I never roasted a turkey IN my van but I had a dang fine Thanksgiving turkey
dinner with all the fixin's while camping at the Mora Campground near Rialto
Beach in the Olympic National Park in WA.

It was raining hard and windy as all get up but I hung a tarp between the
Westy and the fire pit, built a small fire, and cooked a whole turkey breast
over campfire while cooking the veggies inside in my tiny aluminum
backpacking pots.  (Only Florian will get the attached photo)

My surprise dinner companion was a retired school teacher from Ohio who'd
shown up after dark the evening before.  She made two passes through the
deserted campground before stopping at my site and approaching my campfire
to ask if I minded if she made camp in the site directly across from me.  I
assured her it was fine and invited her to sit by the fire after she was
situated.

We chatted late into the night while her traveling companion, a long haired
tortoise shell cat, investigated the shadows and appeared every few minutes
to make sure she was still there.

She told me about her solo travels around the country during school breaks
and after her retirement.  She been all over the US and Canada, camped and
hiked in all the well known National and Provincial Parks, she even hiked
the Chilkoot Trail from outside Skagway AK, over Chilkoot Pass and into the
Yukon.  (I'll bet she always had well behaved students who wouldn't dare
push her around!)

Before saying goodnight we agreed to "potluck" a Thanksgiving dinner the
next day.  I hadn't told her that I brought turkey, squash, green beans,
potatoes, carrots, cranberry sauce and stuffing.

Boy was she surprised when she saw what I was up to the next morning.  Since
we were celebrating in my Westy (more spacious than he Ch*vy conversion van
she drove) I cooked up the veggies between hopping in and out of the van
checking on the roasting turkey while she told me more stories of her
regular summer exploits and politely tried to convert me.

After an excellent meal (if I do say so myself) and cleaning up the Westy,
she excused herself, went to her van briefly and came back with a piece of
pumpkin pie she'd purchased at the diner in Forks the day before.
Incredible!

In the morning we said our goodbyes and exchanged e-mail address.  I'm sure
she's still out there somewhere; I seem to recall her cat's name was
"Jesse".

This year my sweetheart and I are going to Seattle in the morning to help
prepare a meal for some folks we don't really know and later we're having
our own Thanksgiving dinner at home with friends we don't often see.  I have
much to be thankful for.

Andrew
Bainbridge Island WA

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Florian Speier
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 11:46 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: is anyone going to roast a turkey in the van?

title says it all. just wondering. If you do, please share pictures.
thanks and happy thanksgiving.
Florian