Introducing Sparky & Eva

Back in November, we traded in our beloved Subaru for a little red Prius. We named her Sparky, and she gets 50 miles to the gallon. Here she is in her native habitat:


Not content with our low-CO2 lifestyle, we decided to go on this crazy Canadian road trip, and began looking for a temporary vehicle that could provide us not only with transportation, but with lodging as well. Many of you know the saga that ensued, which involved renting a huge RV, contemplating the purchase of a small, 20-year-old Winnebago, realizing that I have an alarmingly stunted sense of spacial awareness and no business driving anything as large as an RV - and then buying a used Volkswagen Eurovan.

Now that we own a VW van, it feels like we've been admitted to a cult-like secret society. Because man, people love their VWs. We would have loved to buy one of the pop-top camper versions, but people hold onto them forever. For 30 grand, you can get one with 150,000 miles.

So instead, we found the simpler version, with a fold-out bed, a fold-up table, and curtains. It has surprisingly low mileage (65,000) and a clean bill of health from the preferred mechanic of the local VW Secret Society, who seems suspiciously chill if you know what I mean, but dude, the man knows his VWs.

Her name is Eva, and here she is on our recent test run to Oregon. Please excuse my finger in this otherwise lovely shot of Mt. Hood:

The trip to Bend was about seven hours each way, ample time to let the dogs check out their new ride:

Yes, we really plan to live in that thing with two 60-pound dogs, for a month. Believe it or not, that's a queen-sized bed in there.

Most supplies will be stored underneath. We've spent the past few weeks pimping our ride, and we're almost good to go. We've got a cooler that runs on the 12-volt (aka cigarette lighter) plug, a spiffy new 2-burner Coleman stove, and an adapter for charging the laptop. This weekend we hope to get one of those iPod adapter thingies for the car stereo. We'll bathe the dogs, pack the passports, and then head off into the sunset with 45 quarts of dog food in tow.