Day 18: Once upon a time...

Day 18 of the challenge. I'm cheating a little bit this weekend and scheduling my posts. I have a busy weekend taking care of my doggie child so I don't want to get behind.

Today's post is to tell a story from my childhood. I have a ton of stories I could tell. I had a wonderful childhood thanks to my parents. My parents did everything they could to make my childhood as perfect as possible. Now I'm not saying we were the perfect family because we aren't. But I got to experience life and it was always an adventure.

One story that I'm particularly fond of was happened when I was pretty young, probably 6 or 7. We owned (and still have in our garage) a 1972 yellow VW camper. It was my first car when I got my license. This thing is a beast. It basically has a lawnmower engine but it runs and runs. Except you have to keep track of the mileage because the gas gauge doesn't work any more (I speak from experience on this topic).

We used to take this thing on vacation with us and camp in it. Now if you know me, I'm not much of a camper at all. I try to be but the outdoors and I just don't really like each other. So this camper was perfect when I was little. It popped up and I slept on the canopy thing in the popup part. Mom and Dad slept on the back seat that folded down. And the brother slept on a canopy that snapped into the front part of the car. (See pictures below)

We took the camper to Florida one year to visit my grandma and go to Disney. We drove it all the way from Chicago to Florida and back. And didn't break down. Once particular memory I have about this trip is on the way back, the weather was really cold. And the good old VW did not have AC or heat. So my dad pulled out the space blankets we had bought in Orlando at NASA and gave them to us to keep warm. We all spent the rest of the trip huddled under space blankets (and those things actually work well). I'm not sure why this memory sticks out to me. But I do remember that it was an awesome trip and I will never laugh at space blankets again.

My dad has debated getting rid of the VW lately. Nobody drives it and it just sits in the garage. But if he ever does, a part of me will be sad. It was the root of many family vacations and also my first car. Even though it's old and has no AC, it still holds a special place in my heart.

These are from google but here's what the VW looks like. 

And yes, our VW is that color yellow too.