole rig.
A small, square, ceramic heater from Wall-Mart was used on two of the nights
and did a great job of keeping us warm.

We encountered 32 Vanagons on the trip, of which approx. 10 were Westys, and
about 12 buses.

Malcolm, you have a truly beautiful Province and we'll be back in the near
future.

Sam Bateman
Fork Union, VA
'87 Vanagon GL (resting and regaining his strength!)