Hard to beat the Eastern Sierras and 395 for an extended road trip.
Especially in the winter - it is spectacular. Great story, Don.

Jeff
On Apr 4, 2009, at 7:08 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:

> Date:    Sat, 4 Apr 2009 07:03:37 -0700
> From:    Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
> Subject: again sucessful-3 months as a Snowbird, Vanagon trip report-
> Long
>
>  Another fine "winter" trip in the 84 topless faux-westie.  Headed
> down =
> Hwy 395 from south-central Washington state just ahead of the first =
> major snow in Dec.  Traveled through the High Desert of Oregon,
> fully =
> loaded, enjoying the tailwind and the uncrowded highways of late =
> fall/early winter.  The inline four 1.8liter motor  again just
> 'singing =
> it's high-pitched song' happily delivering about 22 av. mpg with two =
> bikes on the rear and about 1000lbs of stuff inside. =20
>  Pre-trip:  Re-built my CV joints, changed oil and all the filters, =
> checked the belts and inventoried my 'spares'.  Put on the =
> Hakapel...(can't spell that name) snow tires, just in case of Sierra =
> snow. =20
>  Drove a long day, from near Portland, Or. to Bridgeport, Ca. where
> I =
> caught some sleep in the town market's parking lot with a few =
> 18-wheelers for company.  A bit cold at ~7000' elevation (10-f right =
> now) and somewhat crowded inside the van with my 100lb Chesapeake =
> retreiver and my gear, tools, and bike stuff, but once I made my
> "nest" =
> I slept warm and deep.    Put my coffee on the stove in the am.
> without =
> getting out of my sleeping bag.  That warmed the van up as I enjoyed
> the =
> sunrise on those spectacular 10,000' peaks just a few miles across
> the =
> meadows.  Headed on south a few hundered miles to near Bishop, Ca.
> where =
> I took a mid-day bike-break to ride up to one of the lakes NW of
> town.  =
> About half way up that 4000' climb on the bike, it dawned on me that
> I =
> was soon headed into the So-Cal Megapolis and that I'd better pay
> some =
> attention to rush hours, and crap like that....Of course, I hit it =
> perfectly, dropping into San Bernardino at about 5:00pm.  To my huge =
> suprise and delight, there were no traffic jams this time and I just =
> 'sailed-through' onto I-8, escaping east into the Coachella valley.  =
> "Smell-A" traffic is quite a shock after little Lyle, Washington
> (Pop. =
> about 350) and that beautiful drive down the Eastern Sierras.     It =
> seems NAFTA is still going strong, with plenty of Mexican trucks
> plying =
> the roads, filled with produce.  At freeway speeds (minimum ~70mph) =
> amongst all those semi-trucks and speeding SUVs, the VW Vanagon
> demands =
> your full attention.  Defensive driving.
>  Found my Honey's campsite (she preceeded me in a second vehicle)
> out =
> in the desert with the help of my Unity spotlight and my huge KC =
> Daylighter driving lamps.=20
>
> Return trip:  After some great camping and some fun bike races, some =
> interesting side trips and some Mexican dental work, etc etc. I
> headed =
> back north just a few days ago.=20
>   Left the El Centro/Salton Sea area at around 11am without any
> special =
> vehicle prep needed.  Just shoe-horn in all the tools and bikes and
> dog =
> food bags and fill the tank with Ethanol mix for about $2.25/gal.
> My =
> odometer trip meter began  sticking recently but someone clued me in
> on =
> how to read the Vanagon gas gauge, so I was figuring each mark on
> the =
> gauge meant ~75 miles of travel (when the trip meter did stick)   It =
> still bothers me when the gauge goes into that red zone (1/4 tank =
> left)..German engineers....
>   We (me and Jake the Dog) hit some stiff side-headwinds in the
> Mojave =
> near Ridgecrest, Ca. but the sun was out and the wildflowers are in =
> bloom.  Leaves were emerging on the cottonwood trees in the Owens =
> Valley, the grass is greening up and the new calves were all
> sleeping =
> happily near their Mommies.  Lots of Raptors seen, including a =
> spectacular Golden Eagle. =20
>  Another looong day behind the wheel found me near the Oregon border
> by =
> around mid-night.  I found a forest service side road to catch some =
> Zzz's just south of Alturas, Ca.  The little "mouse-motor" 1.8
> liter, =
> loaded as my van usually is when traveling,  has to "pant hard" on
> those =
> high Sierra passes, a few of which are over 8000' and sometimes have =
> headwinds.  It doesn't seem to bother it much to just notch back to
> 4th =
> gear when the speedo drops to 60mph and then hold it there..
> (sometimes =
> it does slide down to 50mph)...It sounds kinda 'sweet', running
> uphill =
> at that higher RPM with my dynaflow muffler system...Pretty un-WBX =
> sounding...Reminds me of a Kawasaki motorcycle or =
> something..Interestingly, the mileage actually goes UP when this van =
> encounters mountain driving like that.  Around 25mpg...
>  For once I didn't encounter any snow squalls passing Lakeveiw, Or.  =
> Only some quick hail which came in intense bursts.  Everyone along
> the =
> way was doing 'spring things', plowing fields, moving cattle, fixing =
> roofs, etc etc. =20
>  Pulled into Lyle-Land late afternoon of the second day out.  No van =
> problems, a great trip. =20
>  Have to love the Vanagon for this kinda adventure...
>
>  Don Hanson