Four Trips in Dodge Camper Vans

In 1979 our daughter Linda, and several of Emmy’s cousins, met us at the airport in Luxembourg. We borrowed Cousin Bärbel’s car, and with Linda as interpreter, visited used car dealers and RV rental offices, then finally US Army Bases.

At the US Army Base at the Benjamin Franklin Village in Mannheim, Germany, we saw a 1977 Dodge Cobra RV with a “For Sale” sign in the window. After contacting the owner, a Colonel in the US Army, we made a deal and went on our way. After 96 days and 10,900 miles through 16 countries, we garaged the Dodge in Mettlach, Germany, near Emmy’s cousin’s home.

Six months later (1980) we returned to Europe and after a battery charge the Dodge started just fine. This time we traveled 171 days and 17,500 miles through 17 countries, before selling the RV to an US Army high school teacher in Zweibrücken, Germany. A fascinating 267 days during two trips. Cost maybe a dozen dollars a day, the cost to rent a bike.

When we arrived in Europe for our 1983 trip Emmy suggested we travel in a rental car and sleep in hotels and in bed & breakfast homes, instead of buying an RV. Three days was all she could stand of that, so we went looking for an RV.

This time we found a 1978 Dodge Transvan owned by a US Army Major at Nellingen Barracks south of Stuttgart. In 87 days we drove 8,000 miles through ten countries and again garaged the RV in Mettlach, expecting to return in six months.

Our plans changed and we decided not to return to Europe until 1985, after 20 months had passed. The Dodge started easily after the battery was charged, and the only problem was that mice had feasted on paper bags of cocoa, chewing gum, and other such goodies.

Off we went for 16,400 miles through 15 countries, 156 days in Europe, then with the RV in the hold of the ship, we boarded the Polish liner TSS Stefan Batory in Rotterdam, spent a day in London, nine nights on the Atlantic Ocean to Montreal, then drove to California. (No jet-lag this time.) A total of 24,400 miles, and 243 days, during two trips. We kept this Van for several years, so the cost for the European trips is difficult to separate, but must have been less than ten dollars a day. What a remarkable way to travel.