300TD Road Trip "This European Life: an open travelogue" - Page 19 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

vwnate1 · #**271** 06-10-2011, 12:47 AM

...You should follow your dreams too

.

I was 18 when I headed off to Guatemala in an old VW Squareback I built out of junkyard parts , what a great trip & adventure that was .

Training is always good .

Dee8go · #**272** 06-10-2011, 06:54 AM

I admire you for pursuing your dreams, Miguel. What about the film industry? There is a lot of it in N California. Have you considered going that route? You're about as unencumbered right now as you ever will be. Now's the time to go for it and really chase your dreams. There's plenty of time later for making compromises.

BobK · #**273** 06-10-2011, 07:53 AM

Today in history: 1909 Alice Huyler Ramsey, 22, left New York driving a Maxwell DA with a goal to be the first woman to drive across the USA. She and three female friends made it to San Francisco on August 7.
Miguel beat her time!

engatwork · #**274** 06-10-2011, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Today in history: 1909 Alice Huyler Ramsey, 22, left New York driving a Maxwell DA with a goal to be the first woman to drive across the USA. She and three female friends made it to San Francisco on August 7.
Miguel beat her time!

LOL

Miguel, it sounds like you are just about going to have to get into the art and film industry if you plan on parking that rig. I don't know if your goals are to have a lot of money or be happy. I've tried both and I like the latter better

. My suggestion would be to try the automobile magazine or tv show business seeing as how you obviously love automobile stuff. Imagine the fun of working for BBC - Top Gear. On the other hand, if you are going to travel from Alaska-to-Argentina then now is the time to do it. I don't know if I wouldn't do it in the car and rig you are currently driving. I'd be worried about being robbed. People and situations aren't as friendly down there as they are up here.

ramonajim · #**275** 06-10-2011, 08:25 AM

Clearly, Miguel needs to enjoy a couple days in Petaluma (AWESOME town - Darling Wife and I saw James Cotton play there a few years back), then head back on the road. This thread has been far to enjoyable for all of us to let him settle down anywhere

JB3 · #**276** 06-10-2011, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delibes

One factor to consider is the following: due to my USA immigration requirements, I can only work on very specific fields relating to my major (art and film). I cannot just start working at Starbucks or any mechanical shop that won't allow me to do film (like Workshop MB does) to gather funds, because Uncle Sam won't allow it.

thats really disappointing about the waiting job!

How tight are these restrictions, can you work in an art gallery? or a coffee shop in a film studio? Can the overall company be involved in what would satisfy the restrictions, or do you have to demonstrate personally that you are working on either art or a film at the same time?

Im sure you will find something, if you found an auto shop that met those requirements!

biking4jesus · #**277** 06-10-2011, 10:13 AM

check craigslist here (http://sfbay.craigslist.org/), its HIGHLY utilized in SF and the bay area for everything like jobs and housing.

also, try using padmapper.com for finding a place, its really helpful mashup of craigslist ads on google maps.

#**278** 06-10-2011, 10:15 AM

Miguel,

I know from our brief conversation in Texas that you are Christian and so my advice would be to pray about your decisions first. I also know as most of who are further down the road in life that you should pursue the things you are passionate about. What is that exacatly? What would you be doing if you weren't encumbered by anything and what makes you feel alive. As a previous poster already said you are about as unecumbered as you will ever be.

- Jody

SwampYankee · #**279** 06-10-2011, 11:15 AM

Man, sorry to hear about that Miguel. It's too bad the owner couldn't have passed on that little tidbit of information before you headed west.

Kickstarter is a fascinating site that I've only recently became aware of (my sister is working on a proposal and video to expand her printing business). With your ability and creativity I can see that being a very viable option for you. Some of the projects that people have procured funds for (to me) seemed downright ridiculous. I have no doubt that you could come up with something that would encourage people to help fund your future endeavors as a travelogue.

As far as vehicle choice, while a G is always a fun option, I would think getting your TD sorted out would be far less expensive and much simpler to roadside repair should something arise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramonajim

Clearly, Miguel needs to enjoy a couple days in Petaluma (AWESOME town - Darling Wife and I saw James Cotton play there a few years back), then head back on the road. This thread has been far to enjoyable for all of us to let him settle down anywhere

I concur!

TX76513 · #**280** 06-10-2011, 11:27 AM

iFreelance - has some great opportunities for the independent at heart. Maybe a way to keep busy and keep the bucks rolling.

Delibes · #**281** 06-11-2011, 12:25 AM

Thank you everyone for the advice! I need a little time to think about what to do; thank goodness for the Mooney family, who is allowing me stay in their home for as long as I need.

