Trip Two Thoughts...

The biggest problem I ran into on this trip was that the second battery went dead. To make matters worse, the second battery went dead right as I was preparing coffee on our first morning out. In my book, really good effortless coffee is one of the perks (heh) of having power in the woods. Even when I don't have a battery and am backpacking I always have the ability to brew a cup every morning. The van failing to make coffee was a pretty serious bummer to say the least. Which brings me to the point - I need a way to monitor battery power. I've said it earlier but now I've paid the price for not having it. It's time to find a gauge and get it setup.

This weekend was my first time boondocking in the van. I added a 5-day cooler for the occasion and am happy to report that there was cold beer for the entire weekend. The cooler worked so well in fact that I'm really considering just removing the fridge entirely and converting the space to storage. I think it'd be far more useful to have a place for batteries, food, and extra water than a barely operational fridge. I'll hold on to the old beast just in case I ever decide to sell my rig but additional storage is at a premium right now.

I also carried along a five gallon jug of water since I haven't cleaned out the van's water tank nor repaired the pump. The jug provided just enough water and did the trick just fine. Having fresh water at the camp was really nice. I usually have a gallon or two but having a full five gallons was a huge difference. Getting that built in water tank back up and running just got more important. Especially if I install a water filter on the tank I think it will make a really big difference.

I'm not sure what to do about the stove. I like the stove in theory but I'm not sure my money isn't better spent just buying a nice Coleman camp stove rather than trying to repair the one that is in there. Propane is nice and all but I'm a little sketched out trying to repair this leak when the tank is covered in rust. Plus with all the horror stories I hear about people having a hard time finding a propane dealer willing to fill those old rusty tanks it might be a lot easier just to go the camp stove route. Plus, then I could cart it outside when the weather is nice and cook away from the van. I often camp in bear country so having a van reek of cooking odors really isn't all that appealing to me.

The heat curtains that I made are awesome. It is amazing how cool they can keep the interior of the van even when the van is in direct sunlight. This is a huge improvement and I highly recommend that everyone out there get on this upgrade. All I did to make mine was to go to Walmart and purchase five car sun shields (they are basically cardboard wrapped in bubble wrap wrapped in tin foil) and a bunch of suction cup hooks. I then cut the shields with scissors to fit each window and then put two to four suction cups through each shield. To mount them I just stick them to the windows and then when I'm ready to head out I throw them on the upper bunk. It takes a little bit of time to install them all but it makes a MASSIVE difference.

The other thing I did was to get a razor blade and some Goo-Gone and removed all of the stickers from the van. After 23 years there were quite a few and it was past time to get rid of them. Plus, several people commented on how angry my "If you aren't outraged then you're not paying attention" bumper sticker was. It really just didn't fit with the rest of the vibe of the van. To change the mood a bit I've ordered a "0 to 60 in... 11 minutes" sticker that should take things down a notch.

I think she liked it...

This past weekend I finally got the chance to take my wife out camping in the new van. She has been highly skeptical of the concept and not entirely convinced that the van was even capable of distance travel. Luckily for me the van was rock solid for the entire trip and I think I even convinced her of its utility. Both nights we had great weather and we were able to sleep with the top popped, venting window open, and rear hatch opened with the screen installed over the opening. We slept wonderfully and woke up refreshed. She was worried that it wouldn't feel like we were camping but would instead just feel like sleeping in the car. Thanks to the rear hatch being opened the bed really felt nice and airy yet the screen kept all the bugs away. Plus, the bed was a dramatic improvement over sleeping on the dirt. Its still a bit early but I'm pretty sure she's a fan now. I doubt she'll be posting to the blog or scouring eBay for upgrades but I don't think I'll have too much trouble convincing her to come along for the next trip.

More Thoughts from the Road

Well its official, the carpet is super really disgusting now. Within five minutes of leaving the Gunks I managed to dump a cooler full of water all over the galley area. The carpet is soaked and I don’t really have a way to dry it out. This is just the icing on an already disgusting cake. I can’t wait to throw this crap out and find some new flooring.

I’m really not sure what I was thinking when I decided to come out climbing this weekend. Climbing rocks that are baking in the sun when its 90+ degrees out just isn’t much fun. The rock almost sweats with this grease that destroys all hope of any friction. To make matters worse I decided to spend the day working a climb that I’ve been trying to do for a couple of years now. I’m really not sure why I thought climbing it when it is 30 degrees hotter than it has ever been when I was on it would help matters. I wasn’t able to climb it as usual but this time I was able to return to the van and drink cold beer to my failure at the end of the day. Cold beer the second you leave the crag really makes the failure go down a lot more smoothly.

