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Date:         Mon, 27 Sep 2004 19:44:47 -0400
Reply-To:     "Kate Sumbler (ktpupp)" <ktpupp@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Kate Sumbler (ktpupp)" <ktpupp@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      New to the list!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Hello fellow Vanagon owners!

My name is Kate and I live in Okemos, MI - just outside of Lansing. I thought I'd post an introduction and the story of how we aquired our Westy.... It's a 1985 Gold/Beige Westfalia Camper with about 124,000 miles on it. It's in need of some repair and that's why I joined this list. Hopefully, with a little help from listmembers, we'll have this baby on the road soon!

Here's the story: Three years ago, my husband Rob, daughter Kayleigh and I were vacationing in Michigan's Upper Penninsula (UP) and saw this VW Westphalia camper with a "For Sale" sign in the window on a side street in Grand Marais, MI right off of Lake Superior. We took it for a test drive and talked at length with the gentleman selling it. It was a cool van, with the fridge, sink, stove in the back and sleeping space for 4 using the pop-up top camper feature.

Alas, we couldn't afford it at the time although we really wanted a van of some kind for camping trips, etc. Last fall, we ended up buying a Honda Odyssey minivan so that we would have the space we needed when camping and for hauling larger groups of people around town, etc. The Honda is a great van and has proved itself to be a good investment already, but there was a part of us that still wished we had a hippie VW camper...

Fast forward to this year's summer vacation. On our way up to camp again in the UP we wondered aloud if that Westphalia might still be for sale. Considering what a tiny little town Grand Marais is, it wouldn't be surprising for no one to have come through town to see it and/or buy it in three years. We laughed that it would probably be sitting there in the same spot, faded "For Sale" sign still in the window. Of course, we drove through Grand Marais with our eyes peeled, but the van wasn't there.

On one of our trips back into town to get ice, firewood or whatever, I was looking down all the side streets hoping to catch a glimpse of the VW... Bam! There is was, in a grassy alley behind a row of homes, parked behind a shed with foot-and-a-half tall grass growing up along side of it! We pulled down the next street and decided to take the chance that the owner may have just parked it when it didn't sell, so Rob walked up to the house and knocked on the door.

A nice older woman responded and Rob asked her if the VW van was still for sale. She said that it was her daughter's van and called to her to come talk to us. Becky, the daughter, was the most adorable thing! She's probably about 20-22 years old, a cute little hippie chick in a homemade patchwork dress and about 8.5 months pregnant!

She told us she was interested in getting rid of the van because she and her husband couldn't really afford to keep it. It was parked here at her mom's house because they didn't have anywhere to store it and if we wanted it we could just have it! Rob told her we would be happy to buy it off of her if she wanted to give us a price, but she insisted that just taking it away would be fine because her mom has been bugging her to get it out of the backyard for a long time.

Turns out, the guy selling the van three years ago was her stepdad and he ended up giving it to her. She drove it for a bit and did a little camping but then one time it overheated as they drove out in the backcountry on a slow winding dirt road. She had it towed home and hasn't really done anything with it since. She does go out and start it up every few months and it always runs for her, but she hasn't driven since it overheated because she didn't want to cause anymore damage if there was something seriously wrong with the engine. Now that she and her husband are expecting a child, she just doesn't think they can afford to keep the VW as a recreational vehicle and handle the maintenance and upkeep.

We got her contact info and told her we would be back in touch with her if we were interested in taking the van. After we left, we hemmed and hawed about whether it would be wise idea - the concept was awesome: free hippie VW camper, but would it end up being a similar burden for us as well? After considering our budget and the fact that we already bought the Honda, (at great expense), and have Rob's high maintenance 1988 Audi to keep running we realized it just didn't make sense to take on another vehicle right now.

When we got home from vacation, the Westy was still on our minds. We talked about it for a few days and decided to go ahead with it and get in touch with Becky.

So, a couple of weekends ago, Rob and I drove up to the UP yet again and towed the Westy home. There's more to the story that I will fill in another time, including one trip up with hopes of driving the Westy home, but that story deserves an email of it's own!

I'll be writing more later with some links to pictures, some questions and more stories of our Vanagon adventure!

-=kt=-


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