Plans are fuzzy right now. I would love to live my life traveling indefinitely, but funds are tight, and I would like a little bit of grounding. One of my plans was to get a house where I can cram a bunch of my good friends, who, as well as paying ridiculously low rent, would cover for the mortgage. Win-win for everybody! With a place I can call home, and that one day may produce some income, I can start living that lifestyle.

For now, I need to accumulate some cash, and get some real, serious, first-person technical knowledge about W123s and G-Wagens. As soon as I leave the down payment to get a home it will be time for Kickstarter and serious preparations. But for now, all I can do is look out for some stability and lots of research for my future travels.

Hopefully, with time, Latin America will become a little less dangerous. And I shall be able to know enough about cars (yes, I should start getting tools) and survival to get me on my way.

My friends, now it is not a matter of yes or no, but a matter of when. When someone makes such a choice so intentionally, so passionately, making a living out of one's lifestyle would just take time.

My idea for the trip is pretty aimless: wander throughout the world in chapters, stop for as long as it takes to help those I find in the way, create art as I live. And, hopefully, have this lifestyle be sustainable through donations and rent from my home in California.

Delibes · #**282** 06-11-2011, 10:49 PM

A few photos from the end-of-trip celebration!

I found this on my luggage!

Looking at a potential home in Vallejo, CA.

The Richmond Bridge.

And in you go!

It all started with a few people...

We had Jim come! Hooray!

And more people showed up!

Talking about Leipzig!

Aquaticedge · #**283** 06-12-2011, 01:12 AM

Love the orange kitty lol

JB3 · #**284** 06-12-2011, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delibes

One of my plans was to get a house where I can cram a bunch of my good friends, who, as well as paying ridiculously low rent, would cover for the mortgage. Win-win for everybody! With a place I can call home, and that one day may produce some income, I can start living that lifestyle.

This is an awesome market to buy a house, but few things are less expensive than owning a home, in your current position, you may find that payments on a mortgage + inevitable home repair and maintenance + managing tenants will nail you to a specific location for an extended period, and what was a great idea last year, may be a terrible idea next year. Id sit on this idea for a while and consider it long and hard.

In the meantime, id rent a place for the interim and fill it with your friends as you plan to do with a house. That way, all you have to worry about is managing the inevitable subletter drama and collecting rent while the landlord provides maintenance. And you will only be on the hook for a year or so, letting you get an idea of whether this type of plan is really the idea you want to follow.

Personally, id wait until you are stable, or committed to a particular location until I would consider owning a home there.

Delibes · #**285** 06-18-2011, 01:17 AM

Epilogue: Grow Some.
There is a sixth sense in every human being, a sense of intuition that no rules of physics can fathom. It is the innate conception of one's own life path, of one's own direction. This is the big lesson I derived from this trip, which I had the opportunity to apply in a dark, twisted instant of panic.

The decision of quitting the instability of my current shop was inevitable, so I soon started a search for automobile restorers in the San Francisco area. Phone call after phone call, I got denial after denial. No one is hiring anyone, some are even downsizing; from big muscle car shops to air-cooled Volkswagen specialists, not to mention every old Mercedes diesel shop I could find on Google maps in the East, West, North and South sides of the Bay.

Almost at the verge of giving up and moving to a decision between doing media work exclusively or moving down to Los Angeles (Bodie Stroud Hot Rods had a secretary position available), I scratched my eyes in discomfort, and, as soon as I focused my vision back to my computer, I found a modest, understated offer on the CraigsList directory I had been browsing. It was a shop in Cloverdale, specializing in 60's and 70's cars, with an impressive array of equipment and techniques. Their name was West Coast Auto Craft.

Escaping boredom, curious about the Northern part of Sonoma county, I drove up for about one hour to visit the shop. Unfortunately, Garmin did not identify the street, given that the industrial complex was relatively new. I asked in the local NAPA store, where they very kindly gave me a map. Now, with clear directions on where it was, I had lunch in a local burger drive-in, Pick's; rather mediocre, run-down and overpriced. A very talkative lady sat next to me.

Her: "How are we doing today, sir?"
Me: "Not bad... how are you?"
Her: "Meh, trying not to kill myself"

The conversation that followed got even stranger. I started thinking that Cloverdale could be one of those strange little towns in Meth territory.

Her: "How's the burguer?"
Me: "It's okay. Bacon is quite good, actually"
Her: "Ah. I do not like meat. I am very picky"
Me: "Really? How so?"
Her: "When I was in jail I could barely eat anything!"
Me: (Gosh, why me? Please do not kill me)
Her: "I was so picky, I lost ten pounds in ten days!"
Me: "I guess no magazine diet can beat that!"

