Welcome to the Ocean Beach California VW Bus report. This is the ongoing trip, maintenance, and upgrade log for our 1976 VW Camper. The intent is to track the progress of "Independence" and to meet other local VW enthusiasts.

Sunday, January 23, 2005

Trip Report: Vallecito Campground

This weekend we took Indy and Tender for their maiden camping trips.

We drove out I-8 to Ocotillo in Imperial County. The freeway goes up to an elevation of over 4000 feet. Indy was passed by at least on other large vehicle and countless other SUVs and cars. She did fine. The only scary part was the wind near Jacumba that blew us around a bit.

We headed up S2 past Canyon Si Nombre and the badlands to Vallecito Campground.
This country park is very rarely crowded and except for the wind is always a great spot for car camping. This time we were in spot #18 and pretty much had the choice of spots when we arrived around noon. The air in the desert was pretty hazy.

We decided to sleep in the upper bunk of the VW Camper. Plenty of space. The moon was almost full (awfully bright) and the coyotes yelped and hollered. We watched the sun come up in the morning and saw one of the coyotes wander past our site. Tender did great, sleeping on the bench in the camper.

On the return trip we went through Blair Valley to Scissors Crossing and up and over Julian. We refueled in Ramona -- down to EMPTY. Looks like we made about 15 mpg and likely could have made it home if we'd started with a full tank.

The important point of the trip was to see if the bus and the dog would like to camp. Both performed better than we could have hoped. The best news was everyone had a good time and we were home in time for the book club meeting.

Most important thing we forgot: matches.
Total mileage: 200.

Sunday, January 16, 2005

Repairs: Brake & running lights

The right lights in the back weren't working. I was always worried about getting a ticket. And so today we did the first of our own repairs on the bus. It ends up just moving the bulbs from one side to the other fixed the issue. I doubt every repair will be that easy.

I've also ordered some parts for the next set of repairs...
replace the glove box
replace the turn signal switch
replace a couple of broken reflectors

None of these should be too hard either.

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Commuting and cost per mile

I drove the bus to work. There wasn't much traffic in the morning today and so the drive was pleasant. I felt a connection to the school buses on the road; and at least one person smiled at me. Just the fact that I'm trying to look at other drivers makes the ride fun.

This puts us up to about 200 miles and reduces the cost per mile to around $25/mile.
/cheer. Next milestone -- $10/mile.

For comparison sake, I think my 1996 VW Cabrio is just below $0.6/mile adding up everything (cost, repairs/maintenance, insurance, registration, gas.)