Colorado & Utah trip pix - story continues..... and now ends

[ib-bus]

So my wife's boss asks her if we are interested in using their 2 bedroom condo timeshare at the St. Regis in Aspen, Colorado for no charge as they will not be able to go this year due to a trip to Egypt they got invited to do (Rich people :roll: ). So we smelled roadtrip and got our rearends to beautiful Aspen , the skiing season starts next week but we did get some snow for the kids to play around with. We did nothing but relax , play , pool time and sleep.

That's what happens when you have a unique name :lol:

On our way back we decided to stop at Moab and visit Arches National Park.

This is were the holiday turns VW related , I had spotted a T25 with euro plates on the highway but couldn't tell where they were from but later in the day on one of the trails at the Park a euro looking dude asks me if I am mexican , I was not wearing my massive hat so it was not obvious I guess , so the guy is interested in knowing how safe it is to travel to Mexico as they shipped their T25 from France and they are on a 1 year trip from North America and want to end in Costa Rica in June of 2011 , we got to talking and they will be spending the night at our place when they get to California before crossing to Mexico sometime in december , they are traveling with 2 kids about the same age as mine , so talk about a trip of a lifetime , they are doing this on a '90 Westfalia turbo diesel. Anyways here is a picture of their ride.

 

[sparkywig]

Nice pics Juan.

 

[cotswoldiver]

Just like the Malvern Hills behind the Vanfest show ground in winter :lol:

Seriously, how could you not have taken advantage of that offer and turn it into a road trip? Great photos

 

[gninnam]

Another world (or continent) :mrgreen:

The views you have seen on your travel are all available in the UK (Snow and skiing in Scotland - desert in Birmingham and French people down south....) :lol:

Top story and pictures dude

 

[antoine]

French people down south....) :lol:

??? theres plenty of them in leeds. my mini driving boss has the misfortune of being french (we cant have everything)




Cant beat a road trip, the photos of Aspen just make me want to get my snowboard out of the loft. and strangely the national park photos make me want to play Grand Theft Auto san andreas. :roll:

 

[froggy]

I'm a little disapointed Juan, A road trip and not in a Bay, next you'll be coming over here and hiring a car :lol: :lol: :lol:
Great pics as usual and how was the poor french bloke not to know that not all mexican's wear a hat, dont suppose you had the mexican football (or is that soccer?) shirt on either

 

[ib-bus]

Thanks guys for the nice comments , it was really a nice last minute trip we really enjoyed.

I'm a little disapointed Juan, A road trip and not in a Bay, next you'll be coming over here and hiring a car :lol: :lol: :lol:
Great pics as usual and how was the poor french bloke not to know that not all mexican's wear a hat, dont suppose you had the mexican football (or is that soccer?) shirt on either

Sorry Froggy , I don't have a bay yet , I am already looking for one for next year's trip.

Cheers.

 

[Dirty Harry]

Whow... great pics winter and summer at the same time of year 8)
Maybe one day when i win the lottery i ship my bus over to make a nice US road trip and see all these nice places myself :mrgreen:

 

[Heebee_GB]

Soooo jealous Juan. An amazing trip. Looks like the kids had a ball.

 

[matt-me]

Nice experience and photos, pretty jealous.

Juan, you probably know but I haven't seen it mentioned on here, but you are in print in this months Camper and Bus, with James Peene at the show you attended with your big sombrero's and your dad. If I were more technically able i would scan them and put them up but I am sure someone else can. In case you didn't know.

Al

 

[easy]

Great Piccies

 

[ib-bus]

Whow... great pics winter and summer at the same time of year 8)
Maybe one day when i win the lottery i ship my bus over to make a nice US road trip and see all these nice places myself :mrgreen:

Soooo jealous Juan. An amazing trip. Looks like the kids had a ball.

Yes , it turned out to be a nicer that expected trip , we did not had Moab in our radar at all until we drove past it.

Nice experience and photos, pretty jealous.

Juan, you probably know but I haven't seen it mentioned on here, but you are in print in this months Camper and Bus, with James Peene at the show you attended with your big sombrero's and your dad. If I were more technically able i would scan them and put them up but I am sure someone else can. In case you didn't know.

Al

I got to see this , the mag shows up here in the States a bit late but I will go look for it today , thanks.

