Gonna Be Away for a Little While

V

Vic Willman

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Mar 5, 2001
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3655
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After Thursday, I'll be taking a week off for vacation. Heading south to Maryland, Virginia and anybody's guess where else. Raritan frowns on me taking vacation between Memorial Day and Labor Day, as that's the busy season. So I'm gonna squeeze in a week before Mem. Day.
Don't feel that I've deserted you - I'll be back on the board somewhere around the 22nd!

Hoping to hit Arlington Nat'l Cemetery, then head down to Williamsburg (now that the Queen's gone) and basically just gunkhole around with no particular destination in mind. Leaving the land yacht home this time and trying out my new Toyota minivan. I want to see what kind of mileage it gets over the road. The engine is marginally smaller than the '03 Dodge Grand Caravan that I traded in (3.5 liter vs. 3.8 liter) but it has more horsepower (266) and it performs a whole lot better. It's been quite impressive thus far, in normal running around and on short trips. The 5 speed automatic trans seems to be REALLY helping the gas mileage. I'll report on it when I get back. I was a died in the wool Chrysler fan until Daimler took them over - and now they seem to build junk, and are on the verge of bankruptcy as a result. My Grand Caravan needed a left front axle replacement and a power steering pump with only 61K on it - it was time to dump it. So now I have 3 Toyotas - the 1987 RV, a 2000 Avalon and the new Sienna minivan. And I'm very happy with all of them.
 
Look for my headstone in Arlington, Vic! I've got one in there...I was impressed! Nice to know that I rate a spot in General Lee's backyard! ;)
 
It's amazing just how many Mike Sibleys there actually are - kinda like John Jones or Sam Smith... How long have you been dead?
 
It's been awhile. Like a good buddhist, I just keep coming back...or maybe I'm Douglas MacArthur and I always return...it's confusing.
 
I have friends in Arlington National Cemetery and several more of The Wall. Visiting either is always very moving for me.
Have a great vacation, Vic. By the time you get home I should be getting near home as well so maybe we'll hook-up.
 
Hope to have you back soon, Mike! Get here safely! And have a great Lewnes steak when you get back - to hell with the moo goo gai pan...!
 
Well, I'm back (as most of you have already realized). Spent some time at Arlington Nat'l Cemetery. Visited the Kennedy Graves and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Guard had to stop and scream at the crowd to be quiet and respectful while there (not at me, I know better). Then he went on. Stayed for the changing of the guard, and again the Sgt. of the Guard had to scream at the people to be quiet. Man, how times have changed... Last time I was there, I was in grade school and the crowd was absolutely silent. Of course, that was long before there were cell phones with teenage kids yapping on them constantly...

After leaving there, we went to Yorktown, and wandered around a bit, looking at where Washington finally won a battle (with help from the French)! Cornwallis was supposed to be evacuated by sea, but the shore batteries from the Americans kept the ships far enough out in the harbor that they weren't able to evacuate. So the Brits had no choice but to surrender.

From there we went down to Jamestown - what a fiasco that was! It was Mother's Day weekend, and also the weekend they were celebrating the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Europeans, in 1607. You couldn't get within miles of the place unless you had pre-purchased tickets. I thought that after the Queen had left, it'd be a good place to go - silly me! So we went to Williamsburg and spent a few hours there. We didn't do the tour of Colonial Williamsburg because, basically, I'm a cheap SOB. There were 3 of us (wife and mother-in-law were with me) and the prices for the tours began at $36 and went all the way up to $79 - with no roller coaster rides!

From Williamsburg we went down to Virginia Beach. Boy, what a well-kept secret that place is! Got a hotel room right on the beach for $85.00 a night! Plenty of good food, lots to do, friendly people, and decent prices. It was my first visit to Virginia Beach, but it won't be my last! We really liked it there. While there, I hooked up with Don Waldecker and his wife. Don is the local Raritan installer and service guy for Raritan in the Va. Beach area. I've known him on the phone for about 10 years, but had never met him in person. We had a nice dinner with Don and his wife at a restaurant that only the locals know about. Great time! Dinner for 5, with drinks, ran just a little over $100.00! And this was a real nice place, not a dive! A good time was had by all. Don and his wife were simply very nice people - plus, he bought dinner. That made it even nicer ;).

Stayed there a couple days, visited their aquarium and their marshland exhibit - quite impressive, particularly the aviary! The birds there have been picked up on the side of the road, etc., injured and not able to return back to the wild and survive on their own. When they are all healed and rejuvenated, they are returned to the wild. A single admission covered both the aquarium and the marshland/aviary tour. Enjoyed it immensely.

On the way back, visited Washington's birthplace in Westmoreland County, VA. Visited the cemetery where about 35 of Washington's ancestors are buried, dating back to the 1600's. Then headed up US-301, to visit friends in LaPlata, MD and Annapolis, MD. Spent a day and a night in Annapolis, then headed home.

My new Toyota minivan now has a little over 3000 miles on it. It averaged just under 27 MPG for the whole trip - and that was with the air conditioner on most of the time. My wife has bad allergies, so we couldn't have the windows open because of all the pollen in the air this time of year. I was pleased as Punch with the mileage; the best I ever got with the Dodge on a trip was 22 mpg.
 
"My new Toyota minivan now has a little over 3000 miles on it. It averaged just under 27 MPG for the whole trip - and that was with the air conditioner on most of the time"

You think that"s GOOD? My Lincoln gets more than that and that has a V-8 in it
 
Well Vic, I believe your mileage claim has been trumped by one NANEE-NANEE BOO BOO. It's your move.
 
My minivan's got just a tad more wind resistance to it than a Lincoln does... At any rate, it's notably better than my previous Dodge minivan got. Wife's best friend has an '05 Lincoln Town Car that averages about 18 MPG...

The minivan will do better over the road, but about half of my trip was in city driving and on highways other than interstates, where there were red lights every few blocks. Plus, on I-95, in Northern Virginia, heading South - it was a parking lot! Took me 3 hours to go 20 miles. That doesn't help with the gas mileage. I didn't use I-95 on the way home! Overall, I was quite happy with the mileage I did get.
 
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