We are officially back on the move with Bo, heading west to California. We have been slowly but surely buttoning him up for the expedition, and now it’s time for some specialist work. It’s hard being a vanagon owner in the mid west because there simply aren’t shops that specialize in vanagons like there are out west, and as we have learned, its not worth the risk to take it anywhere that’s not 100% knowledgeable of vanagons.

We need to have the front dash removed and the front heater core and blower motor replaced. Really annoying and tedious work, as well as some small but important tweaks to the differential locking system on the van. We also want to get back and spend time with Burl at Burley’s Motorsports for a final pit boss review.

We have a bit more time for this run west than normal. Typically it’s a 3 day blast to the coast, with long driving days and little time for excursions. We now struggle to find routes heading west that we haven’t journeyed before. This trip we decided to mix in some fun and personal goals to the mix. We are heading to the Badlands in South Dakota, then to Yellowstone, then to Grandma’s house (yes really, Grandma’s house), and then ultimately on to Ca. It should break the trip up into much smaller legs but also give us time to have some fun and start learning how to live and work out of Bo. More on that as we progress.

Chicago’s parking gods commanded that we park Bo behind baby blue overnight and I couldn’t help but snap a pic. It’s crazy to look and think back to where all of this crazy idea started. About a year ago to the day I flew out to the west coast to buy myself a hippie bus to drive around the country in for the summer and make films for non-profits. I drove a 32 year old van back 2400 miles across mountains, plains, and deserts to get back with not so much as a full tool kit or spare in sight. So I look fondly at old baby blue and smile because without her, this all would never be happening.