Imagine you find yourself in a conversation with a stranger over a 1965 Mustang Fastback. You may not be a car aficionado, but this person is. You’re both talking about how the vehicle is a beauty. You say something like “what a gorgeous classic car.” Then you get a sinking feeling as the person looks at you before saying “Um… actually…” You may have just committed a faux pas, at least in that person’s eyes. So how can we accurately describe and classify cars? Well, it depends on who you ask.
Many look at convertibles as the ultimate in luxury driving. Having that top down as you cruise the city streets has been an appealing piece of car culture for as long as anybody can remember. However, despite its innovativeness, convertibles aren’t as lavish as people may think. In fact, there was a time when ALL automobiles on the road were open-topped, and we imagine it wasn’t all that great. Before the turn of the nineteenth century, if you were out driving in your fancy motor-powered vehicle and encountered some inclement weather, well, you either had to be pretty innovative yourself, or you needed to find a tree to park under! Read on for an interesting look at the history of the convertible.
Spending a month or two driving across the country - exploring national parks, adventuring in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, relaxing on pristine coastal beaches - sounds like a fantastic dream. The reality however, generally has something to do with the expense of a trip like that. We simply can’t afford that kind of travel. Or can we? What if we could cut out all of the lodging costs? What if we didn’t have to eat out at restaurants? What if we could simply travel city to city, or park to park, and pull into a campground each night? Those are some things we could get on board with!
That’s where the travel van comes in. For the sake of this article, and our wallets, we’re going to keep this idea pretty basic. There won’t be a bunch of talk about stand up showers or indoor plumbing. You won’t see any sophisticated entertainment options, or feng shui inspired interiors. We’re keeping it bare bones. That’s how we’ll be able to afford this epic adventure.
We think we have this idea pretty well thought out after doing some research, and that this dream can be put into real life by following these fairly simple steps:
