We arrived back home in Vermont yesterday at about 1:45 p.m., 18 days, 5,130 miles and 17 states after we left with no mechanical issues in the '84 VW camper other than the rear hatch locking up. The old bus climbed three passes of more than 10,000 feet, averaged more than 20 mpg (pretty good for a 36-year-old vehicle shaped like a brick) and gave us a safe place to sleep each night on the road.
We had a chance to visit my brother and his family in Indiana, That Certain Dartmouth '14 in Gunnison, Colo., and my sister in Dillon, Colo. It was a lot of driving (but not too much) in a four-speed without power steering but made for a terrific, memorable time with Mrs. BGA.
TCD'14 showed us a campground where she did a little work for the Bureau of Land Management this summer, and its name resonated with me. It is a perfect summation of our vacation: Oh Be Joyful.
