Dora Sleeps Alone...

So the trek has ended, the holidays have passed and once again Dora will spend the cold winter alone as she always has. We were able to go for a brief drive the other day, it was invigorating - a fresh reviving breath amidst the starkness that often accompanies the cold, gray winter.

Long overdue is the gratitude we would like to extend to all of you that helped make our trip happen. Brad, thanks so much for setting us up with this website - SO MANY people complimented on the site and how neat it was to follow us - Thanks so much man! Cindi and Keith, your generosity with your garage was amazing! Without you guys, Dorah would never have gotten her Porsche gearbox transplant, and we probably wouldn't have been able to go on our trip at all - Thank you. All of you that gave us a place to stay, food to eat, a car to drive, some animals to pet, or even some simple conversation as we journeyed across the states - Thanks so much - it was great to see you again - or even meet you for the first time for that matter - we look forward to seeing you again. And most of all, Thank you Mom and Dad K & C. Your love, prayers, and help kept us going when we were sad or stressed (or strapped for cash) - Thank you again, we really appreciate it. Anyone we may have forgotten - or even if you just enjoyed "following along" with us - Thank You.

Stealth Bus Uncovered.

- From the Classified Files - As we traversed the desert, we came upon a remote dwelling with what appeared to be several unique vehicular devices resting around the lot. Among them was this stealth car. It immediately caught Jared's fancy and intrigue arose. Diana remained in the safety of the bus as Jared exited and approached the automobile with caution. The vehicle reeked of power and of speed not to mention the ability to reach speeds upwards of 60 mph and not be seen on radar! Yes thats right 60 mph! For upon much closer examination Jared discovered the heart and back bone of this mean stealth machine was the engine, transmission and undercarriage of a 1973-1979 Volkswagen Bus! Surely the local authorities must fear this beast. Imagine driving by the police with no worries that they might catch you speeding... because you CAN'T speed.

Oh yes it is!

Here is a fine specimen of the highly coveted, hard to come by "Spring Smitch for Lunatics." Alas! We traveled far and wide and with the shedding of much blood, sweat, and tears, we found and ingested this rare donut engineered specifically for unique individuals. It was delectable!

Trip All Done. Boo Hoo

Well here we are back in Roch-ach-ah. Monday Diana is back to work and Jared starts his next web site. JAREDFINDSAJOB.COM (Ha ha) We can use your prayers now more than ever as we slide back in to reality. You might call it culture shock... Hope to see all our Rochester folk friends in the near future. Until then adios.

Binghamton!

We made it to Binghamton and spent a short stay there. We had another good home cooked meal! (We're getting spoiled.) Left after breakfast this morning and headed home! We are sad that it is all over. I will see you soon Workers Comp People!

Revealing J$ and E!

We also had a great time hanging out with J$ and E! Can't wait to see them again. Take care you two!

Maine!

We did make it to Maine, cold weather and all. We have had two yummy home cooked meals
so far. We are enjoying the family and the fireplace. Jared tinkered with the bus today, making a few repairs that were necessary. Diana vacuumed the bus and washed the interior windows, getting Dora ready for the last leg of the journey. We have seen friends and family and it is good to be here. In the picture are left to right Jared, Dad K, Elijah, and Aaron. Bottom row l-r are Diana, Alicia, Mom K and Savannah, and of course, Shuva.

Jared is funny (at least he thinks so...)

We made it to Alita and Allison's house. We had a yummy dinner and a good nights rest. A shout out to Mel and Lucy! (Oh, and a shout out to Alita and Alison.) Today, if all goes well, we are headed to Maine.

Peter's Valley

We drove for a few short hours today and stopped at the Peter's Valley School of Craft ( www.pvcrafts.org ) to see another good friend, Lena. She is in backwoods New Jersey. (It really does exist!) We spent a few hours with her and had some lunch at a great little country store. We headed out and drove the rest of the way to Alita & Allison's where we will spend the night tonight. If you look closely at the pic you can see an Andy Buck sculpture in the back ground. Lena it was great to see you!

Trees!

So, we can really tell that we are back in the North East. The trees and the clouds and the cold! Last night we spent the night in PA after driving forever. We spent the night in KOA ( www.koa.com/where/pa/38180/index.htm ). We are KOA campground converts. Yea KOA saves the day.

