After a tiny test drive, we’re all in: it’s time to drive the bus up to Michigan! Volkswagen bus road trip!

We literally got the engine in and running yesterday, then packed up some of the camping gear.

We had about 6 hours of driving to do today so we didn’t rush too much this morning. We both had to finish packing, Kyle wanted to clean out the starboard engine compartment which had a little more water in it. He fired up both engines to give them a little exercise, but we weren’t getting any water on the starboard side (we still need to replace that water pump) so we didn’t run that one.

This is our one and only opportunity to get the both the bus and boat in the same photo, so right before we took off I snapped a few shots. We literally got the engine in and running yesterday, so the first two hours of the trip were classified more as “test drive” than “road trip.”

Right away, we had to cross the Albemarle Sound – we went over a long bridge that had one high-rise area for boats to get through. This was the most terrifying thing we did the entire trip. The wind was strong and gusty, and the bus is shaped like a tall toaster. It’s impossible to take photos of the wind, so you’ll just have to trust me. There was anxiety.

We stopped briefly in a cotton field for a few photos, I’d like to think it’s a southern take on the instagram-girl-in-a-sunflower-field trope. As a northerner, it’s still weird to see cotton grow.

It’s harvest season for cotton right now. They put the cotton in giant bales covered in pink or yellow plastic.

After our first gas fill-up, there was a very strong gasoline smell so we pulled over to investigate. We didn’t find anything, and the smell wasn’t coming from the engine compartment. Since we just put the gas tank, fuel lines and vapor lines back in, it seems like we might have missed something.

An hour or so after we left, I realized I’d forgotten to bring the chicken that I cooked up for us to eat on wraps. I fumed about that for a while – what a waste! And now we had no food to eat!

Around 1pm, Kyle declared “We are going to stop at a brewery. It is going to have burgers. It is about 50 miles away.” Oh sure, you can just will this brewery into existence? We’d been traveling backroads all morning, we’d barely seen any towns, much less cities big enough for a craft beer scene.

But, just to humor him, I searched for breweries along our route. Surprisingly, I found one up ahead that wasn’t too far out of our way. I added it as a stop, and sure enough, it was 53 miles away. Apparently Kyle can conjure up beer with his mind. He’ll have to work on his burger-conjuring skills, they only had popcorn.

Late afternoon, we were in western Viriginia and it was starting to get pretty hilly. Lots of winding turns and ups and downs. Right about then, we started hearing a new rattle. I know every VW bus owner has had this conversation:

“Is that a new rattle?”

“I think it’s a new squeak, I wouldn’t call that a rattle.”

“It sounds like it’s coming from…is that the driver’s side wheel?”

“No, I think it might be the dashboard”

“No, it sounds like it’s related to the RPMs – the faster we go, the faster the frequency of the rattle.”

“You mean the squeak.”

“Well it’s definitely coming from the front of the bus. Right?”

“Um…I think so?”

And then we both sit in thought, trying to picture the systems below us and what could be making that noise. As time went on, the noise got worse, which is never a good sign. We need to figure out what it is before the thing fails completely.

We stopped at an Aldi to grab some groceries, since we didn’t bring much with us. It was freezing cold. Kyle crawled under the bus to try wiggling some things but couldn’t diagnose the source of the noise. We were very close to sunset, but we still had an hour to drive to the campsite, with a noise that we couldn’t pinpoint the source of. It was a free campsite, which means most likely it was just an open area in the woods, no people, no amenities. The closest free camp spot was an abandoned restaurant that we’d have to backtrack to, which didn’t sound very appealing either.

So we opted for the terrible option: Walmart. Most Walmarts let campers stay overnight in the parking lot for free. I did a quick google search to make sure the nearest Walmart allowed campers, and according to the reviews, multiple people loved it so much they are coming back to camp again! We’re super grateful to have this option available, though, I’m sure this won’t be the only time we’re in a pinch and camp in a well-lit, very active parking lot.

To kill time, we found a place that would serve us those burgers Kyle had tried to find earlier. We went to the Depot Grille, a train-station-turned-restaurant, which served up some phenomenal burgers. While waiting for food, I took advantage of their paper table cloths and jar of crayons for some table art.

We headed to Walmart around 8pm. I put on more layers while Kyle checked the weather. I didn’t want to know the temp but he told me anyway: a low of 33°F. We watched a couple TV shows until my laptop died and then went to bed. I stayed surprisingly warm all night.