The Casualty List

Sufficient time has passed since our Panama rendezvous  for me to render judgment and a declare a casualty list.  Casualties in this instance are defined as non-consumable items that were consumed in the course of our trip, or as a result of it afterwards.

Tires.  Four Continental Vanco 2 tires in the 185/R14C size.  These tires took quite a beating in our Alaska and Baja trips.  Despite a few small leaks they were holding strong when we crossed the Mexican border. Alas, the first to go was in Guatemala on the way to Semuc Champey.  A wooden stake finished this one off in the blink of an eye. We were forced to find a replacement set in Guatemala City, so we put on two new Toyo tires.

The second tire was in its death throes somewhere in Missouri.  This tire was done in by extensive driving on large rocks and potholes.  This resulted in tread separation near the sidewall.  Thankfully, I noticed this issue before we began our current trip westward.

Rola roof bag.  Our trusty roof bag was purchased as a replacement for our travel trailer that we abandoned in the deep foliage of my brother's front yard.  The bag's vinyl fabric began to separate somewhere on a northern Mexico toll road on our return leg.  We managed to patch the ever-growing breach with some duck tape on the side of the road.  Back in Tulsa we were able to save the bag with some rip-stop nylon fabric and our trusty can of contact adhesive.

The ripples on the right are the nylon patch.

Center shift bushing.  The vanagon has a very long shift linkage due to the driver being in the front and the transmission in the back.  Over the course of our travels, I have replaced all but one of the bushings on this linkage.  Why all but one, you ask?  There is a very good reason for this.  The final bushing is located above the voluminous fuel tank.  Nearly impossible to remove without dropping the tank (at least that's what the internet says).  Knowing this, it's now obvious that Murphy's law almost guarantees that this bushing will need replacement.  Thus I had a spare and was able to swap it out using an ingenious tool made of 3 feet of socket extensions (all of them actually).  The bushing finally fell apart somewhere in southwest Kansas. (Jen note here: of course, this had to fall apart when I was driving. Just another added to my personal list of things gone wrong when I drive the van.)

The bushing that was destroyed.

Driver side door and mirror.  Somewhere on the Pacific coast of El Salvador a rogue coconut palm attacked Chuck, decapitating the driver’s side mirror, and crippling the driver’s door.  The door met its end in a recycling bin and a replacement has been installed. The mirror I repaired on Isla de Ometepe in Nicaragua.  By gutting the power mirror wiring and tapping the core for a 10mm bolt, I was able to restore it to structural integrity.  Alas, its power adjustment is lost forever.

Exhaust.  The entirety of Chuck’s exhaust piping from the header onwards was complete trash.  Between the damage done in Yellowstone and the forceful addition of ground clearance in Guatemala, there was nothing left to save.  It all came off, mounts included, and was replaced with a new system from Foreign Auto Supply.  Mmmmm sexyness…

The Old exhaust and other stuff for recycling.

A section of the new exhaust.

Front and left engine mounts.  These mounts were little more than cracked and crusty rubber by the time we pulled them off.  The front was cheap, aftermarket junk, the left side was severely overheated by having the exhaust bent up near it.  The front was replaced with a solid urethane bushing from T3 Technique.  The left side was replaced with a Saab hydraulic mount inspired by the Vanagon I4 Google group.

Starting battery.  Our EverStart engine-starting battery gave up its ghost in Danlí, Honduras.  We bump-started the van, and found a replacement in Tegucigalpa.  The sheer volume and intensity of the road-induced vibrations had caused the internal bus bar to crack and separate from the terminal. 

One of these things, is cleaner than the others....

Roof-vent filler board.  This poor piece of untreated plywood was subjected to horrendous treatment in Central America.  Despite two coats of exterior paint, various fungi and several species of insect decided to take up residence within the wood.  Despite insect killer and extra sealant, the invasion continued.  A brief toss in the fire ended this monstrosity.  A suitably sized piece of HDPE plastic replaced the wood in supporting the roof vent. 

Honorable Mentions

Sliding door panel.  This dirty little bastard started coming loose somewhere in southern Mexico.  It would stay put long enough to fool you, and then come apart enough to jam the slider.  Too big to stow in the van, we were forced to endure its brutal and devious torture.  Twenty-odd sheet metal screws and finish washers put the nail in this bad-boy's coffin. 

Caframo fan.  Due to excusive abuse (I blame heat-induced hysteria) the internal wires got twisted and broke.  This was a quick fix in Antigua, Guatemala.