North Carolina

Ok, so where were we? Oh yes, we got the rest of the way through Arkansas and drove all the way through Tennessee in one day and into North Carolina. We stopped in to see our good friend Sylvie, who happens to be an awesome woodworker by the way (you can see some of her work here - www.woodworkersjournal.com/ezine/archive/61/todaysww.cfm ). She is currently working with Doug Sigler who has had a large hand in the woodworking department at Penland School of Crafts ( www.penland.org ). We had a great time with her. A shout out to Sylvie - Thanks for the superb hospitality! The view in the morning from our room was amazing. (White cows grazing on the mountainside, we felt like we were straight out of "Heidi".)

Back to the East Coast

Ok we haven't posted in a few days. We spent Friday night in Oklahoma at a state park. We were 1 out of 2 people camping in the park, and the only one in our particular campground. It was a gorgeous night with the moon reflecting off of the lake. The only down side to the park was the gigantic spiders hanging out in the bathrooms. On Saturday we drove through the rest of Oklahoma and all the way to Eastern Arkansas. We stayed in an Arkansas State Park which was an awesome park. Anyone driving through Arkansas should check out their state parks. They have a good thing going on. Happy Trails. : )
(pardon the photo - it was uploaded with our cell phone)

I 40 East

Last night (Thursday night) we spent the night at Mic and Dawn's. They took care of us, and once again we are entirely grateful for their hospitality. We just hope we can one day return the favor! Today we drove through Eastern New Mexico and through the Northern part of Texas. The highlight of our day was dinner at the Big Texan Restaurant where if you eat a 72 oz. steak dinner in less than an hour you get it for free. (Dinner includes salad, potato, roll, shrimp cocktail and a beverage.) No one did it successfully while we were there, but we did meet a nice couple from Oklahoma. They are driving across Old Route 66 in there 1952 Ford (with a corvette drive train under the hood). We chatted the evening away with them. Thanks for the car-inspiration Doris and Homer!

A shout out to Winkie!

rrrrrrrrrrrrufff! rrrrruffffffffff!!!!!! now that be lookin like .....aaaarrrrrrrgggg maty . Now you be lookin like a pirates mate!!! Hi ya Winkie !!!

A day on the river

Today we got up bright and early so Jared could do some fishing on the San Juan River (Diana would ride along in the boat). Our guide, Mark, was very knowledgeable and an awesome teacher and showed Jared everything he needed to know. Lessons of fishing learned from Dad Cousins came back quickly and Jared managed to land 14 fish this morning (eight others got away). We both had a blast and we walked away with some great memories and sunburns. You can book your guided trip at www.sanjuanriver.com - it was awesome! Tonight we will stay at Mic and Dawn's and tomorrow we will head for Texas.

Driving and driving...

Yesterday we drove from Page to four corners where we paid the Native Americans $6.00 for the privilege to stand on four states at the same time. We then continued on to Mesa Verde where we were impressed by the genius of these ancient tribes. From Mesa Verde we headed South to a one horse town called Navajo Dam where we planned on having a guided fishing trip the next morning. (A shout out to Dad and Mom Cousins!)

On the road again...

From Las Vegas we drove to the Hoover Dam for a quick look. It is an impressive feet of engineering. We continued on and spent the night in Hurricane, Utah. Our stay in Utah was short but sweet. The next morning we drove to Zion National Park where we spent half the day hiking around some of the trails Then it was back to Arizona that afternoon to the North rim of the Grand Canyon. We arrived at the Grand Canyon just minutes after sunset, but it was still a spectacular site to see. That night we slept in Page Arizona.

Q: Why Did the Spider Cross the Road?

A: So Jared would see it -while driving 70 mph- and pull over to look!

We drove through Death Valley yesterday and stood in the lowest spot in the continental U.S. It was sunny and warm there, although we were thankful it wasn't summer. (Average temps in July and August are around 100!) We made it to Vegas and had the obligatory buffet dinner. Not too shabby, but a little pricey. Then we drove around for 2 hours trying to find a place to spend the night. We ended up in this seedy RV park (the worst yet) The public restrooms were locked, so we got the first opportunity to use the port-a-potty. (A shout out to Keith and Cindy.) While in Vegas we also stopped at Renegade Hybrids ( www.renegadehybrids.com )to visit Scott - a key player in the VW's Porsche 5spd transmission implant. It was neat to see all the casinos, but when we leave Las Vegas neither one of us will be looking back... Onward ho.

Trees That Make You Feel Insignificant

We took off from Tom's and stopped at Muir Woods where some of the Redwoods grow. These are pretty good sized trees. The coastal Redwoods are really tall trees. However, the trees in Sequoia National Park http://www.nps.gov/seki/ are ginormous. This park houses the two largest living things on earth. They are two Sequoia trees called the "General Sherman" and "General Grant". The circumference of General Grants trunk is over 100 feet! We spent two nights in a KOA campground in Visalia, California. Today after Dora gets an oil change we are headed out to Death Valley. Hopefully it will be warm there! We'll post when we can. We love all of you!

