Vans Part 2 - Starcraft

This post is a follow-up to Vans Part 1 - The Tiara Years and covers our move to Starcraft beginning in 1997. Vans Part 1 and the earlier Road Trip - An Expected Journey recount our early van ownership days and the general nature of Burk family road trips. Here I continue the story.

As noted in the previous post, our first three vans were Tiara conversions. They were luxurious in appointments and elegant to behold. But in the late '90s Tiara's were becoming hard to find. Starcraft, on the other hand, was going strong. So we followed the market. Our first Starcraft (and fourth van overall) came with upgraded features and GM's sleek new look. To start us off here is a customary fam/van shot of Starcraft #1 featuring the stylish shorts/white socks/deck shoes look clearly indicating that my heritage is rooted in someplace other than "The Pointes".

 

Starcraft #1 didn't have any extended, cross-country trips like Tiara #2 (out west) or Tiara #3 (New England), but it did yeoman work on our frequent vacation trips to Florida. Here is a shot of this mean road machine (the usual 7-liter V8 with overdrive) loaded for the road including golf clubs on the roof. Note the upgraded roof rack (the Tiara racks were not as sturdy), the bigger door and rear bench windows and the more aerodynamic front end. GM introduced this new body style in 1997. The lower profile on the front door windows and the windshield gave the big vans the driving feel of a minivan and much better road visibility. On the interior, this van had all the usual appointments like reading lamps, rear music and air conditioning, and plush leather seats, as well as our first built-in TV and VCR located in a console between the front captain's chairs. It was slick.

 

Here are a couple of action shots taken during a departure from one of our favorite spots - the Old Key West resort at Walt Disney World. In this first one Cathy is displaying how to use your head when toting a week's worth of luggage and trip toys from the condo to the loading area.

In this next shot I am demonstrating the refined technique of securing items to the roof rack. Can you say bungy cord? By the way, on the 10-point Dad-jita scale of packing difficulty (introduced in Vans Part 1), any load that requires the use of a roof rack is an automatic 10. (It should be noted here that there are two schools of thought on tieing things down to a roof rack - rope and bungy cords. While it's true that improperly applied bungy cords can be a hazard, in the hands of a master the bungy cords are superior.)

Next are a couple of shots of the kids taken during a rest stop. Both are of the "girls in chairs, boys on the bench" formation. These shots also provide a glimpse into the typical conversion van interior trim package. In the first, note the window cornices. Nested behind them were ambient lighting and pull-down sunshades. In the second shot you can just make out a portion of the ceiling panel which also contained subdued lighting. With a van full of people at night it was always nice to be able to see who you were talking to without the glare of the brighter reading lights. And the shades offered the option of privacy when you needed it (napping on the road or quick-changing into your golf togs in the course parking lot :-)

 

And just so you know, the road wasn't always sunshine and blue skies. It was inevitable that on some winter trips to Florida we would return to, well, winter. But as I recall there were only two times that we actually had to battle bad snow storms. The first was early in the '90s. For that one we had to take unscheduled refuge in a motel in Berea, Kentucky, as I-75 was closed a few miles further up the road. The highway was clear the next day, and we made it home just fine. 

 

We ran into the second storm on the way home from our Christmas 2000 trip. I still have this vivid memory of slip-sliding through Toledo on icy roads at 30 miles an hour - the freeway packed with every other family who had gone south for the holidays trying to get home. In that situation it was nice to have a warm, comfy environment in which to literally "ride" out the storm. It was also somewhat reassuring that except for the occasional 18-wheeler, we were the biggest vehicle on the road should someone start playing bumper cars. Here are a couple of shots of Starcraft #1 earning its keep. The first taking a brief respite in a northern Ohio rest area, and the second in our own driveway, back home safe and sound.

 



Here's an interesting pic that opened a whole new chapter in vanning for the Burks - moving kids to and from college, and eventually to other faraway places. This shot is of Christy all loaded up and ready to go to MSU in 1999. Much more on this issue a little later on in the saga.

 

 

And one last shot of Starcraft #1 in one of its favorite spots. Have I mentioned that these big vans hate to pass a gas station?

I think this might be a good time to mention a couple of other vans that may have been inspired by exposure to the Burk fleet. The Chevy high-top gem shown below belonged to my parents who kept it for a number of years. It made many trips back and forth to the Sunshine State during my parents' "snow bird" years in the '90s, finally ending its days in Florida after playing a major role in their permanent move south in 2001. This pic was taken at Disney's Old Key West circa 1998.

My parents' van also played a brief but significant role in our own travel history. In 1993 after several years of driving to Florida, our girls started complaining about the long drives. They pointed to some of their friends who got to fly on their vacations. So Nancy and I agreed to give the little darlings the "jet" experience by flying down to Florida for our usual spring break trip. During that trip we borrowed my parents' van for a few days and made our very first visit to our friends the Dyles' condo on Captiva Island, a beautiful spot that we have visited many times since. And while we considered the jet trip a success, we all felt worn out from dragging our luggage (and each other) through too many airports. This resulted in a renewal of our appreciation of the luxury, convenience and freedom of van travel (you can bring anything you want instead of just what you can carry) despite the extra hours on the road. We've never looked back.

One other van of note is pictured below. This was a brief and not so successful experiement by our friends the Dyles who for years have been minivan loyalists. As a Chrysler employee, Dave Dyle had a chance to request a full size van as one of his company lease vehicles, so he did in the late '90s. This Dodge model was the result. Unfortunately, Dave was unable to get the van with all of the creature comforts he wanted (and had grown accustomed to through familiarity with our vans).  This led to some disappointment and eventual disregard of what came to be called "The Whale", and the Dyles hurried back to their beloved Dodge minivans as soon as they could. This pic was taken as The Whale cruised into Captiva during Christmas break in 1998.

But back to the saga. In 2001 it was time for the Burks to change rides again. We loved the first Starcraft so much, we re-upped. Starcraft #2 was very similar to its predecessor, only blue. And it had two new features that elevated our van experience to even higher levels. The first was an airline-style fold down TV in the center ceiling panel, with a VCR mounted in the rear bench seating area. This made for much easier viewing than with the floor-based models. The second and most significant feature was that it was our first 8-door van with three doors on each side plus the usual two in the rear. Having primary responsibility for loading and unloading the van, this made for way easier access to those valuable extra spaces behind the front and mid-cabin seats. It also made it easier for passengers to load and unload (and when hurrying back to work from Mexican Town with lunch-bunchers jammed into every seat, each second counted).

Unfortunately, despite its good looks and refinements, Starcraft #2 was our least photographed van. It did perform the usual workload of Florida road trips and local shuttling with reliability and distinction, but did so it would seem under the radar. Perhaps we were taking our poor fifth van for granted. However, there are some pics. Here is the usual fam/van shot with the kids.

 

And an action shot. This one of us half-way packed for Christy's return to MSU in 2001.

 

 

Finally, a classic of the van fully loaded in my parents' driveway in Zephyrhills, Florida, ready for the return trip home. This pack was a 10, of course, given the roof rack rule.

 

 

We have now covered our first five vans and 14 years, from 1989 to the summer of 2003. For the final chapter of the story we will need to go to a Part 3, which will feature our last and best van, also a Starcraft, that we rode for over 10 years - The "Tripasaurus".

 

Until then.