I am still at the KOA... just wanted to break up the read.
From Cedar point to Huntington Beach 11/24;
Great morning with coffee and fruit and everything that follows.
2 awesome roadside highlights;
The first: Im driving along "Freedom Way" Hell yeah!
I notice a subtle banner stating "RECLAIM AMERICA, VOTE, ENOUGH! tea4nc.us"

Check out the sweet "Freedom Way" sign in the bottom left, gotta love them South Carolinians
and the second awesome roadside delight was the "Ultimate Burial and Vault Co." it didnt make sense at first... then ultimatley it did.
I drove through Myrtle beach, touristy and no fun in the cold, got a slice of NY pizza and headed south to Huntington Beach state park. Nice beach, a nice swampy waterway that in warm weather has alligators.  Great small shells on the beach. the high was 36 and 25 was headed that way for the night.  i plugged in the furnace, ate a great cold weather power snack and hunkered down.

In the morning i headed out to the beach with some coffee to see the sun 

awesome, crisp, 25 degrees yet no wind.

Later in the morning on the road again, off to see Charleston SC.

A town that seems to have outgrown itself, it must have been very charming at one point, now it is packing too much into too little a space.

Off to Savannah, A great walking town. Unlike Charleston, Savannah's streets and parks are layed out in way that lends it very well to modern times and cars and tourists.  Great trees, good food, excellent people watching.

KOA South Charelston

Camped next to an adventurous fellow who is biking from Ohio to the Keys and then to the west coast (similar route and plan as my own... just on a Bike!) I made him some spaghetti, shared stories and built a fire.  Best of luck in your travels

tylerwheatcraft.blogspot.com

In the night a rediculous large RV/semi pulled in

3 non lipstick shorthairs with handsome builds step out after some serious maneuvering

they imedietly commence to erect a small zoo of cages with buckets and pans... expecting the release of a wolf pack or traveling bear exhibit I was captivated.

After some really important groundwork, the release of the beasts was on

The first was 3 jack russels, then some pommeranians, Scotties, little puffballs, spaniels, mini poodles... this mega RV was now looking like a clown car.  The most robust of my new neighbors was clearly chief, though all communication was nonverbal, she was the main pooper scooper, no turd was allowed to steam on the pine straw longer that 3 seconds, we will deem her the Scatomaster.

After the smallest of the beasts had released their burdens and eagerly returned to their dormitories, the big dogs were taken out and allowed to pile on.

What a blast this road trip must be...

Its tuesday morning, and i,m at a KOA just outside Savannah Georgia. Travels have been great and Gina is holding up well.
Since the last post i had headed out from NOVA (northern Virginia) towards Kitty Hawk and Cape Hatteras in North Carolina.
Sadly I opted not to see my great friends in Deleware on the way out (schedule, weather etc.) the pull to head south ultimatley was the deciding factor.
The van was running excellent, though not engineered specifically for american freeways still she did well, cruising speed is around 58.
Kitty Hawk was the first sighting of actual Atlantic ocean; ponts between including Richmond, Norfolk and then on to the Outer Banks.  Here is Kitty Hawk beach in beautiful sunset mode, no wind and even a little surf.

All 4 state parks with campgrounds were closed and locked for the season (which is a strange phenomenon in the north Atlantic States and applies to many things, I believe I was supposed to be indoors somewhere watching the football game) the night was spent at the Coquina beach parking area.  Huge deer and a cavalcade of rifle shots in the AM, the prefered method on the outer banks is for all hunters to synchronize their watches and fire rapidly at 6:20 AM, then set off on foot and look for old Bucks that had heart attacks.

The beach was loaded with shells, i got a few nice small Conch and Scallop shells, then headed off for Ocracoke via Rodanthe; where the gas station has amazing breakfast sandwiches and a small Gerbil exhibit to commemorate a film shot here a few years back.

This is the free Ferry to Ocracoke island.  

Got stuck in some roadside sand on Ocracoke, a nice couple helped me out with a tow strap, i gave them a nice bottle of Bulleit though they deserved a bottle of Pappy.  Then, off to the end of the road, passing a sign announcing that "god reads knee mail" and another that said "don't forget your bucket of chicken for the beach" summing up 99% of a travelers needs with only 2 signs is not too shabby.  Next; catch the ferry to Cedar Island and head for the Crystal Coast. A nice secluded island full of sea birds.