Making More New Friends

Yesterday we met and had dinner with these two very cool people. Steve and Robin have sold everything they own and are traveling the country with their dog in their RV. (All to the glory of God). They are a very inspiring and uplifting couple (and good cooks too). Praise God that their are people out there like them! Send your prayers their way, I'm sure they would appreciate it.

Bus in the Shop AGAIN.

Well, since we are in California, we figured we needed to ride in style to fit in with everybody. So we took the bus to an Larry's Custom Auto Body Shop and had the bus stretched. It's so nice having the extra room. We now have a king size bed and a hot tub. So that's why we haven't been able to post in awhile.

GO RED SOX!

We spent the day touring around San Fran. We drove down the windiest road, drove to the top of a mountain that overlooked the city, and visited the fisherman's wharf. We topped the night off by going with Tom and Marcia to a bar called the Connecticut Yankee to watch the Red Sox win the world series. Go Sox! Tomorrow we head out of here, to someplace... We haven't quite decided where we will go next, but we shall know tomorrow. The weather has been kind of touch and go east of here in the mountains and we are thinking about buying chains for the bus. We shall see.

Route 1 North

Took 2 days to drive up the coast on the old route 1. It was an absolutely gorgeous drive. We spent the night in a campground and we were able to use our brand new electric heater to stay warm in the van. It was so wonderful. (It's the small things in life that make you happy on a road trip!) It started to rain at around 2:00 AM, and we were a little nervous because we had to drive across a bridge to get to our campsite, and the camp director said that sometimes the river floods over the bridge. As it turns out, it was mighty wet when we woke up, and still raining, but the bridge was still able to be crossed. We headed out expecting it to be rainy all day, but by 10:00 the sun was shining and it stayed out all day. We stopped at the Monterey Bay Aquarium (good suggestion Larry). In the wild we saw dolphins, seals, and Diana even saw a whale! We made it to
Tom's and we will be spending tonight (October 26) and tomorrow night here.

Hollywood!

We arrived at Larry's in Los Angeles safe and sound. Driving was crazy and we had sticker shock on the gas prices. (2.59/gallon was the most expensive we saw it, and that was the cheap stuff! Kind of makes us miss Missouri where we filled up for 1.78/gallon!) Nevertheless we had a nice time in LA. Larry was good to us and carted us all around Los Angeles to show us the sights. We went to Venice Beach to see all the vendors and then to Hollywood where we had our first In-N-Out Burger (sooo good). We met up with Rebecca and Evan in Hollywood. There had happened to be a Premiere for "The Incredibles" that same evening so we got to see some movie stars as they exited their limos to go in to the premiere! Tim Allen, Craig T Nelson, Ice Cube, and Samuel L Jackson, to name a few. After Hollywood we went out for sushi and had the best sushi we have ever had. (Thank you Larry!)

Ducks in a Row

We had a busy day today. We were up before the sun. (6:00 AM..) And we were headed for the zoo by 7:30. http://www.sandiegozoo.org/
We were first in line when the doors opened at 9:00 this morning and we were there until they closed at 5:00, We saw every animal there is to see there. We are spending the night with our friend Larry, where we are currently safely residing. We are tired but contented.
WWW Diana loves you! Hope you are all having fun.

We made it!

Yesterday, Friday, we drove and drove. The pic was taken at our pit stop, Joshua Tree National Forest, although we actually didn't see much of the park, as we decided to head out and continue driving instead of doing a lot of exploring there. We drove up a really steep and windy road through the mountains west of Palm Desert. It was a little bit scary for Diana (guess she takes after her mother, although her eyes remained opened and fixated on the road at all times) But it was well worth it in the end for the views. And we finally made it to the West Coast. Tired and hungry we were able to get a camping spot on the coast. We cooked up some din and hit the sac in expectation for our busy day to come at the zoo!

Raining Arizona

While we were in Phoenix it rained! It was the first time in months and months, but nevertheless, it rained while we were there It figures... So, it was a little bit gloomy, but we were able to do some sightseeing anyhow. We visited Taliesen West. This was Frank Lloyd Wright's summer camp. Pretty cool place. check out the website for it, for some good pics of what we saw. It wasn't waterproof though, that's for sure!
http://www.franklloydwright.org/index.cfm?section=tour&action=taliesinwest
The day flew by us and before we knew it we were stuck in rush hour traffic trying to make it back to Grandma's for dinner. We had a nice dinner out with Grandma and Aunt Peg. Yummy Mexican food, although definitely different from NEW Mexican food. We are enjoying the different varieties. Jared and I both have cowboy hats now, thanks to the swap meet in Mesa! Thanks for the idea to go there, Grandma.

