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| Our 1973 Standard Beetle, which has been "telling us" that it wants to go on a cross-country adventure. |
2020 has arrived, and with it comes the anticipation of a road trip from the east coast to the west coast and back again… barring any major breakdowns. The routes haven’t been selected as of this writing, but the basic plan is clear: take the backroads, go slow and see parts of America that have been forgotten and put on the back burner with the advent of the Interstate Highway System.
Why the slow pace? We
plan on using our 1973 VW Beetle to make this crossing – and it just doesn’t cruise
“happy” at the speeds most Interstate Highways demand. 60mph seems to be it’s “happy speed” – and that would
get us run over by most of today’s freeway crowd. So it’s off to find the old US and State
Highway systems, small towns and slower pace of making such a crossing.
We’ll be taking the tandem with us, broken down and packed
in its case which just barely fits into the roof rack pictured in this article’s
photo. We have wanted to do “something”
different in the vacation arena, and traveling slowly just sounds like
something we want to attempt – while we still can. People used to drive these little cars across
the nation, and we are feeling both a wave of nostalgia and a harkening back to
a simpler time by attempting to do the same.
I’m hoping to add entries to this blog to chronicle the
drive; if you see nothing until next year it means that the plans fell
through. Otherwise stay tuned… we hope
to head west while the weather is still cool enough not to kill our air-cooled
engine, yet warm enough to enjoy a little cycling at our major layovers.
Here’s to the New Year – both yours and ours!
