Road trip, adventure & camping Threads

[EverettB]

Post links to other trip threads and we can add them here

West Virginia Weekender adventure

[Zeitgeist 13]

I just completed an epic single day road trip. I got up at 4:30am to drive my wife to Neah Bay this morning, so that she and a friend could hike from there to Rialto Beach over this coming week. I pretty much drove the entire perimeter of the peninsula since I went up the West coast and down the East coast. Any of you who have driven up there know that there are lots of hills and twisty/dippy roads, and the EV just ate it up like a champ. I credit the engine power and massive brakes and swaybars found on the '01-'03 models. It was an absolute joy to drive despite the ridiculous amount of time I spent behind the wheel. I love this van.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Broseph Stalin]

[Da TOW'D]

p stop break at 108 mile historical site -16*C

Tatla Lake Motel half way across the Chilcotin -24*C

-24*C early morning

I installed inner and outer tie rods on our ’93 Deer Slayer and did the string and ruler method of front alignment. Checked all the tire pressure including the flat spare underneath- oil change and filter- the automatic transmission checked out OK and added steering fluid to the steering reservoir. Coolant OK and plenty of spare oils and fluids.

I packed my traveling tools and headed off for a 10 hr. Drive to Kamloops BC to lend a hand on our grandson`s Subaru leaking head gasket problem.
When we left it was clear and cold -8*c beautiful day for driving. The temperature dropped to-12*C across the Chilcotin plateau We headed due east so had the sun in our eyes. Very low traffic .

We got to Kamloops and I rented a heated shop so we pulled the Subaru in and pulled it apart. I dropped the heads off at a great machine shop and they gave us a call the next day with the heads done.
I did the heads in the car and impressed with them compared to the many air cooled VW engines I`ve been into.
All back together now the grandson can get to work.
We left for home another 10 hr. trip we decided to drive most of the way then get a motel and start fresh in the morning to tackle the steep 15* switch back dirt road.
-24*C in the morning. Heading due west and into our valley where the temperature was above freezing,

Dashing through the light dusting of snow
good to be home
Cheers
Hank
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'57 type 1 Blackberry
'58 SC Ruf
'62 type 3 Notch
'92 Eurovan Willy
'99 Eurovan Winnie
and NUTS

[MrPulldown]

I just got back from a 2100 10 day trip. Van did great. Yesterday we did 80 mph (+/- 5) for almost 8 hours straight. Here are some pictures.

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2002 EVC

[Reborn627]

Just back from a lovely week in Bar Harbor/Acadia with the wife and 3 year old!

[weyax]

THE OLD MEETS THE NEW:

Salut

Alex

[hobuck]

[weyax]

Trip to Falaise and Normandie Coast

Tournai

Chambois

Gue de Moissy

St. Lambert sur Dives

Vimoutier

Camenbert

Canadien Sector

Port en Bessin

Omaha

Campside

Dead Mans Corner

Battery Crisbec

Utah

In the Bocage

Bayeux

Salut and Enjoy

[JavaJoe]

I had a similar one day adventure. I drove from Annapolis MD to Seneca Lake (finger lake region of NY), over 600 miles, to pick up a mast for my Lightning sailboat. Solo travel, 11 hours of driving, varied terrain, and the van was just awesome.

[VanGeek]

After wrenching on the 2001 weekender I acquired late last Fall, wifey and I took a long weekend at the dry river campground in crawford notch, NH. We were very happy with our first experience with it -- especially since we had a mix of nice days and rainy ones! We're realizing that we need to organize and equip it to meet our specific needs. We hike a lot, so the weekender leaves and returns to the campsite each day. Here are a few pics from the campsite

[mikemtnbike]

[VanGeek]

Thanks mikemtnbike! Great minds think alike. My wife suggested the same and for 2+ night camps we acquired a pop-up screen tent that fits over a large camp table. We'll drop our stuff inside there . For a one-nighter at the trailhead etc we don't have much stuff inside the weekender and will just deploy the awning and put a few items below it while we're sleeping inside.

Went to White Lake Campground in Tamworth last weekend. Been raining a ton here in June but experienced one good sunny day/evening on the lake. I often make videos of our hikes -- no drones allowed at the campgrounds so I used my 360 cam to capture Vanna and the site. I host my videos on odysee and don't see an easy say to embed them into posts on thesamba. Here's an external link to it: https://odysee.com/@OutdoorVids:8/22-June-White-Lake-VannaL:f

[EuroTec]

Lisa and I had a nice long weekend with "Evelyn". Tested out the new sink/stove setup. It's a bit tight with the bed folded out but still accessible enough to make COFFEE!

