I love roadtrips, especially when they’re in my 1989 VW Vanagon, the Blue Bomber. A vanagon roadtrip is always an adventure. Last month, on Instagram, I posted about my first road trip in the Blue Bomber twenty-three years ago. We had just bought the van and I drove it down the west coast and then back north. I was pregnant and traveling with my 2-½ year old daughter and our boxer dog. I had no cell phone and we broke down three times, but always found our way. My most recent journey was from Seattle to Tijuana, Mexico. I gathered my Instagram post into one giant blog so that you can read about my adventure if you missed it on Social Media.

The drive to Mexico was prompted by the need for bodywork and a new paint job on the Blue Bomber. It is old and rusting, so the metal is getting damaged. A few years back I crunched the front too (which I just hate), and all the seals are leaking, so when I drive, rainwater now drops on my head from the sunroof. I have put all sorts of money on keeping the engine running smoothly, it was time to take care of the outside.

Good bodywork on a vanagon is extremely expensive. Last summer when I was talking to the owner of Peace Vans (the one in charge of keeping my Blue Bomber bombing down the road), he suggested I check out Live The Van Life. There was one caveat; I would need to leave my van in Mexico for several months. I swallowed, I wasn’t sure that I could do that. I glanced at my van, I hated the rust and dirt and mess that it had become.

I checked out the Live The Van Life website and then […]