Tales of favorite canoeing or travelling vehicles

[Guest]

Reminds me of a 2 week family road trip to Florida, with 8 people and a dog in our 1974 VW bus. Only 7 seats, so the 4 of us kids had to take turns sitting on the floor between the middle row seat and the sliding door. Would have been nice to have some padding for that!

My wifes family routinely travelled cross-country in a VW bus; parents, 7 children and camping gear. Their tales of disaster are many; the canoe that blew off the roof on a bridge, the car top carrier disappeared unnoticed, windows that fell out and long trips into Mexico where half of the kids had Montezumas revenge.

I am sure we all have favorite, or at least most memorable, tripping vehicles. Lets hear yours.

I have had the great fortune to haul canoes and travel cross country in some wonderful vehicles; 4 different Toyota pick-ups, a Datsun pick-up and most memorable of all, the 67 VW camper bus.

The bus, with crew and gear load, would not get much above 60mph on the flats, even with a 1968 motor in it. At that time inter-State highway speeds above 55 miles per hour were prohibited, but even so we were Granny lane puttering, especially up any hill. Tell that 55 mph crap to folks on lonely highways out west.

I have so many fond memories of travelling cross-country in that bus. We installed a cassette deck and good speakers, but there was no handy cubbyhole to store the empty cassette case. I wore a leather hippie hat with a deep set crown that was perfect for holding the empty cassette case.

I could not count the number of times I walked into a gas station or convenience store with an empty cassette case atop my hat and wondered why the weirdo cashier was staring at a point 5 inches above my eyes.

The gas gauge on the bus worked, but if you twisted the faceplate the gauge below the needle could go from below empty to above a quarter tank. You did not need to actually turn the faceplate, the road jiggle would do so for you.

We ran the bus out of gas so often that we made signs reading OUT OF GAS for the driver, now highway hitchhiker, to hold up to oncoming traffic.

Near instant rides, often still in sight of the bus. Or, more than once, pull overs by folks with 5 gallon gas cans in the bed of their truck.

Your favorite tripping vehicle past or present?

 

[yellowcanoe]

Every vehicle has a story!
Today we relied on Google Translate

 

[Alan Gage]

They've all been my favorite at the time I was driving them and I never really missed any of them when they were gone. I usually buy broken down cars cheap that people don't want to fix and drive them for 2-3 years until another good one comes along.

I spent one summer traveling the country and living out of a Dodge caravan. A white mini-van is the perfect under cover vehicle for stealth camping along small town streets at night. No one thinks anything of it. I pulled all the seats out of the back and set it up with a cot and plastic bins for dresser drawers. It also drew a lot of looks and chuckles from the "hard core" group when parked at trail heads. It was only front wheel drive but I was amazed at some of the roads (and non-roads) it made it down (and up).

The little Saturn coupe wasn't anything special but I've never slept in a more comfortable front seat.

The Ford focus hatchback with franken-rack was fun just because it was so improbable. Rough ride. Noisy. Hard to get gear in/out but it gave me a good couple years and put on a ton of miles with a canoe on the roof. Did a couple of canoe trips to Canada with it.

Current vehicle is an '02 Ford Escape. Nice size. Holds a lot of gear and has good access. Also outfitted with a franken-rack. It's all wheel drive with decent ground clearance which opened up more options (like harder to access trail heads in SE Arizona). Very uncomfortable sleeping in the front seat and not enough room to sleep in the back. It's pushing 240k so I need to start keeping an eye out for its replacement.

I always store my vehicle title in the glove box so that if I have a major break down on the road I can just sign the title over to the wrecker operator or repair shop.

Alan

 

[Guest]

Every vehicle has a story!
Today we relied on Google Translate

Kim, lemme guess Beware Falling Rocks

What are you driving in Iceland?

 

[dougd]

Back in '74 at the ripe age of 14 we drove a Ford Falcon towing a trailer with gear for a month/2 canoes and no spare tire. AM radio only, tuned to religious stations and during the 17 hour road trip drivers would take cat naps in the back seat so me being the smallest had to seat sandwiched in the front, 3 in the front seat. Something was wrong with the steering so it kept pulling to the right and the steering wheel wiggled like a snake trying to get outta your hands. (Trailer didn't fair much better, 3 shredded tires and some hitchhiking to get a new one).