Great Piccies

Cheers Easy 8)

 

[ib-bus]

Went to my local camper and bus magazine dealer and they won't get the one with the vanfest feature until 3 weeks from now :roll:
Needless to say , I can't wait to see my mug until then , so could somebody be kind enough to scan the page I'm on So I can claim my International fame :lol:

 

[Heebee_GB]

Went to my local camper and bus magazine dealer and they won't get the one with the vanfest feature until 3 weeks from now :roll:
Needless to say , I can't wait to see my mug until then , so could somebody be kind enough to scan the page I'm on So I can claim my International fame :lol:

 

[ib-bus]

Thanks mate, that is a funny picture , I can now wait for it to arrive here in the States.
Cheers.

 

[ib-bus]

This story it's a bit old now but it is amazing how the encounter with that French family in Utah evolved into something much bigger that I would have ever imagined.
So they finally arrived at our house last december to help them plan their trip across Mexico , we had some Carne Asada (Mexican BBQ) ready for them and had a very nice evening. Next morning they left early to catch up with other travelers from Canada and Germany heading to Mexico , but right around 10am my phone started ringing , it was them that had an engine failure at the border crossing and needed help towing their van back to San Diego to repair the engine.
Here I am towing them back to my house.

Back home and the engine began to be disassembled , good thing is that he is a mechanics teacher at a school in France so it was easy for him to locate the problem.
It was a worn gasket.

So we sourced the gasket and rectified the heads and it was ready to go in just a few days , during that week the ladies had a good time exchanging recipies and the kids learning a new language , or at least trying.

And on they went across Mexico, all the way south to Costa Rica and back to Mexico , they found Playa del Carmen (near Cancun) in Mexico the place they wanted to spend the most time (almost 3 months in total).
We kept in touch all this time and earlier this year they contacted me to ask me if I wanted to buy their T25 for a very reasonable price , the catch was that I would have to go pick it up in Cancun :shock:
Oh yeah !!! :mrgreen: I sold the idea to my wife and the plan started for a VW rescue - road trip vacation , Oh yeah !!!! :mrgreen:
So last July we flew to Cancun and spent a few days there with the Duny family before heading north towards Mexico City.

This is the seaside camping ground they spent almost 3 months at , is is called Xpu-Ha near Playa del Carmen.

Saying our good byes before leaving towards Chetumal.

Abandoned baywindow on the side of the road.

Seaside camping in Chetumal.

Morning traffic and rest area on our way to Chiapas.

Camping near the Mayan ruins of Palenque in Chiapas , the ruins are in the jungle so at night we could hear the monkeys and other animals , it was so loud and clear it sounded like a recording.

Mayan ruins of Palenque.

I have been to other ruins in Mexico but this ones being in the Jungle made them really special.

Waterfalls of Agua Azul in Chiapas.

From here we drove straight to Mexico city only stopping to eat and sleep , we visited family in Mexico City and left the T25 there , it will be loaded on a truck and delivered to me in Tijuana , just across the border from San Diego.
I wish I had the vacation time to drive the van all the way to San Diego but that would have been at least another 2 weeks.

Some pictures of Puebla and Mexico City.

Baywindow buses still being used as public transportation in Mexico City.

Once in Mexico City we gave the Van a very good and deserved wash , probably the first wash in a long time.

 

[Heebee_GB]

Brilliant second part to the story Juan!
I've just showed the wife who has asked if your planning on hiring out the van as she'd love to do that trip. Geography wasn't her strongest subject.

The t25 westy looks in real good condition. You gonna slam it? :lol:

 

[slammedresto]

damn Juan, you have some cool vacations 8)

i wish i was a poorly paid mexican-american............lol

 

[ib-bus]

Brilliant second part to the story Juan!
I've just showed the wife who has asked if your planning on hiring out the van as she'd love to do that trip. Geography wasn't her strongest subject.

The t25 westy looks in real good condition. You gonna slam it? :lol:

After watching Johnny's videos about those cool ice cream trucks it makes me not just want to slam it , but put spinners and hydraulics :lol:
I can picture it now "Juanito's Ice Cream truck" :mrgreen:

i wish i was a poorly paid mexican-american............lol

No need to get personal Gary :shock: :lol:

 

[slammedresto]

i wish i was a poorly paid mexican-american............lol

No need to get personal Gary :shock: :lol:

8)

You should send some of your vacation pics and story to Volksworld camper and bus Juan, they love a roadtrip story for the magazine

you need a week in clacton to put things in perspective next vacation Juan :lol: