Page 157 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SPRING 2021 REDISCOVERING CALIFORNIA'S CENTRAL COAST

Story & Photography By Brian E. Clark

VANAGON ROAD TRIP

Rolling down the Washington
And Oregon coasts in a restored
VW Vanagon

hen my oldest son finished his college
studies a decade ago, we decamped for
Wthe Rogue River in southwest Oregon
for a mellow, four-day rafting and kayaking trip
with OARS (oars.com), an Angels Camp, CA-based
outfitter.
This past summer (2019), to toast my daugh-
ter’s graduation from high school, she, her
younger brother and I headed back to the North-
west - this time for a road trip that took us down
the coasts of Washington and Oregon before
heading over the Cascade Mountains to Bend.
But it wasn’t just any road trip. In something of
a throwback to my long-hair days, we rented a re-
stored VW Vanagon Westflia from Peace Vans in
Seattle (peacevans.com) to toddle along highways
and byways on this adventure, celebrating yet an-
other major youthful milestone.

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