The intrepid cross-country adventures of Arthur Dent

DeliKit

DeliKit

Active Member
So, we're planning to drive around 3,000 miles soon, across the country.

After several years of owning this Delica, it's become our home away from home. We plan to live in it for the couple weeks or so that we'll take, first going up the west coast, and then heading east. Thanks to the Napa meetup with @Growlerbearnz and friends, we're coming to have confidence in this vehicle. Plus all the maintenance and improvements we've done thanks to this forum over the last few years, particularly the new D4BF engine!

We're not leaving yet, but I thought I'd start a thread that will include pictures along the way of the Delica in unusual places, plus documenting any issues that may come up. Our first main attraction will be Carhenge, a place I've wished to visit for almost 30 years, and yet I've never been out to Nebraska!

Has a Delica ever been to Carhenge before, I wonder?

More to come...

(p.s. Tabs around passenger window are readying for our install of the new monsoon deflectors, so we can have fresh air while sleeping, even when it's raining)

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May your trip be Vogon free. My '71 Norton Commando was christened Heart of Gold because of it's Infinite Improbability Drive. I have to say that fewer cups of hot tea have been needed with my Delica than was the case with the Norton.
 
Whew, took awhile but we’re almost on the road, complete with our cat! Van didn’t even seem to notice the trailer after we hooked it up… I only partly took my foot off the brake and off it went, as if the van is raring to go (the cat’s not, but we are)!

We’ll be on our way tomorrow sometime, I just have to go up on the roof again and rearrange some of those items (but it rained in California today, how’s that a thing?!… so I put off doing my final tie-downs ‘til tomorrow). Oh, and we decided to detour up the west coast, adding 700 miles… so our goal is 3,708 miles, give or take… I love doing things that seem more than a little crazy to family and friends!

Appreciate everyone here that makes these sorts of crazy ideas possible. I’ve learned so much… and I’m sure there’s more to come yet!

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No vogons yet, though the zombies and other ghouls in the small town of Burns, Oregon certainly gave us a good look on 10/31 :eek:

Northern California was fun, I didn't sleep for a night and just drove (so as to avoid other drivers while getting used to the trailer)! We rested on the southern Oregon coast...

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Spent a couple days in Oregon's high desert too (21 degree low the first night caught us by surprise... there were ice crystals all over the van, though I took this once my fingers unfroze, and by then the sun was warming us all up)!

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Awoke in Idaho earlier this week (and ended the day in Utah)!

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Wow you could put your whole van in the sleeper on the red truck lol. Nice setup, adorable trailer. ”pillows are my copilot”
 
ShelbyD said:
”pillows are my copilot”
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Just wanted to say I laughingly think of you saying this whenever I look at the massive pile of pillows/cushions that, for whatever reason (when space was at such a premium!), we brought with us on our trip anyway!

Our Delica is finally back with us in good mechanical shape again...with more pillow-filled trips to come, for sure! At least they're light?! :D
 
Occasionally (especially in sudden changes in the weather like the downpour and freezing weather that followed the day after taking this photo), something heated and a little more spacious is a welcome break… somehow we found this little caboose all kitted out, on our 1,000 mile trip through Pennsylvania to break in cylinder #4!

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We're doing it again! Another 4K miles, the southerly route this time, mostly Route 66 plus a few other stops (since we started in central Mass). Hoping the rebuilt engine purrs along now, despite asking the van to go back all the way across the country (spent 1K miles testing and breaking in Cylinder #4 before towing this trip).

It's an incredible vehicle to tour cross-country in though, and after all these trips I'm starting to get everything tuned in, in terms of where objects are in the van, and which things are in the van versus the trailer. I think this may be the first trip ever where almost everything we need is in the van, without a bunch of stuff getting in our way that we don't need at all (only 4 extra cushions/pillows this time, rather than the 12 we had)!

So one notable stop was to see the "world-famous" Mothman in Point Pleasant, West Virginia... because who doesn't love giant moths?! We sure have had our share of moths inside the van since then too, perhaps owing to his influence?! Or else they love the LED lighting I added (we've been sleeping in the van in some very moth-y places too... 4WD is so useful for getting off any beaten tracks for quiet nights in the van)!

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We also paused to see the fire-breathing Kaskaskia dragon... best seen on a windless day, or maybe at night (but at least it wasn't raining at this moment?!)

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It's kinda hard staying on Route 66 (I tried the other day to take the old road instead of the interstate, and ended up accidentally down a gravel dead-end... a sheriff followed us in, I suppose just to make sure we weren't up to something odd, but when he saw us laughing on our way back out once we realized our mistake, he didn't trouble us)!

The van's looking a little worse for wear after a winter outdoors in the Northeast, but the new tires are kind of fun (the old tires' inner sidewalls that came with the van were failing, with wires sticking out of them). I've become so accustomed to clambering over boulders in the van in rural Massachusetts, that I've taken some real fun paths for our overnight stops, and the van just scrambles over everything, even towing :)

I'll deal with surface rust and repaint once we're back on the West Coast, little van deserves it after everything it's doing for us!
 
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