We acquired Pam, a 1987 VW Westfalia vanagon almost two years ago. She occasionally needs some tooling or a small part, but runs mostly like a champ. She's taken us to Big Bend National Park, all over West Texas, through the desert, and to Oklahoma.
She's got a pop top and sleeps four on the fold out beds. She has a roll out awning, to set up a cooler of beer and folding chairs for a real shanty-town feel. Our dog Ada loves her more than anything in the world, mostly because it means we're going on a trip. But she'll just sit inside the van parked in the driveway all day if we'd let her.
Soon, she'll likely need a new engine. That will cost a pretty penny, but it will be worth it because Pam is everything to us and baby gets what baby needs. She's taken us to a lot of places, she's even been down the Baja Peninsula in Mexico with her previous owners. And we hope she takes us to many more places. If it all goes to hell, you'll even find us living in Pam like one of our favorite families who blog about living in their vanagon at Our Open Road.
We're planning to share more once we start giving the van a makeover, and want to post some videos of the process. For now, here's Pam all over the place:
Here's Pam before we even bought her. At the home of her previous owner, our friend Richard who lives in Alpine, TX. This was the moment we told Richard we'd love to buy her if he was selling.
Here's Pam set up shanty-town style outside the venue of our good friends' wedding in Marfa, TX.
Here's Ada in the back of Pam, camping in Balmorhea State Park.
Here's Ada asleep at the wheel of Pam.
Here's Pam in the Chisos Mountains at Big Bend National Park.