Key West or Bust 3,000 miles in my 1963 beetle

[DIERNOSAJ]

Hello all my name is Jason I'm 31yrs old I have a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle and I just got engaged to my fiance Meagan this last Christmas. Since then we have been saving every penny and then some for our dream wedding in Key West Florida September 14th. We actually started planning last time we was down there last year. I have been doing good this year I haven't bought any vehicles since then and its killing me. In fact I have since sold my 1980 rabbit with 33,000 miles, my 2.0 autotech supercharged quaife lsd vw caddy and my 1977 custom built cafe racer motorcycle show bike. :`(

I have been planning on making this the road trip of my life by driving my 1963 beetle all the way from Chicago Illinois to Key West Florida to the wedding, using the bug as the getaway vehicle and then driving all the way back. Meagan isn't as much of a trooper as I am she will be following in the comfort of her air conditioner and satellite radio in her new GMC Terrain we bought back in February along with her Mom and the wedding dress etc... This will be my last hoorah sort of speak as a free man (not really free just let me hold on to my dreams) before I get married to the love of my life. I have been growing my hair out and a beard since before the Chicago Blackhawks playoffs. Im not getting a haircut or shaving until I get to the Florida Keys.

I can't wait for this trip I am starting to get really excited now that time is getting closer. As of this post we only have 32 more days to go. Pretty much everything for the wedding has been planned out paid for and planned out some more and paid for some more, there isn't much left to do except show up, have a good time, say "I do", and then live the rest of our lives happily ever after.

I will be updating on Facebook quite a bit so if you have me as a friend on Facebook you might want to dis select my updates to show up on your feed because I will update more than several times along the way and posting lots of pictures. If you don't have me on Facebook as a friend and would like to add me please to "Jason Reid" from Joliet, IL just let me know youre from the samba.

My planned route as of right now which is subject to change at a moments notice includes basically only stops for gas and the mens room.

Monday 360 miles
Joliet, IL
The Bean downtown Chicago
Du Quoin, IL to the mother in laws for an overnight stay


Tuesday 914 miles
Du Quoin, IL
Nashville, TN
Atlanta, Ga
Valdosta, GA
Orlando, FL


Wednesday 313 miles
Orlando, FL
Stuart, FL
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Miami, FL
Key West, FL

The return trip back will be pretty much that trip in reverse.

This trip one way is almost exactly to the mile the same distance as the trip I did when I first bought my beetle about 5 years ago from Baltimore MD to Edison NJ to NYC to York SC then back up to Plainfield IL. Except that was one way and this trip will be that distance twice. That trip so far was the most amazing trip I have ever done in my life. Baltimore to downtown NYC and Jersey Shore then all the way down the east coast i95 with my sunglasses on and my arm out the window until York South Carolina, and then from York SC all the way through the mountains straight up into West Virginia through Ohio back to home in Plainfield IL. Well I'm planning on blowing that trip out of the water with this one. There is a thread somewhere around here about that trip. It was pretty awesome. I love driving this car all over its pretty fun and one of the most relaxing times I can have.

My car runs like a champ and has since the day I bought it from the previous owner in Baltimore. I will be changing the oil and the spark plugs and wires before this trip and hopefully flushing and re filling the trans with fluid, wiring in a 1 wire cigarette lighter for a cellphone charger and then onto the road I will go.

This wedding has been a dream of Meagan's and I for quite some time. Key West and the rest of the Florida Keys is our favorite vacation spot as we have been several years before. We are so fortunate to be able to celebrate this event in our lives with quite a few friends and family. Actually more than we expected. We have 4 guys and 4 girls standing in the wedding party all coming with their significant other as well as around 40 more people. Our wedding will be held on Smather's Beach in Key West and the reception will be aboard the Party Catamaran on the other side of the island leaving the Marina and returning a few hours later.

Meagan and I have done so much to plan and prepare for this wedding from the wedding decorations to making our own rustic decoration signs out of pallet wood down to the clothes and gifts for the wedding party. It has been a bit of a chore for both of us and we are more than ready to start relaxing and remembering the memories of it all.

My bug.

Monday Trip

Tuesday Trip

DQ to Nashville

Nashville to Atlanta

Atlanta to Valdosta

Valdosta to Orlando

Wednesday Trip

Orlando to Stuart

Stuart to Ft Lauderdale

Ft Lauderdale to Miami

Miami to Key West

[EverettB]

Cool, good luck!

I was not aware you could drive all the way out to Key West like that so cool to learn something.
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[cortexgunner92]

Wow man that sounds like the journey of a life time, congratz on your new life(maybe after the ceremony you can talk the other into "acquiring" some of those old vehicles again)

[DIERNOSAJ]

yea I can't wait. We have been planning on getting her something real nice after the wedding. Oval or older possibly a ragtop. Shes a car girl and loves coming with me to all the car shows every weekend.

We leave in 21 days.

[DIERNOSAJ]

A small bit of the story of when I bought the car and drove it from Baltimore to Jersey to NYC down to South Carolina then back up through the mountains to Chicago.

Somewhere in the middle of Indiana in the middle of the night in a little bit of rain driving back from my friends house in South Carolina on the way to Chicago with a buddy of mine who was coming back with me I heard a slight knocking noise. The car never veered off to either side and never slowed down. It sounded like a flat tire but I wasn't sure because the car never gave any physical indications of a flat tire. So I pulled over and sure enough it was a flat tire. I thought wow that was odd. So I called my insurance company and they couldn't find my second policy I had which was the beetle by itself so I had to call them back and tell them I have insurance they need to send a truck.

Truck #1 was gonna be at least an hour. It was freezing cold and 2 or 3 in the morning. I called Truck #2 on my own so they could get there faster. While waiting for the trucks on the side of the road me and my friend fell asleep in the car. I was awoken by the truck driver of Truck #1 knocking on my window. They couldn't put the car on the bed since it was so low but they helped me switch out my bald spare tire. in the mean time truck #2 showed up and demanded an $80 service call since i didn't need their help so he shined every light he had on the car while truck #1 changed the tire.

Me and my friend limped back up the interstate to the previous town and spent the night in Walmart parking lot inside the car, it was very cold. Cops drove by once checking us out. As soon as the tire center opened up we walked in only to find out they didn't have any tires that would fit the car. So we painstakenly drove about 45mph up the interstate to the next town that had a discount tire direct. Pulled in there about 9am after being on the road since 9am the day before. Discount tire direct had 12 of the 145's so I got a pair and they had them on the car and we was back on the road in 30minutes. Ended up getting home about 11am Saturday morning after leaving 9am Friday morning. That was a fun trip.