Date:         Thu, 2 Jul 1998 21:31:05 -0400
Reply-To:     Eric Henning <henning@FP.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Eric Henning <henning@FP.COM>
Subject:      first road trip
Comments: To: vanagon@vanagon.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Took my first air cooled road trip ever, without any VW related mishaps!
Bought my 80 Westy last fall but due to work, trips, lack of heat in the
Westy never went on a trip more than an hour away.  My wife
was skeptical from the moment I brought "it" home.  Kids immediately
loved it.  Took a half day Weds (July 1st) to pack her up.  Hung the
bikes off the rear using an inexpensive back rack
I bought at a yard sale for 5 bucks, worked great but I still ran a
safety line thru the pop-top hinges and around the bikes in case a
strap broke.  Gave the bus a tune-up the day before,
running great, checked the compression, a little low on #1 but still
good.  Re-greased, swapped axle shafts just as a matter of pm.

Got up at 4 a.m. Thurs. morning to get an early start up I95 from Philly
to Burlingame State Park in Charlestown, RI.  No reservations allowed
in this state park.  Get there by 11 a.m.  All 755 sites were filled by
9:30 that morn.  Serious bummer.  All other hotels, campgraounds
booked solid.  So did next best thing, camped in friends yards.
They got a kick out of it, we didn't intrude so much and had great
campsites.

Only spotted one loaf westfalia (sage green, on I95 outside NYC)
Saw a nice two tone green 21/23? window in Newport, RI
Saw several Vanagons and even had 3 Vans in a row in NJ near I-80 &
I-287
 (me, a brown Dielsel? w/ Tennessee plates, and a maroon Vanagon from
NJ).  I waved, they waved, we all smiled.

The 80 Westy ran beautifully the whole trip.  Was able to cruise at 75
mph but oil temp
would climb to 240'C so we'd back off alittle.  Definately need to save
up for a side
tent.  Did bring a small dome tent for overflow and storage.  This trip
gave me the confidence
to take this van anywhere.

eric
henning@fp.com
80 westfalia (now at 65k miles)