In 2015, Tom Coward ’88 and Nancy Caswell Coward ’86 took their sons on vacation out West. They rented a Volkswagen Westfalia in Montana and traveled through the wilderness of Glacier National Park and down to Yellowstone.
The little camper van was perfect for their needs with the pop-top bed and mini kitchen (stove, sink, and fridge, oh my!). Even better was the instant cachet — they were noticed everywhere they went and principal members of the nostalgia club as strangers everywhere stopped to reminisce.
When they returned home to Key West, Florida, where they operated a bed and breakfast, they both wanted to buy one. As luck would have it, they found one for sale in Orlando. Twenty minutes after taking ownership as they cruised back home, it broke down. The fun drive home turned into a long tow truck ride.
But thus is the life of a VW bus owner.
“It’s a labor of love,” says Tom. “The vehicle has given us great times and some fits and troubles. It’s a simple engine for this old mechanical engineering major, but that doesn’t make it easy when stranded on the road.”
Greta Van Gogh, the name they gave her, is an integral part of the family.
Repairs and fixes here and there haven’t stopped them from road trips both East and West, from Virginia to Colorado. They also have used Greta to inspire others.
During a trip from Florida to Colorado, Greta hit the skids again, needing a repair in Denver. Tom and Nancy continued their trip and left Greta in the mountain state with Tom’s sister, who would monitor the repair. When it was all fixed up, classmate, friend, and Colorado resident John Gabriele ’88 asked to borrow the vehicle as he and his spouse, Suzanne Vranka Gabriele ’88, headed to the annual RockyGrass Festival, a weekend camping and bluegrass event in Lyons, Colorado.
They thought it would be a one-shot deal, but they fell in love.
“Suzanne caught the bug and found one for sale in the local swap pages,” says John.
Within a few days, their old pop-up camper was sold, and they were driving Daisy, named for the faint yellow color of their 1984 VW bus. Like Tom’s first trip, John’s was also right to the repair shop.
“It was all original and in good working order, but the transmission dropped,” John says.
But he didn’t see it as a setback. He’s owned a ’74 Cutlass and got used to ripping parts off at the scrap yard for minor repairs.
But a transmission rebuild is major work. While Daisy was being repaired, he again borrowed Tom’s VW for another jaunt.
When Daisy came back as good as new, the whole Gabriel family piled in for a cold ride in the mountains to toast its slow roll up steep grades.
While big trips are in the works, John mostly uses the VW bus now for trips around town with his dog to his favorite fishing holes.
