Cal and Mira Eastwick founded the Yard in 2012 with one camper — a 1976 Westfalia they used to live in. The Westfalia is still in the book. Fourteen years on, the Yard runs eighteen campers across three classes from the same harbour-side lot, with the same number on the same phone, picked up by the same person.
Cal and Mira buy a half-acre lot at the back end of Cove Harbour. They have one camper — a 1976 VW Westfalia named Polly — and an idea that other people might like to borrow it. The first booking is for an anniversary trip to Cape Light. The renters return the van with a bottle of wine and a postcard.
The Yard now has six vans, four employees, and a printed route book that Cal has been compiling for three years. The hand-drawn route cards become standard with every booking — a habit that started as a personal note to one renter and now ships with all eighteen vehicles.
The Yard adds its first compact Sprinter conversion — a 2018 144 — to handle bookings from renters who want a stand-up galley and a wet bath. The vintage vans stay in the book. The Yard now spans two distinct kinds of trip: slow, scenic, mechanical on the vans, and longer, more comfortable on the Sprinters.
The first full-size Class C joins the book — a Winnebago View, bought to handle bookings from families of five. The Yard now has the three classes it runs today. Polly the Westfalia celebrates her forty-fifth birthday with a fresh respray in the original Sage Green.
Eighteen campers, three classes, one harbour-side yard, six crew. Two thousand and eight hundred bookings in the logbook, give or take. Polly is still in the book and still gets rented every weekend in the summer. Cal still picks up the phone if he is in the office.
Everyone on the Yard works in the same lot. When you call the number, the person who answers has either driven the camper you are asking about, fixed it, or stocked the galley that morning.
Started the Yard with Mira in 2012. Drew the first route card. Has driven every vehicle in the book at least twice. Picks up the phone on weekends because his wife asked him not to.
Runs the Yard side of the operation. Every camper goes out on her checklist, every linen counts. Knows which campgrounds have decent coffee and which have only instant.
Joined the Yard in 2015. Has stripped the engine in Polly twice and put it back together once more than that. The reason the vintage vans still run the way they do. Lives in a converted Sprinter.