How To: How To Configure a 1977 Volkswagen Westfalia for 2008 Cross Country Motoring

Driving a 30 year-old Volkswagen camper on a 45 day cross-country sightseeing trip from Florida to Oregon is not a job for the faint of heart. But my girlfriend Amy and I are doing just that and for the sake of our sanity and the mechanical welfare of our vehicle we like to take our sweet time. That doesn’t just mean keeping it under 65 miles per hour on small country roads, it also means not driving more than five hours a day unless absolutely necessary. What that gets us is easy afternoons and lazy mornings at beautiful state parks, watching the sun come and go while we shoot the breeze with retirees from Wisconsin and local bass fisherman on holiday. There’s time to watch the fog burn off the cold morning lakes of Georgia’s winter or the sun slowly surrender to a million stars in the New Mexico sky. Time to drink a beer, check the oil, and skip a few stones before thinking about what to make for dinner or where to go tomorrow.

It's tough to improve on the overall experience of driving this thing all that way, but there are a few things that make living and traveling in a small, antique space more bearable and downright fun.

Maps and Guidebooks: Forget GPS units, we find our routes the old fashioned way – by precariously balancing maps on our laps while barreling down the highway. We get an assist from guidebooks like “Eccentric America” and “The Best RV and Tent Campgrounds in America,” but nothing really beats guessing or just asking around.

Heaters: A necessity for cold winter nights, even down south. When we stay in private campgrounds or many state parks, we can plug in an electric ceramic heater with a handy thermostat control. But the best campgrounds are usually at the end of a long gravel road, not served by any utilities, where we huddle snugly around the propane heater until lights out.

Stickers and Magnets: Nothing commemorates a visit to a national monument, wacky roadside attraction or local “world famous” diner like a bumper sticker or window decal. When stickers aren’t available, magnets suffice, easily stuck on the camper’s metal insides. Current favorite stickers and magnets include “I’ve Been To Graceland,” a “Birthplace of Bill Clinton” magnet from Arkansas and “Make Levees, Not War” from New Orleans.

CD Stereo with MP3 Hookup: We do like a little local radio flavor, but when we’ve heard enough Conway Twitty or warnings of the impending Rapture, that iPod is a lifesaver.

Rooftop Gear Bag: Holds an electric fan for rare hot nights, a few sticks of firewood for roasting marshmallows and an empty gas can that, thankfully, has never been used.

A Dog: Not just essential for deterring nightly raccoon invasions, our dog Cleo makes a great co-pilot when one of us is driving and the other is napping in back.

VW Repair Manuals, Assorted Spare Parts, Extra Oil and a Really Big Roll of Duct Tape: The only thing that ever distracts from a day of solitude on a gorgeous, isolated desert road is the thought of breakdown. No cell service, no towns for a hundred miles, no cars in sight, no problem. Right?

Cameras: I’m an obsessive photo-documenter, especially of funny signs, weird food, new friends and gorgeous campgrounds. We carry two digital cameras, a Nikon D40 and a Canon Powershot s70, along with a whole bunch of spare batteries.

Two-Burner Propane Stove: A classic car camping necessity, this helps keep us on a tight budget by cooking all of our own meals. The camper has a built-in icebox that keeps food fresh for days, perfect for healthy cooking and snacking (classic road snacks like Slim Jims and Corn-Nuts are banned). Cooking fresh also means we get to see the insides of a lot of charming, small town grocery stores and trading posts.

French Press for Coffee: There is no substitute for gourmet coffee enjoyed with spectacular scenery.

Laptops: On the road for a month and a half, staying in touch is essential. Incredibly, most private campgrounds now offer WiFi and some State Parks are starting to follow suit. The laptops also work great for the occasional movie night or catching up on episodes of “Lost.”

Books and Postcards: Reading and writing are our favorite ways to pass downtime, so we’re always trading or buying new books. Likewise, we can never seem to have enough postcards, which offer the side benefit of stops at some terrific, middle-of-nowhere post offices.