This past weekend marked our first full-weekend camping trip with our 1988 Westy (we bought it last fall). I've had it out for one quick overnight, but this weekend we packed it up and headed from the Philly area down to Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland. Me, my wife (Ginny) and our 6.5-month-old son embarked on the adventure.

Assateague is a camping paradise with a Westy. We stayed in the "generator-free campground," and had a spot literally right on the bay for $20. Very nice. Downside is only cold showers and chemical toilets (a nicer way of saying "Port-a-Potty"). The heat wave the East Coast has been under broke this weekend, giving us beautiful 80-degree days and 60-degree nights, perfect for camping. The bugs were out, but not as bad as I've seen them in the past at Assateague.

The van ran great the entire trip (about 350 miles round trip), and averaged 21 MPG fully loaded with a kayak on the roof. Pretty good! We saw no other Vanagons (Westies or otherwise) on the road or at the park, but did see two Eurovan campers and one 1970s-vintage Westy bus driving about. The cute, young ranger woman at the gate told me our Westy was, quote, "beautiful." My wife told me not to get any ideas...

Things we learned:

1. Wow, you have to take a lot of stuff when you go camping with a baby!!!

1a. The top of the stove cabinet is the perfect height for use as a baby changing station.

2. Using all the little cabinets/cubbyholes in the Westy to their full advantage makes packing a lot easier. However, finding things when you get there involves a lot of opening and closing of doors. I'm sure this will get much better the more we use it, as we'll get used to where things are located.

3. Mosquitos can find their way into even a well-sealed van in the middle of the night!

Details on the National Park can be found on NPS Web site at http://www.nps.gov/asis/.

Brian Wasson
Abington, Pa.