Living the VW Life on the Road in a 1962 Panel Bus Vanessa Cassada Ep77

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[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Dub Life Diaries.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The podcast where passion meets the open road.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Joe Parson, your host, and also a lifelong lover.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Book it up because this ride is just beginning.

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[SPEAKER_01]: This podcast is sponsored by Volk's Mania Magazine.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Good times, great cars, awesome Volk's Maniacs.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Visit Volk'sMania.com to learn more about this class leading VW Magazine.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back to dublife diaries now most people dream about dropping everything, buying an old Volkswagen bus or at least if you're listening to this podcast you do.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And disappear and down an open road, but there is actually very few people in life that are really going to do it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay?

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[SPEAKER_01]: Today's guest has spent more than a year proving that adventure doesn't require a brand new RV, a six-figure budget, or the perfect plan.

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[SPEAKER_01]: All it takes is a 1962 Volkswagen panel bus.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe a little bit of willingness to embrace the unknown and absolutely the courage to keep on driving.

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[SPEAKER_01]: She's so cool.

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[SPEAKER_01]: She bought her first air cool Volkswagen at just 16 years old.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That decision alone quietly shaped the rest of her life today.

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[SPEAKER_01]: She has explored some of America's most breathtaking places from the legendary going to the

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[SPEAKER_01]: BLM campsites, lightwater raft and adventures, and Volkswagen campouts all across the country.

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[SPEAKER_01]: This isn't just a story about road trips.

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[SPEAKER_01]: She's also a talented artist, a handpader, a pinstriper, whose artwork has actually become part of this culture.

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[SPEAKER_01]: She's built an annual Volkswagen campout that's bringing enthusiasts together year after year.

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[SPEAKER_01]: This conversation today is going to be about freedom, about creativity, about community, and about how why sometimes the slowest vehicle on the road actually creates the richest life imaginable.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So buckle up because today we are riding shotgun with somebody who's proven that life isn't measured by the miles on the odometer.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's measured by the stories that you collect along the way.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That's quite the introduction there.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You're welcome.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That's all you.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That's all.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You seem like you're pretty awesome.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for registering.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for going through the process.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I know it's not easy to I guess ball interior to have a conversation or to be a public display like this.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But I try to make it as easy as I can for for you guys for guests in the Volkswagen community by providing you with an outline and really trying to take the edge off.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So really that's what this is just a conversation before we dive into this conversation.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You guys know, first up on the list, Volk's Mania magazine.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know how I feel as well, fly a SVW magazine on the face of the planet.

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[SPEAKER_01]: These guys gave me a shot when I was really just looking for some advertising.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So I try to rep them every time, every chance I get Volk's Mania.com.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You can use Wife 10.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Check out DUB LIFE, the number one zero at checkout.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You'll get 10% off your subscription.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Also shout out the salty dub from the beach to the bay salty dubs tearing up the west coast of Florida But man, I'm excited to announce this today.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Just today Allen and myself We went to the fairgrounds in Tampa the Florida state fairgrounds to Talk to them about an event.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna organize for the summer of 2027 Saying it here for the first time because we just posted about it today.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We are gonna do an indoor

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[SPEAKER_01]: You heard that right in indoor camping event.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That's going to be massive.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We got room for like 350 cars.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be indoor.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to like set up large TV screens and watch movies and it's going to be really, really cool because it's a hottest shit in the summer and it's going to be just epic because we're all going to be indoor in the AC.

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[SPEAKER_01]: How different, right?

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be super different, but everybody's going to be in their cars and in their dubs and it's going to be dope.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So there it is.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But we got all kinds of other stuff, swag events.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Check out the website, saltydub.com.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Same discount code applies, the life 10.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Last shout out, and then it is back to you, young lady, is Vera, a poultry of St. Pete.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Check these guys out.

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[SPEAKER_01]: When I say epic builds, I mean it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Just go to their website, check out their Facebook, TikTok.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Instagram, LinkedIn, whatever you could follow them on social media, do it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Alan is putting out some awesome work.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He's got the new automotive line.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They are doing some very, very, very serious show winning award winning interiors, not just in boats, in cars, and they are on fire with production.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So check those guys out.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Vera, poultry.com.

