Our Vanagon

I've been quite busy the past week and a half, so of course I didn't feel like posting. This past weekend we went to the Christ Church Retreat out at Genesis Ranch in Fischer, Tx. I think we both had a great time and are looking forward to next year's retreat.

This November 18 will not only mark 25 years of life for me, but will mark 2 years of us being the proud owners of our 1985 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia. We acquired this big fella from my great uncle, Tom, who graciously gave us a steal of a deal.

This is us picking the van up in Houston. U-Haul said that our truck wouldn't be able to tow the van, so we had to not only rent the tow-dolly, but rent a U-haul truck as well. The Westfalia is a camper, complete with two (small) beds, a stove, refrigerator, sink, and a ton of storage space.

After sitting in my uncle's driveway for a few years, never being cranked, the van didn't run. Bo and I helplessly tried to push the van down the driveway and up onto the tow dolly. A neighbor saw us and felt sorry for us, so he offered to help. We're not stupid, so we accepted his offer. I'm pretty sure we would have been out-of-luck had he not helped us out.

Once we got to our house we realized even more how gross the "the thing" looked. Swamp thing would have been an appropriate name for the van, instead of Westfalia. Houston is really humid so it had moldy stuff all over the outside and the inside too. We decided it would be in our best interest to wash it up a bit so that the neighbors wouldn't hate us. At this point we'd only been in the neighborhood for 6 months, so we were still in the getting-to-know-you phase. All cleaned up with the side door open. Not bad looking, eh?

Bo started working on the van when we got it, but we had to stop while I was gone for my internship, for financial reasons. Now that we're not having to pay rent and all of the gas bills from traveling back and forth, we've started back to fixing it up. Progress will continue to be slow until I find a job and we have two incomes again. I'm excited about this and hope we'll be able to go on vacation in our little camper someday.




The camper with the "tent" popped up. This is how you access one of the beds. I think this looks really bizarre, but I like it!









This is the refrigerator. Above you can see the stove on the left and the sink on the right. How funny is that?



Bo's first goal is getting the van "inspectable." At least this way, we can legally drive it to get something fixed if Bo is unable to do it himself. Otherwise, I think we would have to tow it there. One of the more costly items will be tires. Apparently it needs special, heavy-duty tires. Hopefully that will be the most expensive thing it needs! Of course, I'm not going to leave it all to Bo. My plans are to clean up the curtains and carpeting. The seats are in exceptional condition, thankfully! The carpeting needs some TLC and at least this way I have a valid excuse to purchase a little steam cleaner :)