Dusty goes to the Doctor

My short reunion with the Dusty. It was Bliss!!

We knew that getting a VW van would mean that we would be going on great adventures. Whenever I would see a VW van pic out in the wild or on the open road I had this inner pull, a strong desire to be that person adventuring with that van. In those pictures it just felt like something epic was happening and great memories were being created. This desire was so strong that we bought our very own van last year. You can read more about getting our van Dusty here.

Now we are on our very first big adventure with Dusty and it is off to an interesting start. It actually gets a little confusing so I’ll try to break it down for you. In February we moved from Vancouver to Calgary. Since it was the winter in the mountains we put Dusty in storage in a friend’s garage to pick it up later. It is now later and we have picked up the van from our friends and are taking it on a two week trip to Tofino and then back through the Rocky mountains to Calgary which is now our home.

Prep for this trip has been a chaotic adventure, if not a full out gong show. Having new licenses from a different province than where the van is insured makes for some complications. Packing for a van camping trip with two young kids while your van is parked over 1000 km away is a whole other chaotic story. The story I am sharing today is our current predicament, which we explained to our toddler by telling her that, “Dusty went to the doctor.” Why did Dusty go to the doctor? Well, because of the small puddle of oil we found underneath the van after picking it up from storage.

A small puddle of oil under your vehicle is never a good sign. I picked up the van and told my husband about the small puddle of oil. Initially we thought it was an ongoing issue we were having before and could be easily monitored and topped up as needed. Unfortunately after assessing the situation further and seeking a friend’s opinion, we decided that it was a leak we could not ignore. To the car doctor our dear Dusty was headed.  The downside is that this meant that our trip to Tofino would have to be delayed. The silver lining was that we would be stuck in Vancouver, a beautiful city that we once called home, with great food, beaches and mountain views to behold.

The down side is that we had to delay our trip. The plus side is that we got to hang out here!!

When our two and a half year old daughter found out that our beloved Dusty was going away for a bit after having just reunited, she was sad. She did not want to say bye to Dusty. We told her he was sick and needed to have some surgery and a few band aids. Just like she needs bandaids for her owies. She perked up at that point since she is going through a stage where owies are the thing to talk about and bandaids are medals to be worn with honor and pride. Nothing is cooler than a bandaid these days, and Dusty just became an even better adventure companion for her.
And so, Dusty is currently getting some pipes sealed and oil replenished. We knew that things like his would pop up when you decide to live the van life. There is a lot of risk to living adventurously but a lot of reward as well. Two days in the shop and we will continue our journey to Tofino and Ucluelet with a new excitement and a van that is mended. Hopefully he stays healthy for the duration of our trip.

 

By Annika