Thanks for all of the reassurance guys. The American attitude about oil changes is what I grew up with and it is what is giving me second thoughts about what my intuition is.
As for the battery, I too am interested to see if the good ole Optima yeller top holds up to the heat and time as far as a charge is concerned. There wasn't much gas in there in the first place so I bet it is all evaporated in the hot arizona sun. I think i will probably have to go to the station a few blocks away and get some before even attempting to start it. This will be my last trip, but I might put the car in storage (i know it is just a golf, but to me it is a beautiful german car that has never had any accidents) so I will consider better storage methods in the future. This trip was actually only supposed to be 3 months long again, but doubled. I will be sure and check all of the other fluids (all of my other fluids are top quality too, ATE super blue brake, Redline tranny fluid, pentosyn G12 coolant and they have all been serviced recently). I should make sure my cousin has a gas can for me...
I'll try and post pics for you all and let you know about the battery. I am using a Porsche car cover because it was laying around... kinda funny to have a golf under a porsche cover...
No, Points, I am not with HCJB...