Zero Gravity, Lunar Testing Site

Yesterday we visited North Eastern Arizona where NASA has a unique zero gravity testing grounds. We noticed it while we were driving when Diana's sunglasses floated off of her head. So we stopped and decided to have some fun. Due to the mass of the bus it stayed pretty well grounded. (As shown in photograph.) OK, so it's actually the drive through the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest National Park. But we really thought it looked like the moon. We were both skeptical that we would be impressed by this Park, but it was absolutely amazing. We definitely recommend a visit here. Thanks Ma and Pa C for the National Parks Pass! We have used it twice already. We continued on to Phoenix arriving around 11:00 Pacific Time. Grandma C fed us some hot tasty chili and cherry cheesecake and put us to bed. Diana said Jared is not allowed to eat Chili/Mexican on road trips anymore. (Praise God for Beano!)

Mic, Dawn, Streaker, Winkie, Tazzie, Roxie, Jared and Diana

We are still here in New Mexico. We went to pick up the bus this morning and after talking to the mechanic decided there was one more thing that needed to be taken care of, so we asked if they could do it today. They said they could fit us in and that the bus would be done by 2:00. So we left the bus with them until this afternoon. We wandered around Albuquerque again. We went to breakfast at Frontier (the best) and visited Dawn at work. We finally got the bus back and paid the damage (parents call us if you want to know how much it was((donations via pay pal are accepted)). By the time we got back to Mic and Dawn's it was 4:30. Since sundown is at 6:30, we decided to spend the night again! So we are planning on leaving tomorrow morning. We have had a really nice time staying here in Albuquerque, and we are both a little bit sad to leave. : ( But on the road we must go. We are headed for Phoenix. The plan is to make it there in one day, but as you all know are plans are not always accurate to reality! So we will of course be keeping you all updated on the website. So, Grandma here we come!! (And we're bringing our swimsuits!)

Another day in Albuquer-que

Well, we have just been sitting tight here in Albuquerque for the past few days. Yesterday we drove by an old ghost town and through a coal mining town. It actually rained here (it reminded us of home! ha ha.) Today we dropped the bus off at the shop. It has been there all day, and will have to stay over night so they can finish repairs. Everybody pray that it purrs like a kitten afterward! Today we saw the rattlesnake museum (live snakes and spiders, Mom C you would have loved it!) And we went to the Atomic Bomb Museum, (we needed Keith to help us understand what everything meant). Mic and Dawn have been awesome to us, letting us use their vehicles, use their washer and dryer, feeding us and suggesting places we should visit and things we should do. It's been nice having them as surrogate parents during these past stressful days! Many thanks to them. : ) We will find out the verdict on the toastah tomorrow.

Caught Gawking

While in Colorado, we were apparently spotted taking a picture of this bus by its owner (look in reply to previous blog thread). I must admit, VW Buses are not as rare out here compared to the east coast (even though this one is from Connecticut!). Well Matt, here it is - Nice eyelids!

Jemez Reservation - The Red Mountains

Just a quick pic of us in the Jemez Res. It is absolutely beautiful here.

The "One Week Down" Update

Howdy everybody! We've made it most of the way across the country and we're currently hanging out with some relatives here. They've been awesome and it has made the trip much more enjoyable even with the minor mechanical quarks of a 30 year old Volkswagen. We'll probably be here in Albuquerque, NM for a few days - there is so much to do! Today we drove around the nearby back country and went to Bandelier National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/band/) it was AWESOME! Later we stopped in Santa Fe (New Mexican for Freeport, Maine) for an overpriced coffee and ice cream.

