Hi All,

Got back last night from a one-week road trip with my two older boys (both
Vanagon owners) from MA to KW. We left early in the morning on Jan 2. The
first day we drove 12.5 hours and made it to South of the Border. Camped
there for $15 for the night. Considering SoB is such a tourist trap (and we
of course fell for it) the campground was nice and clean, folks very friendly.

The second day we headed out about 8 am. Figured we'd make it to around
Miami, however we decided to press on to Key Largo. We arrived in Key Largo
around 8:30 pm. Most of the campgrounds were already closed for the night!!
Apparently Snow Birds like to get in early. As we were searching for a
campground, my wife called to say hi. I told her I'd call back as soon as
we found a campground.

About 10 minutes later she called and said she had made reservations at the
KOA at Fiesta Key which was about 20 miles down Rt. 1. The folks would be
waiting for us. Off we went. Got to the campground set up in a stiff
breeze. All night the canvas of the pop top was fluttering. No wonder I
dreamt I was on a sail boat!

Saturday morning we made the final run to KW. As I drove out of the
campground I thought I just ran over a hornets nest....weird buzzing noise
from under the Westy. Turned out to be the fuel pump. Everything was
running ok, but it did bother me.

Arrived at Boyd's Campground around noon, checked in and then drove off to
KW to do the "tourist-thing".

At this point I must digress for a moment. Last year about this time I
bought a GPS unit. Figured it would be a nice toy to have (not that I've
ever gotten lost). In May Wendy Silva (of Campers on Cape Cod fame) told me
about an activity called geocaching.

For those of you who haven't heard of geocaching, it is a sort of treasure
hunt. Folks from all over the world hide little containers of trinkets. To
find a site, you go to www.geocaching.com and get the coordinates. Armed
with the coordinates and your GPS you find the site, make an entry into a
log book and perhaps take a trinket and leave a trinket. (If you have a GPS
but not tried geocaching, try it its fun!)

Back to the Key West road trip....while in KW we did some local geocaches.
One of which was called "Trails of Margaritaville". This cache was
dedicated to Jimmy Buffett and was a tour of KW starting at his original
apartment, the place that inspired "Cheeseburger in Paradise" and ended up
at his recording studio.

Now everyone who goes to KW ends up at Margaritaville (and Sloppy Joe's,
Captn Tony's, etc). However not too many people that JB has a recording
studio there, which is in a non-descript white concrete block building in
Old KW.

Just as we found the recording studio Jimmy was exiting the studio! I
stopped him told him what we were doing (geocaching). He looked at the
instructions for "Trails of Margaritaville". We chatted for about 5 minutes
and got a great photo of Jimmy and me! That made the trip!

We also enjoyed the hospitality of a fellow Vanagon-owner - Mike from KW.
He's stationed (with his family) with the Coast Guard in KW. I gave him a
call to tell him about my fuel pump dilema. He had a spare used one which
he lent to us. I carried the fuel pump all the way home as insurance. As it
turned out I didn't need the pump. The old one still buzzes, but still
delivers fuel. I'll get a new one next week. Thanks Mike!!

We left KW on Tuesday morning, drove to Daytona Beach where I spent a "lost
year" in 1970/71. Wow that place changed! Wednesday drove to Virginia, and
then home on Thursday.

All in all the Westy performed flawlessly - average speed 68 mph, and 18
average MPG, total distance 3500 miles in 8 days.

  Dad and the two boys had a wonderful time "bonding"...they want to do
another road trip!!

Ric