Freedom Born Again

A while back during his younger days, Ben adopted a sweet ride named Sam (after the Good Sam Camping Club sticker it sported). The whim of a college graduate who moved out west and became a mountain man, this 1977 Chevy Camper Van was the answer to all of his dreams! It didn't take long for him to say farewell to his old Jeep and make Sam his #2 ride (don't forget, his bicycle will always be #1). For Ben and his friends, it was awesome. Accessorized with fuzzy dice and Felicity, the hula dancer, Sam slept four, had a working kitchen, and even had keg hook-up inside for free flowing beer on the outside. Seriously, what more could 20-something guy want than to sleep in the parking lot of the ski resort and be the first person on the lift in the morning? Not to mention, it did come in handy for driving my graduate school friends and I to and from the bars after a long week of classes!

Soon after we both graduated from graduate school, we got married and along with our first year of marriage, Sam began to have some serious issues. With much grief, we became a 1 car, city living family (my Jetta was a college graduation gift from my parents).

Never really caring much about a car as a status symbol, the Jetta did us well for several years, but when we found our fearless little Jetta sucking money out of our pockets right and left, we decided to bite the bullet and go car shopping. With the idea of Guatemala being only dream for us at the time, we set our sights on 2 different vehicles. The slightly odd looking Honda Element and the Colorado staple, a Subaru Outback. Back and forth, back and forth we went for a few weeks until finally one saturday we left our apartment and vowed to not come home without one of the two. Both of us are horrible decision makers, so it was a long, rough day. In the end the Subaru won, mostly because we got a great deal and for our first major decision, getting a deal made us feel at peace.

Fast forward 7 months to when we began our Guatemalan adventure. Thanks to a friend, we were able to secure a garage space where Subie hibernated for 3 long months. Upon our return, she awoke and it soon felt like we had never left. While yes, Subie was a comfy ride and handled great on those snowy mountain passes, her gas mileage for city driving left us feeling a bit disappointed. Since we have made the decision to return to Guatemala we listed her on Craigslist and waited....and waited and waited. With the current economic situation here in the states, it isn't exactly a great time to sell, so we gave up and set our thoughts toward returning to Guatemala with Subie. Little did I know that the wheels in Ben's mind were turning.

While in Xela, we met a cool couple driving from California to South America. They were traveling in a Honda Element converted into a camper (eCamper). Of course this was a total throw back for Ben. While he played it cool in Guatemala, I could sense his jealousy! He has always been remorseful about letting go of Sam, so with the knowledge of eCamper he had a chance of redeeming his mountain man status. And thus, we began our search for an Element.

So long story short, say goodbye to Subie....

and hello to this guy.......

soon to be transformed into............

Sam reincarnated!

If we had only know about the eCamper a year ago we could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble! Nevertheless, we're scheduled for our conversion at the beginning of March in San Diego (they only do it there) and then will be heading south through Baja on From Colfax to Xela Adventure: Part Dos! And guess who couldn't be happier....................................Glory Days!