First camping trip

A large group of friends had been planned a camping weekend on Mt. Hood since March of 2003 for that Summer. Less than a month before the trip was to take place, we found and bought Hapy. He ran well, but we had no idea how any of his things worked, and we didn't even have an owners manual yet. We did have an old copy of Muir's "How to Keep your Volkswagen Alive", so we felt reasonably sure we'd be okay. Besides, we were going to meet friends, so if we had trouble, they'd probably drive by us. We didn't have any mechanical issues other than slow-going on Sunday morning through the mountain passes (the picture below was taken just before we pulled out Sunday morning). We got lots of waves (both pleasant and vulgar) throughout the trip, and we felt very lucky to have Hapy in our family.

The old 1972 Westvalia interior has a large bench seat in the back that folds flat to make a bed. Next to the bed on the passenger side is a cabinet that blocks the rear passenger window, but it fits lots of stuff. It even has a closet that fits hanging things - like you'd really bring a suit out camping. Under the bench is a pretty large cabinet as well. Behind the front passenger seat is a sink/icebox unit and behind the driver seat is a rear-facing seat. All told, you can fit 5 passengers. We were traveling with 4 including the driver, so the rear-facing seat held camping supplies.

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is "what equipment do you need to bring when you camp?" Honestly, I bring the same stuff I used to camp with before I had the bus. I'll post another time with a more exhaustive answer, but, generally, if you've ever car-camped before, bring the same things you did before - even the tent.

We arrived before some of our friends did, so we popped the top, and pulled the ice chests out. My sons started asking very wise questions about where we would be sleeping, and we realized that we had the cot up top (1) and the bed down below (2), but we had 4 people. We resolved to have the youngest wedged between the parents on this trip, but we'd have to figure out a solution for other trips. After this trip, we purchased a child's cot at BusDepot for the younger son to sleep in. It also provided a place to put stuff when we weren't using it, which is very handy in any tiny cabin.

Timothy Lake was beautiful, though the water was cold, and we really enjoyed the cool Summer nights around the campfire swapping stories. We spent the day chasing frogs, and riding bikes around the campground. At night, we enjoyed not sleeping on rocks, though any time anyone had to use the restroom in the middle of the night, the sliding door woke everyone up. We used the front seats as a place to put stuff (like bags of clothes) while we were camped. This worked very well for us except one time we were closing the passenger door, the mirror glass fell out of the chrome holder :( I had my first experience with a stranger walking up to my bus wanting to know things about it. I realize now how little I knew then, but I gave the basic information. The funny thing is that over the years, the questions from people are pretty much the same, and regardless of age there's a little gleam of wonder in their eyes. The gentleman who I spoke to was driving a 30 foot RV that had satellite television and a microwave. All I had was an icebox and a folding bed, but the love of the outdoors seems to cross all lines, and we were soon talking about the view of Mt. Hood across the lake and the smell of the trees in the air.

The kids loved camping and didn't want to leave. They took to the cold early mornings, and pit toilets like they weren't anything out of the ordinary. We all knew that camping and Hapy were going to be a part of our lives for a long time after this trip concluded. At least so far, we were right--