As I write this, we’re just days away from picking up van 3.0, a 2022 Pleasure-Way Tofino. And If you’re familiar with different RV models. you might be scratching your head a little bit. After all, did we really trade in our Winnebago Travato, which had more space, a plumbed bathroom, A/C, and hot water, for a shorter vehicle, with no A/C, no hot water, and no bathroom? HELLS YES! And we couldn’t be happier.

If you follow this blog, you know that Maine is our absolute favorite place; when G and I first started dating back in 1995, we often spent our weekends driving to Maine and visiting the small towns dotting the coast. We fell in love with the coast and with Maine itself; 26 years later, we’re still making those coastal drives, and Maine still has our heart. One of these days, maybe we’ll hop the border and even make our home in “Vacationland.” While we love Maine year-round, there’s something especially beautiful about the coast in winter—the quiet, the stillness, the solitude (all the more appreciated these days!).

Our Thanksgiving getaway to Acadia National Park was a short one, but the two days away gave us a little escape from our routines and our four walls. Being in the Travato allows us a way to travel without really interacting with anyone else or with any public spaces, and our first experience boondocking with Boondockers Welcome was a success; the site, while really just a parking spot in a business lot, was perfect for our needs and offered a convenient base for us for our two nights in the area.

If you like camping, you’ll find no shortage of options. You can camp in tents, hammocks, full-size RVs, vans, and even regular cars. Sure, each comes with varying degrees of comfort, but there are certainly plenty of options. With regard to where one chooses to camp, again, options galore. Up until just a few weeks ago, G and I had mostly camped these past two years in established state, national (Canada), or municipal, or independently owned campgrounds. Now, however, we can add “boondocking” to our list of adventures.

I have a list of blog post ideas to come, but I figured now might be a good time to show folks the inside of Tedda, our Travato. And what better timing, as this week marks the birthdays of both my Aunt Tedda (after whom our Travato is named) and my grandmother, her sister. I wrote about Nonnie and Aunt Tedda in this post, if you haven’t yet had the chance to “meet” them. Aunt Tedda, born Nov. 23, would be 112 if she were still alive and Nonnie 110. What I would’t give to hear their take on the world we live in today—I can only imagine what they’d both say! Of this I’m sure: Aunt Tedda would have totally rocked quarantine cooking, and Nonnie, a homebody already, would have been content with staying at home and watching her soap operas, following her “numbers,” playing solitaire, and eating ice cream. So in honor of them both, and Aunt Tedda in particular, here’s a peek inside Tedda our Travato!

When we decided to make the jump into RV-land, everything seemed to happen very, very quickly. Count us among the throngs gravitating toward RV life during the pandemic. Even after factories shut down for periods and supply chains had been disrupted, sales skyrocketed. In late August, we had decided on a Class B. A week or so later, we put a deposit down on a Winnebago Travato. We put our Eurovan up for sale and watched as its new owners drove her away. And two weeks later, on Halloween, we were driving Tedda home from the dealership.

In our search for a self-contained RV, we ruled out trailers and narrowed our options down to a Class B. Easy enough from there, right? Nope. Ever since our trip to the RV show, we had been drawn to two of Winnebago’s models: the Revel and the Travato—so much so that we’ve been keeping our eyes out for them on road and in campgrounds and admiring from afar…and then we made our decision!

After G and I went to an RV show this past January, we started thinking about the van that would eventually be our “next,” to follow the VW Eurovan. We dreamed—and decided we’d do our research and make the jump to a bigger rig in a few years’ time. After all, our van suited us perfectly! Sure, it didn’t have a kitchen or bathroom, but so what? After all, we’re camping! We shouldn’t feel like we’re staying in a hotel room or a tiny house…right? And then COVID-19 hit.

After two years and so, so many memories, we sold our 2002 VW Eurovan Weekender. While we’re looking forward to picking up the new rig that will mark the beginning of our van adventures 2.0 (stay tuned for more posts and info!), I’ll always miss the van. And so, at the expense of being overly sentimental, we offer this farewell/love letter/thank you card to our van…

And so, on a cold Saturday in January, we found ourselves at the Boston RV and Camping Expo—oohing and ahhing at vans and RVs of all shapes and sizes. Hell, some of the RVs cost nearly as much as our condo—and seem just as big!! I’ve never been in an RV, and while I prefer a future in a small-ish van, G waxes poetically about RVs. I can’t imagine ever driving one of those behemoths, but I try to humor him.

Last week, we celebrated our one-year vaniversary with our new-to-us 2002 VW Eurovan Weekender. This time last year, we took the plunge, swore to be with our van for better or worse, exchanged nervous glances, handed over a hefty $15K cashier’s check, and walked our way down the proverbial aisle—in our case, New Hampshire’s Route 16, as we drove our new love home from the White Mountains to the seacoast.

Our van is a teenager. A 17-year-old, to be exact. Soon to be 18. Now, I’m not a parent, but I have taught high school for two decades, so I feel like I know this bunch pretty well. 17. It’s an age that’s wrapped up in contradictions—caught between innocence and its opposite (what is that even called??), adolescence and adulthood, immaturity and maturity. 17 has its sights on the future, on colleges and careers. 17 is almost done with school and authority. And 17 takes every opportunity to let us know that it’s an adult...well, almost. 17 can be going along swimmingly until it decides to assert its independence and rebel. Just for the hell of it. 17 can wow us with just how wise and mature it’s become and then, in the next second, exasperate us and make us wonder, “I thought we were past that.”

And so that’s how we found ourselves, on one cold and drizzly day in November, the proud owners of a 2002 silver VW Eurovan Weekender with about 186,000 miles.

Like a lot of people whose childhood included Scooby Doo and The Partridge Family (and the cool van and bus in each), I lusted over VW vans. I imagined I’d be like Kevin Costner’s character in Field of Dreams, driving a VW Type 2 and listening to “Jessica” by the Allman Brothers as I drove across the country.