The conversation kept rolling, but, despite her awkwardness and my garbled accent, I managed to understand that she had high-functioning autism and was very, very lonely. Looking meditative at the 10-year old behind the counter, she murmured to herself how she would like to make someone happy. We kept chatting about life, about travel and society, and then went out on our respective ways.

The shop was small, but full of talent and machinery. Lots of gorgeous cars, mostly American. Chris, the owner, gave me a short tour and invited me to start the internship as soon as I pleased. I would be hired in a matter of two months or so, after this trial period. Fine by me, as long as the US government is cool with me doing film there!

The next day I woke up, and put on the T-Shirt that Hogweed had made. I drove to Cloverdale once again, and slowly met each of the members of the shop. We pushed a few cars out of the way and got to work. That day I stripped some paint our of an old Camaro SS, and learned to thread glass, which –with all modesty– I nailed in a '39 Chevy. Pretty cool, but still missing the Metric system and the three-pointed star. At that point I had nothing to lose, so I decided to skip Friday to keep looking for Mercedes shops. In the 190SL forum I found an obscure one that seemed to have very good reviews in Yelp. The choice would be between that one, or WCAC in Cloverdale. So be it.

The next day I crossed the Golden Gate. Something magical happens every time I go through; all the dreams of the Promised Land swell and push in my chest. I was there, San Francisco: the Victorians, the trolleys, Harvey Milk, the Pacific Ocean, the steep hills, Chinatown, the heritage of the sixties... in short, a beautiful city where people speak up for what they believe in. Now it was time to see if I could really work on a job I could love in its entirety, every day, every week, every year.

I pulled behind a gas station and started seeing Mercedes. They had diesels! Good points on my book. I kept moving towards the main door, little by little. A W108 280SE sedan. A run-down 190SL. Pretty cool. And then, next to it, I find a shiny, pristine Mercedes SLR transporter, one of the very few to leave Stuttgart, right there, in sunny California, in front of me, in the open air. Now, these are major words.

I walk through the door. Bada-bing! A 300SL gullwing, with shelves of 190SL's and a 600 SWB Limousine in the background. Four men in uniforms were ceremonially huddled in the center of the shop.

"Excuse me"
"Yes?"
"Uh... Um... To make a long story short, I love Mercedes. I can tinker on them, but I really want to know them inside out, how to... work on them. Could I talk to your manager?"

The shortest in the crowd pointed at a man of solemn expression.

"What can you do?"
"Not much. But I am eager to learn. I have other skills I can offer the shop, like video and website building!"
"What would you expect for pay?"
"I do not know. I am fresh off school"

Yes, big mistake to be so honest. But somehow, he pointed back at the shorter man. He was born in Chile, so we discussed the terms in Spanish. The shop's apprentice was going to go to school in August, leaving a vacant position. I was told I should not have high expectations on doing great jobs, because I just did not have the skill; and that I should be perfectly complacent with the smallest of tasks, but still eager to learn.

And boy, I was.

"Wanna start on July 1st? You can stop by the shop earlier if you want"
"Thank you very much!"
"Are you new in the area?"
"I came here a week ago. Currently I am staying in Petaluma"
"Avoid Half Moon Bay and La Honda, too far, and much traffic. San Mateo is cheaper than Burlingame. Stay away from the railroad tracks, but if it is at the side of the mountain, you are fine."

We shook hands a couple times, and I left with the widest, most beaming grin I have had in my entire life. My dreams of learning from a true European immigrant (not quite German, my solemn boss is Swiss) who owned a Mercedes restoration shop in the Bay Area was now a reality. And it happened because I had the relentless faith and perseverance in finding it, no giving up to hopelessness or content; always fueled by the passion for doing what I love for a profession, to the thought of waking every morning to a day I will enjoy in its entirety.

If you have read this far, this is the lesson that –at least– I would like to leave in print, hovering over the net. Do what you like! Do what you are passionate about, what you can provide more to than your time –your soul, yourself–; make it into an art, make it your life, find something that gives meaning to your efforts. Fashion yourself into your greatest masterpiece, because you are your best accomplishment. And do not be afraid of change. I am a filmmaker... but I would have never felt complete if I did not start learning about how things are put together, especially the vehicles for my travels. Be the modern Renaissance Man/Woman, be well rounded. Carry other people's legacy and knowledge with pride, do not let ancient skills die, and, most importantly, make sure to walk happy out of this world when the day comes.