Hello again all!

(sorry for the length on this one :)
We're back from our first major trip in our new '89 Westy, which took 
us from Shawnigan Lake, BC to San Francisco & back with only a flat 
tire & a dead sink pump!! :))

The bus performed wonderfully, even curing itself of the sticky power 
steering rack along the way. After about a week of driving US 101 I 
noticed the steering was even and smooth again! This was about the 
same time the brakes started to fade REAL bad coming down from Clear 
Lake St. Pk. to Calistoga, Ca - not a good road if you have any 
doubt about your brakes!!

I also learned that checking one tire for air, then eyeballing the 
other side doesn't work on buses... My right rear was 42 lbs, front 
45lbs (LT tires), but I still felt every gust of wind. When I finally 
checked the right rear, it was around 30lbs! It seems the Conti re-
inforced tires don't bulge much even at 25-30 lbs of air. As 
it turned out, the leak got worse & I finally put the spare on....

The sink pump also died the 2nd night, which I priced at $125 in 
Newport, Or. ouch! Water jugs worked just fine... My '89 has a VDO 
pump in the tank, but I recall seeing an '83 with the pump hidden 
under the panel in the cabinet below the sink. Has anyone tried 
switching to an external pump like this? The in-tank pump had lousy 
flow anyways, so I can't see spending that much for another one.

As for the trip, we didn't see too much of Oregon due to bad weather, 
but some highlights were:

-Ruby Beach along 101 in Wa - nice place for lunch
-Astoria - the Column & Maritime Museum were great!
-Tillamook Cheese - good tour, good cheese. 3 Capes road was good, 
    although foggy so view was limited.
-btw, along 101 just south of Tillamook, there's a shop with quite a 
few buses outside... wasn't allowed to stop though... :(
-Newport - Pacific Shores RV, for only a few $ more than state parks 
($19), you get indoor pool, sauna, hot tub, laundry, etc. Nice 
place to get cleaned up, esp. since it was raining...
-Ashland, Or, last stop before Ca along I-5. If you have to take I-5, 
there's a really nice County campground at Emigrant lake. We were the 
only ones there - great view of the lake & mountains. Brrrr it snowed 
that night just above us...
-Clear Lake St Pk, Ca is also v. nice - hot showers & we again had the 
pick of the sites.
-Pt Reyes Nat. Seashore along US1 was great! We spent 2 days there & 
felt we could spend another week easily... Plan to triple (no 
kidding) your driving time on US1 however! Quite a nasty road, but 
well worth it.
-last one - Redwood Park Beach (I think) along 101 just south of 
Orick, Ca - great free beach front sites along the highway. No 
drinking water, but good place to meet people when you go looking for 
some water... :)

Anyone know what's up with the decked out buses in Florence, Or?? Two 
70s buses with so much stuff on them I could barely tell what they 
trying to promote... 

Shawn
'88 Westy 322k (Kyra)
'85 Jetta TD 341k (Jenni)