Adventures in a VW Bus
We’ve added some bonus episodes called Detours. In each detour we veer off the VW route and delve into some of the material from past interviews was left on the cutting room floor. In this episode we talk about people spelling their names and that time Nellie had a close encounter with a horse.
Bones (obviously animal on close inspection) and a broken safe at two of our off-the-grid campsites. No, we won’t say where this was or if we reported it. I’ve seen enough Coen brothers movies to know better.
Goodbye to the clearest waters and greenest forests I have ever seen. Cloud wreathed mountains and the northwesternest point in the lower 48. The hospitality of the Makah and empty beaches littered with conical shells. I hope we make it back here again someday.
Xavier Laurentio is a larger than life, colorful character. He’s been a bodyguard, an actor and is now a bonafide chef in New Orleans. We met up with Xavier at his home in NOLA and he told us about leaving his home country of Spain for the States, his travels and adventures across the US in his first beloved VW bus, what it was like to lose everything to Hurricane Katrina, and his future plans for his new bus.
Even as the blog winds down and I’m posting less frequently, I remain committed to creating our own playlist for this venture (and shoehorning in a Dylan song, even if it means pretending not to know the difference between Washington state and the District of Columbia). So here’s three somewhat-carefully selected tunes to listen on the way through The Evergreen State:
Continue reading “Playlist: Washington”
Alright, friends. You may have noticed I am posting a little less these days. The journey so far has been amazing and I have enjoyed sharing what I am seeing, feeling, thinking about along the way. But, as we start what I am sure will be (for better or worse) our most epic leg of the trip across the Canadian wilderness and into Alaska, I have less motivation to work up blog content.
I’m grateful to those of you (like my family and our commenting MVP, Doug) who have read and followed along faithfully and I am grateful to people who stop by occasionally. The trip into the north will take most of our time and energy. Besides, there is no internet for most of the time and I just want to enjoy it. Once we get back south into Idaho (around mid-August), we will take in the Big Sky country, Yellowstone and the Dakotas before barnstorming the Great Plains and heading into the final stretch of our trip, which takes us back north—through Minnesota, Wisconsin, and across the UP before plummeting south to get home.
That’s the plan anyway. This trip has taught us how uncertain plans can be.
Jaymi Millard, VW collector and bassist for the band Slaughter (yes, that Slaughter) loves pink guitars, has a pink beard, and has a VW bus story or two to tell. We caught up with Jaymi in his Tennessee kitchen to hear a few tales from the hundreds of buses he’s owned.
Oregon is crawling and slithering and festooned with amazing creatures. Here’s a few that were slow enough that I could get a picture.
Oregon has been wonderful. Forests. Friendly folks. Amazing wines. Affordable camping. Relaxing coastal drives. Snow. Sun. Mountains. Ocean. This has been one of our favorites. Here’s some photos:
Continue reading “Oregon”We met Jennifer and Alice in Austin, Texas, and they were both eager to tell us about their VW buses and what the VW bus community means to them, but the real story was how these two became fast friends over their mutual love for Vanagons.
On the Road with Adie