Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles

[Jake de Villiers]

Okay, I'm finally getting caught up!
We (Story House Bluegrass) were booked to play the Shady Grove Bluegrass Festival in Nanton, Alberta last August. They offered us very good money for two sets plus a duet concert by me and Mrs. Jake and banjo and mandolin workshops from Tim and Pete.
Tim and Pete were in Pete's truck and trailer and our good friend and former professional soundman Patrick came with us in his beautiful 1990 Silver Westy and helped make us sound really good!

We lined up two house concerts as well to help defray expenses on such a long trip, one in Kelowna and one in Procter, BC and a town concert in the park in Creston.

The house concerts were terrific, intimate affairs with 40-50 in attendance and minimal PA reinforcement. It was new territory for us; very satisfying to share our music with folks almost sitting in our laps! The Creston Park show was different, ~150-200 people singing along on the grass with a huge fountain behind them and little kids running around all over!

Shady Grove was great: really good sound and an informed and attentive audience.


We saw this fabulous Morris Minor Convertible at the gas station in Kelowna on our way out of town. Guy said it was his wife's car and he was just gassing it up!

We had a great show at the Poppy Inn in Procter (Doug knows where that is!) and we were on the Harrup Ferry early the next morning.

I don't have any pix from Creston but the legendary luthier Michael Heiden was nice enough to come and see our show and jam with us afterwards.

The moon was full our first night at Shady Grove and lit up Patrick's Westy:

Our duet show was early Saturday morning and was really well recieved:

On the way back home we went up the eastern shore of Kootenay Lake from Creston and took the Crawford Bay Ferry across to Balfour:

Stopped for gas and coffee in Princeton before the climb to the pass:

1,872 miles, some of it steep, some of it fast, with no hiccups whatsoever. Patrick's van also ran very well, if a little bit slower than Dixie.
_________________
'84 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX
'86 Westy Weekender Poptop/2.5 Subaru/5 Speed Posi/Audi Front Brakes/16 x 7 Mercedes Wheels - answers to 'Dixie'
@jakedevilliersmusic1
http://sites.google.com/site/subyjake/mydixiedarlin%27
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
www.thebassspa.com

[jimf909]

What a great report! Thanks for sharing that.
_________________
- Jim

[Abscate]

Excellent , thanks for sharing. I can almost hear the twangs over here


_________________
.ssS!

[bobhill8]

Sounds great. Anywhere we can check out your music online? Wish I could take a 1000+ mile trip to hear it in person, but that's not happening right now.

[shadetreemech]

Nice report.

Thanks for the getaway, Jake.

Dan
_________________
'84 GL 1.9
'01 Volvo V70 T5
'88 Westy - "MZDRTHY"

[Jake de Villiers]

Thanks, everybody!
We've been remiss in keeping up our online presence since all our gigs were cancelled this year and CD Baby is no longer selling CDs/downloads including ours...
We're almost out of CDs and flash drives, having sold almost everything on our tour but I have emailed the album to a few people.

Here's the first cut off the CD 'Ground Floor' on Soundcloud, 'Weeping Blue Tears'. The song was written by Maiken de Villiers.
https://soundcloud.com/story-house/1-weeping-blue-...qwdrngoUZs
_________________
'84 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX
'86 Westy Weekender Poptop/2.5 Subaru/5 Speed Posi/Audi Front Brakes/16 x 7 Mercedes Wheels - answers to 'Dixie'
@jakedevilliersmusic1
http://sites.google.com/site/subyjake/mydixiedarlin%27
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
www.thebassspa.com

[jimf909]

I'd drive 1,000 miles to hear y'all play.
_________________
- Jim

[Jake de Villiers]

Much appreciated Jim, but in regular times you wouldn't have to! We've played in Maltby and at the Hovander BG Fest in Ferndale - and we're almost always at Darrington!
_________________
'84 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX
'86 Westy Weekender Poptop/2.5 Subaru/5 Speed Posi/Audi Front Brakes/16 x 7 Mercedes Wheels - answers to 'Dixie'
@jakedevilliersmusic1
http://sites.google.com/site/subyjake/mydixiedarlin%27
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
www.thebassspa.com

[vwwasatch]

Five trips this Summer totaling 3,967 miles and only issue was my rear hatch emblem fell off.

[Hatterasker]

1. '86 Westy
2. Seattle to Seattle, via heavy dirt and rock roads in North Idaho, 1147 Miles.
3. No repairs! But my passenger mirror finally cashed in and died.
_________________
1990 Vanagon Westfalia

[vwdank94]

This may be my first post but last Friday, my wife and I flew into Los Angeles CA and we bought our first Vanagon GL Westy 1988 $137,500 miles original and rebuilt engine 18,000 miles before that.

