I believe there are four options for the stranded vanagon puzzle:
   1) rent a u-haul AND truck and tow the beast home
   2) drop the van off at a mechanic, rent a car, drive home, then
return for the van a few weeks later
    3) camp out in town and wait for a fix
    4) use AAA Plus and pay the extra mileage over 100 miles

option 1 seems a little problematic because a person would have to
find both a U-Haul
    and a truck rental dealer.  This isn't really an option in some
places out in the boonies.
    I've been stranded in a town where there was no car rental agency,
much less a U-Haul.
   I had to borrow a truck from the gas station owner and drive a few
hundred miles to get to
  a town with a Hertz.  Still, I might opt for this if I was stranded
in an area fairly close to a town.

Option 2 is what I did the last time, after eventually finding a
rental agency that had a spare
sub-compact vehicle.

Option 3 was not feasible since it would take about a week and a half
to order a new transmission
and get it installed.

Option 4 seems interesting to me.  I've never tried this.   Has anyone
had any experience convincing
a tow truck driver to make a 500 mile trip?   What's involved here?

On Mon, 17 May 2004 12:48:20 -0700, Jim Kennedy <jk@projectdesign.com> wrote:
>
> What to do if you're really stranded in a Vanagon, far from home and cannot
> effect repairs.
>
> Once when traveling with my wife and 3 little people from Grand Junction
> Colorado to home in San Diego in my '87 GL, it started doing the Digifant
> dive.  Lurch, cough, blah.  You haven't lived until you coast deadstick to
> the side of I-70 in Utah FAR from ANYTHING with your family of 5, on a 100
> degree summer day.  Not even cellphone coverage.  This was my first
> experience with this kind of glitch, and I was clueless.  Fortunately I was
> able to get it to the next town (Salina).  This is what you do.  Get ahold
> of a Uhaul and TOW DOLLY and you are set.  Expensive save, but it's just a
> good thing to remember...
>
> Jim
> San Diego '87 GL
>