Fishing for Don's weight? He's a cyclist. Probably weighs 145 dripping
wet. You've seen those guys. Has 26-inch hips.

Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
KG6RCR

On 9/25/2007 11:31 AM Jake de Villiers wrote:

> Sounds like good fun, except for the alternator part.
>
> Was that weight with driver aboard?
>
> Thanks, Jake
>
> On 9/25/07, Don Hanson <dhanson@gorge.net> wrote:
>> Just had a wonderful trip to the Eastern Sierras in California.  From
>> Southeastern Wa. state down the high desert, through the Reno Carson
>> valley
>> and to Bishop, California for another bicycle race.
>>   First day out, I camped at a BLM campground off US 395 just northeast of
>> Susanville, Ca after about 9 hours on the road, with one detour, an hour
>> on
>> my bike to keep my legs loose.  Odd campsite, up high on a juniper mesa,
>> with only the campground host there and some snow on the ground from an
>> early fall weather system I was playing tag with all weekend..  The 84
>> with
>> inline 4 1.8 liter ran great, the abbreviated westy interior worked
>> perfectly to give me a good rest for the next day.
>>   Down 395 again, through Reno and it's normal traffic jam,  right at the
>> morning rush hour.  Thousands of Harleys on 395...no exaggeration.  The
>> trees were still fully leaved, just starting to yellow.  There were
>> spectacular thundershowers around, spewing snow and rain, putting a full
>> white cap on the peaks of the Sierras.  Not exactly what I was wanting to
>> see for our bicycle race, which involved climbing up the highest paved
>> roads
>> out of the Bishop area..
>>   Camped at Brown's Town Campground just south of Bishop at around 4pm,
>> Friday evening,  just in time to pick up my race entry, mix up all my food
>> and drink for the race's early start, and hit the sack to listen to the
>> rain
>> and hail on my van's roof...A nice commercial campground, interesting to
>> watch the urban campers from LA showing the cattle to their kids...."Look
>> at
>> that, Jason, that is a C.O.W......Like what you get at McDonalds.."
>>   Camped there again Sat. nite, then down to Big Pine for Sunday's racing,
>> which took us up to the base of the glaciers north of  Mt. Whitney, then
>> to
>> the rim of Death Valley across the Owens Valley and then up to another
>> mountain top finish amongst some ancient Bristlecone pines..
>>   Back in the van Sunday at around 2pm and headed north, quite a bit more
>> tuckered out.  Planned on spending some time flyfishing near Paisley, Or.
>> on
>> the return, but my alternator quit.  That saga in another thread.
>>   Weighed the van at a weigh station and saw 4100lbs total, with 1900 rear
>> and 2100 front, full travel mode...
>> A very fun outing.  Learned a lot about electrics on the van, and became
>> intimately acquainted with all the mountain side road in the Owens Valley
>> of
>> N. California's Eastern Sierras..
>>   Don Hanson
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Jake
> 1984 Vanagon GL
> 1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
> www.crescentbeachguitar.com
>