Hello.  I am new to the list and look forward to lots of great information.

I own a '83 Westy and plan to drive it about 2,000 - 3,000 miles in
September with two friends.

We will leave from the MD side of DC and I was hoping to get some names of
people in that area that could help me get some things checked out/fixed
before the trek.  In particular, the refrigerator has not worked since I
purchased the Van a year ago.

Have not checked to see if it runs on the battery yet.I have heard that
sometimes you have to run the van for a while before the battery will juice it.

When trying to use the propane, I can get it to ignite, but it goes out
within seconds of igniting.  Any thoughts beyond continuing to pump, or
trying to get it lit while on the road for a while (to improve the oxygen flow).

I know this kind of problem comes with the territory, but wanted to see if I
can get it fixed (by meself or someone else) before we head out.

We will travel through the following cities, so any recommendations for good
repair folks along the way would be much appreciated:

DC to NYC to Chicago to Little Rock to Dallas to Nebraska to Denver.
(Unfortunately a lot of these locales are not listed in some of the
web-based Vanagon repair rcommendation lists that I have searched)

Thank very much.
________
Jim Kingdon
Managing Director
Kestrel Ventures, LLC
Kingdon@virginia.edu    jim_kingdon@bigfoot.com