Steamboat Springs Camping

Dumont Lakes & Strawberry Hotsprings

By Adam Johnson

September 24^th, 2011

I’ve got one weekend left with the use of my right leg before I go under the knife for yet another ACL reconstruction. I’ll be damned if I was going to just sit inside all weekend watching reruns of Say Yes To The Dress and chain-comping almond butter brussel sprouts. This weekend we are heading into nature. So, we packed up the trailer and Westy and headed back to Steamboat Springs for some nature and relaxing at Dumont Lakes campground.

While entering the site last night, we started to hear a clunking noise coming from the backend of the Westy. Hoping it was just the trailer, I unhooked the trailer and drove us into Steamboat Springs for some breakfast. Unfortunately the noise continued. Noises in these old Westfalias generally translates directly to laying out money for a repair. While at breakfast, I found a nearby VW Repair Shop called Intergalactic Motors. The comments said that the owner is hard to reach, but if you reach him, he does great work. Well, we reached him. Upon describing the situation, he suggested I check the bolts on the rear suspension. Low and behold, the rear suspension had no bolts and the clunking noise was the shock banging the inside of the wheel well. So, I removed the shock and headed South towards his shop.

Prior to buying the Westy, I had read a great quote that can be summed up as “the interruptions are the journey”. Once again this proved true as we happened upon an amazing shop. The shop owner, Fred, has lived here since 1976 and converts just about anything that runs on gas to run on hydrogen. He even has a Hummer H2 that now runs on hydrogen…ts exhaust is water. While we didn’t have the time or budget for the Westy hydrogen conversion, he did put our shock back on and tightened up all of the bolts on the other shocks. His invoice…just $20. Since he spent a good hour working on the Westy, I offered up a check for $40. I know…high roller…