Ah, Seaboard Marine

   

On USA soil

        When we first bought the VW bus it didn't take us long to decide that we loved the ride and wanted to take it back to the USA with us. We naively thought that we would make a road trip through Central America to the USA and back to Florida after Elwood was born but as soon as our little man was here we started thinking of alternative ways to get the bus back.  Woody just seemed so little to make such a long trip that had the potential for break downs and hiccups.  Life is not just about Conor and me now.  If we break down on the side of the road in 107 degree heat for days while we wait for parts that's fine, but to potentially put our brand new baby through that was something we were not ready to do.  We looked into shipping the bus back and it was surprisingly not as expensive as we thought it would be.  We looked online at several different shipping companies and decided to go with Seaboard Marine using their "roll on, roll off" option.  Seaboard Marine sent me a list of agents, I picked one that spoke a good amount of English and emailed me back promptly--two qualities that I thought would be helpful during this process.  We emailed, called, scanned and faxed documents, checked and double checked with our agent to ensure that our bus would make it on the ship that sailed just before our flight back to the USA, arriving in Miami a few days after our arrival.  Perfect Planning.
       Our bus was delayed for almost a month due to a "random" custom hold (I'm sure those customs employees were disappointed during their search of our VW bus when they discovered not drugs, but baby stuff), then a array of bullshit reasons like T's not being crossed and I's not being dotted.  In the end the experience was much more frustrating than I initially thought it would be.  I spent a lot of time on the phone trying to figure out why week after week our bus was not loaded onto the correct ship leaving for Miami.  But, the bus did eventually arrive (with bent tie rods-thank you Seaboard Marine) and we love having the little lady to cruise around in.
   
      Now that the bus is here we have decided to, of course, go on a Road Trip! Conor and I realized we haven't done much exploring in the USA so while we are here we thought a trip up the east coast with the end destination being Maine would be a great way to beat the heat this summer.   Recently I was asked by my good friend, Hunter, what our summer plans are.  When I excitedly answered the question she replied in her adorable Savannah drawl, "Can ya'll just stay put?" I smiled and thought, well that's just really not our style.  We bought an atlas, a scenic roads of America book, and an Ale Trail book which lets us know where the best breweries in America are.   Road Trip!

Mr. Bojangles keeping Elwood entertained

The open road