A thought: this van is more than old. Driving it down the modern expressway gives you a feeling for car travel 30 or 40 years ago. For the first time in my 12 years behind the wheel 65 and even 55 feel like reasonable limits on speed. When you drive a rig like this 65 just feels way too fast. The funny thing is that nobody and I mean nobody actually drives the speed limit. Cruising down the highway in this thing is like walking along a river filled with canoes. Everyone out here is just floating by much faster than you and paddling hard. It’s a really different perspective to drive on the highway and not be trying to find the optimal path to your destination. I found myself looking at all the people passing me by in an instant with their windows rolled up and their world only consisting of calculating a way around all the other obstacles traveling even the slightest bit slower and wondering what they are daydreaming about because they sure aren’t watching the scenery.

Another thought: a lack of air-conditioning makes summer travel feel epic. The miles just wear on you differently with the windows down. The road really makes you tired when you’ve got to feel all the wind that you’re flying through. I find myself really not wanting to press on more than a few hundred miles at a time in this thing. I’m normally the kind of guy who’ll drive solo for 12-14 hours straight just to get to where I’d like to be. I just don’t feel like I can drive like that in this van. The air rushing through, the noise pounding your eardrums, and the vibrations working up through the hot uncomfortable seat just wear me down. The fact that I’ve got to throw on the defrost every time I hit a little slowdown for fear of overheating just adds to the fatigue. To think that I was considering what I thought would be a leisurely cross-country trip in this thing spending only ten hours a day behind the wheel. Driving for ten hours straight in a Vanagon is like driving 16 hours in a modern car. That’s the kind of distance that would really wear you down. I’m just not sure I could do that for five or six days in a row.

Yet another thought: RV campgrounds are brickless suburbs. I swear I have never seen anything like what I’ve seen for the past two nights in a row. I thought that perhaps the first night was an anomaly but I’m 200 miles away from that campground and it’s the same thing all over. With as much camping as I’ve done I really just don’t understand how I haven’t seen this all before. Going from primitive or walk-in sights to sights with full hookups is like going from living in the middle of nowhere to living at the damn strip mall. Every single site has one or two cars, a popup trailer, two or three house sized tents, a screen room, a clothes line, a full-on kitchen, a BBQ grill, and no less than 4 camp chairs surrounding a campfire. Everybody has what seems like 8 kids and they all have their own bikes, toys, cell phones, and video games. This is seriously more like a time to move your house out to the woods for $40 a night. I really can’t knock it since I’m doing the same thing right now as I sit in front of my three fans typing on my laptop but that really doesn’t lessen the shock.

You know, I really shouldn’t judge – these folks are just out to have a good time and at least they are getting their kids outside. However, all I can think about when I’m sitting here listening to the pounding Latin music from the campsite next to mine is what are these kids thinking about out here? Does this count as “nature” to them? Are they “roughing it”? Are they missing out? I mean really, does a kid need to carry all of his belongings on his back for several miles and then after unloading it go on bear watch for the rest of the evening to appreciate nature? I really don’t know the answer to that but my kids will not refer to sleeping in the Vanagon as camping.

First Night Impressions

I just woke up from my first night spent in the Vanagon and most certainly learned some things.

- The most important lesson that I learned is to never attempt to figure out how to work a used portable toilet indoors after a few beers. Let's just say that I am now in the market for a new portable toilet. Enough said.

- The carpet MUST go immediately. Carpet and camping are stupid together. Camping is dirty. Camping leaks. Carpet doesn't like dirt or leaks if a person wants to maintain at least the illusion of hygiene. I don't think Bird (my dog) even likes lying on that nasty rug. I was bothered by it before but after spending a night actually using the vehicle I just couldn't stop thinking about how much grime this thing must have seen in its lifetime. Must go immediately.

- I need screens on the windows. The Vanagon is supposed to have removable screens for the skylight and sliding windows but mine doesn't. Camping in the early fall without screens is a little insane, especially in New England. The black flies will kill me and Bird during the night if I don't fix this soon.

