The ease of traveling/camping with a kid depends largely on how "high
maintenance" your kid is, I think. Kids are incredibly adaptable, if not
influenced by the fears of their parents or taught that they need a crate
full of toys to entertain themselves everywhere they go. Evon and I have
taken long road trips in VW campers with our daughter Haley since she was an
infant. Her first camping trip and music festival was at 6 weeks old. At 5
months old she spent a month with us traveling through Europe in a VW
camper. By two years she was already an "old pro." having been on camping
trips, road trips, or music festivals with us dozens of times.  Now 7 years
old, she starts asking when the next trip in the Westy is as soon as the
winter begins to thaw!  She can't wait, and literally crosses off the days
on a calendar in her bedroom until the season's first camping trip.

When Haley was an infant we found a small wooden cradle that wedged
perfectly across the passenger seat (when forward facing). At 1 or 2 she was
sleeping in the area behind the sofabed (over the engine), or we all crowded
into the lower bad.  As she got a litlle bigger she started sleeping with
Mommy "downstairs" while I slept up top. Now we let her choose between
upstairs and downstairs herself. If we caravan with other friends who have
kids and a Westy, sometimes we have "sleepovers" where a couple of kids
spend the night together in one Westy while the other kid's parents get a
break for the night. :-)

We found a Side Tent to be invaluable for stays of longer than one night in
a single location. When Haley was a toddler, it served as an enclosed area
for her to play in during inclement weather. When she was potty-training, we
turned the tent's sleeping cabin into a bathroom with a porta-potty inside
it. This really excited her to have her own private bathroom, and it sure
made our lives easier! :-)  For overnight stays, if rain is predicted, we
use an Ezy-Awning (faster to put up and down than a tent) so there is still
a dry area to play in besides the confines of the van. (This also keeps her
from getting under-foot if Evon is cooking dinner inside the van, since it
can be pretty cramped in there.)  

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  www.busdepot.com
  (215)  234-VWVW

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