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.