New Beetle America
A coast to coast drive from California to New York in brand
new New Beetles owned by three hardcore Vintage VW enthusiasts who just
wanted to go for a "little" drive together.
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For
the "Official" Tour Page with daily updates of the trip...click here
I'm Randy Carlson and I joined this crazy tour for a chance
to pile the miles on the New Beetle and see a bit of the good ol
USA.
This site is a good little teaser for everybody, check out the
above link for the real scoop.
I drove my custom New Beetle and joined the group in Las
Vegas on May 6th.
(That's my baby up there floating in space...seems a natural place
for it.)
The rough itinerary at this point was as follows...
Monday May 4th 1998...9am departure from Simple Shoes in
Goleta California, travel south to Santa Barbara California and a stop
at Santa Barbara VW for a quick photo or two and leave around 10:30am for
the Santa Monica Pier arriving at approx 3pm. Drive from Santa Monica into
the mountains in Wrightwood California. Find a place to sleep.
Tuesday May 5th 1998...Get up and drive from the mountains
to the desert in Death Valley California, the official "middle of nowhere".
Look for something to do. Drive around and stop somewhere in Furnace Creek
area and camp for the night.
Wednesday May 6th 1998...Wake up, figure out where the heck
we are and then drive to the lowest point in the western hemisphere...Badwater.
Drive from there through the desert to fabulous Las Vegas Nevada for a
relaxing stay at the ever-humble Excalibur Hotel and Casino. (this is where
I join the party!)
Thursday May 7th 1998...after an all night gambling binge,
sell the cd changer out of the Beetle for gas money and drive to the Grand
Canyon to jump in (just kidding). Drop by Hoover Dam to see the Damn thing
and then blast to the Grand Canyon, board a small plane and fly around
the New Beetles in the parking lot and smile at them. Give the park ranger
a quick ride and get his thoughts on the car compared to the government
issue Ford truck he normally drives. Stay at some hotel there and get some
well needed sleep.
Friday May 8th 1998...arise early, pile in the Beetles and
aim for the thriving metropolis known as Shiprock New Mexico after stopping
in Monument Valley to oooh and ahhh at nature's work. Shiprock is near
the very point where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet at what
is known as "four corners". Try to do a few loops around the point and
visit all four states at the same time. Pop a tent there in Shiprock and
snooze.
Saturday May 9th 1998...Drive through the "continental divide"
(the place where the cut up old Lincolns) and snap a few scenic
pix. Drop into the VW Dealer in Santa Fe New Mexico to say hey and see
if they got any of them New Beetles. Park and nap for the night at some
local hotel/motel/bordello.
Sunday May 10th 1998...cruise on over to Amarillo Texas,
buy some big cowboy hats and pretend out Beetles are pick-up trucks with
gun racks in the back. Hopefully meet up with some other VW folks so we
dont feel so out of place and then spend the night there somewhere.
Monday May 11th 1998...drive to Cable Volkswagen in some
town near there and see what they got. Drive on into good ol Oklahoma City
Oklahoma and park it for the night.
Tuesday May 12th 1998... saunter on into Springfield Missouri
and meet up with the VW folks from G.R.O.O.V.E, which Im sure stands for
something but doesnt really need to cause it sounds cool just the way it
is. Hang out with them for the night.
Wednesday May 13th 1998...travel off to St Louis Missouri
and visit some more VW folks.
Thursday May 14th...invade the Hot Rod Magazine "Power Tour",
a group of old guys with old cars with big new motors in em, and see what
they think of the New Beetle. Follow them to Indianapolis Indiana where
the racer folks go real fast (maybe they will be practicing there or something...isnt
the race in May?)
Friday May 15th 1998...chacse all the hot rods to thier
big get-together in Matteson Illinois which is just outside of Chicago.
Saturday May 16th 1998... get up insanely early and drive
real fast to Auburn Hills Michigan, the home of Volkswagen of America and
enter our cars in the show they got goin on there. Win a bunch of trophies,
eat a bunch of food, see a bunch of VWs and pass out cold from having too
much fun.
Sunday May 17th 1998... wake up and do it again at the Vintage
VW show there at Volkswagen of America headquarters. See all the cool old
VWs (our specialitee) and hook up with a bunch of them for a drive into
Canada. Pull into Port Hope Canada (the Comfort Inn) about 8pm and sleep.
Monday May 18th 1998...drive along with the old VWs across
the US Canada border and into the city of Albany New York.
Tuesday May 19th 1998...bid farewell to the vintage folks
and drove on in to the Big Apple and cruised Manhattan in the Beetles.
Got out of there before anything bad happend and went to Mendham New Jersey
to finish the trip at a VW friends place.
Wednesday May 20th 1998...Two of the cars departed for California
on a major red eye trip home while I drove into Pennsylvania to pick up
my wife at her dad's place and hung out for a day or two.
After that we took a scenic route back to California and resumed
our normal lives.
Quite the little drive eh?
We mostly kept to that schedule but added a day or two in there
somewhere.
STAY TUNED FOR PHOTOS FROM THE TRIP COMING SOON!!
If you have comments or suggestions, email me at bugnbox@aiwana.com
visit my VW website and see the other VWs Ive owned and stuff!
CLICK
HERE!