Cars and Camping

Currently I am driving a 1992 Nissan Maxima. It’s creamy white with a burgundy interior, and has quite an impressive travel history: from El Paso, TX to Provo, UT to Seoul, South Korea (with a little joy ride to Los Angeles before getting on the ship, courtesy of some unscrupulous employees of the moving company), to Rochester, NY, with side trips to Wisconsin, Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts; and then back to El Paso via Utah, Montana and Oregon. It really belongs to Sven & Hyuna but they decided that they didn’t want to haul it back to Korea so it’s staying with us. It’s a great car and has never caused us any serious problems even though the odometer has passed 170,000 miles. (Thanks, Sven & Hyuna for sharing!) I’ve always maintained that I don’t care what I drive as long as it’s reliable so I’m not going to complain that the radio is kind of lousy, the alarm system has had to be disarmed three times, and on the hottest days the air conditioning doesn’t cut it. And no, I don’t name the cars I drive.

Recently I was taking a vivacious young lady home from a youth activity. As soon as she jumped in she said, “Ooooooh, I LOVE old cars!” Up until then I hadn’t thought of this car as an “old car”, but then, I’m still trying to use dates from the last century when I write checks. After the above mentioned young lady got out of the car I did some mental math and realized that the car is older than she is, so of course it’s an “old car” to her…it’s all about perspective.

The only car we’ve had that brings up really bad memories is the blue VW Vanagon that we owned from the summer of 1985 to the summer of 1986. It was exciting to get our first van because with six kids we really needed it. I’m sure they were great vehicles (my dear friend Birgid drove her Vanagon for years and years and LOVED it, at least that’s how I remember it) – we just didn’t know we were getting one of the citrus persuasion when we bought ours.

The one good trip we had with our van was a camping trip up to the Gila wilderness area of New Mexico. As much as Keven and I proclaim to love camping we did not do enough of it as a family, but this was a great trip. We loaded up the van with all the gear, including the old canvas tent that had been in Keven’s family for-ev-er, and off we went. The 30 miles of winding roads and switchbacks out of Silver City to our campsite took more than an hour to drive, and it was breathtaking. Setting up camp was a riot with all the kids wanting to help dad in some way while I mostly ‘supervised’ and held 4-month old Tanja. Of course, we all slept like babes on the rocky terrain that night. The next few days we hiked around and played and just enjoyed being away from our everyday routine.

Camp cooking is the best, no matter how it turns out – there is some kind of magic that occurs. The morning we broke camp we cooked up a big camp breakfast – bacon, eggs, hash browns, and pancakes. It was fabulous! Nothing smells quite as good as food cooking in the wilderness! And then, because Keven had to spend some time with clients in Lordsburg, NM, we cleaned up and headed down the winding roads that led back to civilization. I was enjoying the magnificent view when the first child (we won’t name names here) lost his/her breakfast, soon to be followed by the second, and then the third. By the time Keven was able to pull over I didn’t even want to look back there because I was pretty sure I would just add to the accumulation. The bacon, eggs, hash browns and pancakes didn’t smell so good this time around. My memory dims here; I’m not really sure how we cleaned up everyone. I do remember we went to our client’s business in Lordsburg, a grocery store, and they met all our children. I’m sure they were charmed by our distinct “straight from the mountains campfire smell” that probably didn’t overpower the other odors. They kindly sent us on our way with several large bags of goodies and fruit which were devoured on the way home, and didn’t make a return appearance either! You might ask why we didn't plan the client visit before the campout. I've wondered the same thing myself.

The joy of Vanagon ownership was the greatest when we arrived home – we simply took everything out and hosed it down and scrubbed it on the inside, as it was all rubber and vinyl!!! That almost makes up for the other trips where it broke down or burned up gallons of oil; Keven will have to document them though, as he was the one taking the boys to soccer tournaments in Albuquerque, NM and Alpine, TX when they occurred. But since I was left stranded with kids more than once on the other side of town I have my own grudges that I’m still holding onto. I will admit, however, that writing about the camping trip has softened them.

Picture it blue with a white top - our Vanagon

Exactly how I remember Birgid's Vanagon