We are getting to closer to committing to our plan of traveling
the Southwest for approximately 4 weeks starting in mid-December.  We are
planning on shipping our van to the Seattle area next month and flying down
to pick it up around December 15th.  Several List Members have generously
offered a place to store the van until we arrive and I hope to make the
decision on which one will work best for all involved shortly.  Once we
arrive at the van we will load it and hit the road as we have to pick up our
daughter at Humbolt State University on the 16th or 17th.  We plan to travel
south from Humbolt as stops at either(or both) Van Cafe or GoWesty are in
order as the van needs new bumpers and maybe a few other items.  From there
we plan on being somewhere in Arizona most likely Tucson, Scottsdale, or
Sedona by Christmas to be with family and/or friends.  On the return leg of
the trip we have to drop our daughter back at Humbolt, our 9yr old son at an
airport for an escorted flight home, stash the van someplace in storage
until Spring, and get on a flight to Las Vegas for a Conference.  This will
of course happen without a hitch as we all know that a Vanagon will never
let its operator down nor leave them stranded on the side of a highway.  If
you were wandering the Southwest during this time of year where would you go
and what would you do?  I am also looking for one or more books I have seen
mentioned on the List in the past that identified camping sites(BLM and
others) etc.  If anyone knows the titles of any of these books please let me
know so I can track them down more easily.  I had them at one time but they
are lost to an old email address that i can no longer access.  I would love
to meet up along the way with some of the List members that I only know by
their Posts so if anyone is interested drop me an email and we will see if
the schedule works.

TIA

Mark in AK
`87 Westy Syncro