Trip report: MN ---> UT ---> MN

[dhaavers]

^^^ Yeah...let's just drop in together unannounced to say Hi...!!!



- Dave
_________________
86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[Sodo]

Its travel time, folks! Pics! Posts!! (Trying to coach myself too!)

Dave I really enjoyed your trip report. Even with no mechanical crises!! Thank for putting in the time to post it.
_________________


'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[dhaavers]

CONTINUED...

DAY 13: Moab ---> Arches NP ---> Oowah CG (~75 mi)

Up early again to beat any potential crowds, we entered Arches NP about 8:00am. Especially for a Saturday the throngs were
reasonable, and we enjoyed putting through the park to the various viewpoints for so many iconic formations including
Delicate Arch (Utah state symbol). My personal favorite: DOUBLE ARCH, because how does that happen...???!!!???

Courthouse Towers:

(((additional non-van pics to be added here)))

Finished at the park in time for a delightful hamburger & malt lunch at another local icon: "Milt's STOP-n-EAT...Since 1954"...

The wait was long but the malt was creamy & delightful, the fries were hand-cut, expertly fried & salted and my Guacamole
Burger was greasy, juicy, messy and delicious. My personal favorite part of that experience was hearing each customer's
name called over the PA system, complete with what may very well be an original 1960's Echoplex tape delay...so cool!
It's like the PA at a large stadium, hearing each name echo & fade away, i.e.: "DAVE!DAVE!DAVE!Dave!Dave!..."

I bet the neighbors across the street hear that in their sleep...???

After lunch we ditched town for the cooler climate of Oowah CG up in the La Sal Mts. South of town. Never to disappoint,
the established rules of temperature and pressure applied and we found the weather to be 15° cooler once we added
the additional 4000ft. of altitude at the CG...YAY! The sound of aspens and the smell of pine felt much like home...nice.

Moonrise over Oowah CG:

Ooops...sorry to interrupt for this important...WILDLIFE REPORT:

Occasionally while partaking of a camping activity you may find yourself approached by a large black figure from the
surrounding forest. In this situation it is important to keep calm, LOUDLY let your presence be known, stand your ground,
and prepare to defend your established camping area from an approaching...COW.

It seems that the concept of "open range" extends to any and all public lands, including those in & around Oowah CG...
We only found one cow patty on the edge of our campsite, but we started a new game that day which involves
identifying forest sounds from afar, as in "Motorcycle-or-Cow???" (It's surprisingly hard to tell the difference...)

And so concluded the day, with bonafide travel to begin again tomorrow...towards home...

DAY 14: Oowah CG ---> Castle Valley ---> Kremmling CO (~295 mi)

The day started beautifully and we enjoyed the drive around the mountain on the La Sal Loop Rd, into beautiful
Castle Valley and along the CO river. At one point we were held up for nearly an hour as workers tried to pull
a car from where it had slid down the steep bank towards the river. They were not successful (needed a bigger
tow truck!) but it seems that no one had been injured, just severely inconvenienced...

Once again our UPCG app came through with great options and we selected Wolford Reservior outside Kremmling CO
for our overnight spot. Along the way we found ourselves side-by-side with another vanagon-er and had to chat up
our vans & plans... (He's a new owner with an 85 Weekender with the cabinet removed and a new Bostig install...)

Hmmm...what is it with all the engine upgrades on these vans out here in the mountains...???

Wolford Reservior ($25...yikes!) had plenty of empty sites, running water, a beautiful lake and scarcely any trees, but
we enjoyed our stay. The shelters at each site had a certain "Stonehenge" quality which I particularly appreciated:

Supper on the grill, another quiet night & more travel tomorrow...

(To be continued...)

- Dave
_________________
86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[dhaavers]

CONTINUED...

DAY 15: Kremmling CO ---> Rocky Mtn NP ---> Torrington WY (~260 mi)

Sure, what the heck...let's swing through RMNP and pick up another magnet for the fridge..Why not, we're right here...???!!!
The day was beautiful, the drive was beautiful, it was...well, beautiful! Yeah, this was our lunch stop:

Although Trail Ridge Rd tops out at 12,172 feet (!!!), we ...and the van... enjoyed the leisurely pace up the steep road.
Travel is much less stressful when everyone is limited to 30mph up the hills...!!!

We did see elk at one viewpoint in a meadow far down below...always fun to see. After starting out from one viewpoint
near the top, the van stumbled a bit & seemed to lose power. Having had NO running troubles in the 50k miles we've
put on the van the past 10 years, I pulled off as soon as I could & cracked the gas cap, thinking it might just be be
a matter of altitude/pressure/vacuum/whatever...??? I may have been right, because as soon as I did that she started
right up & ran like a champ with no other problems or symptoms. Funny how that happens sometimes...

