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  View original topic: California to Michigan Road Trip with Pics
thinair Sat Mar 29, 2008 10:05 pm

I don't know if you read my post a few months back when I was pondering the weather and whether travel from California to Michigan was a good idea during March.

I felt that the general concensus was to wait until summer, but my van has this voodoo like way of calling me when I'm away. Maybe it was the fact that my dad was starting to take her camping and I saw the wonderful photos on line.

I booked a one way flight with a do or die mentality that ended in success. I visited 3 national parks, traversed 6 mountain passes, one that was above 10,000', covered 2900 miles and 10 states, with a grand total of 52 hours of driving. My speedo now reads 264,???.??

I only had one minor van issue that would only happen on the flats when I was traveling about 65-70mph. The engine would intermitantly cut out, kind of like a hickup of sorts. Enough for me to feel, but not enough to slow the van, or otherwise hault my travel. It did mess with my confidence causing me to pray loudly and talk sweetly to the van. All of this took place as I drove across Kansas and Missouri. Maybe the van was trying to keep me awake, it worked!

I'm happy to have my van back with me and looking forward to Buses on the Beach this summer!

Overall it was an awesome trip! I never even opened my engine compartment. Enjoy the pics! Click on the following link: :vw:

http://stevec.smugmug.com/gallery/4610257_Jh3oJ#271922652

wyomingriviera Sat Mar 29, 2008 10:19 pm

thinair wrote: ...but my van has this voodoo like way of calling me...causing me to pray loudly and talk sweetly to the van...Overall it was an awesome trip!

the calling card of a memorable trip :D

Randy in Maine Sun Mar 30, 2008 1:46 am

Looks like a great trip.

I have seen those very signs!

fastwagens Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:56 am

that sounds great, I would like to hear more find me at busses I have the maroon Carrier vanagon. see you then.

ranchero Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:28 am

Great photos ThinAir! Looks like it was a perfect trip!

bheck Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:23 am

Great photos. I live in Wisconsin and hope to see you at Buses by the Beach this spring or fall.

droogvan Sun Mar 30, 2008 1:39 pm

Nice pics! With the long winter we've had I might have been tempted to steer that bad boy back west and enjoy some double digit temps for awhile! Hopefully I can get my van back on the road this summer and see you guys at BBB.

thinair Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:36 pm

I finally added captions to some of the photos if anyone is interested.

Thanks for the feedback! It was an awesome trip that I will repeat again!

My advice to anyone going through the southwest is to make sure to include Monument Valley in their drive. It's not too far out of the way, plenty of gas stops, and the best drive by scenery I've seen so far! I loved it, truly spiritual!

http://stevec.smugmug.com/gallery/4610257_Jh3oJ#271922652

hatchb4ck Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:00 pm

Very nice photos of many of the roads and scenery I have visited before.

Makes me look forward to my trip this summer to Garden of the Gods and Colorado.

Thanks for posting the pics!!

cheekoman Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:49 am

Hey thinair.. That stuttering issue happened to me and I found that it was gunk building up in my fuel pump. I pulled over, clamped the hoses and removed my fuel pump. I cleaned out the visible gunk in the inlet and low and behold.... It ran like a top all the way across NYS with no more problems.



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