Hello,

Thought I'd introduce myself. I live in Seattle and don't own a Vanagon.
Never have, so I'll probably be asking lots of dumb questions. But I love to
travel, so I'm looking for one and having a tough time. If anyone knows of
an '83 - '91 Westfalia with a manual trannie for sale in this area, I'd love
the lead. Find plenty of automatics, but few manuals.

I'm taking a sabbatical from my job and going north to Alaska and the Yukon
for the summer, hopefully leaving May 1st. On past road trips, I've "lived"
in my Honda Civic sedan by taking the passenger seat and back bench seat out
and substituting a plywood board that makes into a bed that runs from the
front of the car to the back seat. With padding under a sleeping bag, I've
camped in my car for months at a time and been plenty comfortable! The
plywood board comes out during the day to be stored in the trunk, where I
use it as a kitchen table (has legs under one end) with the other end
fastened on the lip of my trunk.

Sounds crazy (I'm sure you all think I'm a real nut now!), but the whole
setup is fantastic except when it rains or snows. Then cooking on the
"porch" with no cover gets miserable, and the rainwater eventually fills my
trunk and begins spilling over into the rest of the car. . . just kidding.
Everything (especially me) gets wet, though.

Anyone still wondering why I want a real camper? I'm getting too old for
this. Granted, I'll miss the power and gas mileage of a real car, but I
test-drove a Vanagon the other day and fell in love. And isn't that how you
have to feel to own one?

Any help finding my next "home away from home" greatly appreciated. I hope
to meet some of you one the road.

Thanks,

Steve
'86 Honda Civic Sedan Camper
<steve@northwestwatch.org>