After working our way out of the park we started putting miles on again with a drive through the beautiful canyons
of US 34 to Loveland, then North towards Fort Collins and a potential camp spot at Horsetooth Reservior.
Although a beautiful spot & nice looking camp facilities, it was barely 2:00pm when we got there so we decided
to push on into Wyoming. UPCG app sent us to the city park in Torrington, WY for $10 worth of a clean concrete
pad, running water and FLIES...OMG, THE FLIES!

We parked & put up every screen we had, then proceeded to spend every possible moment INSIDE the van,
each with our favorite flyswatter. Cooking on the grill was like a dance party at a semaphore flag corps, with
spatula & tongs instead of the customary signal flags...

Sundown seemed to settle the flies a bit & ultimately it was another quiet night, with somewhat reduced infernal buzzing...

And so ends this entry...

(To be continued...)

- Dave
_________________
86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[dhaavers]

[E1]

I do find it unfortunate that we never got to drag race.

Problem is, we'd still be on the run.


Great stuff Bro, keep it comin'!
_________________
‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[dhaavers]

CONTINUED...

DAY 17: Torrington WY ---> CARHENGE (YES!!!) ---> Chamberlain SD (~380 mi)

Today I lived another highlight of this trip for me: we were in NW NE, mere minutes away from the fabled "Carhenge", and
it would only add 7 minutes to our travel time...we had to go! For some ridiculous reason I've had this on my "why not?"
list for at least a dozen years but never quite made it, despite several near misses. Today was the day...here we go!

(Click link, then click image 3x more for full resolution & panning: https://photos.app.goo.gl/uRmE37GLBcTk9gxWA)

Yes, Waldo - there is a van somewhere in each of those pictures!

As it was in the path of totality of the solar eclipse last summer, I considered making this my destination but decided
it would probably just get too crowded & weird. Did anyone else make it there...???

PS: I guess these guys did:

Well, with the fun out of the way we were ready to buckle down & make some miles. We had plans to make the public
CG in Mitchell SD (7 hrs total hrs driving) but got burned out on the interstate & so we stopped for tacos & a hotel at
Chamberlain SD, right on the beautiful Missouri River.

Turns out the hotel was a very good thing, as the next morning we were treated to some weather we wouldn't want
to have seen from the van, but would never have seen if we'd made it all the way to Mitchell... <shrug>

DAY 18: Chamberlain SD ---> "Vinnie's Dang Fine Dine-in" (Luverne, MN) ---> St. Peter MN (301 mi)

Hmmm...weather. Did I mention the weather? Here's what I mean by weather:

Twenty minutes of steady, pounding quarter-size hail & torrential rain, power outage & leaky roofs & windows...

It made for a slow morning getting out of the hotel, but thanks to the fiberglass top & having been parked under a large
protective tree, there was no damage to the van. We hit the road but needed gas; the station we found was also out of
power but was soon back in business after another little wait. Seems to be the way things are going today...???

A few miles down the road, the WonderVan got really chuggy. Suspecting bad gas (and because I was due for a new
fuel filter anyway) I added a bottle of HEET & swapped in my spare filter at a rest area. Things were much better and
we got ourselves to our new favorite small town diner (on the recommendation of good friends we were planning to
see before the end of the night)..."Vinnie's Dang Fine Dine-in" on the strip in beautiful Luverne, MN:

Great reviews! https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g432...esota.html

"No music, No cook", indeed...Vinnie is the guy at the grill right in front of you and does his job well until the end
of the album on the turntable, when he goes over to either flip it or put on a new record...a real 12-inch vinyl disc,
mind you...and when the music stops, you know he's done for the day...

PS: The burgers were exceptional, the onion rings were the best I've had and the music was classic and approachable
(we heard the "B" side of a young Lou Reed album plus the first 3 cuts from Beatles' Sgt. Pepper...) Fun & delicious!

Satisfied and with Vinnie's shift over, we hit the road again to catch up to our friends in St. Peter. There were a couple small
instances of poor running again, but they cleared up again with fresh gas &/or perhaps the stop/start resetting the ECU...???

We arrived just at beer-thirty and enjoyed swapping stories between our trip and our friends' recent long weekend in the SD
Badlands. Good times, good food, good friends... We'll need one more day to get all the way home, and here it comes:

(Soon to be continued/concluded...)

