Date:         Tue, 5 Sep 1995 02:27:49 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         SyncroHead@aol.com
Subject:      Trip report (shortish)

Hi all,
Here's a breif report on my (with wife & 4 & 7 year olds) recent 2 week trip
from LA area to Spokane WA & back.

Visited mother-in-law in Fresno : (     She's 254 miles away : )
Saw (quickly) Sequoia National Park : )
Drove on top of a Sequoia : )
Drove through a Sequoia : )
Kids were quiet while watching Disney videotapes in back : )
Kids were brats while not watching TV : (
Vanagon turned over 100,000 miles : )
Met Jim at Bus Boys in Redding : )
Saw Burney Falls NE of Redding : )
Mosquitos & other bugs THICK along Klamath Lake Oregon.  Sounded like rain 
   on the windsheild. Really!  : (
Saw full-size Stonehenge replica in Maryhill WA  : )
Visited with family in Spokane & nearby in Idaho : )
Bought some brand new 8 year old Hot Wheels in Spokane  : )
Found a Vanagon rear-facing seat for sale in Seattle : )
Made plans to travel through Seattle on the way home to pick up seat.
Waxed the Vanagon : )  It'd been 2 years : )
After 3 days of looking for the seat, it turns out they didn't have the seat
after-all  : (
Cancelled plans to travel through Seattle.
Saw several waterfalls along the Columbia River east of Portland : )
Caught : )  a small : (  Rainbow Trout in the Smith River.
Went through Redwoods National Park  - saw Redwoods : )
Drove along the Northern California coast : )
Visited Wailaki cmpgrnd, steep, narrow, winding road(at night!) - No Vanagons
there : (
Drove to Ukiah - no motel rooms available : (
Santa Rosa - No motel rooms : (
Petaluma, Novato, San Rafael - NO motel rooms!  : (  :  (   : (
Finally! Hayward 3:40AM, a room with 1 bed.  Kids slept on the floor  : )  :
(
LA area.  Traffic!? on Sunday evening w/Monday a holiday?  It was a stallled
car! : (
Home !!!  : )

Summary:
3,587 miles
No flats! : ) I didn't run out of gas once! : ) In fact NO van problems of
any kind! : )
14 tanks of gas
Gas mileage: (1988 automatic, moderately loaded, nothing strapped to roof)
16.1 MPG worst tank
17.2 MPG average
18.2 MPG best tank
68-70 MPH on the 65 MPH sections : )
63-65 MPH on the 55 MPH sections : (
SLOWER on hills!  : (
13 videotapes : )

O.K., before I get flamed about the Wailaki thing, let me give you some
reasoning on why I figured it was this past weekend.
1. I didn't pay attention to the initial information on the trip because I
didn't plan to be there.  2. The directions I read said things like; "we're
going to leave at 10:00am on Friday".  3. I didn't see any reports on how the
trip went last week.  4. Martha ( I think ) did mention how well some shower
thing worked - but said that it hadn't been tested while actually camping
yet.  5. I figured that Labor Day weekend being a 3 day weekend and all would
be a natural time to plan a camping trip.
All this led up to me guessing that you'd be there.  I figured I couldn't be
600 miles from home, 22 miles from a gathering, and not stop to say hi.

Oh well, that said: Where (or when) were you???

Missing you,
Jim Davis
88 Wolfsburg (The ride for this trip)
87 Syncro (Waiting lonely at home)