Oregon was a surprise for us. We got married in December and thought that by February we would have converted our van to veggie oil fuel in Tijuana and that we would be ready to hit the road soon. One thing that we’ve learned since we began dreaming up this project is that things don’t always go as planned. We’ve been learning to slow down, grow patience and do things better. More time also means more time to perfect.

In February we learned that our van needed to get the transmission rebuilt, very expensive, (see previous post) and that our veggie oil conversion still had issues. We had to rethink our plan. Our main issue was that the money we had saved up for starting our trip all went into the transmission!

Before we even had time to think of making a decision, Johanna’s cousin who lives in Eugene and asked us out of the blue if we wanted to sublet for her for a few months. No way, was our first thought, we want to go south not north!  A few days later, we got an email from a close family friend who also suggested moving to the United States to save money and have time to work on the car.

The more we thought about moving temporarily to Oregon, the more sense it made. The craziest part is that Johanna then applied for her cousin’s job and got it! And within weeks of making the decision we were landed in Oregon with a job for Johanna and our van! Aidan ended up driving the van from Southern California where we left it in February with family. (SHOUT OUT to the Duenas-Barnett family who took care of our van while we were gone and helped us in many moments of despair!)

As of the end of May we are settled in Eugene, OR for the time being. We have finally worked out the veggie oil system and it seems to be working very well ☺ We work on the campervan project on weekends with Johanna’s cousin Wes who knows about carpentry.

We also take our van on test drives through the beautiful North West. This time has been ideal as we learn more about our van while we work on it. We are also developing different ways of receiving sponsorship and support for our journey. If you have suggestions please share them with us. If you have a business or are an individual who would like to contribute please contact us.

We also finally got an Instagram account! Follow our daily endeavors  @veggiebusdiaries

We’re excited about this Oregon Chapter and we look forward to continuing the journey south. Thank you for following us!

- Johanna S.

• Our wedding Our wedding
• It’s beautiful around here It’s beautiful around here
• Sunny summer evening Sunny summer evening
• Work on our van Work on our van
• Building a sofa-bed Building a sofa-bed
• Drawing and measuring Drawing and measuring
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