23 Oct Welcome to the Califam

In my first Blog I told you guys about my passion for cars and my dream of buying one here in Cali. I was struggling to find a Volkswagen Westfalia camper van which would fit into my budget. But there was this one super clean camper van which got my interest from the first second on. It is a Volkswagen “Weekender” like I was looking for. Cool thing about those is, that instead of a kitchen, like there usually is one in Westfalias, there is space for seven passengers. And the camper even has the pop-up roof for additional sleeping space. Love at first sight I tell you.. can’t believe it really does still exist! 😊 Of cooourse not everything is perfect, but that’s how it is.. only drawback was that the camper was way over budget.. what now?! Buy another which will need some work first or go for the safe call? Only timely solution was to ask my family and friends for additional money to get the van the upcoming weekend. Said and done! The weekend could come now!

And how it came.. what a start into the Weekend after finishing class at 1:45pm on Thursday! Me and Stefanie took my rental car and started to head down to Santa Barbara where the owner is living. 5.5h hours later we ate Pizza with him and his family, signed the contract and he handed me over the keys while I gave him all the money. For him, his wife and his daughter an eleven-year long chapter in their lives was ending while a new one was starting for me. Broke but happy like I haven’t been for a long time a big dream came true! Welcome to the #califam “ROLLi”.

Is there a better way to celebrate the addition to the family than heading immediately back up again for our camping weekend in the Yosemite National Park?! Of course not! An 8h drive without any breaks later we arrived at 7:30 am at Camp 4 where our Swiss exchange student friends from Long Beach and Orange CA where already waiting first in line. (yes we forgot to reserve a camping spot an everything was sold out.. #campingforcamping haha)

It was a very exciting weekend on which we were walking hundreds and hundreds of steps up and down the mountains, enjoying the stunning nature and landscapes, the waterfalls, the wildlife and the sequoias (the insaaaane huge trees). After being almost rubbed by the racoon family and surviving the mountain lion our paths split again five days later. Our friends drove back home to LA with their “cucumber” (see my first blog if you don’t know that story, it’s definitely worth to read) and we were heading back to San Fran with ROLLi.

I hope you enjoyed reading this short beginning into a whole new chapter in my life. If you haven’t been to the Yosemite National Park you should definitely go asap, it won’t get warmer!

Cheers,
Ben