EXPLORING EUROPE

Free as Birds in Our 1975 VW Camper

De: James Sloter

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Before Marsha and I were married, Marsha saved enough money in one year of teaching to take an all-inclusive six-week tour of Europe with a group of teachers. She loved the experience and later described it to me in glorious detail.

Between the ages of 9 and 14, I had made several trips back and forth from Iowa to the State of Washington with my family and enjoyed every minute and every mile. In anticipation of each trip, I pored over and, on a borrowed typewriter, laid out the route we might take.

Discovering that we both loved to travel, Marsha and I dreamed of traveling together in Europe someday.

Travel became a way of life for us as a family. When our children were old enough, we took them on camping trips to all the 'lower 48' states.

Twenty-six years later, and 'empty nesters', we made plans to do something similar in Europe.

But first a little background: I bought Kossuth Oil Co. in Algona, Iowa in 1966, not knowing how long I would operate the business. After fifteen years of many long days and often working into the morning hours, I was thinking I would sign one more five-year lease and sell out after twenty years. The good Lord must have had other plans for Marsha and me. When we were in northern Minnesota on a weekend outing, a fire broke out at our bulk plant due to a faulty electrical switch. That extremely dangerous fire was extinguished by our heroic fire department and our only loss was our tank wagon delivery truck. Alarmed by the extreme damage that could have resulted (had the full gasoline and fuel oil storage tanks ruptured), our landlords canceled our lease, giving me one year to vacate. A year later, we had liquidated our business and semi-retired, five years earlier than planned.

Other business interests and investments provided cash flow giving us some options. Marsha and I decided to take the ‘lemon’ we had been given and make ‘lemonade’. Having been to Europe twice – once to visit our AFS exchange student Guido Van Rompaey and meet his family, and a second time to attend Guido’s sister’s wedding – we wanted to see more. We had been campers all our married life and reading about touring Europe with only backpacks sounded interesting to us. Maybe we could arrange to travel throughout Europe ‘on the cheap’. We bought Frommer's book, Europe on $5 a Day, and read it cover to cover. Enthusiasm for the idea grew! Now, the big question – would it be agreeable with our AFS student, Guido, and his family for us to go to their house in Belgium and use that as our ‘home base’? We could take our tent and camping gear, buy a car and take camping trips from Belgium. Their response was an enthusiastic ‘yes’.

We made arrangements to spend a non-specified length of time touring Europe and bought ‘open-end’ airline tickets. At that time, the closest direct flights to Brussels, Belgium, were out of Chicago O’Hare on Sabena Belgian World Airlines. We would leave from Chicago. Parking a car in Chicago for an extended length of time would be cost prohibitive and not a comfortable feeling – too many variables. Friends living in Maringo, Iowa, would take us to O’Hare, but we needed to get to Maringo. Mutual friends agreed to take us there and we could have a three-couple social gathering in the process. Agreed!
All excited, we were ready and waiting when our friends came for us at 6:30 am on Friday, May 27, 1983. Our friends in Maringo welcomed us with a treat of homemade ice cream and fresh strawberries, and non-stop conversation. There was a lot to talk about. It was our first time seeing them since their move to Maringo and – we were about to leave on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure!