Friday after Thanksgiving, we loaded up the van and drove, all four of us, to Chincoteague, Virginia for Thanksgiving Round II with some friemds who have a place on the island. I was nervous about the van, but I had been driving around town quite a bit and had even gotten to the point where I was not watching the gauges every 3 seconds.
We made it down and back and drove it out while we were there. Our hosts loved the way all 7 people could fit and it was like just moving the living room around with everyone sitting or lounging in the back, conversing or just looking at each other.
We also took it out to Assateague. The picture was taken on a causeway through some marsh.
The trip back was only slightly eventful. I got real nervous when the oil temp went up to about 230. I just slowed way down, to about fifty, drove easy and it settled down. After stopping for dinner, it never got above 200. I think the valve that diverts the flow to the oil cooler once the temp goes up was stuck closed. I also got a couple of hiccup like hesitations.
Hopefully, my confidence will go up and my anxiety about breakdown will go down with more trips.
