Advanture to Gold Country in Northern California
Since this section is not just about pictures but adventures as well, I thought I might chronicle the first trip of my EVC. I purchased it in early June, with a trip planned about a week later. Two previous owners called her 'Millie' and it seemed to fit, so that's what we call her.
-A Slow Start-
In preparation, I brought it to a mechanic who had worked on my Vanagon in the past to get all the fluids replaced, check the brakes (the pedal seemed to depress too far) and change the timing belt. One thing led to another and I didn't get it back until much $$$ and 3 days before the trip; new brakes, timing belt (was so old it was almost coming off the pulleys and had worn holes through the cover). I picked it up, stopped at the tire place and got a new spare.
Finally I was ready to load the van, and went to put the tools under the bench seat….no storage??!?! Under the seat was a solid black box. After further investigation I noticed that the back of the box had two RCA connectors…a PO had taken out the storage and put in a base woofer speaker facing down. I pulled to the seat, ripped out the speaker and built a storage box to replace it. Then transferred the stuff from my Vanagon, plugged in the car and cooled down the fridge, packed up the family (son, GF and her daughter) and the next day we were off!
-The Heats On-
It was around 10 am on a sunny Los Angeles morning when we finally got out. The weather was already getting pretty warm we headed north on the I5 up into the mountains toward the Tejon Pass and the San Joaquin Valley beyond. Part of the trip up to the pass is a long 5% grade. We were about half way up when I noticed the temperature light flashing and the gauge almost at the top
. I slowed down, shifted into third and the temperature dropped incrementally, but enough for the temp light to stop flashing. At 25-30 mph I was able to keep the temp barely in control. Once we crested the grade the temp dropped, so though nervous, we bullied on.
As we headed north up the Central Valley, we found the AC wasn't keeping up. Neither was the fridge. I had bought a remote thermometer and we watched the temperature in the fridge slowly increase a degree at a time.
In Fresno we stopped at a delightful Thai Restaurant. Who knew? My GF, Jill is a wonder at finding the best food places; the combination of her food karma and yelp makes for some good eaten'! (see pic below)
Well, it was hot in the central valley, and it turns out the AC was not really blowing cold so we sweated the trip up to Jamestown. I pulled into the nearest Walmart the next day and bought one of those canned recharge kits. It worked, at least good enough for the rest of the trip.
-Dry Camping-
Onward and forward…We spent that night at the Jamestown Hotel then the next night at Tuttletown Recreation Area campground. (pic below) The campground is on the shores of New Melones Lake, a reservoir. If you look at the pic below, you'll see that we were hardly on the edge of the lake. In fact, it's down 250 ft, you can see it in the background, but it should have been about 20-50 feet from the campsite if full. It really drove home the intensity of the drought we are having here in california.
The battery died, and thus so did the fridge. Not even enough power to start the propane, which kept blowing out from the wind. We ate out most of the trip from there on.
-Disaster Strikes!-
After a few nights of camping, spelunking in a local cavern, and gold panning, we spent another night at the Jamestown hotel. We got up in the morning to take a walk and I looked at 'Millie' and the rear tire was flat, plastic was laying all over the street, the side appeared to be dented and scuffed!
Some A*!#hole had hit the car. (pic below) After looking closer and asking around I found that early in the morning some guy in a gold sedan had pulled out, hit my car and taken off. It wasn't as bad as it looked, the plastic was the hubcap that was shattered, the scuff just a scuff, but he had hit the rear wheel and bent it thus the flat. There was a scrape/dent near the front door, probably his rear view mirror. I was so pissed that I just climbed under the car and changed the tire myself…didn't even think to call AAA. It did get some of the adrenaline out.
-Off to Yosemite, no Stops-
So I checked that the rear axle wasn't bent, but all seemed to be in order. We headed to Yosemite. Nervous about the overheating I took it slow up the hills. Felt like I was in my old split window or the Vanagon. If I kept it in third and under 3000 rpm all was well, it warmed up but stayed in the range. That was about 30 mph or so.
Coming down into the valley I kept it in third, babying the brakes a bit, but obviously not enough. They started squeaking when I braked. Then the traffic stopped for photographers at a waterfall and I put on the brakes hard…
….nothing…felt like the brakes had turned to glass. The car did slowly stop, and since I kept plenty of space it stopped in time. I smelled burning brakes, and the pedal now went down almost to the floor. The traffic started and I did too, very gingerly. The brakes started working and I started using 2nd for the downhill stretches, which I did for the rest of the trip.
We just spent the day in Yosemite, ate lunch at the Awani Hotel, looked at some of the sites and ran away in terror at the numbers of people that crowded that beautiful valley. Not at all like it was when I was 17, though it was crowded then too.
-Smooth Sailing Home-
Heading home all went well. The AC now worked and I had mastered overheating prevention so going up the grapevine was not a problem.
-Wrap-up-
We actually had a good time amidst all the problems. It turns out that one of the fans was not working which probably accounts of the overheating. On the brakes, there is a controller that keeps the rear adjusted to the front. It turns out a PO had messed with it and it was out of whack. Thus I wasn't getting proper braking power on either the front of rear brakes. Don't know about the charging, but it seems the system is charging properly. I'll have to check the converter and the deep cycle battery is probably old. It has not cutoff switch.
Overall, it was quite the advanturous trip.
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With the Vanagon the is a plethora of things done to and with it. I can't believe this is not true for Eurovans...we're the same creative group, aren't we?