On the Road with Adie

Privilege, luck, and work ethic

It’s really telling that the question of money is the very first thing to pop into folks’ minds when we tell them we are about to hit the road for 14 months. We have all of the United States rolled out in front of us like a wall-to-wall rug, the far reaches of Canada in which to play hide-and-seek, two whole oceans to dip our feet and buckets of water at hot springs and rivers and gulfs and bays and estuaries. Not to mention the Great Lakes and the Great Salt Lake and the not-so-great campground ponds. We have a vintage vehicle and a rescue dog. And the thing everyone wants to know about is money. And always with the question, “How will you make a living?”

Podcast: Lynda

If you’ve owned a Vw Bus for any length of time, you’ve probably got a tale of roadside breakdown woes. We met a woman, Lynda Hardman, who had more than her fair share. In fact, she swears her bus had a curse. She’s seen everything from flaming stoves to the crunchy demise of her not-so-beloved ASI Riviera.

Pineapple orange cocktail

There it is, in all its simplicity—a perfect cocktail.

I love a good cider cocktail. In the late summer—those days when it is hot when the sun is up and downright chilly once it sets, there’s nothing like a cocktail that can balance the temperature extremes. That is this cocktail. It is my go-to when I want to impress someone. It feels complicated, perhaps even a bit artful. In reality, it is a cinch.

Steering

Wheel and e-brake handle from Aircooled Accessories.

I knew I wanted to marry Miracle when she talked me out of selling the bus.

“Talked me out of” isn’t the right turn of phrase. She never said, “Ryan, here’s my argument for why you should keep the bus.” In fact, she never actively tried to dissuade me. I had been talking about unloading the bus for a couple months; it would cost too much to fix up; it needed a new engine, man; my ex-wife opted for a lump sum payment in lieu of alimony and the cash from selling the bus would certainly come in handy.

How many hours do you work?

It’s a fair question. The standard work week is 40 hours, but many of us—dare I say, most of us—put in far more than 40 hours to our jobs. To be clear, I am not talking about those of us who clock out and then stay at work or choose to go in early. That is a topic worthy of its own post that I am not qualified to write. What I am talking about here is the unrealized time lost.

Podcast: Selwa

We interviewed Selwa Whitesell of Yellow Springs. Currently she has a modern tow-behind camper sitting in her driveway. She has biked in New Zealand, camped all over. But her first camper was an unusual VW Bus she owned when she was just sixteen, married, and pregnant.

Refiberglassed cargo carrier

This was way more complicated than it should have been. My fiberglass was brittle and had been patched (badly). Before I started throwing cargo in the bucket, I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t shatter. I also wanted to add the foam seal available from BusDepot to the edge. First I tried to find another cargo carrier, but all the ones I found were far away and shipping was unreasonable. That left the idea of rejuvenating the old one. All I had to do was undo the five bolts and pry the top off, take it to a fiberglass place, and pop it back on. Piece of cake.

Original Westfalia cooktop + cabinets

The original, heavy, inaccessible interior. With shag carpet, baby.

Prior to my owning her, Adie had some homemade cabinets. I suppose they were functional and probably sufficed for the occasional weekend camping trip. (I did, in fact, take a long weekend in it’s previous configuration and it worked fine—but merely fine.) A longer trip would be problematic for a couple reasons:

There was a gas leak in the stove.
The water tank (which was completely boxed in and inaccessible) was disgusting.
The cabinets were made of heavy materials (like 2x4s and particle board), rendering them not space efficient.
The fridge was not working. Like the cabinets, it was not space efficient either.

One thing the bus did have: the original cooktop. I resolved to rip out the old cabinets completely, but I would keep the cooktop.

Blazecut

Do you have the normal healthy human fear of fire? Do you think it would be tragic to lose your most prized possession in a conflagration? Would emulation be a terrible way for you to die? If so, then I have a product for you! It’s called Blazecut and it is (probably) totally worth it.*

We were on the radio!

Check out the merch from Happy Productions—coffee, decals, t-shirts.

A couple weeks ago I posted in a VW Facebook group about our podcast, “So You Owned a VW Bus.” I asked folks if they had stories and if they would be open to sharing them. We instantly got lots of responses. But more than stories, we received messages of support, offers to stay in folks’ driveways and farms and campgrounds, as well as some other connections. One particular connection came from a guy named Shawn Sullivan, who said he had a radio show out of Minneapolis.