When we got to Ignace and the logging road in to the Albany River I finally got to drive. Holy crap, I buried the wheels twice in soft soil, tires were pretty bald and what in the heck were we doing driving a car like that towing a freaking trailer on a logging road for 2 hours to the put in? Also almost took out a tree when that steering problem got compounded with more soft shoulder on the road. We left it with a guy who owned a camp on the river and 28 days later two of the crew caught a ride back to it, pulled the keys out from under the floor mat and drove it to pick us up and another 17 hour trip back home.

That car developed an odor of it's own. The night before we left we met for a homemade spaghetti dinner with a lot of sausage and garlic. We rode with the windows down for much of the trip and on the way home it just smelled like 4 stinking to high heck river rats. The car made it to the junk yard soon after we got home and believe it not I was sad about that! I developed a fondness for the Ford Falcon from that trip and then another to Florida a few years later but that isn't a canoeing story!

 

[sweeper]

1979 Colorado Springs to Penacook NH 2000 miles 48 hours wife and two boys who threw up all thru Kansas, MO to NH nothing.

 

[latremorej]

Wow, Ford Falcon... Sorry Doug, (I wasn't born till the late 70s) I had to Google that one!. Wagon or sedan?

Jason

 

[dougd]

Sedan, Red and the rust starting to show through! NY winters!

 

[latremorej]

My family rarely traveled and when we did it wasn't too far. I did manage a couple short road trips as a teenager in a beat to heck 1981 forrest green LeBaron which had those rusted out "see through" upstate NY salted front corner panels... and a trailer hitch. That slant 6 pulled my father's bass boat out of some messy boat launches over the years! A few short canoe trips to local rivers frog huntin'. That Grumman made a mess outta the vinyl clad top though! In the early 90s, I hadn't been introduced to Mr yakima ... and if i were, I surely couldn't afford it! Lol.

Jason

 

[Odyssey]

Every vehicle has a story!
Today we relied on Google Translate

Here's an Icelandic saying for you. Petta Redast! http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180603-the-unexpected-philosophy-icelanders-live-by

 

[flyingbison]

... a beat to heck 1981 forrest green LeBaron which had those rusted out "see through" upstate NY salted front corner panels...

My 1974 Doge Dart had a matching pair of those. Whenever the road was wet, the front tires would spray water all over the windshield. A couple layers of duct tape fixed the problem!

 

[Canotrouge]

1996 Toyota Hilux Surf diesel, right hand drive, 78" bars roof rack could carry lots of canoes to the put in like I think 4 full size tandems, and 6 or 7 solos.... It was a great bush tuck, could crawl almost anywhere, but not out fo the last hole I put it in... 60' ravine with me in it.... it was a total lost!

 

[Steve in Idaho]

I don't think I'll ever find a better canoe hauler than my old Isuzu Trooper. Just long enough, wide enough, and tall enough in the roof. Rear doors that open to the side, instead of the usual "hatch". Good clearance for those out-of-the-way access points. Underpowered enough to deter joyriders. Homely enough to induce sympathy from vandals and petty thieves. I do miss it.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Kim, lemme guess Beware Falling Rocks

What are you driving in Iceland?

VW Golf of all things. No boats on roof. Gets 50 mpg
sign translates into Road Clear
it would be a challenge to pack for a canoe trip

 

[flyingbison]

I'd have to say that my current vehicle - 2013 Subaru Outback - is by far the best vehicle I've ever had for canoe trips, family camping, road trips, etc. Before that, I've only ever owned sedans and small hatchbacks. By comparison, my Outback is very spacious. I like the higher clearance and elevation, too, but I can still load and unload the canoe without a step stool.

 

[Jim Dodd]

A 1991 Chevy S-10, was as close to perfect as I've found. 4 cyl. 2.5 L. No Air Could, haul a canoe, gear, with two kids, and still get 26 m/g. at 70m on the Interstate.
I welded up a rack, It was low enough, that you could load and strap, without stepping off the ground !

If they still made them, I would buy another in a heart beat !!!

Jim

 

[Canotrouge]

Now we have a Honda Element AWD and for trips that thing is really hard to beat in terms of room for gear and roof rack capacity. The 3 of us plus the dog and all the boats needed for a week of fun on the river(usually 2 solo and 2 tandem ww river running and all the gear that goes with it) super confortable ride, not the greatest fuel economy out there but not bad for an AWD square box!