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[SPEAKER_01]: All right.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Back to you.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You ready?

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[SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's dive in.

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[SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's dive into some of these questions for people discovering you for the first time who is Vanessa Casada, beyond the Volkswagen world.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I feel like you really kind of covered a lot of it in the introduction outside of Old Spagans.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I love being outdoors.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I love hiking, whitewater afternoon, paddleboarding, sailing.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I love our as you mentioned.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I do hand painting.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I enjoy doing that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Just really anything that I can kind of be active in.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I really really enjoy.

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[SPEAKER_01]: What is it about Volkswagen?

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[SPEAKER_01]: Do you think that kind of captured your attention?

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[SPEAKER_01]: I know you say you bought your first one when you were 16.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know, I was kind of thinking back as I was preparing for this podcast like what what was it so many years ago and I have a vivid memory I was visiting my cousin who lived in a different state and hadn't seen him for many years.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He's like 12 years older than me.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So he already had this great car collection by the time I was 16.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It was well into his 20s.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Some visiting him and he should take me around his house show me he had a quite a variety.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't just like only Volkswagen is a bunch of different things.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And then we got to his garage and he opens the garage doors.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And they're sat this plum purple 19, I can always forget if it's 65 or 67, which I shouldn't know this.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But plum purple beetle, it was like lowered chrome rims, chrome bumper, it was super like all done up.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, that thing is gorgeous.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I was always into cars and stuff.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I really caught my eye.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And then I noticed you had a foreseal sign on it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, this is for sale.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And he said, yeah.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I said, I'm going to buy that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I want that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I think he and it was like, you're 16.

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[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't have anybody, you know, I had already bought my first car.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, just give me like a couple of months.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to buy this from you.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And so sure enough, like a couple of months later, I went and got a loan from the bank.

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[SPEAKER_00]: My parents co-sign for me.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I bought the car from him and I was like, I had no idea at that moment what that would do in my life.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you were mentioning an introduction.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I had no idea what that meant for me, like up till now and it just really started as like, oh, that's a cute car.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't know anything about Volkswagen.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't even know the different models.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like, all I knew was the beetle.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So.

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[SPEAKER_00]: something about it just kind of hooked me and then as I got into the community over the years is just kept me coming back again and again.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Probably never imagined though even for a second that one day you'd be living on the road in a vintage bus doing your thing.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Now I actually didn't even know buses were a thing for years.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like fast forward many years.

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[SPEAKER_00]: All I knew was the beat on I would take it to car shows and have fun with it and then I

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[SPEAKER_00]: And then I found out people camp in their bus and I was like what people camp in these things that's amazing I remember the first time I saw a single cab I didn't know that was actually a Volkswagen vehicle I thought somebody took a bus and and they're back and are like cut it up that's how little I knew.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It's just this whole world I could know.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, definitely.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I honestly, I honestly think at the time, I don't even think it, I thought it would go past that one car.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I thought like I'm going to enjoy this car for however many years and I'm going to grow up and life's going to happen and who knows what, you know, so what does freedom look like for you today compared to maybe back then when you bought that first Volkswagen.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Freedom back then, you know, turning 16, even though it wasn't my first car, technically, it still was like a sense of freedom.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I have a car, I can go where I want to, without my parents, I can go the movie, see my friends.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But now, freedom.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Kind of the summer since like the car just gives you the opportunity to get on the road and go where you want to go.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to see places that you don't even know exist until you get there and not just the big hitters, the big parts, but the small back, back roads, the tiny towns like driving through towns with the population of 200 people or we stopped like we stopped a week ago in this town.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I think it was chalice.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I'd a hope I remember correctly.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And went into the state council saloon, the population on the sign.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I always like read the populations when I drive bikes.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I find it fascinating these time of the pounds.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It was like 900 and something.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And we go on from lunch.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It was us and like two other tables.

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[SPEAKER_00]: The rest of the places empty because it's, you know, Tuesday at noon.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And we're sitting there having lunch.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And we overhear the waitress talking to the table next to us.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And you could clearly tell like everybody knows everybody.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And they knew we weren't from there the moment we walked through the tour.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And she's saying, oh yeah, we got this new truck.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You probably saw it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: If you drove out of town on that road, did you see that truck sitting there?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's the truck we bought.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, this is incredible.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Just like these little moments that really don't mean anything, but they also like really kind of open your eyes too.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they really want to people.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, exactly.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Crazy man so you know and I kind of I relate to that quite a bit actually because like I said I I spent a number of years out in Colorado myself nine years and you know my wife and I With all of our kids we home school and what we did most of them are or finish in high school now One of them's long gone already starting in her career which turned in 21 in December But we've traveled a lot and not in a bus not in a vintage bus, but

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[SPEAKER_01]: just here in these small stories about, you know, population and in stopping in these small, you know, kind of hole in the wall restaurants, they brought some of the best experiences and memories for us as a family and just, you know, stopping at the little stream on the on the side of the highway, you know, that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: you come to find out that, you know, that little river that you were swimming next to, has, you know, super dangerous snakes and all kinds of stuff in it, right?

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[SPEAKER_01]: But it just adds to, uh, just the whole experience in the story.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, man, I relate to it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I love traveling myself.

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[SPEAKER_01]: When people hear that you are traveling the country in a 1962 panel Volkswagen bus, I don't know, man, like, what, what do they say?

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[SPEAKER_01]: Like, what's the first question they ask you?

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[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like there's a couple of first questions depending on the type of person that they're oftentimes are like, oh, you towed it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, no, drove it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And then they're like, they're just shocked.

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[SPEAKER_00]: They're like, what, you drove that?

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[SPEAKER_00]: They're like, OK. You know, be other questions always like, what do you do for work or how do you afford this?

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[SPEAKER_00]: That kind of a thing when they find that you're like on the go constantly.

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[SPEAKER_01]: let's touch on that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: How do you answer those two questions?

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[SPEAKER_01]: What do you do for work?

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[SPEAKER_01]: And right?

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[SPEAKER_01]: How do you afford to be able to have a life on the road?

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[SPEAKER_01]: Because I'm sure anybody tuned into the podcast, probably wants to know as well.

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[SPEAKER_00]: There's no secret to it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It's a little bit of work and savings, so work, work quite a bit, and save up some money.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I was working remotely up until about a month ago, two months ago, and I recently quit my job, and I'm exploring some other things on the side.

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[SPEAKER_00]: My husband does travel healthcare, so

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, he'll take a, yeah, he'll take a contract and so we'll stay somewhere for maybe 13 weeks and he works and we're saving As much as we can and then try to take off the summers to go have fun.

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[SPEAKER_01]: What's your husband's name?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Adam.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Adam.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Where's Adam tonight?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, he's sitting right over here.

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[SPEAKER_00]: What's up, Adam?

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[SPEAKER_00]: He can't hear you, but he says it's okay.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Adam.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He says, hey, I got my earbuds then, so he's right here.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I'm saying.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm all in conclusion.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He wants to come say hi.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He's more than welcome to.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, we're welcome to say hi if you want to.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, for sure.

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[SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's touch on fall in love with Volkswagen's because we touched on it a little bit.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We talked about the first one, but I kind of want to know like, you know, as a teenager, you know, I actually owned one myself, 17 fresh out of high school.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't my first car either, but I bought my first Volkswagen was in 96.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was a 72 standard beetle and it had the auto clutch.

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[SPEAKER_01]: um i tell the story all the time a little lady sold it to me for two grand uh only had seventy thousand miles on it it was a great car it was my favorite car ever owned i got pictures of it i still think about it all the time it was such a cool experience and it taught me a lot looking back then you know i worked at jiffy lube and i changed oil and blah blah blah blah

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[SPEAKER_01]: But I didn't know a lot about air cooled cars, air cooled culture, air cooled really anything, right?

