1. Register
2. Login

Honorable mention
 Turkey in "Divan"
 Brian Strange

Shortly after happily retrieving our '83.5 Westfalia from the port in Jacksonville, having purchased it in Europe in the summer of 83 and spent a delightful month acquainting myself, wife and 3 small kids with life on the run, we began to plan the vans inaugural stateside long camping weekend. We decided to follow our dream of escaping Atlantas November gray to spend Thanksgiving on the white sand beaches of Floridas panhandle, about a 6 hour drive away.

We had become accustomed to living in this "Swiss Army Knife of Vehicles" (you know - one tool at a time - "now its a kitchen!" - Swish! Woosh! Plop! - "now its a bedroom!" - Swish! Woosh! Plop! - "now its a living room!") during our time in Europe. Of course, in our planning for Thanksgiving, we could not do without the turkey, and the kids wanted to watch the Macys Thanksgiving Day parade.

Thus, we targeted a state park near St. Joe, Florida with electric hookups for the TV, and borrowed a tent from a friend to alleviate the sardine tin feel of cramming our numerous selves, plus our Dutch au pair, into the Westfalia. We made the drive down on Wednesday evening. the windows open, inviting the balmy Southern breezes to tease our anticipation of the next days 10-like (remember Bo Derek and Dudley Moore?) dashes along the sands. Just as we arrived, the breezes gained strength and we frantically set up the tent, and divided our party of 6 between canvas and steel, my 8 year old son and I gamely volunteering for the tent.

In the middle of the night, we learned that the balmy conditions merely pre-saged torrential downpours, and then discovered we had one of the major comforts of home in our flimsy abode - running water. We made a dash for the van, figuring wed squeeze in with the gang, get warm and let the morning sun dry us out. Little did we know then that wed not see dry air and the sun for another 15 hours.

Morning light broke through our fogged-up windows with no encouragement for doing anything other than rolling over and pretending this was a bad dream. Before long, though, hunger struck and amid cries of "Everyone upstairs or to the back of the van!!"and feverish movements rivaling those of Ninja warriors, the van was converted from a cozy bedroom to a productive kitchen. Bacon & eggs, hash browns & toast, orange juice & coffee, and Corn Flakes and Trix abounded. The TV was perched atop the forward table between the front seats, switched on, and we all marveled at the Brobignagian likes of Mickey and Goofy bounding above the hordes along Broadway. Until it was time to clean up.

Battle stations! Warning cries of "Everyone upstairs or to the back of the van!!" More feverish Ninja warrior tactics! "OK Coast is clear! Kitchen is clean. Its still raining -lets watch the afternoon movie!" Swish! Woosh! Plop! - it was converted back to a bedroom.

The rain bore on. Several hours of a Hop-along Cassidy and a catnap prompted queries about Thanksgiving dinner.

Once again. Battle stations! "Everyone upstairs or to the back of the van!" More feverish Ninja movements! Swish! Woosh! Plop! - it was converted back to a kitchen. Insightfully, we had pre-roasted the turkey and dressing the previous day. Boiling potatoes and green beans would create steam to move through the colander to warm the main dish until it acquired all the flavor of the best that Woolworths cafeteria steam tables can offer.

Smash! Bam! Alikazaam! The van transmogrified once again;. this time to a waterside (sea and rain) table for 6. Triumphantly, wed have our Thanksgiving dinner and tradition would be honored, despite the obstacles. And so it seesawed for the balance of the day as battle stations were assumed, and the Swiss Army vehicle successively became one tool and then another, until the sun made an appearance just before it was ready to travel Westward for the night. We got out, dried out, and reflected that despite its size, the Westfalia - in line with Lincolns admonition - could be all things to all people - BUT JUST ONE AT A TIME!