- I need a rain fly for the topper. At some point I want to replace the pop up but a new one runs a little over $400. The one I've got can get by but I don't think it will hold up for much longer. The one I have is mildewed, canvass, and has seen better days. The new ones are synthetic and feature a three window design. Since the topper provides most of your outside air, gaining another two windows for a cross breeze would be huge. Back to the rainfly though; if it rains then right now all you can do is zip up the window because there is nothing stopping water from pouring in. That really really sucks in the summer.

- I didn't get enough circulation last night and certainly noticed some condensation in the van when I woke up. The roof was moist to the touch and overall I felt a little sticky. This was because there wasn't anywhere for the moisture from Bird and my breathing to go. My biggest single mistake was to keep the skylight closed. I think that alone would have made a huge difference. The other thing I should have done was to crack all the windows. I didn't do that because of the bugs but I'd rather the bugs that are around here than gross breath condensation.

- Fabric is gross when camping, especially when camping with dogs. I want to recover the rear bench seat anyway and now I'm thinking that I want to go with a vinyl or something that can be wiped off easily. Bird sheds white fur and its a bit gross when its all over the place. He'd still shed if I had vinyl seats but at least I could clean up after him a little more easily. Maybe I could find something a little more eco than vinyl but I certainly want to head in that direction. Oh and if you're thinking that vinyl would be crappy to sleep on then I agree with you. However, with this bed you really want to use a sheet anyway.

- People are sissies. I've seen tons of posts on the Vanagon mailing list about memory foam and other ways to improve the bed. Lots of people think these beds are almost unusable they are so uncomfortable. Maybe its just because I'm used to sleeping in a tent but I thought this bed was completely tolerable. I won't say that I haven't slept on better beds but I was plenty comfortable. Especially if you put a sheet on it to keep the cushions together then you'll wake up nice and refreshed.

- Electricity is amazing. I've got the rig plugged in right now and man is it awesome. I caught a post on the board about different mechanisms for charging the aux battery and it dawned on me that the shore power system was not hooked up to the aux batter at all. So even if I plug in the van I don't get any charge. I'm really glad that I learned that before I spent a night out in the van. I handled the situation by just buying a computer controlled trickle charger from Walmart. Thanks to the list I learned about a secret fridge plug under the sink that I plugged the charger into and then snaked the wires through the cabinet to the battery. That lets me charge whenever there is external power and not have to worry about it when there isn't. So last night I was able to run my laptop, cell phone, three small fans, two florescent lights, an led rope light, an inverter, a battery charger, and this morning I threw in a small coffee maker. Now that is camping! It's pretty amazing to me that I was able to watch a movie before I went to sleep, woke up and made coffee, posted to my blog, and then I'm going to head out for a day of rock climbing completely rested and ready to go. God bless the Vanagon.

- I still haven't tried to mess with the water hookup. I brought 5 gallons with me and don't expect to need more than that. A sink would be cool but only if I was cooking as well. Since my stove doesn't work due to a propane leak I just don't feel the need to use the sink.

- My GPS system SUCKS in practice. I think I'll make that a new post.

GPS

I was just looking back through my blog posts and I realized that I never gave an update on my GPS setup. I got the receiver in the mail and used a suction cup to attach it to the front windshield of the van right behind the rear-view mirror. I got a copy of Microsoft's Streets and Trips 2007 and without much trouble the software was able to find my receiver and start reporting my position.

I've been pretty skeptical of commercial mapping applications ever since google and yahoo starting allowing you to print directions for free but I must say that I'm blown away by Streets and Trips. Not only does it show me where I am but the route planning is amazing. For example, just for fun I decided to plan a trip across the country. As you'd expect, I got a route similar to what google would give you BUT THEN I figured out that I could enter what time I want to start driving each day, how fast I want to drive on different road types, how often I want to stop and for how long, my fuel tank capacity and fuel efficiency, as well as what time I want to stop driving at night. The software then broke my trip down into day sized chunks. I was then able to click on an end point and have the software tell me all of the campgrounds within a radius of my choosing. With an Internet connection I can even get more information about each site or see a satellite view of it. Once I've found where I want to stay that night I just have the route shifted to incorporate the stop.

Now that I've got my route all planned out I can sit my laptop on the table between the driver and passenger seat and it will talk me through the entire route. It will even verbally tell me when I should start looking for fuel since it knows my fuel capacity. Not only that but it averages gas prices along the route and tells me how much money I should expect to spend driving the route. I can even get construction information in real-time and have the system route me around the problem area.

