To think that this German made van lived most of it's life in France until the Duny family decided to embark in a trip of a lifetime and ship their precious van to America , they drove the van to Belgium and got it on a roll on roll off ship to be delivered to Canada where they would later catch up and begin a journey across Northern America and a good part of central America.
They had a year to finish the trip so they were in no hurry to get anywhere , imagine a trip beginning in Canada , coming across into the States thru New York and go on a cross country drive all the way to the California border with Mexico.
But before that happened as mentioned before in this post I met them by chance at Utah's Arches National Park where I offered to help them trace a safe route across Mexico. Their trip continued safely across Mexico until they reached Playa del Carmen near Cancun , they fell in love with Playa del Carmen and spent at least a month here before continuing their trip south.
But before they did that they wanted to find a home for their van after their trip ended a few months later , that's where I come in again as mentioned in the post earlier, we made a deal and the plan was for my family and I to pick the van up in Playa del Carmen when they were back from Costa Rica. Once we had a deal their journey continued thru Belize , Guatemala , Nicaragua , Honduras and finally Costa Rica.
One thing they mentioned is that as soon as they left Playa del Carmen all they wanted is to get back to it , so once they reached their goal they turn around and spent the last 2 months of their holiday in the seaside camping ground of Xpu-Ha in Playa del Carmen.
We picked up the van headed north towards Mexico City where we would get the van on a truck to meet us at the Tijuana / San Diego border a few weeks later. Once in northern Mexico the van had to wait for the import process and that took a few months , the only importer that does T25s had never imported a European van coming thru the Mexican border so it was a learning experience.
Once in the States the van was up for sale as that was the plan from the beginning , the van sold right away and we made a deal to deliver it to it's new home in Seattle , Washington. Again I was placing my family on another VW adventure , Seattle is 1250 miles from San Diego but the drive along the coast is really nice.
We left San Diego and our first stop was Solvang.
Our next stop was Morro Bay where we spent the night at a camping ground.
Next day on Highway 1
Heading north on Highway 1 towards Monterey we noticed the van was getting a bit hot so after checking things out we noticed a blown water hose so it was time to call the tow truck.
We landed at the German Motorwerks shop in Monterey and they found the blown hose was caused by a faulty belt to the water pump , no further damage was done so after sourcing the new parts they got us fixed rather quick.
A few hours later we continued our journey now heading towards Seattle.
Rest areas where you can take a break and let the kids stretch.
Arriving to Portland , Oregon.
Crossing the Columbia river between Oregon and Washington states.
Another rest area now in Washington state.
Someone save the trees !!!
Arriving in Seattle and parked by the famous Space Needle.
Can you spot the Westy below ?
Seattle city views.
Mount Rainier on the background.
Small plane landing , follow it's trace.
Now another one taking off.
Hours later we delivered the van to the new happy onwer and flew back to San Diego , the wife and the kids loved the trip and I got to enjoy another Westy adventure.
Our next big trip is to take our newly aquired '68 Westy to a show in the UK , we are aiming for Volksworld show in march but first we need to finish the resto so keep an eye on my other thread for that story.
Cheers.
Juan.
8)