 

[yellowcanoe]

My favorite was the 00 Tundra. Small 8. Mileage unaffected by canoes
Bed had a topper and a platform bed. Paddles and wet stuff in drawers under the bed
we didn

 

[Odyssey]

Our tripping vehicles have been whatever family auto was still on the road at the time. Wagon, cargo-family van, little pickup, tiny car, big car, minivan...One new, some old, most owing us nothing except some tlc and an easy does it attitude behind the wheel. Never needed more than a 2-wheel drive, if we were willing to paddle far enough, which we've always been. No sense wanting to access the backcountry if we're not willing to at least do some paddling to see it. In this world of instant gratification there is an increasing demand for road access to the inner most sanctums of our wilderness, or at least what's left of it. Sad signs of trashed creek beds and crossings are testament to that, and it's happening everywhere. But to be honest I'm just a jealous guy because if I were to lay my hands on an old beater 4x4 I'd likely be perusing the satellite images too looking for an easy way into the backcountry. Maybe. Maybe not. As it is I'll drive my family beater to a suspension/undercarriage friendly lay-by or parking lot and access those hard to reach wild places by path and paddle.
Our tiny tripper car has gone to a better place. Better than our driveway anyway. I wasn't in the mood for another repair bill so off it went. The roof racks were sold separately. I still have the snows on rims. They'll find another home this fall. It was amazing where we could take our little cars despite a low ground clearance. So now we're down to just 1 vehicle, a minivan. It'll do. The cargo area doubles as a bedroom when it's not full of gear (which gets tarped outside when we're in vansleeping mode. Or is that mood?) This 2-wheel motel almost made it down a deeply rutted road last summer but my navigator lost her nerve as she was wailing "We're all gonna die!!" Well, I'm paraphrasing her; her actual words might've been "Oh no! Oh no!! Nooo!!" dang a 4x4 beater would've been sweet to drive at that moment.

 

[Guest]

Like several folks my favorite is my current vehicle, a 2014 Tacoma tripping truck, which itself if the outfitting culmination of 500,000 miles on two previous Toyota pick-ups.

But the most memorable will always be the 67 VW camper bus. Those cross country trips in the Bus were such good times, not solely because we were in our 20s, footloose and fancy free.

Gasoline was inexpensive. We drank cheap beer, stole the occasional State Park shower along the road and never stayed in a pay campsite. Three guys contributing $200 each to the kitty could travel cross-country for weeks on end.

1978 cross-country trip. The bus had a cassette deck and good speakers. Close Encounters of the Third Kind had come out earlier that year. We went to Devils Tower. Or tried to; we drove lost as the heck around pitch black new moon NE Wyoming before giving up in the wee hours of the morning, saying screw it and going to sleep in a random empty parking area.

In case you are unfamiliar with Devils Tower:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Tower

Awakening late next morning we looked out and discovered that the lot had filled up. We were parked in the Visitors lot at the base of Devils Tower. We had the Close Encounters soundtrack on cassette.

Oh yes we did, with all the doors open and aimed at the tower.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4PYI6TzqYk

Loudly. With good speakers that could handle the base at high volume.

That bit of foolishness was well received by other folks out and about the tower. The climbers on the wall hooted back cheers.

On long empty highway night shifts out west I would sometimes move over into the empty passenger seat and drive with my left foot on the accelerator, just for a change of view. Probably not the wisest idea in a vehicle in which the seats were sure death in a front end collision; the only thing between the drivers legs and an immovable object was a thin piece of sheet metal and a chrome VW emblem.

That was also the vehicle in which I discovered the refreshing joys of the empty highway 4am ablutions from the drivers seat. Get out the bag of toiletries and array the contents in order on the dash. First, a little Visine in each eyeball. Do not ask why.

Then toothbrush and toothpaste, rinsing with a canteen and spitting out the window; slow down or check first to make sure your companions, sleeping in the back, have their windows closed.

If the rear windows were closed it was time for the piece de resistance, a refreshing shampoo.

Pick a nice straight stretch of no-cars-in-sight empty night highway, stick my head out the window and splash a canteen of 55 mph windblown water on my hair and face, back inside, scrub with some Dr. Bronners, head back outside the bus window and rinse.

Towel dry, tie off the ponytail & brush out the beard; I was good for another few hours at least. And I looked good. Or at least looked clean.

I miss that VW camper bus, and those times.