Another thing that this system lets me do is something that I've been wanting to do for years. I've wanted a system that knows where I am and can tell me where the closest x is. For example, if I break down on the side of the road I can find the closest AutoZone or gas station with just a few clicks. Also, if I start getting tired then I can see all of the hotels or campgrounds in the area. I'll use this feature a ton for everything from movie theaters to Target's. I travel around a lot and this will be a huge quality of life improvement. Let's just hope it works as well as I think it does. This weekend will be my first field test so I'll have to let you know how all this stuff works in a real world application.

More Interior Thoughts

Allison brought a few flooring samples home the other day for me to think about for the van. My favorite was this slick recycled rubber/cork hybrid stuff that looked really nice. Allison was saying that it would hide stains well and would be really durable. I'm pretty much sold on that stuff but there is still a lot more to figure out for the interior.

I'd like to figure something out for the upholstery in the semi-near future. Right now the driver and passenger seat have these crappy seat covers on them which cover pretty unusable upholstery. The passenger seat could maybe be cleaned but the driver's is completely shot. I really do like the original seats but they seem really hard to come by online. I think I'm just going to have to figure out a way to repair the ones I've got. The first option I've found is a nice custom seat cover. This option is fairly cheap and there are a lot of fabrics to choose from but I don't think I'd be able to capture that same slim look that the originals had. Here is a shot of a good condition original interior:




A better option would be to try to replace the fabric but keep the leather/pleather on the back. I've seen blogs from people that have done that and they look good. Another bonus there is that I could use the new fabric on the rear seat as well and be all snazzy. My problem is that I'm not sure who I would get to do it for me. I guess I'll have to google it and get some quotes. I can't wait to get rid of this fabric that's on the seats now though.

The cockpit carpet needs replacing also. I'll probably just get a replacement kit from one of the online places but I was hoping to figure out a non-carpet replacement. I was hoping I could use the rubber flooring but Allison didn't think it'd be flexible enough to handle the contours. New carpet isn't so bad though.

Finally, I need to replace the interior body panels and the headliner. I should be able to just remove the existing ones and resurface them. The trouble is that I have no idea what to put on them. I know that I don't want to just replace what's there with new stock material but I haven't found anything better so far. I think it'd be cool to get a fabric with some kind of stuffing in it that makes a design. I'm just not sure where to find such a thing.

One thing that will be great about replacing all this stuff is that it will give me a chance to reinsulate and sound proof the interior. I've read that it makes a HUGE difference when you put something like FatMat down everywhere. Right now the ride is noisy to say the least.

Maiden Voyage!

This weekend is finally going to be the weekend that I get ye ol' Vanagon on the road. I'm going to head up with the dog to check out some too hot summer climbing action in the Catskills in upstate New York. Its really too hot to do much serious climbing but this is more just an excuse to try out the van and try to get a better idea of what I actually want to change about it. This will also be the first time that I've ever hoped for rain while on a climbing trip because I really want to see how the old poptop holds up in the rain.

There are a few things that I'm planning to do with the van before I actually hit the road.

- First, I'm going to need an emergency repair kit that will let me deal with the most likely break down situations. I've got a few things like replacement belts, an air filter, replacement fuses, and oil filters but I need to pick up some oil (20-W50), brake fluid, spark plugs, and maybe some antifreeze.

- Second, I've been bothered by some of my wiring for the aux battery so I got some better battery wire and I'm going to redo the job. I also learned that my Internet instructions man was wrong about where to ground the battery. I got a repair manual the other day off of eBay and it shows all of the correct body ground points and I'm not grounded on one of them. Even with that repair I still think I'm a little on the dangerous side and I may just break down and buy a proper kit. At the very least I think I'll stop by Walmart and pick up a battery gage. It drives me crazy not knowing how much charge I've got in the battery.

- Third, I need to get together my packing list. I'm still figuring out where everything should go in this van and this trip will be a good chance to optimize the space, see what I really need to take, and figure out how much room I've actually got.

I'm also really excited to see what works when I hook up to external power and water. I'm going to get a site with hookups and give everything a good testing. I may even have to take a movie or two along - it will be pretty strange sitting around on a couch watching movies when I'm used to sitting in the dirt and staring at a fire.