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[SPEAKER_01]: So it taught me a lot about myself, about patients, about resilience, about breaking down and not giving up.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I mean, I had this, this kind of this motto in my life, especially as I grew, even past that car, where if a car ever broke down on me and left me stranded, I was getting rid of it, you know?

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's like, but I never felt that way about any of my dubs,

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[SPEAKER_01]: you know they're going to leave you hanging.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So it's like a building.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But I want to know from you, what did owning an air-cooled Volkswagen at 16 kind of teach you as a young teenager?

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[SPEAKER_00]: I think it definitely taught me some of that patience that you're talking about because that Earth speed, all that I had, I always had issues with it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It was so underpendible.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I had tons of issues with the break, so I remember one time I was like, so over the break's not working, like on a half work, but I was determined to drive it somewhere that night.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I e-breaked it at the entire way, like, Gowny and her stayed and I was just using the e-break, the whole way there, so I was so sick and I'm not driving it, because it was always breaking down on me.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I guess it taught me like,

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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry, you didn't say something.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I was just going to say all of us that have driven a stick.

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[SPEAKER_01]: She had beetle when the brakes fail or you're having issues with your brakes at all.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We all know what's up with the, with the e-brake lever.

14:43.429 --> 14:45.631
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's always just a very convenient.

14:45.891 --> 14:49.274
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I was just a very, that's the only way we stop sometimes.

14:50.955 --> 14:53.618
[SPEAKER_00]: That trimmer's got me there at home at night, yeah.

14:54.520 --> 14:58.421
[SPEAKER_00]: So just trying to talk me like, it doesn't always have to be perfect to enjoy it.

14:58.441 --> 15:03.322
[SPEAKER_00]: Just kind of go with the flow and enjoy it and expect the unexpected at times.

15:03.342 --> 15:04.902
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we really know it's going to happen.

15:05.242 --> 15:06.022
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, super cool.

15:06.042 --> 15:07.203
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the vibe though, right?

15:07.243 --> 15:07.703
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the vibe.

15:07.723 --> 15:09.103
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the culture that's the lifestyle.

15:09.543 --> 15:10.003
[SPEAKER_01]: Go with it.

15:10.143 --> 15:10.623
[SPEAKER_01]: Roll with it.

15:10.783 --> 15:12.104
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing doesn't have to be perfect.

15:12.444 --> 15:23.606
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think getting back into it, you know, I took probably 12 almost 15 years away from the scene to raise my kids and, you know, commit to a life of a career, et cetera.

15:24.166 --> 15:32.348
[SPEAKER_01]: But getting back into it, something that was not popular when I was into the scene pretty heavy 15 years ago was patina.

15:33.109 --> 15:37.010
[SPEAKER_01]: I had to kind of learn that, well, wait, rust is actually really cool now.

15:37.470 --> 15:42.251
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, oh, because you know, you see them places over time.

15:42.672 --> 15:44.052
[SPEAKER_01]: And you look and you're like, dammit.

15:44.392 --> 15:55.215
[SPEAKER_01]: How does that car make rust look so damn cool, you know, and like you don't ever envision that it's like really this big thing though, right when I got back into this, you know, I'm starting to notice like, wow.

15:55.315 --> 15:59.096
[SPEAKER_01]: So just resonating with what you're saying about things not having to be perfect.

15:59.816 --> 16:04.177
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's our culture and it's really like, you know, old birds of a feather flock together thing.

16:04.197 --> 16:05.577
[SPEAKER_01]: That's that's really kind of all of us.

16:06.937 --> 16:09.158
[SPEAKER_01]: But go ahead, go ahead.

16:09.698 --> 16:18.290
[SPEAKER_00]: I was just going to say, I should say, that's probably one of the other more popular questions I get asked when they find out I drive it all the time or go across countries when you're going to restore it.

16:18.650 --> 16:22.335
[SPEAKER_00]: If they're not a Volkswagen person, it's already restored.

16:22.356 --> 16:25.400
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's probably the first ringer that lets you know.

16:25.440 --> 16:26.021
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you're like,

16:26.701 --> 16:27.602
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, yeah.

