Re: [VACList] summer desert camping

[Terry Tyler <tylerbears@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jon,

We have spent the entire summer in those states during three different
summers. Your previous experiences in a van are similar to what we
experienced with our '67 22' Airstream during one summer and with our '77
31' Airstream during two summers.

During all three summers, the weather was most comfortable for us. On chilly
mornings, our catalytic heater was sufficient.  And, like you, we liked the
lack of biting bugs. Here in upstate NY, the mosquitoes are about to hatch
and become an annoyance until it dries out next month.

The summer we took our '67 22' Airstream was the easiest because our tow
vehicle had much less weight to lug up the mountains. At the time, our son
lived at 8,000 feet in the Black Forest outside of Colorado Springs. Side
trips to the west took us into even higher elevations.  Our brakes were
often given a severe workout - sometimes daily.

If you haven't doubled or tripled your engine oil and transmission oil
cooling capacity, that would be money well spent before you leave home
territory.  Like you, we tow with an old work van which has been extremely
dependable for 25 years.  I attribute a lot of that to having added
significant cooling capacity to both systems when the truck was new. I use a
5 core radiator (discarded the standard 3 core) and a 30,000 # capacity oil
cooler for the transmission (discarded the 10,000 # cooler). I did this in
spite of severe criticism that I would be ruining the engine and
transmission.  

Even so, I subscribe to the Affinity Emergency Tow Service (1.800.777.4869),
Medical Air Services (1.800.643.9023) and carry a cell phone.  The distances
between services can turn a minor inconvenience into a major project.

Always - we travel with our water tank topped off. Have fun and enjoy a
laid back traveling style,

Terry