Date:         Wed, 23 Jun 1999 22:02:38 PDT
Reply-To:     Mike Finkbiner <mike_l_f@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mike Finkbiner <mike_l_f@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Northwest Trip Report
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

Volks -

My son and I took our first real camping trip in our '87 Westy over the last
week.  I had been fighting some problems with the engine since we picked it
up in Atlanta in March, so even though I thought everything was OK, it was a
bit nervous getting more than my AAA+ 100 mile towing policy from home <G>.

We left Moscow, Idaho last Tuesday evening to get a jump on the trip, and
drove three hours to camp by the Columbia River in central Washington.
(getting 19.5 mpg with the A/C on :->)  At the campground near Vantage we
were near a family with a EuroCamper.  They had owned a Westy before, and
loved their new machine, mainly because of the V6.

The next day we drove over White Pass and through Mt. Ranier National Park.
There is still lots of snow up there, although it's melting vigorously.  We
counted over 100 waterfalls that we drove by, or in some cases through!
Many of the roads are still closed, but we just enjoyed putting through,
stopping for lunch at Paradise (in the fog) and heading on to Mt. St.
Helens.

I had been thoroughly dusted when it erupted in 1980, but hadn't been there
before.  We weren't able to drive around the east side of the mountain,
something about 12' of snow on the road, so we went in through Toledo and
Hwy 504 on the west side.  The desolation is impressive, even after 19
years.  There are literally square miles of trees that were knocked over,
and gray ash everywhere, but the plant life has come back vigorously, right
through the ash.

There isn't much in the way of camping near the mountain, so we drove thirty
miles back to near I5 and camped at Seaquest.  I think that the power
steering, cruise control and quieter interior makes traveling easier in the
'87 in comparison to the '83 we had before, and it's still that marvelous
Westy feeling when you pull into the campsite, pop the top, and there you
are!

The next morning though, we ran into one of those Vanagon oddities that make
life interesting.  The folks in the next campsite had left something against
the brake pedal on their Plymouth minivan when they went to bed, and drianed
the battery (note to self, check what you put in front of the drivers seat
at night!)  They asked for a jump, but because of the trees around their
van, I couldn't get near enough to the side door.  Oh well, at least they
were nose out so the Ranger's pickup could get to them.

From there we drove to Castle Rock and cut cross-country on our way to Hwy 4
and the Columbia.  It wasn't as fast as the freeway, but it was a fun,
twisty little road.  Our destination was a park near Ilwaco at the mouth of
the Columbia, but we stopped at Ft. Columbia before we got there to look at
the fortifications and old artillery.  Just across the river is Ft.
Stephens, which was bombarded by a Japanese submarine during WW II.

As we got closer to the coast, we saw more Westy's and a few Eurovan
Campers.  The Northwest is really a campers paradise, but, especially along
the coast, it's nice to have a solid roof on your tent!  When we pulled into
the campground, a EuroCamper was just leaving, and an '84 was two spaces
down from us.

After a couple of days beachcoming and getting rained on, we headed up to
Seattle to visit some friends.  There we seemed to find Westy's and
Vanagon's everywhere.  On Sunday we pulled into a parking garage near Pike
Place Market near a late '80s Vanagon with a wheelchair lift, and as we
headed up I5, two EuroCampers passed us going the other way.

It was a great trip, the only problem was that the A/C stopped working - but
only after the weather cooled off.  As we headed east over Snoqualmie Pass,
I was pleasantly surprised to see that we could stay with 4th in places
where our '83 had to drop down to 3rd.  Sure, there were times when we
slowed down to 55, but it kept on going, and we still averaged 20 mpg on
that stretch.

She's a nice blue beast!

Mike Finkbiner
'87 Westy


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