We regret to inform the public that Heimo has been sold!!!

Our decision to sell was because we didn't anticipate using him again until summer 2004 and he was taking up space at Dave's parents house.

Meet our VW Westfalia Camper named "Heimo" (Hi-mo).

Why a VW Camper Van?
Why not? VW campers are mini-RVs that sleep four, have propane stoves, a fridge, sink, kitchen table, and tons of storage! All this and we can still easily fit into a parallel parking spot. Also, Heimo gets 17MPG, not very RV-like...

Our Van's Name
Thanks to all our friends for van name suggestions. Our VW's new name came from our visit to the Crowder Family outside of Boston (Old friends of Dave from Seattle) on our way from Maine to Texas. After Chris Crowder suggested naming the van after a German co-worker named Heimo, the Crowder kids would not let the name go....Heimo stuck. Don't worry, it will grow on you too. Thanks for the cool name and great hospitality...

Finding Heimo
It seems that Texans prefer Suburbans and pickups to VW's, making our search for the perfect van somewhat difficult. After searching for about 1.5 months, we found "Heimo" in Maine on the Internet. On Jan. 30th we traveled to Camden, ME to pick up the car and begin a 2 week drive back to Austin to pick up our dog Chuy, move out of our house, and put all our belongings in a 10x12 storage unit.

The inaugural voyage was not without a few snafus. "Heimo" decided to challenge us with some problems - transmission shift linkage and a crack in the exhaust. Basically, the shifting was so loose that we could only find 1st gear where your knee was, and reverse was between your legs. This provided for some interesting driving while in downtown Boston rush hour traffic.

"Heimo" was repaired several times during out 2 week trip. The repair that stands out the most is when we visted the Volskdoctor shop in Louisville, KY on a Saturday morning and lucked into running into the shop owner. Thankfully, he helped get us back on the road even though the shop was closed. He also suggested a local muffler shop to fix the cracked exhaust. So with a smoother shifting and quieter car we continued on our way back to Austin.

• 1990 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia Syncro (Full Westfalia Camper w/All Wheel Drive & locking rear differential)
• Heimo has a transplanted VW Corrado G60 Supercharged Engine (rebuilt 25K ago), thus providing for a more drivable Vanagon. As some of you may know, Vanagons aren't the quickest cars on the planet, so this extra power keeps Dave from having to get out and push us up the mountain passes. Heimo also came with a nice stereo which makes the long stretches of highway more tolerable.
• Coleman Propane Heater*
• Roof rack box for extra storage*