NY to St Louis Road Trip - Take the Van or Don't take the Van?

[katstan]

My husband, 6 year old daughter, and I are planning a road trip out to my parents' place just south of St Louis in August to see family and catch the eclipse. It's 17-18 hours each way and we're planning to take 4 to 5 days to drive out and 3 days to get back.

Our original plan was to take the van and camp the whole way and even when we're there. And then I remembered how hot it gets in the midwest in the summer and none of us sleep well in the heat. And then we had an incident with the van not starting and almost getting stuck 90 minutes from home on Sunday - no big deal given the circumstances but it made me worry about a similar thing happening in 100 degree heat with 100 percent humidity (i get super cranky and can't think straight in the heat) while potentially 500 miles from home or my parents place with no vanagon mechanics around in a towable range. We'll get the issue we had on Sunday checked out by our mechanic before we go and have him give everything a good once over at the same time but still I worry a bit as neither of us knows anything about engines yet. We do have a Bentley at least.

Now we're thinking of driving my car out instead and staying in hotels or cabins along the way. That way we'd have cruise control and a reliable vehicle we don't have to worry about. But then I am remembering all the things that had me excited about taking the van in the first place. Namely our own kitchen on the road so that we can eat well and drink good coffee the whole way there and back. We could still stay in hotels if it's too hot to camp and camp when it's not too hot. But the one other thing in favor of car vs. van is how hard it is to talk to our daughter when she's way in the back and the AC is blowing - we're thinking maybe walkie talkies would help but if not then that's another tick in the car column. I've driven the van about 4 hours and back to RI by myself but we've never done more than about 90 minutes in it together as a family so we really don't know how it is for a long road trip and this seems like an awfully long one to cut our teeth on.

So given all that and anything else I haven't thought of... what would you do?

The van is a 1990 automatic full camper btw - original engine, 166k miles. His name is Iron Pots.

[Steve M.]

It's June and your leaving in August.
Drive it and learn it by driving it.

Have you got AC in it? I forgot if you did have it.
If not make a swamp cooler out of older Ice Chest and try that. However, if you are still in a high humidity area then it will not have as much-if any effect.
Levi, out in Lost Wages would benefit from having one!

Get some electrical skill down in just the basics if you don't have any remembering the most important thing to do before you start working on any electrical wire is to disconnect the battery first! Every Time.

Check your oils for metal content and do a compression check to find out how that is doing.
Practice fire drills because it happens.
Practice on a road to yourself - turning off the engine and stopping it quickly without the aid of fully working brakes or steering.
Change a tire if you haven't had to do that yet.

Prepare for the emergencies and get confident in being able to cope with them and have a blast on the journey because you know you are personally ready for an emergency.
Your daughter too, make make her practice because it will build her up when so many kids are unable to do anything other then push buttons on a cell phone! She's part of the team effort to having fun!
_________________
This free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

There are seven days in a week. Someday is not one of them.

[Abscate]

Do the hybrid thing, Kat

One day in car, one day at h/motel. You can stay at a nicer place, enjoy a nice bath, and still save a bunch of dough.

You have planned well with 4 days to cover 18 hours of driving - remember you can also move your driving off the peak heat times to help mitigate hot weather.

Get on the Vanagon help list app, make sure you know where the people are - maybe even reach out in advance.

Then, having done all you can do, christen Iron Pots with her first major trip and jump in.

Little Iron Pots will learn a lot watching Mom/Dad do the risky and deal with contingencies in our bubblewrap world....
_________________
.ssS!

[raoul mitgong]

If you didn't have AC, that drive would be rough in August. Since you do, take the Westy!
Daily drive it until you leave to make sure all the little bugs are worked out and increase your confidence.
-d
_________________
84 Westy with a 2.1 (Groover)
86 Tintop Syncro (Crow)
86 Tintop Syncro to Westy project (Tom Servo)
91 Westy (Only the top 12 inches of this van (a burn victim))

[Tom Powell]

[campism]

Our Westy has A/C and we do not do much midsummer camping. If we do, we go north, way north. However, we came back into Maine from our Gaspe trip several years ago and it was 97F and very humid at sunset in the campground. Not pleasant and unexpected at that latitude, and I had lived in Vermont before so thought I knew what to expect.

We're planning to drive to see the eclipse and will probably be in the Westy, but it will just be for a couple of nights, a quick down and back.
_________________
'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[katstan]

[katstan]

Alright all, I do feel like I asked a bunch of sommeliers if I should have beer or wine but I'm glad to see it's unanimous so far. Now I just need to take ole' Iron Pots in to see why he's stalling out when we first start him up (unless I give him some gas at the same time). He also has a flickering battery light and a little squealing noise when he first fires up sometimes lately. Once he's running he's fine except for the flickering battery light. To Flint Automotive we will go for these mysteries soon. And I'll start driving him more in the meantime. He's been sitting in the driveway when we haven't been taking him camping every other weekend or so. Maybe he's just pouty about it.

[E1]

Setting aside the details you mentioned, as a General Rule...

We buy these vans knowing they might break down. With that, we gotta drive and use them for the very reasons we bought them.

Drive it, and Love it. The fun just happens.

And Oh, we haven't used air conditioning more than ten times in 30 years. In the worst places we do a thing we call "bake." No silly, we fill a spray bottle with water, roll the windows up until we can't stand it, spray each other without barrel-rolling the car, and roll the windows down.

Sometimes it even leads to other activities at rest areas.
_________________
‘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

[katstan]

[Steve M.]

Warning signs you need to pay attention to:

Flickering Battery Light
Squeal when starting up.

Check your FANBELT for looseness and condition.

If ever while you are driving it and the battery/alternator light comes on...
Watch that temperature gauge! Stop as fast as you can.
The Alternator Fan Belt is what spins your water pump. if that Fan Belt breaks you run the risk of overheating the engine because it is not pumping coolant.

You could seize the engine if you continue driving without coolant.
Check it before you drive it again.
_________________
This free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

There are seven days in a week. Someday is not one of them.

[katstan]

[katstan]

[E1]

[jkallo]

[jimf909]

Drive the van but only if it's at a good baseline of maintenance. The trip you describe is a cakewalk in a well-maintained van; in a poorly maintained van it often results in panicky posts to the samba.

As for the noise level, do you need to run your a/c at 3 or 4? If so, consider deleting the plenum. That helped keep noise levels down in my van.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=424773

Enjoy the eclipse!
_________________
- Jim

[E1]

[Steve M.]

[Abscate]

I'm pinned down for a couple of weeks with no travel due to partner surgery so it might be a good time to coordinate a visit to cover basic stuff

On the engine off test...

Reiterating , don't lock your steering!

You will have power brakes for the first few pumps until the booster vacuum is used up, then the pedal will change, and you will have to push harder to stop Iron Pots. Roll it into the Stewart's for ice cream to celebrate, working that steering wheel with shoulder muscles.

You have a voltmeter so you are way ahead of most electrical novices.
_________________
.ssS!

[Abscate]