At 12:12 PM 9/21/2012, Stuart MacMillan wrote:
>I routinely pack up the van after camping and forget to lower the top.  I
>usually see that though before I drive off!  Then I forget to close the
>skylight and drive off . . .  The mental exercise of loading all my crap in
>the nooks and crannies apparently exhausts my brain cells.

Starting Checklist.  First items for camping, last two always.

Cord unplugged (and hose, if you're one of the four people who uses one).
Graywater arrangement packed up if applicable
Jacks and Chocks pulled
Top closed
Skylight fully open or fully closed*
Last thing before driving off - every single time - reach over
shoulder and verify that the poptop latch pin is fully seated flush
with the lock assembly.  You remember this better after the top jumps
open when you're doing sixty.

Print it, stick it on the dash, touch each item with your finger
before turning the key.

On my little graywater tank (two-gallon gas tank painted gray, close
to invisible if you weren't looking deliberately) I had a nylon cord
with a spring clip to the driver's door handle.  I use bright yellow
chocks and put them on the driver's side when possible (at Buses by
the Buoy a couple weeks ago the entire left side of the van was a few
inches off the ground so they couldn't, but usually no problem).

*One of the things I miss about the Westy is that skylight, and I
drove over 125,000 miles with it open most of the time except in the
winter.  It's located on a neutral-pressure area of the Westy roof so
it will either take in or discharge freely under way.  That includes
rain, but you can reach the knob by stretching back, to close it
without stopping.  As long as it's fully open it won't rattle around
and beat up the rollers.  You need to drill a couple drain holes in
the bottom of the vacuum-formed mechanism housing so any rainwater
will drain through and not accumulate (whether or not you drive with it open).

Yrs,
d