16:27.662 --> 16:28.502
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm not.

16:29.503 --> 16:31.164
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

16:31.224 --> 16:31.785
[SPEAKER_01]: That's funny.

16:32.525 --> 16:37.448
[SPEAKER_01]: So interested though, over time, you know, husband works, you know, career.

16:37.468 --> 16:38.529
[SPEAKER_01]: You guys bounce around.

16:39.049 --> 16:49.036
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you think kind of keeps you engaged and keeps pulling you back to, you know, Volkswagen's or pulling you back to air cool vehicles, you know, we can say collectively decade after decade.

16:49.736 --> 16:51.457
[SPEAKER_01]: I've never asked a lady how old she is,

16:56.563 --> 16:57.784
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, unfortunately.

16:57.804 --> 16:59.786
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, men.

16:59.886 --> 17:05.851
[SPEAKER_01]: So we'll keep bringing you back year after year or decade after decade to this culture, to the scene.

17:06.992 --> 17:09.214
[SPEAKER_00]: How would say a huge part of it is the community.

17:09.654 --> 17:15.099
[SPEAKER_00]: It's one of the best communities that I've been a part of, I've been a part of different communities for different things.

17:15.159 --> 17:18.862
[SPEAKER_00]: For Penn Striking, I went out and they're all great, but with the Volkswagen community,

17:19.611 --> 17:43.000
[SPEAKER_00]: It's been wonderful like and you know, especially as we've been traveling around and we're going to places where we don't know anybody and you put out a message on Facebook or Instagram or whatever or you get invited to a camp out everybody just made us feel like they've known us the entire time for years like we go way back just so welcoming or if you need me thing, you know, they're more than willing, hey, here's my shop.

17:43.040 --> 17:43.600
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's my garage.

17:43.640 --> 17:44.640
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll have this extra part.

17:44.660 --> 17:46.501
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you know, they're very, very, very

17:47.151 --> 17:47.833
[SPEAKER_00]: welcoming.

17:48.114 --> 17:49.157
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're all on a fun too.

17:49.258 --> 17:52.989
[SPEAKER_00]: We have so much fun hanging out with everybody at the camp out.

17:53.392 --> 18:22.228
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, mountains, you know, just that whole scene up north Midwest, where you're at it's just epic, you know, and I know that because spending time nine years in Colorado hitting all the trails in all the mountains, you know, having seasons change on back here and flat beachy florida where it's hot as not, you know, during the day it's so humid and gross, you're like dude, what am I doing back here sometimes, right, but it's paradise in its own and it's own right for sure.

18:23.320 --> 18:25.462
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not shuggling snow in the middle of winter either.

18:25.823 --> 18:26.263
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not.

18:26.343 --> 18:44.119
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, in the last time I had to shovel snow, I threw my back out and about five days later when I could walk again, I went and bought a gas-powered blower like fricking this machine that was like, ah, this big wheel in the front of it that like threw the snow like 40 feet.

18:44.139 --> 18:48.143
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I could like eject it all the way out of my own property, you know.

18:48.703 --> 18:54.125
[SPEAKER_01]: hit my neighbor's car if I wanted to, but yeah, no, I don't ever have to do that ever again.

18:54.165 --> 18:58.266
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm a little grateful, but I got to be honest, I kind of miss it a little bit too.

18:59.047 --> 19:11.491
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, having seasons change, letting my my kids be able to grab a sled and go, you know, down a hill, you know, just whatever, all that type of stuff was, it was, I guess, uh,

19:12.609 --> 19:17.833
[SPEAKER_01]: where I was at in my life and at those times it was irreplaceable time in in travel.

19:18.774 --> 19:20.335
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll never live those times again.

19:21.256 --> 19:23.017
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll never get to and it's okay.

19:23.338 --> 19:25.399
[SPEAKER_01]: I have those memories and they'll stay with me forever.

19:25.659 --> 19:26.640
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah.

19:26.820 --> 19:27.101
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

19:27.161 --> 19:27.941
[SPEAKER_01]: So so cool.

