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Life is about going places. How you get there is your own concern, but I choose as my mode of transportation a very simple breed of vehicle that has become one of the most loved types of carriage in history. Since you saw the main page you know I am speaking of the air-cooled Volkswagen. These cars, well, I don't quite know what attracts people to them to be quite honest with you. I do love them, though. I have owned four so far and have enjoyed driving in each and every one, taking my time to watch the scenery flow by out the windows, sitting of course as far to the right as possible so that all those fast movers and semis can go by.

I intend to begin taking a camera with me everywhere I go in my VWs to capture the things that I experience out on the open roads of the USA and maybe some other places, too! I hope to over time have a site filled with images and descriptions of everything pertinent that my cars and I will do together. I love to write and I will share my thoughts with you on various things that may or may not have a whole lot to do with VWs. Hopefully this small page right here will become the only static part of the website. I have a hunger to explore the world around me and a desire to document everything I experience -- I will use the internet as my medium. I have travelled a great deal in my youth since I am in a military family. I don't remember too much of the travelling part, which consisted of either a long flight or a longer drive. As a back-seat passenger it was difficult to find myself excited to go anywhere. Where's the fun in being dragged across the country or the globe with the only goal being to arrive at the destination as quickly as possible? Time constraints often force us to take the interstates or to cram into busy airports to get on airplanes which make the back seat of a Beetle seem incredibly spacious and comfortable. Even if we aren't riding shotgun, the experience of travelling is eroded quickly by lack of real human contact. Computerized fuel stations where you don't even have to go inside. Drive through restauraunts. "Rest" stops where everyone is a wandering ghost, where everyone stares at the ground and nobody makes an effort to communicate. What life is there on the interstates of America?

You've got to get off of the four laned, straight as an arrow superhighways to really experience going somewhere. Not just the broad changes that occur over hundreds of miles, but the experience of driving through small towns, cruising by miles of rolling farmland, stopping at a mom n' pop cafe somewhere you've never heard of with no onramp or truck-stop in sight. Take it easy on the right-hand pedal. Give yourself some time. Give yourself an experience. See the sights.

Maybe that's what it is that attracts people to the Volkswagen. It slows down life. Those big windows let you see things. And for many Volkswagen owners, the feeling that comes with driving a vehicle that you really love and put your heart into keeping alive -- yes, something like that, that's what it's all about. People who drive those flashy cars with 100000 miles between tune-ups and that look like every third Honda on the road, maybe they have a reason to drive so fast. I only know that when I'm in my Volkswagen I don't mind being passed by people moving twice as quickly as I am in my leisurely trips to wherever the hell I happen to be going, even when I take the interstates.

I hope this isn't too dense for you, it's an expression of hope that I'll be able to achieve the goals for this site and for myself that I have set, and it's how I feel deep down about my hobby. I am looking for a life experience and hopefully you are interested in sharing it with me. If so, please browse around my site, read what I have written, view what I have seen, and when you're done drop me a line if you feel like it!

Regards,

Andrew Whitlock

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