The Van

The idea of van-life, or at least of being able to road trip freely with a comfy place to sleep always readily available had long been a dream of mine, and as I had decided to sell my old Mercedes, needing something slightly more highway worthy, I started perusing listings for VW vans.

As luck would have it, an air-cooled 1980 VW Vanagon Westfalia happened to come available for just over what I could afford, being sold by a really cool doctor and his spouse, living out on a beautiful farm, who had gone on many adventures in "Penny", but who needed something a bit safer now for their children.

Penny spluttered, was missing interior paneling, a headliner, had no working AC or Heat, had a custom floor from days gone by, a questionably blacked out interior, and a large wooden door on the side, covering up a hole someone had put in with, I presume, an angle grinder.

In other words, she was perfect, and fortunately had a remarkable bill of mechanical health, so I sold the Mercedes, and away Penny went, on her next adventure! There were some issues, namely the interesting air flow meter, which uses a rotating needle and carbon pads to control the fuel-air mixture. Fortunately, a fantastic mechanic business helped us on our way, and soon Penny was running strong and only needed cosmetic love.

My wonderful partner and I toiled away, and soon Penny was sporting a new floor (complete with leftover tiles from my parent’s kitchen remodelling project), cabinets with wonderful murals, a snug, painted piece of roofing tin repairing the hole, and a nice bed extension to make the upper bed more comfortable, among other projects.

Penny has proved to be a steadfast adventure partner as we’ve taken her all over Oregon, through the deserts and mountains, down to California along beautiful rivers and through forests, and all the way to the Northern end of Vancouver in B.C! There have been many bumps along the way–rewiring projects in parking lots of gas stations, going 25 mph totally floored on the freeway, and the worst of all– Seattle hills in the rain…in bumper to bumper traffic. Just saying those words reminds me of the smell of a melting clutch. Yet she lives!

Her most recent adventure was hauling us back home to my parent’s place, and soon we will depart on another great road trip to Ashland to visit friends!