Live. Travel. Play.

North America

SLO County Highlights

Knowing that Lucky was going to be in GoWesty’s shop for at least a week, we decided to tour California’s central coast and immerse ourselves in the culture of San Luis Obispo County (SLO County).

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To kick things off, Gregor bought himself a stylish shoulder bag in downtown SLO. I was very happy about this, as it would spare me from carrying his sunglasses AND reading glasses AND Blistex lip balm in my purse. It would also spare his jeans from wallet elephantitus, the notorious virus that causes the fatal back-pocket-eating disease.

“I like your man purse,” I said playfully.
“It’s a satchel,” he snapped.

(more…)

Janice January 21, 2015 North America, Pan-American Trail, USA
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California Dreamin’

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Our first major milestone was to get our van to Los Osos, California, by Jan 5. That’s the date that Lucky was scheduled for a mechanical makeover at GoWesty, a highly regarded Volkswagen restoration and sales shop whose mission is to keep the old VW hippy busses and camper vans alive and healthy.

Lucky needed to travel 2500 km through below-freezing temperatures, snowy mountain passes, and interstate highways with speed limits that are impossibly high for a Westy van (80 mph or 128 km/h). We were concerned about how our van would perform in this marathon, since she doesn’t typically go above 100 km/h AND this is her first winter road trip. (more…)

Janice January 7, 2015 North America, Pan-American Trail, USA, Van Life
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New Year’s Resolution: Drive to Argentina

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Gregor and I left Calgary on New Year’s Eve day to begin the road trip of a lifetime. Our goal is to drive our 1987 Volkswagon camper van to the southern tip of Argentina and back. We’re giving ourselves a year or so to get to Ushuaia (the farthest south you can drive in the Americas), visiting every Latin American country and camping in the van for most of the way.

In the last three months, we have been selling, donating, or trashing anything we felt we didn’t need. (more…)

Janice January 1, 2015 Canada, North America, Pan-American Trail
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