It's Ours!

We flew to Mesa, Arizona, late on Memorial Day and drove to Tuscon where we checked into the world's most disgusting Howard Johnson and zonked out.  The next morning we were off to Tubac to meet our new van's owner and take possession. 

Marc getting a primer on opening
and closing the pop-up.

Ken was kind enough to spend an hour walking us through every little detail about the operation of the van.  Thank God, because we were pretty clueless going in. We paid him, he signed over the title, we all headed to the DMV to get a temporary license (in Arizona, the owner keeps the plates and you have to get a $15 temporary out-of-state paper license, which Ken generously offered to pay for), and we were out of there, me in the rental car following Marc in the van.  

We headed straight to Performance Auto Works in Tucson.  Mike and his staff had performed the pre-purchase check of the van and were very thorough, so we headed back there to get some of the repairs done.  We discussed with Mike which repairs most needed to be done before we could head home to Montana, and that could be done by the end of the next business day.  And then we had a day-and-a-half to kill in Tucson.

He may look dubious, but
he's thrilled to be eating
lamb pilmene.

Since we live in an area with very little ethnic food, we try to search it out whenever we're on vacation.  I found a Russian restaurant in Tucson's alternative newsweekly, so that's where I took my Ukranian sweetie.  We also hit the dollar store, Goodwill, the liquor store, and Wal-Mart looking for essentials to stock the van.  That night we went to Punk Rock Tuesday at a smokeshop downtown. 

Wednesday we ventured to Saguaro National Park.  Marc had bought me a National Parks passport in Yellowstone for our 25th wedding anniversary just a few weeks earlier, and I was excited to get more stamps on this trip.

The saguaro were in bloom
and birds were everywhere.

Some of the fruits had been
popped open by hungry birds.

I work for Prickly Pear Land
Trust in Helena, Montana.
So I'm a sucker for
a prickly pear bloom.

Fellow member of my sun-loving lizard family.

Saguaro flower close-up.

My attempt at artsy
depth-of-field with a
barrel cactus.

Pictographs at
Saguaro National Park

That evening we picked up the van from Mike and paid the hefty bill, then headed back to Wal-Mart for groceries, and hit the road for home.  As we came through Phoenix at 9 p.m., it was still 96 degrees and going to be a sweltering first night.  Marc was driving and I was manning the Trip-Tik.  I saw that Agua Fria National Monument was less than an hour away and on BLM land ... free camping!  We pulled off the freeway, drove to the first spot we saw and popped the top up to go to sleep. It was just like we'd imagined it would be.

Finding Farley

For years, I've wanted a VW camper van.  My dream was for my husband, Marc, and me to quit our jobs and travel around the United States in one for a year. Marc, being far more practical-minded than I, disagreed.  He's a computer programmer and was afraid a year off would set him back in his tech career.  He did offer to buy a van for shorter trips with the possibility of a year of travel when we retired.  But, in my mind, I didn't want to see a van looking at me in the driveway every day if we weren't readying ourselves for the adventure of a lifetime.  As if it were saying to me, "Ha ha ha!  Have fun at work today!"

My view for two months.

That changed when I broke my leg and needed surgery in February of this year.  I spent nearly two months on the couch with my leg elevated.  I can't say I sunk into any kind of mental morass, but I certainly didn't feel like myself.  I'm a pretty active person and on the couch is not where I want to be.  

Yellowstone in April.

In April we went to Yellowstone for a one-night camping trip just to get out.  My cast and walking boot were gone, but I was still fairly immobile and walked with a limp.  But setting up the tent, with the wind in my hair and warm spring sun on my face, I knew where we needed to be.  It was outside.  It was having adventures.  It was in a van.  A newer white VW van with California plates drove by on the campground road, and I told Marc, "It's time. Even if we're not taking off for a year, it's time to buy a van and start our adventure."

Soon it would be ours!

We spent a few weeks researching models, mileages and prices.  We knew we'd never find the one we wanted in our own backyard.  They're just too rare. We found one that we thought looked promising in Tucson, Arizona. My aunt and uncle who winter in Phoenix generously drove over to be our set of eyes and we had a reputable mechanic check it out.  It needed repairs.  Several thousand dollars in pretty major repairs, in fact.  Like brakes that weren't safe to get us the 1,300 miles home to Montana.  We negotiated the repairs into the price and both we and the sellers walked away satisfied.  We were going to be the owners of a VW camper van.  All that stood between it and us was getting to Tucson.