Farewell (and thank you) to our VW Eurovan Weekender

I am not too proud to admit that I am a deeply feeling, highly sensitive person. And, perhaps a trait inherited from my father, I have a tendency to grow attached to some (not all) of my cars. When I finally got rid of my first car, my 7-year-old 1997 Saturn SL2 with more than 140,000 miles on it, I cried. And honestly, I haven't loved any of my other cars since the Saturn quite as much. Until the Eurovan. And when I said goodbye to the van last week, I had already shed weeks’ worth of tears. Just ask G.

Our van on Loop Road, Acadia National Park (Bar Harbor, Maine)

As I write this, it’s been a week since we sold our 2002 VW Eurovan—just two weeks shy of what would have been our two-year anniversary with it—and if I’m being honest, I’m still sad. The day I wrote up the description that would put the van out into the world of Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and a bunch of Facebook groups, I sobbed (okay, disclaimer: I’m smack in the middle of perimenopause, and I cry over everything these days). Over the course of two stressful weeks, I answered FB Messenger questions, replied to emails, got my hopes up and dashed. And then the perfect owners found us. After a few emails, we arranged for them to see the van. We showed it off, they checked it out, went for a test drive, bought it, and drove it home all in the matter of an hour one beautiful autumn Wednesday morning. As I watched the new owners drive off in the van, the bright (and newly cleaned!) silver contrasted against the blue skies and red, orange, and yellow leaves, I was a mess. The emotions ran the gamut: happy and relieved to have sold the van (we were quite literally banking on that money for part of the down payment on the new one!), sad, nostalgic, and so, so grateful.

Over the course of our two years with the van (we never really called her anything but The Van), we:

Drove 11,615 miles
Slept in the van for 45 nights
Visited four national parks: Acadia NP (Maine/US); Fundy NP (New Brunswick/Canada); Cape Breton Highlands NP (Nova Scotia/Canada); Prince Edward Island NP (PEI/Canada)
Camped in two countries (US & Canada), three US states (Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire), and two Canadian provinces (New Brunswick and Nova Scotia)
Camped in 19 different parks:
Seven state parks in Maine, five in New Hampshire, and one in Massachusetts
One town park and two private/independent campgrounds in Maine
One national park in New Brunswick, one national park in Nova Scotia, and one provincial park in Nova Scotia

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 thank our van for:

Bringing the two of us closer together
Getting us outside more to appreciate nature and everything around us
Giving us the opportunity to slow down and teaching what really matters in this life
Teaching us patience and even a little know-how for dealing with older vehicles
Guiding us (safely) through beautiful landscapes
Giving us shelter from rain, warmth on cold nights, and cool breezes to cut summer’s heat
Being a conversation starter with so many kind and curious strangers
Inspiring so many dreams
Being one of my most favorite muses
So many memories...

To read more about the van and our experiences with her, check out these posts about the van:

We bought a van! Part I: The backstory
We bought a van! Part II: The purchase
Our van is a teenager
Our 2002 VW Eurovan Weekender: Celebrating one year as van owners