19:28.662 --> 19:30.403
[SPEAKER_01]: So how many cars have you owned over time?

19:30.863 --> 19:31.704
[SPEAKER_01]: Volkswagen's meaning.

19:31.904 --> 19:33.085
[SPEAKER_00]: This would be my fourth one.

19:33.626 --> 19:34.626
[SPEAKER_00]: The bus that I have now.

19:35.087 --> 19:35.407
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

19:35.707 --> 19:37.909
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you have a favorite that you've owned over the years?

19:39.650 --> 19:41.052
[SPEAKER_00]: I would say the bus that I have now.

19:41.813 --> 19:42.073
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

19:42.493 --> 19:48.836
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I love it because, you know, you can drive anywhere like any cards a lot of fun, but just the ability to go camping in it.

19:49.276 --> 19:51.457
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the beetles don't really give you that.

19:51.477 --> 19:58.479
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you could maybe do a ton on top or a ton outside, but like actually self-contained, you know, you can't sleep in a beetle.

19:58.499 --> 20:00.080
[SPEAKER_00]: So I really love the bus.

20:00.100 --> 20:03.381
[SPEAKER_00]: So you can haul all kinds of stuff around inside on top.

20:03.501 --> 20:04.861
[SPEAKER_00]: So I've used that thing to truck.

20:04.981 --> 20:06.142
[SPEAKER_00]: I've called some stuff in there.

20:06.522 --> 20:06.822
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.

20:07.243 --> 20:08.043
[SPEAKER_01]: I see it back there.

20:08.063 --> 20:09.164
[SPEAKER_01]: I see the roof rack up there.

20:09.484 --> 20:20.492
[SPEAKER_01]: I have a Nissan Envy, a big passenger van, and I have a big roof rack up top and do the amount of times I've taken the kayaks, the canoe, the frickin' piece of plywood, you name it.

20:20.612 --> 20:26.457
[SPEAKER_01]: It's been up there on that rack and it's such a convenience to have a large roof rack like that.

20:27.357 --> 20:27.918
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

20:28.358 --> 20:36.563
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, in your life as a Volkswagen hobbyist was there ever a point or ever a time that you thought about maybe walking away from the hobby.

20:36.823 --> 20:38.425
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a time where I did walk away.

20:38.445 --> 20:40.886
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't so much like I'm done with this.

20:40.946 --> 20:41.627
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm moving on.

20:41.967 --> 20:43.528
[SPEAKER_00]: It was more life circumstances.

20:43.988 --> 20:49.752
[SPEAKER_00]: So I went and I lived abroad for a little while and I left my it was the first beetle that I have bought.

20:49.812 --> 20:54.555
[SPEAKER_00]: I left it with my brother and he was like, I'm going to keep it in the garage and I'm going to take care of it for you.

20:55.233 --> 21:09.176
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was going for four or five months and then I came back to do some work and I went to his house and the veto was in his backyard, literally sitting in mud and it was starting to rust on the chrome bumpers and stuff.

21:09.816 --> 21:10.657
[SPEAKER_00]: And I said, that's it.

21:11.037 --> 21:11.537
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm done.

21:11.817 --> 21:12.937
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not taking care of it.

21:13.117 --> 21:15.598
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to sell it because I was going back out of the country.

21:16.358 --> 21:17.018
[SPEAKER_00]: So I sold it.

21:18.298 --> 21:19.239
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm trying

21:21.697 --> 21:22.819
[SPEAKER_00]: it wasn't super long.

21:22.839 --> 21:24.381
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe like two years went by.

21:24.401 --> 21:34.516
[SPEAKER_00]: I was back in the country all that time and I just missed nails and really wish I would still have my beetle and miss that I'm going to sit and another deal that we found came up for sale.

21:34.576 --> 21:39.223
[SPEAKER_00]: So it wasn't long like the couple years that I bought my second beetle and I was right back and do it.

21:39.744 --> 21:41.747
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I mean that could have felt like forever though.

21:42.128 --> 21:46.274
[SPEAKER_01]: I certainly understand that I spent a long time away, you know,