We drove all the way back to MEMPHIS TN and even went to the Grand Canyon 1,963 miles.

The only issues some of the Seal in the drivers side vent window fell apart and had a terrible whistle affect but nothing a little tape took care of it.

pulled in the driveway and the engine was still humming perfectly

I'll post pictures later as I will have to figure out how to do all that (just noticed the How to post pics link) HA

[dhaavers]

Welcome!!!

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

[leecat]

Hi Guys!

Just did 1,350 miles TWICE across the Rockies in Sept, in two different Vanagons - an '81 and an '85 - the '81 (automatic) has all the power of a tricycle, coupled with the fuel-sipping economy of a King Tiger.

The '85 ran almost as well - developed a serious vacuum leak in interior B.C. and lost idle, had to keep her over 2000 rpm for the last couple hundred miles (heaps of fun in stop-and-go construction zones) or she'd die. But made it! At this rate I'm going to have to stop bad-mouthing the original powertrains.

Waved like mad to at least a dozen other Vans/Westies along the Trans-Canada - that's my favourite part about driving a Vanagon, the sense of community. Not exactly something you get driving a Honda Accord or a Toyota Camry.

The '81 has 100k original miles, was meticulously maintained with all the dealership service records from day 1, came with the factory jack, owner's manual and tool kit, and is really, really minty and 99.9% rust free. Had to pay through the nose for her tho. The '85 camper (for parts) is actually 800 pounds of bondo sculpted into the shape of a van.

Made for fun trips though and was shocked that I didn't end up on a flat-deck even once! Mountains were gorgeous this time of year.

[82westyrabbit]

1700+ mile trip Mass to Dallas or back 3 times in the last 13 months in my unreliable vanagon. My wife’s reliable Kia on the other hand lost it’s transmission at 5000 and 4 months old. She had to he a new car for reliablity. Sorry I just had to poke. (She won’t let me sell the van). John

[space]

+3k
Chicago to Key West and "All points in between"
Only problem was air in slave cylinder from a rear disc brake conversion
And a smokey dash when a connector loosened on the seat belt/brake light
Both addressed on the road

[mcarlson_sb]

Just over 3.5k (San Francisco to Kansas City round trip - I80 there and back)
Learned to diagnose a clogged fuel filter while climbing up to Sherman Summit on the way home (you've got a lot of time to think with power cutting out at 25mph up that mountain)
Learned to change a fuel filter in an O'Reilly parking lot (the first one we found after cresting and coasting)

Once the fuel filter was changed it made it home no problems.
Pretty sure it dealt with Reno heat in late June better than I did.

Great trip

1980 Westfalia air cooled CA

Cheers,
Matthew
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1980 Westfalia (Manual) California 141000 Miles

[jimf909]

[korfmach]

Just returned from a round trip from Fort Collins to the tropics of southern Wisconsin to look after my elderly mom for a week. I would have preferred to take my 2016 Golf (2x the fuel mileage, speedier) but COVID concerns pre-empted hotel plans. So...truck-stop camping in eastern Nebraska at -15C and ice fog. Not really my idea of a great vacation, but the van did fine.

Total distance 3090 km (1920 mi), fuel consumption averaged about 13l/100km or around 18 mpg. No problems except when some water froze in between the fuel pump and the frame and proceeded to resonate most irritatingly for about half the trip. At least I think that's what happened. It finally got above freezing on the way back and melted.

This was the first really long trip I've taken in the van. I think the seats are the most comfortable I've had in any car, including the new-ish Golf. And I pity anyone crossing the midwest in a van not equipped with working cruise control. The days I spent last year diagnosing and repairing that system now seem absolutely worth it!
_________________
1989 Westy
2016 Golf TSI

Gone, but not forgotten:
1974 Dorper Baywindow, "The Bleeding Trout"
1998 Jetta TDI, "Trixie"
1987 GTI, "Heike"
1974 Thing, "The Luftwaffel"
1974 Ghia
1966 Ghia

[ElTonkin]

It’s been almost a year since lockdown. Took advantage last March and took Mellie across the bay to BusLab for new fuel lines, fuel rails, Marco injectors and a tune up. Running the best it ever has. Amazing to get to Berkeley and back through SF on a Friday afternoon in less than an hour and half!

Between campsites closed and fires, never got out except for some day trips until now. Made a trip down to Palm Springs/Joshua Tree and had a fine time hiking around for a few days on sparsely populated trails. Van ran great, gas mileage sucked heading home into a strong headwind.

Ate a lot of delicious tacos at tiny strip mall taquerias.

[oasis]