Very little can match the joy of a mint 1983 Volkswagen Westy. You know it鈥檚 someone鈥檚 beloved pride. In all likelihood, it has a name. And for a single weekend, I had a vintage model all to myself, having borrowed it for a quick road trip in October through a .

Think of the service as for van owners. It pairs owners of (preferably awesome, totally unique) vehicles with renters looking for a little adventure. Turo lists more than 800 makes and models聽and聽seems to have everything short of a battle tank鈥攆rom Porsches to Elements to Volkswagen campers of all ages. In other words: adventuremobiles you won鈥檛 find at Hertz. Turo launched in 2010 in San Francisco and Cambridge, Massachusetts, and now has more than 2.3 million users with 121,000 vehicles in 4,700-plus cities.

I wanted to check out Turo鈥檚 offerings, so I browsed the site until I came across a lovely 1973 Volkswagen bus near Atlanta. The photographs and details on the listing seemed great, and for about $80 per day, it was a steal.

Now, the whole point of Turo is to connect with a car that has personality. There鈥檚 some risk involved, as I found out when I arrived at the location of the first VW bus I was supposed to rent, 20 miles north of Atlanta, and found a bashed-in, stained rust trap with a fist-size hole between the brake and gas pedals. I called the company. The representative apologized profusely, refunded the charge, removed the listing, and set me up with another vehicle within a few days. Turo claims it makes a point of surveying, testing, and photographing the vehicles it lists, but the rep conceded that they hadn鈥檛 gotten around to doing so for this new post. Still, the company holds its hosts to high standards and will address any issues with its 24-hour roadside assistance.

Take two. My next experience with Turo took place in the Pacific Northwest, where I ended up renting Gretel, a owned by a devout Volkswagen enthusiast named Mike, who was so compulsively meticulous that he made certain I knew every nook and cranny of his baby鈥攊ncluding where to set the hydraulic jack should I get a flat.

Mike had stocked the van with clean sheets, pillows, a full kitchenette (complete with good coffee and bottled water), and cabinets overflowing with board games and playing cards. It was spotlessly clean, inside and out. Generally, I鈥檇 have no compunction about leaving a rental vehicle a little bit worse for the wear. I take turns harder than I normally would and venture off-road in two-wheel-drive sedans. Not so with Gretel. For the first time in my life, I was nervous about renting a vehicle. I鈥檇 signed a waiver fee accepting full liability, which was covered under both Turo鈥檚 insurance and my own. Turo鈥檚 coverage, which you might not require depending on your own insurance policy, protects the renter for up to $1 million in damages for 40 percent of the daily rental, or $64 per day in my case. The company also offers basic coverage for 15 percent, or you can opt out entirely. Having met Mike, I also felt a moral obligation to bring his baby back in tip-top shape. Gretel was a veritable classic, not some featureless Chevrolet Impala. Only the most soulless degenerate could lack concern for this van鈥檚 well-being.

All of which was going through my mind as I got behind the wheel of the 33-year-old VW van. I hadn鈥檛 driven a manual transmission in years, and I was nervous about the sometimes treacherous backcountry terrain of the Pacific Northwest. Mike had picked me up from my lodging in the north end of Seattle, and then quickly pulled over to inform me that he鈥檇 like to do an impromptu driving test on the way to his house. As I tentatively pulled out onto the highway in first gear, boorishly shifting to second, I felt the burn of his scrupulous gaze as I went into third, merging onto Interstate 5 at a mere 45 miles per hour, praying I鈥檇 get up to the fourth and final gear without destroying the gearbox and blowing up the engine. But I got to Mike鈥檚 house with no mishaps, and Gretel was mine for the weekend.

I hit the road, heading south from Seattle to a friend鈥檚 cabin outside Portland. I then broke the very first rule of camping in a camper van and slept in a cabin instead, with the affectionate support of a wood-burning stove. But for the next week, it would be just me and Gretel. My only fears were for my own well-being in the case of an accident鈥攏o airbags.

The next day, I made my way down to the . It has long been a dream of mine to , and I had it on good authority through a friend of a friend that the salmon were in thick along Oregon鈥檚 southern coast. Having booked myself a trip to the Pacific Northwest during the fall salmon run, I packed my rod and waders, figuring this was as good a chance as I鈥檇 ever have. Fish or no fish, sleeping in a Westfalia was unquestionably better than renting a sedan and tent camping鈥攎y normal routine during the fall. The newly upholstered cushions on the backseat bench and bed made for a comfy rest after each day鈥檚 activities. The kitchenette provided more than enough cookware and utensils for me and a few friends who joined me for a couple of nights.

I camped atop the cliffs of , wading and fishing my way through the labyrinth of purportedly salmon-laden rivers of southern Oregon. For almost a week, I retired each night to Gretel鈥攖oward which I grew quite fond鈥攂efore hanging my fly rod inside one last time and putting on one last pot of coffee in the kitchen before hitting the road to return the van the following day.

Despite the early mishap, I won鈥檛 use a standard car rental agency again so long as Turo鈥檚 around. Being an outdoors enthusiast, simply knowing I can rent an automobile with roof, ski, or bike racks, anywhere in the country and at any time, is a novelty I can appreciate in its own right. Note that none of the major car-rental agencies offer tow hitches or roof racks鈥攍et alone crossbars鈥攐f any kind. But to think that someone would entrust an immaculate 1980s VW Westfalia鈥攁 veritable cabin on wheels鈥攖o an utter stranger for $160 a day? That is a 21st-century phenomenon in and of itself.

