TheSamba.com :: View topic - Headed to Oregon/NorCal coast after Christmas!

Tue Dec 31, 2013 11:12 pm

Home safe with my kitty cat :) Only 0.1 issues with the van! Drove 740 miles today with one fill up (pretty much empty when I got home). I'll get a full report with pictures and mileage soon.

Axle issue never repeated itself on the road home. It only clicked a couple times on an offramp headed to lost coast, before that it was intermittently yanking my steering wheel around (same pull as right before I exploded front outer CV cage). Perhaps it chipped and finally moved around? It's on the list of things to do before next trip.

Happy New Year!

Wed Jan 01, 2014 1:37 pm

Welcome home!

hans j wrote: Drove 740 miles today with one fill up...

It only clicked a couple times on an offramp headed to lost coast

740 kilometers more likely, still fantastic mileage, curious what speed, and definitely jealous, congrats

did you go to USAL Campground? Was the gate for USAL road to Shelter cove locked?

Wed Jan 01, 2014 5:23 pm

hans j wrote: Drove 740 miles today with one fill up (pretty much empty when I got home).

Guess I worded it weird. Had a nearly full tank, drove, filled up once and got home empty. So I guess I used two tanks :) But I did drive 740 miles in one day, it was a LONG day... But I did also do 700KM on a single fill up and only put in 14.5 gallons :)

Filled up in Willits, drove 40ish miles to Clear Lake (found a dirt road to camp on), next day drove to Lovelock NV (total 342 miles and filled with 12.119 gallons) filled up and ate lunch, then drove home (430 miles and unknown gallons yet). I will be filling up the tank tonight so I'll have mileage and gallon totals of the entire trip. Scan gauge read 26.5mpg average when I got home last night though, and that was at 65-70 mph with spending a lot of the time a couple hundred feet behind big trucks. I definitely get way better mileage driving slow and on dirt! Throwing a brick through the wind at those speeds isn't fuel efficient...

Did not attempt the Usal road but the guy at the Redwood N and SP center said it wasn't bad. We drove down to Mattole Beach instead. The CV joint issue scared me away from any more dirt or sand. I didn't want to push it and HAVE to remove the axle when it was feeling OK most of the time on the pavement, and it didn't act up at all on the entire drive home. Just a little weird before we got to Ferndale.

Fun trip though, I'll definitely be back!

Wed Jan 01, 2014 5:36 pm

posts without pics suck :x

Wed Jan 01, 2014 8:44 pm

carterzest wrote: posts without pics suck :x
So where the hell are all of your trip pics with HansJ and Rich? :roll:

Wed Jan 01, 2014 9:00 pm

VanWilder wrote: carterzest wrote: posts without pics suck :x
So where the hell are all of your trip pics with HansJ and Rich? :roll:
Owned.

Wed Jan 01, 2014 9:30 pm

VanWilder wrote: carterzest wrote: posts without pics suck :x
So where the hell are all of your trip pics with HansJ? :roll:
I guess if you would not have gotten all butthurt and unfriended me from that FacePlaceThingy, you may have seen them :wink:
I sent them all to HansJ to post, but, since you asked……

These were actually videos…hopefully Teh HansJ will post those as I sent them to FB then deleted them :oops:

Teh HansJ's lovely girlfriend Claudia took some epic shots you can be sure, and I am certain as soon as Teh HansJ gets the feeling back in his backside, he will be posting some epic iPhonic shots as well :D

Wed Jan 01, 2014 9:42 pm

Uh yea, I don't do the facebook thing anymore. I deactivated my personal facebook. The only ones I have are pages. Like the following.

Shameful plug. https://www.facebook.com/PortlandMusicLive 8)
LIKE IT!!!!

Carter, bye the bye, no FlyingDutchman?

Wed Jan 01, 2014 9:57 pm

VanWilder wrote: Uh yea, I don't do the facebook thing anymore. I deactivated my personal facebook. The only ones I have are pages. Like the following.

Shameful plug. https://www.facebook.com/PortlandMusicLive 8)
LIKE IT!!!!

Carter, bye the bye, no FlyingDutchman? Too much driving and not enough camping for Teh Rich…..He would have arrived at Nehalem at 8:30ish after working that day and it just did not work out. Next time. We entertained ourselves just fine over an iced bottle of Jahbah~D's vintage bubbly and had a great time seeing the sites. It was weird pulling over at all of the turnouts for pictures, but nice to remind myself of the beauty that is around us.

Wed Jan 01, 2014 10:28 pm

Yup, thanks for the sight seeing zesty, it's pretty up there! Today we actually had a vacation from vacation. I got to use my new kitchenaid mixer to make cookies and hang out at home. Back to work tomorrow.

I'll be loading more photos, we have a lot! I have a google map of our route too minus the detour to the Astora Spire thingy... Shame we missed the Lewis and Clark visitors center, we could have stamped our National Park passport!!! Guess we'll have to go back :)

Here's a couple, many more on the girlfriends camera but in RAW format so it will take a bit to deal with. Also going to add them all to my blog since there are several non-vanagon photos.

Thu Jan 02, 2014 5:24 pm

Looks like it was a fun winter trip. I'd prefer more time to drive that far though. I drove 4,000 miles up to and all over Vancouver BC and back in a couple weeks and it didn't seem too bad except the interstates.
Dave

Thu Jan 02, 2014 5:38 pm

davevickery wrote: I'd prefer more time to drive that far though.

Me too, tell my boss I need more time off :D

I didn't mind the interstate long drives, but would have been nice to explore the towns more.

Sun Feb 23, 2014 1:04 pm

Oh hey I finally got everything uploaded!
http://hansallover.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/christmas-vacation-astoria-or-to-lost-coast-ca/

Sun Feb 23, 2014 6:07 pm

hans j wrote: Oh hey I finally got everything uploaded!
http://hansallover.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/christmas-vacation-astoria-or-to-lost-coast-ca/ Nice. Great to see some driving shots of my van. You guys really had a great trip!! I can't believe how much ground you covered so fast, must be Teh TDI conversion :shock: