Well, there you go, Miguel. Problem solved.

We'll expect LOTS of photos as well as your terrific writing about this trip. When do you get started?

Wow! Talk about a lot of experiences! This trip to Argentina is sponsored by my friend... he needs a translator and it seems that I fit the bill pretty well! I am almost positive the reason for this trip is business, but I bet we can have some fun on the side. Thankfully, my boss is infinitely flexible.

I think such a magnificent drive demands 1 year of my life. However, I wish I could make it a lifestyle rather than just a curious event to remember down the road. All I need to do is to find tons of sponsors for major trips, and secure some kind of investment that will provide me a modest sum each month for fuel, repairs and basic necessities.

I wish I had the means to sponsor a trip just to see the story that you would write about it.. alas...

Miguel inspired road trip
 

I am in the midst of my "Miguel inspired road trip". I ended up not driving all the way to Rhode Island, but only to Ashland Ohio. I am on my way back now, headed west through Nebraska.
http://forums.amceaglenest.com/index.php?topic=36168.msg290033#msg290033

Thats pretty neat!

Hmm. Tough call. I suppose going to Argentina for a period of time (And getting paid for it) would be perfectly alright if you still have a job waiting for you when you get back.

If that's the case i'd say go for it! (Might want to hold off driving the full length of the Pan-American highway, i'll see if I can find the article about the guy who did it in a G-Class)

Awakening :cool:

Dear friends: it is a fact that the economy is a royal dump, but I firmly believe there are no excuses to forge one's own life with a decent level of comfort. The Occupy Wall Street movement, crowds living paycheck to paycheck, foreclosures left and right: they are all products of a system that failed long ago and has kept dragging with tradition.

Finances are very tight, but I can say I am lucky to have some savings. A few weeks ago I purchased a 1987 300TD wagon, which I will review very soon in a rather... creative way. I have been learning to work on the W124s by addressing all the problems that this car had... and hopefully resell it for the right due for my labor.

As much as I am surrounded by Mercedes 300SL's, Jaguar XK120's and other European beauties... I see no exit. A nine-to-five job deprives me of most of the usable time in the day to do other things. It almost makes me feel guilty for running to the bank or the DMV. And at the end of the day, I am so tired I just end up with a little bit of strenght to cook dinner and perhaps watch some Ren & Stimpy. Beautiful chains, but chains, nevertheless. Thankfully, I have internet now! My apologies for not writing often enough.

Last week I sat in the car, after work, and turned on the radio. This stupid song spoke to me. Who was I turning into? Where was the wild, road-loving, free-spirited cowboy that I was? Why was I submissively moping floors and emptying trash, designing a full company website for peanut money and performing hundreds of dollars worth of service at janitorial wages? It is true that I have learned a lot about the way Mercedes work and driven some mouth-drooling vehicles... however, I found out recently I was working without health coverage. That did it.

So, here is my promise to myself and to you: I will not compromise with life, because it is up to me to fashion it into what I want it to be. Many wait for opportunity to happen (and it might), but only a few step forward to create it. And that is what I will do: a lot of people can work on cars, fewer can write, and even fewer can make this into an exciting experience for many.

In very few words: starting next year I will grow some massive balls of fire, quit my job and dedicate myself fully to the production of a travel/automotive internet show in the line of Top Gear and Wheeler Dealers: finding cars, traveling in them, visiting places, meeting people, fixing automobiles, testing them on the track, selling them. I will grab all the money I have saved in my lifetime and get the necessary equipment, I will demolish all kinds of social media, ring all my friends and connections, and make a name for myself. If I become desperate, I shall hit Kickstarter dot com. I will go big or go home. Literally. If I fail, I shall sell Newport and go back to Spain empty-pocketed, but proud that at least tried.

Failure is not an option. I love Newport, I love the people and landscapes of the US more than my own. I am the master of my own life, and I shall let no one convince me of the opposite.

Photos of the pretty cars coming soon.

Go for it dude!! I believe in your abilities and talents, and if anyone can do it, you can!

This Is Called :
 

" Why was I submissively moping floors and emptying trash, designing a full company website for peanut money and performing hundreds of dollars worth of service at janitorial wages? "

Paying your dues and , once you do it for a while , your next step will be fruitful because you have the drive and intelligence .

Half true. Financially, I am just about breaking even... there are months in which I have $300-500 losses off my savings account. I rather move quickly before I go broke!

However, I must agree with you. I have learned discipline, I have learned to try hard enough and look for alternative solutions. A definitive lesson of self-reliance. Tons of mechanical knowledge, as well. But as you said, I will not be anyone's *****. I did not quite understand back then, but I do now.

I hope to be able to make it down to LA next weekend and see you!

Atta Boy !
 

The right attitude has much to do with your eventual successes in life .

Paying your dues , means you have to eat some shyte on your way to said success .

Being someone's Huckleberry , that can be fun and rewarding but it's often being the pig you warned them not to wrestle with : you will get dirty so make sure you're comfortable with that aspect before choosing that path .

If you make it to L.A. I'll treat you to a good pizza if you like that , plenty of good self service junkyards here too , not as pleasant as the Southern yards where you found cheap Euro headlights but good nonetheless .

Your words remind me of those in Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement speech from 2005. Good for you, Miguel!

I applaud your plan to go out and do your own thing, sounds like this show idea will be very interesting, if anyone can do it, you can. Its a point I also came to as well when I decided to go out and start a small business with some friends BUT-

Don't forget that you've worked for these guys for less than three months, that to them you're a inexperienced kid who likes these cars but based on your own words, you are essentially transitory, and to expect to be treated like anything else for at least a year is naive. To expect them to shower you with cash and give you health benefits suddenly is not realistic. Why would they make a loyal investment in you with better pay and benefits when you have no loyalty to them?

I have no doubt that you have discussed your future plans with these guys, and Im sure they were thinking, "well, this kid will hit the road in less than a year", which is whats happening now.

When I read the above statement, i get the impression that you forgot that they didn't really need anyone, and hired you because you were interested in the cars out of a favor to you. Part of that arrangement is things like mopping up and sweeping the floor.

Basically, I caution you on getting too far ahead of yourself, of believing that you are in a position to demand better pay and benefits when you started working there when? the end of july?

Im reading you successive statements, and you say things like "back then" and "I won't be anyones *****" ect. Those are the words of someone who has put in some serious time and built years of experience.

If you were dating someone, after three months, you still wouldn't know them fully, it would take that long to really get to know them. Its not a long period of time at all, I would call that a job that I just started. No offense, but you are acting like you worked there for 10 years.

You definitely have a point. I was unbelievably lucky to take over the other apprentice's position as soon as he left for business school, and I knew perfectly that I would be doing some janitorial work. Interestingly enough, I was so burned by my college experience I was really considering a complete change of career.

However, there are two issues. The first one is my own fault, for coming in COMPLETELY SPOILED with the European standards that any job comes with healthcare coverage. In my naivety, I found out it is completely different here... and very scary if anything happens, especially when working in cars in my own time to (at least) break even. Hey, at least I learned early enough!

The second issue may just be a matter of not knowing the market. With the high cost of living in the Bay Area (no apartment in the area goes below $750 a month), even my landlord's gardener makes $15 an hour. I make $10, and I am still expected to create a website (which can cost $1,000 - $1,500 in no time) after work. Part of my defensive attitude comes from spending some odd $200,000 at the Rhode Island School of Design... and being asked to perform creative work at janitorial rates.

That, mixed with the thought of running completely out of my savings (calculated it would take about year and a half) while in the shop, got me thinking that I may as well hit it big or go home without regrets.

I must fight all kinds of bitterness, because they will only cause disagreements and bad vibes. I only know that I have to take some action by myself.

My employer is not a bad person (he is a complete Swiss gentleman), and the shop does some of the most minute work I have ever seen. I love Mercedes with a passion, but I love the dream of a life of travel even more intensely. I have lost many fears in my time in the shop, including that of the wrench. And with this community's worth of knowledge, good friendships and the shop manuals for the W123's, I really do not see why I should not have my cake, share it with you guys, and eat part of it, too.

And yes, time goes VERY fast in my mind, because, for some odd reason, my mind does not process the notion of "short term", "compromise for now" or "temporary solution". It is not that I have spent ten mental years in the shop, but just the workings of my stupidly finicky intolerance for anything that is not a VERY long-term solution. It was always a way my family thought... and always took us into very radical, exciting changes. I am a man of breakthroughs and ninety-degree turns, and I am perhaps in the best age and the best times for them!

Lol, I keep forgetting you are not used to the health care system in this country, would be quite a shock coming from something where you would expect medical benefits for any job.

Just expect the opposite here, and you'll be all right. :D