hi guys.  i have been gone for a month or so, and i am now back.

i just returned to south ga from a 6500 mile around-country jaunt.

a friend and i strarted in atlanta, went to austin, tx via new orleans 
to pick up a friend, and then went to idaho for a backpacking trip.  we 
returned to denver, and those two friends both rode busses back to 
austin, and i was left to myself.  i stayed out there for a while, 
living in the van, and then drove back to northern indiana to visit my 
girlfriend, then home to south ga.  i drove from northern indiana to 
atlanta in one day--12 hours or so at 55-65 mph!  it was a bit 
uncomfortable but fun.

my van performed very well.  we were able to speed along at 65-70 mph 
when the ambient temp was below 80deg F or so, but our midday speed in 
texas (temp 100 plus) was down to less than 50 at times.  my new oil 
temp guage acted as a speedo.  i tried to keep it under 220, and when 
the air temp was chilly, it stayed at around 200.  i think this is 
pretty good, considering the huge amount of weight the van was carrying.
highest speed reached was 85 in wyoming somewhere, and the lowest was 
first and second gear in colorado on small mountain roads.

problems:  the fuel pump died in texas, and i replaced it in about 1.5 
hours during dinner with a spare electric one i just happened to have 
along.  i later replaced it with a proper mechanical one in denver.  
thanks to stock and custom parts store for that.  after the backpacking 
trip, the gas mileage went way down, and the van backfired a lot.  i 
traced the mileage problem to a clogged air filter (40 miles each way on 
a dusty dirt mining road into the river of no return wilderness area 
finished it off), and changed it in pocatello, id.  near salt lake, i 
worked on the timing and dwell for some improvement there.  the 
backfiring did not stop, and i was told that it could be an exhaust 
leak.  i fixed the leak in boulder, co, but the backfiring continued(s), 
albeit abated somewhat.  it frightened people into hiding in denver.  ;)

the trip back from denver was uneventful--i drove from denver to culver, 
in in a little over 2 days, and the van did not complain.  i still get a 
lot of backfiring, though.  i will post another letter about that.

i saw lots of vw people.  there were several living in their vans in 
boulder--alex and sam from virginia or somewhere and several others.  it 
was neat to see others doing the same as i was doing.  i saw a caravan 
of 3 seventies campers in kansas travelling west on I-70.  they waved at 
me.  the vans were painted in funky colours; anyone know these guys?

well, i will end this so you guys can go on with your lives.

i guess the moral is, you can drive around the country in a vw van and 
make good time, and not abysmal mileage.  i averaged about 20-21mpg the 
entire time, and that is with a lot of weight.

have fun

evan