I made a small drive through the dirty little hovel known as Smyrna, then along the coast on Cedar Island; a mix of really high end beach estates and mobile home summer "campgrounds". I got some firewood, coffee, fruit and a Dynamite wine " 3l, Cabernet Sauvingion, Black Box Estates, Valle Central Chile, Vintage 2012"

I settled in at the Cedar Point Campground  in the Croatan national forest.  20 minutes later i was plugged in at camp site 10, eating hot spaghetti fireside drinking a tall cab from a Masters cup.

After a breakdown on Monday night in Prince George county Gina and I are back on the road.  I was hoping to be able to fix the problems myself but it was truly part failure and needed to be special ordered.  The oil vent hose had come loose, oil was spitting onto the engine. A fuel pressure regulator had failed and rich fuel air mixture was entering the engine through the same breather hose causing the engine oil to fill up with gas.

I spent a large portion of th  night figuring out what to do, eventually getting a tow back to Greg's in Vienna so I could order the parts and take  the van back to Autoscandia.
Yesterday Gina was given a clean bill of health. Right now I am getting a coffee at Hyperion (fantastic) in Fredericksburg VA. Gina seems to be doing well and I am happy to be on th  road in earnest.  Today's destination is Cape Hatteras North Carolina.

The green Mamba was sold on Friday to a couple of nice fellas, i hope she treats them well and proves to be the practical, pleasant machine she was to me.
The bolts, nuts and studs were lost in the US Mail. turns out the guy used the wrong address for me and sent the parts to a Marriott hotel (even after some emails from me about importance, willingness to pay extra for express post etc... I guess there are downsides to legal marijuana in Washington state, "sorry bro guess I messed up the address")
Saturday morning, parts in hand, the wheel swap went off without much trouble, a few new tools, a trusty sledge hammer and a strong older brother for leverage.

I got a good deal on a Bike rack for the 2" receiver that I installed earlier in the week, shortened it up so it didn't stick out way too far, mounted up the trusty old Trek and am now bike mobile.

Also was able to get a VW emblem and Westy stickers to give the ride an official look.

As of tonight, all of my personals are loaded up, doing final laundry and a little bit of route planning.  

Rehoboth beach Delaware bound then along the coastline south.... early itinerary to include the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia coastline across to Virginia beach then along the outer banks of the Carolinas.  

The Birth of the Van Gina

At the end of October I decided to try something new and set out to find a better fit for myself.  leaving a company that treated me fairly and was full of dynamic smart people was a hard choice.. but, it had to be done.
I wrote down 5 options that seemed sensible and suited my currents needs and desires:

• Join my folks in a 10 trip across the southern US from Northern Virginia to their home in the Southern California desert in a truck they just purchased.
• Fly across the country to a city in the northwest (Portland, Eugene, Seattle, Bend, etc.)
• "The X Factor" just wing it and see what way the wind blows, listen to wild ideas and try them all.
• "The Shining"  this involves secluding myself in our family cabin in Eastern Idaho, 2 wood stoves, a great library, lots of booze and all the time necessary to sufficiently filter it through a liver
• Get a VW van, make it road worthy, reach out to some of the people from past lives and travel across the country.

On October 29 a 1986 VW Vanagon Westfalia was purchased in Virginia Beach, towed to the rental house in Charlottesville and dropped off awaiting further orders.

I was responsible for a lease through next July on the rental house and not allowed out until a suitable tenant was found... bummer.  Eventually the landlord was led to the sensible path, an ad was placed on ye old Craigslist and the process had begun.

I cleaned out all my crap, had a large yard sale, scrubbed the place spotless and headed up to Vienna Virginia.  The van was left at an Amtrak station to be picked up later in the week. 

I was able to take a train from Union Station in DC down 2 days later.  the drive up to Vienna was nice, but the van clearly needed some love.

For the last 2 weeks deliveries from the nice folks at Van Cafe, GoWesty and BusDepot have been arriving daily, new parts being snapped, screwed and bolted on while tho old stuff has been steadily filling trash cans. as of today the van is looking good, all systems are working great (the Propane is yet to be tested). A clean bill of health was procured at Auto Scandia. the short list of new parts and pieces are; pop top canvas, pop top seals, new skylight, belts, fluids, hitch and 2" receiver, bumper caps, trim pieces, rear view mirror, rear hatch struts, and tons of miscellaneous little pieces. A nice set of 15' Mercedes wheels are in the driveway awaiting custom bolts, nuts and studs from a little custom shop on the west coast (T3technique), should be here tomorrow.

The current plan is to head south on Saturday the 16th... Key West bound.

Before that can happen I need to sell the Green Mamba (2008 ford Escape), pay some bills, do some final tests and bolt-ons to the van (who will be known as "Gina" henceforth).