if it didn't get to whole list somehow..
my comment is ...
That all sounds awesome Gary !!

Scott
www.turbovans.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary Bawden" <goldfieldgary@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2011 7:47 AM
Subject: Cross-country trip report

> Greetings once again, Vanagaroons (not to be confused with vinegaroons)
>
> Well, I am nearly home, just the 185 mile milk-run from Las Vegas to
> Goldfield to remaining.
>
> This has been a really great road trip, with the space shuttle launch
> as my primary motivator, but finding that meeting several of our list
> members was really what I'll remember the most. Thanks again to John
> Rodgers, Unca Joel, and Jim Felder in Alabama (I miss the Brrmp!
> Brrmp! Brrmmp-brrmp-brrmp! of Alabama's "Intersection approaching,
> Will Robinson" road bumps already). And while travelling through
> Arizona, no trip would be complete without a stop at Karl Wolz's
> abode, who kindly offered me a place to stay (and sprung for a bean
> burro!).
>
> The following may be of interest to anyone familiar with I-17,AKA the
> Black Canyon freeway, connecting Phoenix with Flagstaff, AZ. I
> consider this road to be my nemesis, having driven it from the first
> time I had a driver's license, with any number of different vehicles,
> I've destroyed two engines on this road (part of this was any
> teenager's necessary 'learning curve').
>
> I entered the I-17/Northern Avenue interchange at 6:30 pm, with a full
> tank of fuel, and headed out of town. I was able to leave Hector in
> fourth gear up the first major pull until approaching the sign for
> "Bumble Bee exit, one mile", at which point I went ahead and
> downshifted to third, and was able to pull the hill all the way to the
> Sunset Point rest area, keeping my road speed at forty mph, EGT's at
> 1200 plus or minus about 25 degrees, manifold pressure I kept at just
> a hair under nine psi (the wastegate opens at around 9.5 psi). The
> cooling temperature was up, but not alarmingly so, and after Sunset
> Point was able to cruise normally (55 - 58 mph), bringing it up to 70
> mph for crossing the Verde River bridge, then keeping my speed up for
> the next set of hills. I was in third gear a total of four times, none
> of the rest of the hills any more challenging than the first one, and
> I arrived in Flagstaff in an astounding (for a former splitty owner)
> two hours and twenty-two minutes!
>
> After such a successful run up the hill, of course I went directly to
> the Beaver Street Brewery in Flagstaff, where I celebrated with a pint
> of IPA and a salmon BLT sandwich - - yum!
>
> Then I headed back down the Lake Mary road to the Marshall Lake
> campground, easy to find even in the dark.
>
> The next morning, after hanging around Flagstaff for a few hours, I
> had an uneventful trip out to Kingman, AZ, then up US 93 to a spot I
> camp at fairly often, just off the Temple Bar road (m.p. 19 on US93,
> up the Temple Bar road about 1.3 miles and then a couple of hundred
> yards up the power line access road. Very quiet there, you can see the
> planes with their landing lights on, approaching the Las Vegas
> airport. Nearly hit a sidewinder on the way up the dirt portion, but
> backed up, got out to ascertain that he was what I thought he was,
> which alarmed the snake, who side-wound his way to under the nearest
> bush, where he buzzed away in a most alarming fashion!
>
> Once I get home I will add up the final figures regarding total trip
> mileage, fuel mileage, and the like.
>
> Signing off,
>
> Gary