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| Oregon sunset, Neptune Beach |
Sometimes these people start conversations with us if they catch up at a stop light, a rest area or a parking lot. Sometimes they say "Nice van" or ask "Is that a camper?" or "What year is it?" Most of these conversations are brief, but some of them go on for a while which creates a sort of celebrity feel for us travelers. Most of the time we are excited to talk and answer the same couple of questions with as much enthusiasm as if it were the first time we were approached that day. Sometimes though, we are engaged in other things, but we always acknowledge the folks. (Sorry if we've ever given you a "cold shoulder," it's not you, it's us.)
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| Yellowstone Lake |
Another part of the whole being identifiable thing is that we can park in a giant parking lot and always find our vehicle. (No playing "Where's Wilson" for us.) I know I am not the only one to have forgotten where I parked my car. Sometimes I feel silly checking up and down a few rows looking for it. Some folks have the benefit of a key that makes their horn beep to help them find it. That has never been me. Anyway, at a concert a few weeks back, I was pleased when we were able to locate Wilson from a distance. We had gotten turned around upon leaving the venue and ended up in a different lot. Of course we forgot to take note of the lettered sections as we walked in, but we were still able to locate our van with relative ease.
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| The fireworks didn't hurt |
Being able to notice my vehicle from afar has gotten me into the habit of taking photos of Wilson from various vantage points in National Parks and other places of interest. Sometimes I can see Wilson smiling happily in a parking lot from way up on top of a mountain, from in a lake or out on an overlook, and if the opportunity presents itself I snap a photo. Maybe all Vanagon owners do this? I don't know.
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| Tioga Pass |
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| Lake Tahoe |
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| Rocky Mountain NP |
Being identifiable means that folks will recognize you for good or bad. Late one night in Yellowstone we were startled by an insistent tapping on the outside of the van. You see, there are a few geysers that are forecasted in the park and only one of them is outside of the geyser basin where Old Faithful is located.
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| Great Fountain before it erupted |
Great Fountain is located on a small one-way road that takes you out and around to a bubbling lake. That night the geyser was forecasted to go off between 8:10pm and 12:10am. It's a large window of time, so we decided to cook dinner, have a few beers, and wait as night fell. The plan was fantastic except that we hadn't really expected it to begin gushing at 10:30 and last for over an hour. So by the time we watched the final bursts of boiling water and steam spew forth from the deep underground chamber, we decided to treat the parking area like our new home for the night. Some other concession-type park employees that were present encouraged us in our decision and said it should be fine.
Well, it turns out that the area actually is patrolled by Rangers and one of them tapped on our windows just as we were dozing off. So much for that idea! I shot from the hip a bit and said that we were only planning to nap since it was late and I was too tired to drive. The Ranger agreed that it was better that I rest and not get in an accident with anything, including a bison. He even offered to allow us to spend the night, but I didn't want to be marked as the stealth camper to look out for, so I told him we would head back to the KOA after I napped.
Considering the distance to the KOA was too great, at 4am I drove to a nearby campground inside the park and I thought I had found a spot in a first come first serve situation. However, when I got up at 7 to go speak to the campground official, I found out I was mistaken and this particular campground was for reservations only. The woman was nice enough about it, but I was dumbfounded by the fact that she kept saying they didn't have any space when I was obviously already in an empty spot.
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| Great Fountain as seen in the headlights. Unfortunately the photo does it no justice. The water erupted over 100 feet in the air. |
Later that day we started talking with a couple of fellas out of Dallas TX. They began with a comment about the van and eventually mentioned that they saw us camped out right next to them that morning. They wondered if we would be back. Before I could explain our convoluted situation, they invited us to share their site if we weren't able to find one. At that time, however, we had actually searched out and paid for another site in the park.
There is another story of a woman we met who started a conversation with "Nice van" and continued to tell us about her dream of traveling the country in a van. She then said she couldn't because of her kids, of which she had two with her, so we said, "Why not take em with you?" She then replied that she had 6! Might wanna buy a bus instead?
Even the international travelers love the van! We spoke to one Japanese woman, who married an American, that was so excited she asked if she could take photographs of our van. She then spent some time speaking with my copilot while I spoke with her husband. Before too long she was inviting us to visit their home in Arizona. Had we been headed that direction we may have taken her up on the offer.
Different states seemed to receive us with more enthusiasm than others. Kentucky was our last state to travel through and it is most recent in my memory. I had already begun writing this blog by then, so maybe it was really at the forefront of my mind, but in the 2 nights we were there, I felt there was hardly a moment when someone wasn't asking us about our van. Much love to KY!
Lastly, (this is a first for me and I was completely unaware that this was even a thing with these vans), one day in Yellowstone I overheard a man say "slug bug van, no slug backs" to one of his children as he walked by. When we were growing up, let's say I noticed a blue VW Beetle I'd say "Punch buggy blue, no punch backs." Then I'd punch my brother in the arm. Never waste an opportunity to punch your brother in the arm, but make it count because the next opportunity he gets, he'll get you back.
Being noticed or identifiable isn't a negative thing, but it is different. We are thankful for the opportunity to be a part of the Vanagon community and enjoy meeting and greeting the folks we encounter. Stay classy out there and keep them questions coming!
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