Great report, Mark.  Man, Europe travel in my Vanagon is something I really want to do; shipping it over and all that.  Lots of planning and preparation beforehand of course.

I will have to look up Croatia.....your endorsement of the wonderfulness of that country is a strong endorsement indeed!
Looking forward to any tips and enlightenments you can provide for many of us who want to do something similar someday soon.
Enjoy!  I'm sure you guys are!

Rich
San Diego

      From: Mark Drillock <modrillock@GMAIL.COM>
 To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM 
 Sent: Thursday, July 6, 2017 12:54 AM
 Subject: summer trip report, Europe 2017
   
Picked up our 87 Westy again after a year in storage in Amsterdam, all
went smoothly this time. Connected the batteries, turned the key on/off
several times to prime and flush the fuel lines, and she fired right up.
I drove her on to the elevator and down she went to ground level and out
the gate of the storage business. Stopped at a gas station for fresh gas
and air in the tires. Opened the lid to have a look, tightened a weeping
fuel line clamp. That was 5 weeks ago. Netherlands, Germany, Czech,
Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, and now Slovenia. All good so far,
haven't opened the engine lid since.

The camping has been great, as expected. We have visited the usual
cities and towns as well as a few national parks. For the urban visits
we mostly camp at the edge for a few nights and take public transit in
for daytime tourist stuff and then go back again later for night time
activities. The campgrounds are busy but we have always found space so
far. I'm staying later in July and into August this year so time will
tell how crazy things get. Campground prices jump for the high season,
and policies shift as well.

In Germany we visited the big VW plant in Wolfsburg and took the tour.
It is an amazing place, with so much automation involved in the building
of the vehicles. The tour goes right through the live production lines.

CROATIA !!!!!!!  CROATIA  !!!!!!! Beautiful countryside, fabulous
coastline, nice vibe. Go there if you can.

Yep, coming back for a longer stay there for sure.

Starting Phase II of my trip this week. I had a couple nephews with me
but they are done and heading home while I carry on. An old friend is
joining me soon and then into the high country for a while.

Mark