Flashing-light relay.  Due mostly to my incessant tinkering, this relay developed a cracked solder joint in southern Mexico.  A quick re-solder job at a Pacific resort town had this one fixed.

Whizzing Westward

Saturday

Despite our need to get west as quickly as possible, we did take some to enjoy the roses, so to speak. While researching the top parks in the US, I saw the name “Dinosaur National Monument” and the picture associated with it was a fossil in a rock. I immediately wanted to go there and scope it out. The chance to see fossils in the earth was a totally awesome opportunity in my mind. So, as we made our way west, we detoured through the mountains to northwest Colorado and northeast Utah to the monument. To make things interesting, when looking for a camping space, we got a bit stuck. We had to air down our tires and place sticks in the way for the tires to grab.



Turns out, they do actually have a “quarry” of dinosaur fossils that they have preserved for future generations. it was pretty sweet. I felt like a child again, getting excited about dinosaurs. I even made Jonathan go on the Fossil Discovery Trail, where we could discover small fossils on our own. Quite enjoyable, at least for me.

Most of the bones are in a jumble in this rock face, but there were a few that remained intact with their connecting bones.

This thigh bone is nearly bigger than me.

Finding fossils on the trail. You can the see the vertebrae of a dinosaur here. 

There were also petroglyphs in other parts of the park. I think the peoples who did these were awfully bored or showing off to a female, as they had to climb up and hang on for dear life to draw some of these.

Sunday

We decided to visit our transmission-mission saviors from last year. We pulled in Sunday afternoon and hijacked the remainder of their day. Then it was decided that we should go camp at the Big Eddy outside of town. On the way there, we ran into a thunderstorm complete with hail and lightning. The storm shortly passed however, and we were treated to a double rainbow and a lovely sunset.

Hail.

It is apparently really difficult to get all of a rainbow in a picture.

 Breakfast.

Monday

After our departure from Driggs, we decided to do a quick tour of Craters of the Moon National Park (after driving half of Idaho). Apparently, the US has a dormant cinder cone volcano similar to what we boarded down in Nicaragua. This one didn’t have enough loose ash or steep-enough sides, but it did look a bit similar, despite the age difference.

The dormant cinder cone volcano.

The splatter cones, which are mini volcanoes, were pretty cool. Surprisingly, the walls were really fragile. They were almost like a wall of bricks without mortar. Well, you know, minus the size and and shape… Only the friction and shape was keeping the chunks of the walls together.

Small volcanoes (that is a trail, not a road).

By the time we had done the tour, we were tired, so we decided to camp there for the night.

Garage-Bound Days

While most of the time that we spend camped up in someone’s garage is spent working on Chuck, we do get to do some other things on occasion. This month of August, we had several things on the list.

First was a wedding of one of Jonathan’s college friends. This was one of the reasons why we had hurried back to Tulsa. They had a beautiful wedding in the Philbrook Museum.



Then, the next week, my mother’s family had their annual reunion. We hadn’t realized we would be back and near enough to go, but my grandmother called me up and gave me the details. I talked Jonathan into going with me and I had a grand time. I even got play (several games of) volleyball, which was just icing on the cake.

Voting to kill someone off while playing Mafia.

We occasionally help out around the Luth house. This time around, they were refinishing their fireplace. I decided to help with the sides. I soon became best friends with the tile cutter, which helped me cut the one-inch tiles thinner so they wouldn’t show from the front.



Then, right before we left, Jonathan’s family threw a surprise birthday party for him. I was probably as much excited about his gifts as he was: an HD Radio with satellite tuner and a pepper grinder! Jonathan installed the radio and we were able to listen to commercial-free radio on our travels. It is amazing how much clearer HD Radio is. You can actually hear the individual words! I actually learned the words to songs that I had never been sure what they said. Jonathan really likes the remote feature, which allows for less distraction to change channels and volume while driving.





Before we started off to the West Coast, we decided to give my family a visit. It was hard to say no, since my siblings and parents were all going to be in the same place (hasn’t happened since last Christmas, I think). So, off we went to the lake, where I got to spend time with family. We even managed to go skiing and wakeboarding a bit.





After spending Labor Day weekend with my family, we decided to start heading west with a stop in Sublette to visit my grandparents. They had fattened up my cat so much you would think they were planning on eating her! :D

I  am pretty sure she is twice the weight she was than when we dropped her off there a year ago.

We had a good time with family and are now ready to hit the road traveling again. We only have a month before we have to be back in Kansas for weddings. I have quite the list of places I would like to visit between now and then. So be ready for some more whirlwind traveling and blogging.