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The American propensity for the preposterously gargantuan should leave no doubt as to why Winnebagos and other Greyhound-bus-sized RVs聽rule the road. Testament to this:聽the聽discontinuation of Volkswagen's聽Eurovan and Westfalia鈥攖wo of the most popular small camper vans ever made.聽

That's where Ian Horgan and his聽聽Dodge聽camper-conversion kits聽come in. Horgan, despite being vice president聽of operations for a company that owns and operates RV parks catering to聽land yachts, is a sleep-under-the-stars camper at heart. The term 鈥渄irtbag鈥� might apply.聽鈥淚鈥檓 an outdoorsy guy,鈥� says Horgan. 鈥淚 hike, I mountain bike, I ski, I climb. I look at 国产吃瓜黑料 Van, Road Trek and Sportsmobile, but they鈥檙e charging six figures for a camper van. I look at the VW Westfalias; they鈥檙e compact, you can drive them around day-to-day, and you can go camping over the weekend, but they break down all the time. When somebody鈥檚 looking to buy a camper van, it鈥檚 either super expensive or super unreliable.鈥�

Horgan wanted to make a kit that would let buyers turn a Dodge camper into a full house-on-wheels.聽At first, he set out to build a simple camper van he and his fianc茅 could take on weekend camping trips. The couple were pleased with the design's utility, and quickly realized how desirable a modular conversion kit could be for those of us who are petrified at the very mention of DIY.

Using treated birch wood, heavy-duty five-pound pull strength magnets, some tasteful upholstery (selected by Horgan鈥檚 fianc茅),聽and half a dozen bolts, Horgan created a $4,700 kit聽(excluding delivery) for the 2015/2016 Dodge Ram ProMaster City. All you need is a Phillips head screwdriver and a socket wrench, and you'll聽have the entire kit unpacked and installed within 25 minutes.聽

If you want to give a Wayfarer Van a test run, you can rent one from in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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In the market for a small, self-contained camper? It won鈥檛 take you long to discover that there are few options in the United States, despite the flourishing #vanlife movement. Pickings have gotten slim since 2003, when Volkswagen laid to rest its iconic European Winnebago, the last U.S. factory option.

Meanwhile, Japan is inundated with a flood of new campers being built out of minivan-size vehicles (like this ), which were recently featured in the .

Surely, alongside the van lifers, there鈥檚 a large demographic of Americans with enough discretionary income who would drool over the chance to own a camper van small enough to parallel park outside a cramped Brooklyn loft and serve as a weekend adventuremobile, right?

But stateside, the list of options continues to shrink. There is a diminishing fleet of VWs, which you can find refurbished at or , but you鈥檙e likely to find yourself at the bottom of a long waiting list鈥攆or a used vehicle. converts Jeep Wranglers and Honda Elements with Westfalia-style pop tops, but they鈥檙e fairly spartan and lack a kitchenette. Winnebago still offers its Travato, and , , and continue to customize full-size vans, but they鈥檙e hardly compact, especially compared with what鈥檚 appearing in Japan.

Returning to the United States after living out of a camper van in New Zealand, I was disappointed to face the reality that vehicles I frequently encountered in the Southern Hemisphere鈥攍ike the and the Mitsubishi Delica/L300, or the 鈥攁re unavailable here.

Curious as to why this might be, I reached out to several manufacturers, but none seemed even remotely interested in addressing the topic. Finally, a Toyota spokesperson got back to me: 鈥淭here doesn鈥檛 appear to be enough demand to justify the cost鈥� of importing a scaled-down camper van to the United States, which is puzzling considering the nearly five decades of praise the company鈥檚 beloved HiAce has earned overseas.

鈥淚t鈥檚 all in the marketing,鈥� suggests Alan Feld of Sportsmobile, who maintains that his company, alongside 国产吃瓜黑料 Van and Roadtrek, are small game in this country.

Maybe Feld is right. It could be that the monumentally American ideology of 鈥渂igger is better鈥� continues to dictate the automobile market here, where large, towable campers and mammoth slide-out festooned diesel pushers remain king among recreational vehicles, according to the .

So as it stands, if you鈥檙e in the United States and on the hunt for a new compact camper van equipped with the relatively modest basics of a VW Vanagon, your options are limited unless you鈥檙e willing to dole out thousands of dollars in aftermarket conversions. Otherwise, you鈥檒l have to resort to undertaking your own project, which, with a bit of plywood, a few two-by-fours and some ingenuity, isn鈥檛 a bad idea. But it could become a lengthy, exhausting, expensive endeavor in its own right.

Maybe it鈥檚 time to bite the bullet and give Sportsmobile a call, checkbook in hand, since it doesn鈥檛 look like we鈥檒l be seeing souped-up Scions or Delicas arriving here anytime soon.

After all, 鈥渢he grass is always greener鈥� says Feld, noting that a Japanese magazine recently approached him with hopes of finding out why they couldn鈥檛 get full-size campers like Sportsmobile鈥檚 custom 4×4聽exported to Japan.

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