Van-O-Rama

Last weekend was Vanorama, hosted by BenT in South San Fran.


I think there were around 20 or so vans (mostly syncros, a few tristars and one westy showed up while we were there.)

It was fun looking at all the modifications people make on their vans.
Jeff added a real sunroof to his van which I would really love to have. That crappy plastic poptop thing that Westfalia comes with is not supposed to be open when driving (or it cracks and leaks when it rains) so this is a possible mod for the future


For the record, I think Jeff is either half mad or a genius: he did his own Subie conversion, and was doing his best to try to talk me into doing my own--to which I could only laugh. Dude...I'm as mechanically inclined as a drunken monkey with one hand caught in a bear trap. "I'm a graphic designer!" he said, to illustrate that it wasn't as hard as I thought. But we drove off thinking he was the man for undertaking the job.



then there was Bruce's hot "Syncro" die stamped on the side. Dang, this was so cool I couldn't take my eyes off it.


Bruce with his Westy Syncro


Paul and pooch in front of their Westy Syncro



Florian from Germany with his Westy Syncro


It was nice meeting other Syncronauts!
I'm looking forward to "Burning Van" in January (maybe) and seeing these guys again, and maybe meeting new folks.

I'll let you all know how the silver crap-heap is coming along. As of right now, it's getting a new catalytic and fuel leak fixed so we can smog it and get it registered in California. Until then, it's not getting a single other repair; want to be sure that we don't need to dump it fast for as much cash as we can get because we can't register it!

D'OH!

In the mean time, I'm sketching up plans for the interior re-do. Want to get rid of the foam mattress bed and get my hands on a westy fold down.

All in due time (and money)

Hell Yeah!

Alrighty.
So, after meeting Bill and Ted, I really started contemplating getting a second syncro. I really like the vanagon, non-westy, no poptop having syncros. As we drove down the rough road to Sinkyone, George's questionable line picking, and my own rustiness at 4 wheeling, I decided it wouldn't be a bad thing to have a more beatable syncro.

So, for about two weeks now, I've been scouring craigslist. And TheSamba.com in hopes of finding one that was affordable, not too beat up, and not so rigged up that the owner wanted $54,000.

Admittedly, we really lucked out when we found our first syncro. It was listed as "other" VW and asking price was 24,000. We somehow managed to talk the owner down to 20, and George flew out to get it and drive it home over the next four days (It was in Georgia) it had an unheard of 20K original miles on it!

20,000!! and it had been garage kept! It was as new as the day if rolled off the assembly line!

So, after calling many owners selling their syncros, it became clear that the ones that were being honest, and had a nice enough syncro, at a fair price, were selling out before we could make the call. Often we'd hear "it's already sold" or the ad would be pulled down as we were contemplating calling back the next day to say we'd take it.

Today, I managed to find one listed in Spokane. The ad read "1987 VW Syncro Bus, recent new water pump, hoses, wires and plugs. Set up with a bed and curtains. CD player, heater works well, runs strong and uses no oil. The 4x4 was rebuilt about 70K miles ago. Daily driver. Email me if you're interested."



Which I did.
We decided this was the one, and made quick plans to go out there and pick it up.
So, G is in the air now, flying out to Spokane and tomorrow morning he'll meet the owner in Pullman and buy it, if all goes well.



Picture it with the South African Grill, 16" tires, a fresh paint job, Peter in Santa Cruz's bumpers...it could be love I tell ya!

Sinkyone/Richardson Grove (Aug. 9 -- Aug. 12 2007)

We decided that the best way to while away the few days waiting for the results of my state board nursing exam was to go camping. This was brilliant! Nothing but trees and fresh air to take my mind off the "Did I? Didn't I?" anxiety.

We were originally going to try for Sinkyone State Park (rated at 10 out of 10 in my camping book and featured on the "Bay Area Back Roads" show) but after calling, we decided we didn't like their restrictive dog policies (there are only two campsites at which dogs are allowed...one at the entrance of the park, and one at the other end of the rough (4-wheel drive needed) road, but NOT at any of the hike-in sites that are the reason it's rated 10/10 (where there are clear views to the ocean and black sands beach below. BREATHTAKING so I'm told.)

We went to Richardson Grove for a few days. I had been there as a kid, but didn't remember much of it. From what I remember, it was a place that was popular with families with kids. It still is.

On Friday night, the campsite across from us was inhabited by two men and five boys all under the age of 7. It soon turned into "Lord of the Flies" and as soon as they could pull their shirts off and smear mud on their faces, and fashion spears, they were terrorizing the campground.

Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating.

They seemed to settle down once a lady (I presume to be their mother) showed up and they got to roast hotdogs on a stick.

But the next morning at 06:00 they were tearing around and yelling and wrestling like mad inside their 4 person tent, (it was like wrestle mania in there!) so much so, that we thought for sure the adults had abandoned them there as some form of karmic retribution; payback for something horrible we'd done in a past life.

To our surprise, the bleary eyed adults (husband and wife, third guy now gone, or eaten by the children) emerged from the tent. At this point, we decided that maybe Sinkyone would be worth checking out. We couldn't fathom how in the world they had managed to sleep through the ransacking in the tent for two hours until they got up.

We headed for Garberville for supplies (our nifty second battery installed for the fridge let us down and most of our food wasn't safe to eat.) As we were filling the propane tank to run the fridge, I looked across the gas station and see another VW camper...then I notice the 4WD on the door and said "IT'S ANOTHER SYNCRO!!"



Turns out, Bill and Ted (a couple of awesome dudes) were headed up to Mog fest after hooking up in Bend (was it Bend?) with a bunch of other Syncro owners. We must have stayed an hour or so in the gas station, ooh-ing and ah-ing over each other's vehicles. Bill's done an awesome job of outfitting his syncro into a camper (even had an on-demand water heater for the shower! Niiiiice!)



We found out we had some mutual friends (Ben T) and snapped a few pics, exchanged contact info and they were off for Mog fest, and we were off for Sinkyone.

We drove about 4 hours west to the coast, and were pleasantly surprized by the campsite at the end of the rough road. It was so quiet and peaceful.

I said I'd love to go back there, but George said he'd explore some new site before going back.