Tricia,
Nice to make your acquaintance on the vanagon list.
We have a copy of your book
"British Columbia, Off the Beaten Path".
We enjoy your book, and still have to discover some of the places 
you write about. 

About the propane filling,
Only the Eurobagos (later model fwd  VW eurovan winnebagos)
have the problem of the propane tank being difficult to fill, and the camper
has to be driven on a ramp or slight incline.
At least here in the U.S., on the vanagons, we've never had any problem
filling our propane tank. There is lots of clearance under the tank. 
All the places we've had propane filled had the proper fittings for the vanagon westy.
Possibly they use different equipment in Canada?
Harald
'90 westy
our vanagon website: http://www.geocities.com/harald_nancy

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