No pop top means no standing up without bending over so I use a small folding camp stool to sit on while I cook meals. It works great. I can reach everything I need to.

Nice spot at a campground near Hot Springs NC, only 60 miles from our house in Asheville NC.

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[VanGeek]

Not a very exciting adventure update...
However, had my weekender at the local shop for an annual inspection and found they were also working on an EVC as well.
Took a pic since I don't see many Eurovan's here in NH....

[HeyCrutch]

After camping in Redwoods N&S Parks for a few days we are continuing up the Oregon coast ...

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-2003 EV MV Weekender- Dragon Emerald Pearl- 24v VR6 - Forest
-2002 EV Camper- Arctic White - 24v VR6 - Ghost 2.0
-2003 EV GLS- Reflex Silver- 24v VR6 - (For Parts)

-1997 EV Camper- Arctic White- 12v VR6 (SOLD)

[VanGeek]

Took a weekend in Vermont with my wife to hike Camel's Hump, ride the Island Line Bike Trail in Burlington, and enjoy the sights. Camped at the Little River Campground. We use the EV to hold our gear and stuff and then sleep for the night. But rarely hang out at the campground and need the EV for travel to local destinations so we tried our new strategy: A pop-up screen tent to dump all our stuff at the campsite and keep the bugs away while eating. Leaves more room in the van for sleeping etc without having to rearrange everything and enables a quick departure each morning and setup for eating/sleeping after arrival back at camp.

Vanna was dependable and we enjoyed the journey. Had one small scare when driving up the 10% graded gravel road to the trailhead. The trans temp hit 293 and I could smell something burning -- not good! Fortunately, the trans operated fine and I discovered the burning smell was a melting plastic strap on my bike carrier that sits too close to the exhaust when the rack is folded up. Returned to this forum and learned that I should have manually downshifted to 3 or 2 to keep the temps down. Will do that in the future but will also likely install an external cooler. My trans consistently ranges between 220 and 230 on 70MPH highway cruises in our small New England Mountains and I'd like to keep things cooler.

Here are some pics from the adventure. Will make a few videos of the hike and ride and post links here when finished

The campsite. Little River sites are nicely spaced out and relatively private

Morning. Wife enjoys some coffee on the lower bunk before we head out.

Found an EVC friend at the campground!

Summit on Camel's Hump. Beautiful day but some smoke/haze from Canadian wildfires

Ready to ride our bikes in Burlington

The Island Line trail. Very unique and fun experience riding across part of lake Champlain.

[02Berry]

[debbiej]

We took the most adventurous trip yet in the 1992 T4 California Westfalia, recent import, owned for 6 months now. Leaky fuel injection pump is fixed, and the van runs great. I'm getting comfortable with driving and camping in this lovely van. mostly just short trips, on the flat, or up into the Organ mountains. A couple of weekends ago we went up to Cloudcroft NM. Highway 82 has a 16 mile stretch of 2 lane road that averages a 6% grade. It gains 4315' in elevation by the time one pulls into the village of Cloudcroft.

My only problem with the hill was that I was heading up it around 5:30 pm on a Friday, at the head of a line of impatient people wanting to get there faster. The van did fine, but it wasn't fast enough for 95% of the drivers behind me.

I've driven up that hill in an 84 vanagon westy, and a Rialta with a 5 cylinder, which was the absolute slowest. I am really learning to like this diesel! I'm getting more familiar with driving it, how much load to put it under and which gear to be in. it isn't fast, but it is steady and fun to drive. It's shown no hints of overheating, even if the temperature is in the 100s. No AC, so that takes some planning for, but it will be delightful in the fall.

we had planned some disbursed camping but it rained very hard by the time we got there, and forecast was for more rain, so we opted for a lucky spot in a developed campground. It was a wet trip and the muddy, slippery roads were no problem either.

no solar gain that weekend, so the battery was getting too low to use the diesel heater, but we sure would have liked to. the 12 v electrolux fridge did ok though.

I was a bit nervous about the drive down the hill, but it was a pleasure, even though it was raining hard. third or fourth gear with very minimal braking made it down the hill just fine.

we were comfortable, stayed dry in the van and enjoyed our time. there wasn't much wind with the pouring rain, so eventually we put out the fiamma awning. a table and grill and couple of chairs under there gave us more space.

[VanGeek]