Sorry for the pain, Richard.  Glad your camper held up for the trip and
served you well.  Better luck next time with the bod.  Being 76 yo, I know
how such things are.

On Sun, Oct 17, 2021 at 2:32 PM Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

>  I was Covid grouchy.  Hadn't traveled more than 60 miles away in 1.5
> years.  I decided October would be a splendid month to travel from San
> Diego to Florida.  To see a "real" rocket launch, and of course all the
> things along the way...at least whatever was open.  Had reservations and
> everything at a campsite called Jetty Park, apparently it's a jetty about 8
> miles away from launch pad at Cape Canaveral.
> All went well.  Vanagon with Subie 2.2 performed flawlessly.  About 22
> MPG.  Picked up campgrounds along the way, much fun!  Well...I was in
> Arkansas....about 40 miles from Mississippi River...and then it started.
> Lower back pain.  I didn't know if it was Acute Sciatica or just strained
> lower back muscle.  It got bad.  Made the decision to cancel and turn back
> home, it was a difficult decision.  You know how it goes.  But when you are
> not having fun, and have to precisely calculate every reaching move, every
> twisting move...yeah, time to call it a day.
> Funny....I used ALL of my equipment in Vanagon.  From Buddy Heater to 5000
> BTU window mounted A/C unit.  Max elevation was 8600, Min elevation was
> -14.  Even with back pain, my full sized TinTop bed did the job, always
> slept well.  The next morning though, when things stiffened up, was another
> story.
> Last day was 375 miles from Pichaco Peak State Park north of Tuscon to San
> Diego.
> Back is resting, and feeling better.  Lots of smashed bugs and butterflies
> to wash off trusty Vanagon, and do a thorough cleanup job inside and out.
> These are the things roadtrips are made of.  But, with total satisfaction,
> I will state that Vanagon is the way to go.  Only saw 1 other...and we gave
> each other a thumbs up....he was from Washington, probably on this list.
> Somewhere in western New Mexico.
>