Reunited! and the First Leg

Saturday June 16: Back in Boise, I sprang Ollie from the clink, and put on my PA plates.  I think the first three letters of my license plate (JBP) stand for “Just Blow Past,” an open invitation to all vehicles behind me on the road.

Did a little shopping, had a little dinner, cleaned Ollie up a little bit, loaded in my stuff, and off we drove into the sunset toward Oregon.

Most of the pictures you’ll see here in my posts from this trip were taken out of the windshield, or through the side windows, and on complete faith as I waved my camera out the window, wholly dependent on autofocus and a fairly steady hand.

Views from the windshield:

A friend advised me to fill up with fuel in Vale, OR, because there was no more gas for ~100 miles.  He was right, and I’m glad I did.  Oregon is one of those states in which the attendant fills your tank for you, so when he asked what I’d like, I said, “Fill up with regular, but … ” and he finished my thought with “… but not all the way, right?”  I smiled and said, “You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” He just smiled and turned to his work.  Vanagons of this age and older commonly have the rubber grommets on the fuel tank dry up and go bad, resulting in fuel spills. The fix is a fuel tank reseal.  Ollie already has an appointment with the good folks at Van Cafe in Santa Cruz, CA on Monday to have this taken care of, along with new fuel lines, and a general check-up, and maybe some other convenience items if there’s time.  I’m looking forward to that, because the fumes coming from the leaky tank are awful, not to mention the safety issue.

I stopped at a turn-out along a lonely road for the night.  I heard 4, maybe 5 cars go by all night.  It was very nice, and the stars were spectacular.

Tomorrow: Oregon to Northern California.