- Dave
_________________
86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[Yellow Rabbit]

[dhaavers]

CONCLUSION/EPILOGUE

DAY 19 (Final Day): St. Peter MN ---> Home

As is our custom, we spent most of the morning chatting over bacon & pancakes but soon had to hit the road.
Shortly out of town we took an unplanned detour to "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store" for some fun & to kill a
little time. As they say in the business, if you're ever on that stretch of US169, "You can't miss it!"

We visited our daughter and son-in-law in the (Twin) Cities and continued home, but not without further incident;
the rough running returned about halfway home and I struggled to work through it. I repeated my treatment of HEET
& fresh gas which seemed to help again, but the problem returned a couple more times. Now I began to suspect it might
be the ECU, as the problem seemed to "clear" with every stop & restart, but being so close to home & without additional
resources we chose to just putter home at 55mph on the scenic route & deal with it later... (More in the EPILOGUE...)

All-in-all a great trip...we learned a lot about Southern Utah and look forward to spending more time in our new
favorite spots sometime soon!

EPILOGUE/OUTFITTING NOTES (FWIW...):

There are a few ideas I've incorporated over the years, all of which made this trip easier in our Weekender:

- "Old Fart" top bunk ladder w/coat hooks:

- removable cabinet safety-strapped to side table for accessible storage:

...AND... a few other things off the top of my head we got into specifically with this trip in mind:

TIRES: General Grabber AT2's (27/8.50 R14) were brand new & made everything possible out in the sand & rocks.
We'd have never made it on the old Hankook RA08's... ***(See additional note re: wheel covers...)***

***WHEEL COVERS: I gotta say, if you put General Grabbers on the stock steel wheels, just LEAVE OFF THE WHEEL COVERS.

They do fit the rim but (in hindsight) it seems the bead area is so wide, it extends beyond the lip of the rim...

...such that the wheel covers never get fully seated and with a little sidewall flex you will lose one:

a) ascending US285 outside Denver, and...
b) negotiating the Notom-Bullfrog Rd. in Capital Reef NP...

(If you look through the pics you'll see the exact day we lost each one...) Eventually I just took the other two off
and you can see them riding securely in the luggage rack. I've decided not to replace them and have since cleaned up &
painted the bare rims; I'll save my money for some yet-to-be-determined 15" <or> 16" option sometime in the future...

FRIDGE: The affordable Dometic CC-40US worked flawlessly and saved us $$ and hours searching for ice...

AWNING: Our CCA ("Cheap Chinese Awning") off eBay was a workable ARB knockoff, but by the time we got home there were
two rivets loose that needed attention. With continued diligence and maintenance I expect it'll work fine for many years...

"ALUMINET" SHADE TARPS: I had a few members ask about these...we love 'em:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LG1CB4K?tag=viglink129040-20

TINY LITTLE CAMP TABLE: Perfect for outside <or> inside the van:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H3VCD6C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

TOILET TENT & BAGS: Yes, you gotta have your own potty for dispersed camping on BLM land. We went cheap & disposable:
https://www.amazon.com/Reliance-Products-Double-Do...potty+bags

...(& also for #1): https://www.amazon.com/Travel-John-TravelJohn-Disp...&psc=1

If you got this far, thanks for reading...Questions? Post 'em up!

Happy 4th!



<fin>

- Dave
_________________
86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[E1]

Epic stuff D, Thank You!
_________________
‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[Love My Westy]

I was always leaving my plastic original hubcaps on dirt roads is So. Utah. After many many years and lots of dollars replacing them I suddenly got a small windfall which allowed me to buy a set of 15" Rheins.

Glad you had a good time out in Utah. My wife's cousin and her husband came out from Minn, in April and we met them in Moab for some mountain biking.

[dhaavers]

I managed to keep 4 nice OG wheel covers on the van for the first ten years, then put on
bigger tires & lost 2 of em in less than ten days. Coincidence? I think not, good sir.

Just sayin...

<shrug>

- Dave
_________________
86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[JimmyJagged]

Thanks for posting. I really enjoyed your story and all of the pictures.
_________________
Current:
1971 Tin Top Weekender Bus
1973 Squareback
1985 Pop Top Weekender Vanagon (my 19yo son's first car. father/son project)
1985 Pop Top Weekender Vanagon w/ 2.5 Subaru

Past:
1976 Rabbit diesel (my first car). RIP. totaled by drunk driver (not me!)
1973 Pop Top Westfalia Weekender Bus. RIP. Blown engine due to 25yo ignorant of VW maintenance (me).
1986 Vanagon Transporter. RIP. totaled by drunk driver (not me!)
1987 Vanagon Syncro. I never should have sold.