maybe you'll luck out and get a little girl as cute as Daniel's.

> From: Dan Snow <dieselvanagon@HOTMAIL.COM>
> Reply-To: Dan Snow <dieselvanagon@HOTMAIL.COM>
> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 11:31:13 -0800
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Episode II: A Boy and his Van; A trip to Chiricahua National
> Monument
>
> Dude, marry this Lauren gal before she gets away.
>
> Daniel Snow
> PhD Student
> UC Berkeley
>
> '82 Vanagon Diesel
> '78 Puch Maxi Luxe Moped
> '72 Motobecane Mobylette Moped
> '01 Xootr Scooter
>
>
>
>> From: Mike Williams <westyvanagon@YAHOO.COM>
>> Reply-To: Mike Williams <westyvanagon@YAHOO.COM>
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Subject: Episode II: A Boy and his Van; A trip to Chiricahua National
>> Monument
>> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 11:22:16 -0800
>>
>> So...Listees...it's been a while since I've had time
>> to write about my adventures in Van-life.  A lot has
>> happened since the last episode and I've taken the van
>> a few interesting places!  So sit back...take your
>> shoes off...and you'll be magically whisked away
>> to...well...just read
>>
>> The Chiricahua National Monument in Coronado National
>> Forest is beautiful this time of year...or any time of
>> year for that matter...not to mention one of the few
>> places in Southern Arizona that fall foliage occurs.
>> Being from central/western Massachusetts...I enjoy the
>> fall leaves more than anything...and since I've missed
>> them for 2 years in a row because of college...I
>> needed some sort of color.  So...me and my good friend
>> Lauren set out on a friday morning two weeks ago
>> through the east-valley of phoenix on an drive that
>> would end up taking a little longer than expected.
>> The first part of the drive, through the desert valley
>> and into the Superstition Mountains was very pleasant
>> indeed...the temperature dropped about 5 degrees in
>> the mountains to make it just comfortable enough to
>> keep the windows open (i mind you this IS
>> phoenix...and it's still hot out here!!!).  The van
>> (good ol "Bad Larry") held up very niceley through the
>> mountains...while climbing especially...ran like a
>> champ.  Onward through the desert valleys...past
>> mountains...canyons...and gorges.  We drove through
>> the Navajo indian reservation at one point and got a
>> lot of smiles from natives in cars driving by.
>> Finally arriving at Wilcox, AZ around 10 we took our
>> last gas stop before doing the last leg of driving
>> into the park itself (the park was only about 30 miles
>> away now)...I filled up the tank with gas...went
>> inside to pay...and when i came out...ANTIFREEZE!!!
>> ALL OVER THE PLACE UNDER MY VAN!!!  I wanted to cry
>> (and i came close)...I looked under to see the strong
>> leak coming from the thermostat housing where a gasket
>> must have blown or melted or something of that
>> matter...so then I panic...and i have visions of
>> myself making a gasket out of duct tape to finish the
>> trip when my cute companion got the idea to go ask a
>> trucker if they had any ideas.  Lauren is a very
>> resourceful person to bring on a trip...she flashes
>> those baby blues and about 20 older men come running
>> to see what the problem is.  Luckily...one of the men
>> that came over pointed out to us that there was a
>> truck repair station across the parking lot open 24
>> hours!  Damn...I was lucky.  So...I had the lady go
>> over to the front desk and ask them if they had any
>> gasket material...and she came back with a good size
>> piece...good enough to have plenty room for error
>> anyway.  so...i spent the next two hours trying to get
>> to the bolts of the coolant pipe that attatched to the
>> thermostat housing...and almost got squished by the
>> vanagon thanks to that damn unstable bilstein.  With
>> lauren holding the light...and even getting her hands
>> pretty damn dirty loosening some bolts i couldn't
>> reach, we finally pulled through.  Then, lauren being
>> the design major at ASU...I asked her to cut up a
>> gasket by eyeing it...because there was no way I was
>> taking off that whole pipe (if I could eplain which
>> one it is...you'd understand why it was so difficult
>> to get to)...so she made the gasket...a PERFECT fit!!!
>> I put some gasket sealer on there and tightened up
>> the bolts, put all the belt wheels back on and all the
>> other parts i took off...and started her up to drive
>> across the parking lot to the nearest hill to fill my
>> coolant system.  So...I fill the coolant tank and let
>> it run...fill it again...awesome...the gasket held!
>> Now I was ready for bed...seeing as how all that took
>> around 5 hours...Lauren being the trooper she
>> is...stayed up with me the whole time.  So I go to
>> pull the van off the dirt incline i pulled on to fill
>> the coolant system...and yep...you guessed it...I got
>> stuck...buried myself a whole about a foot deep...at
>> the bottom of the ditch was an even bigger ditch...so
>> forward was not an option.  Lauren pulls through for
>> me again...and has a trucker pull us out with his big
>> rig tow truck out of the kindness of his heart (still
>> paid him though)...and we just decided to sleep there
>> to end the day of disaster before it got any worse.
>>
>> In the morning...everything seemed ok...and I ran the
>> van to check the coolant level and see if there were
>> any leaks...tight as a drum.  So after a breakfast of
>> "Westy scrambled eggs and toast"...we headed onto the
>> monument...through more beautiful desert...almost
>> resembling South Dakota if it weren't for the distant
>> mountains.
>>
>> At the parks entance began a new world...mountain
>> roads climing the walls of a canyon...looking out at
>> some of the most amazing rock formations I had ever
>> seen.  Not just your plain jane rocks either...massive
>> volcanic uplifts that had shaped into totems after
>> millions of years of erosion.  It felt like we entered
>> a time warp that took us back to the days of the
>> dinasaurs.  Amazing scenery...and wildlife too!  Trees
>> that grew straight out of cliffsides and seemed to
>> defy gravity...deer running alongside the road in the
>> forest...and large birds that seemed to get a kick out
>> of humans.  We climbed to the top of the mountain with
>> no problems and hiked a little while before sunset on
>> the trails that overlooked this amazing valley of what
>> appeared to be volcanic tombstones or totem poles of
>> the gods.  We watched the sun set behind the mountains
>> in the west and drove to a secluded road to camp for
>> the night.
>>
>> For saving the day, I made Lauren some Vanagon Gourmet
>> Spaghetti with garlic bread and garden salad...she
>> slept while i cooked, and we had a candle light dinner
>> in the Westy to top off the day.
>>
>> The next morning we woke up and drove into the
>> monument again for some more hiking and saw some more
>> of those blue birds that we had seen the day before.
>> They seem to have NO fear of humans at all...they flew
>> up to us...within feet...and stared at us just as we
>> did to them.  Since we had already had our share of
>> hiking the previous day...we took it easy and made a
>> short hike...and decided to drive home before the sun
>> set so I wouldn't have to drive all night to get back
>> to Phoenix (it was about a 5 hour drive in the Van).
>> Off we drove...away from the magical land of
>> Chiricahua...back to the city of Phoenix...where it's
>> somewhat painful to breathe.
>>
>>
>>
>> Coming soon...Episode III: The Grand Canyon Adventure!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> __________________________________________________
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>
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