Cold Night + Hot Coffee = In Love

We left Jeff's early on Thursday and after much debating decided to head to Albuquerque, NM. The prospect of getting the clutch chatter fixed while we were in CO was looking slim, and we had heard of a mechanic in Alb. that we thought could help us. We weren't ready to tackle the mountains with a bad clutch. We headed south with the intentions of making it to Santa Fe that same day. When our goal of Santa Fe seemed to lofty, we decided to try and just make it to Las Vegas, NM. But I guess God had other plans for us because when we stopped for gas in Trinidad, CO (10 miles from the border of NM) we could not get the bus to start again. Fortunately we broke down right across the street from Wal-mart so we were able to buy the supplies we needed to try and get the bus running again (including a hat and mittens for Diana). As it turns out, while we were broken down and running back and forth to Wal-Mart there was an accident with four tractor trailer trucks and some fuel spilled on I-25 where they had to shut down both lanes of traffic. God blessed us by preventing us from having to wait in traffic/being in an accident so keep the prayers coming our way!! Once we figured out that we had just flooded the engine, it was too late to keep going, so we decided to spend the night in the town of Trinidad (apparently a town famous world wide as a place to go to get a sex change operation.) We slept at Trinidad Lake State Park (a lovely park)- www.sangres.com/stateparks/trinlake.htm . This morning we contacted the mechanic in Albuquerque and they said that they had a new clutch for us and that they could squeeze us in on Monday. So we are going to spend the weekend with Mic and Dawn in Albuquerque and do some touring around town until then.

We aint in Kansas anymore, Toto

We spent the night in Colorado Springs at an Rv park with very clean bathrooms. Our weird clutch chatter/shudder problems were getting worse, so we decided to see a mechanic. We got a few recommendations from our LIMBO directory of people to see in the area about VW's ( http://www.limbobus.org/ ). We visited a good mechanic who helped us minimize the oil leak in the engine and showed us what was causing the shuddering. We still have a chatter and we think we may need a new clutch. We have changed our route plan slightly and we are going to head to Albuquerque instead of passing over the Rockies. We want to try and make it to Cali, where there are an unlimited number of VW shops that can help us out. So South we go!

Oh my Kansas

We actually enjoyed driving across Kansas. The landscape really changes here from the "East Coast" look to a more dry and desolate place. We drove across Kansas in one shot. It was a long day, and we were thankful for stopping that night in Colorado. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the road and made it to our destination in Colorado around 10:00 PM.

IHOP-Kansas City, Missouri

We stopped here and visited our friend Audrey. We spent the night in the parking lot listening to the rain. At this IHOP they don't make pancakes it is the International House of Prayer ( www.fotb.com ), and they have been praying/interceding for 5 years now 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It is a really awesome thing! It was definitely worth the visit.

Making New Friends

These are some cool people we met at the arch in St. Louis. They stopped by as we were leaving and we ended up hanging out with them for a couple of hours in front of the arch. God works in mysterious ways... We look forward to the time when our paths cross again.

Hello St. Louis

We made it to St. Louis later than we had hoped. The fifth gear in the blue bread box is very nice, giving us about 18 mpg at times. Hopefully we can get 20+ with a little carb adjustment. We delivered our ebay auction item to the respective winner (thank you Chris-we hope you enjoy the push bar for your truck). The arch/gateway to the west was beautiful even at night ( www.stlouisarch.com ). The shimmering stainless steel overlooking the water was awe inspiring. We camped at Cuivre River state park in MO ( www.mostateparks.com/cuivre.htm ). It was in Troy just outside of St. Louis. Excellent camp sites and beautiful fall leaves!

Destination Columbus... Accomplished

We made it to Columbus. Here is a picture of Uncle Glen, Aunt Deb, Vanessa and Russ. We will try to make it to Kansas City, MO today. Alita, we will be stopping off in St. Louis, so I will be calling you for a place to eat lunch. We are delivering a brush guard/cattle killer/push bar to the guy that won it on ebay. He is going to meet us in St Louie. That will get rid of 80 pounds of weight or so, which is good since, as of now, we are getting about 15 mpg. Currently we are in Dayton, Ohio. We are going to check out Larry's off road center ( www.larrysoffroad.com ) for somw VW parts. Hopefully someone will be there and we will beg them to sell us an air filter for the bus. Later Folks.

Destination Erie... Accomplished.

We arrived safely in Erie at approximately midnight. We packed casually and had to drop our civic off at an undisclosed location some 30 miles outside of Rochester. This made for a late arrival here at our first destination - Uncle Don and Aunt Becky's. The bus ran smoothly and we have yet to see what it is getting for gas mileage with the new transmission. We mustn't get too anxious, after all it is a giant toaster and we had a wicked headwind. We were able to change lanes without turning the steering wheel! Well goodnight all, 6 am comes quickly.

We Leave Today!

Today we head out for the Great West (Erie, PA). With much excitement and a squinch of nervousness, we hit the road. And of course, we can't forget about one of our adorable little friends Max - he turns 1 today! Happy Birthday big guy, our love is with you on this special day!

The Bus!

The Bus is ready to roll!