Yesterday we got married in California! Today we left Ridgecrest for our honeymoon with the Love Bug. After hundreds of miles heading South, we just arrived in Yuma, Arizona.

Domi’s family clinked glasses back in Austria while we were having our wedding ceremony: Florian, Sara, Georg, Felicitas, Konstanze, Severin and Domi’s mum Silvia.

We want to thank all our friends and followers for their wonderful compliments on our wedding! Thanks for all your lovely messages, comments and the positive energy!

Special thanks go to our friend Rudi from Vienna who endowed us a self-made clock dedicated to our marriage including Herbie who’s driving all around the globe!

After loving each other since more than five years and exploring the world together for almost four years, we finally got married! And Herbie of course was part of our wedding!

Our ceremony took place in a park of Independence in Inyo County, Southern California. As for the entrance we’d listen to Johnny Cash’s version of “Rose of my Heart”.

We invited our closest friends from Ridgecrest to our marriage. Here they are from left to right: Diego, Pablo, Charles, (Zainab & Domi), Mike & Susie as well as Lilian and Luis.

Charles Quinlan was our clergy and Michael Lee Phillips and his wife Susie Burgess were our witnesses. And thanks to Emily Smith we have these wonderful pictures.

Zainab was wearing this gorgeous gown by “Maggie Sottero”. Everything was fitting together. Herbie’s color is pearl white, just as Zainab’s dress and Domi’s gilet and tie.

Michael Lee Phillips was also the so-called best man of Domi. We know Mike since the year 2010. He was always a very important supporter of Herbie’s World Tour to us.

At this point we want to send to all our family members, our friends and of course to the fans of our Love Bug our kindest regards from our wedding day in California!

Yours,
Domi & Zainab

After plenty of maintenance work, Herbie is prepared to hit the road again. On Sunday we’ll start heading South towards Yuma, Arizona, passing Palm Springs and so forth.

Today Domi replaced the hand brake cable on the driver’s side. We had to change it for the first time, but as you can see, this one is pretty worn out though (see below).

We’ll be gone from Ridgecrest for about two weeks, touring onwards through Arizona, Utah and Nevada. If everything works out fine, we’ll be back in town on May 22.

Domi and his close friend Mike watched a drama movie called “Land of Plenty” by the German director Wim Wenders. This film shows Trona, Ridgecrest’s neighboring town and the place where our friend Michael was born.

His parents are buried on the local cemetery, which appears in the movie as well (see left).

Trona is also the gateway to Death Valley and famous for the so-called “Trona Pinnacles” (see below).

Thousands and thousands of miles show significant effects on Herbie’s parts which would never wear out under normal conditions. On the left hand side below you can see for example the old push rod which Domi had to replace with a new one (below right).

This massive wear caused major problems as the push rod is responsible for powering the fuel pump. So finally, we found the reason for the misfires of Herbie’s engine.

The chassis clearance was not always ideal while touring continents like South America. One of its outcomes was that we had to replace the exhaust tailpipes as they got broken because of streaking the “road” obviously too often. We just got them fixed!

The Love Bug got back his original sound coming from the exhaust and he’s almost ready to cover another leg of Herbie’s tour around the world. See you on the road soon!

Yesterday we went on a trip heading North. We bypassed Death Valley, the lowest spot in the United States, but we passed the highest one: Mount Whitney (14,505 ft or 4,421 m).

On our way there we came across places like Inyokern, Olancha, Cartago, Lone Pine and the historical site of Manzanar – a “Japanese American Internment Camp” from World War II. In the town of Independence we had lunch before turning back again.

And we also visited Pearsonville, the self-proclaimed “hubcap capital of the world”.

Finally, after sitting on Herbie’s seats for many years and countless miles, we decided that he definitely needed new “clothes” and bought him these Southwestern style covers.

The old ones looked disgusting! But no wonder, we traveled five continents with them. By the way, initially they were white when we started Herbie’s World Tour in the year 2009.

We are back in the States! After two years we reunited with Herbie No. I again. He was parking at our friend’s house in the Mojave Desert where we returned to on May 1.

After such a long time Domi had to repair one of the brake cylinders which was leaking pretty heavily. But the battery was still like new and started the engine right away.

Our dear friend, Lyle Gregory (see below), invited us to stay at his place, the famous “West Oz House”. He was also taking care of Herbie and the camper while we were gone.

We won’t use the camper this time but we were curious to take a look inside when we arrived. The little caravan was our home while we’ve traveled the world from 2009 on.

There’s a lot to discover at Lyle’s place. Ridgecrest is located in the Mojave Desert, not far from the well known Death Valley, the largest National Park of the United States.

We already took the Love Bug for a ride to Palmdale and Lancaster in order to go shopping. The engine was running smoothly, even though the gas is two years old.

Sorry that there’s no picture of Zainab! The next time Domi will take the photos.

Today we found our little “Trabi” in the local newspaper.

A pedestrian took a picture of Domi driving through our hometown Klosterneuburg.

This is a great story about a man and his car, a Volkswagen Beetle from 1955, who traveled around the world and reunited decades later. This Bug is still running!

Wolfgang Paul Loofs (see below) tells his story about touring the world in an “Ovale”. Watch the documentary called “Once More. The Story of VIN 903847”!

Yesterday Flo and Domi visited wine quarter’s “2^nd Show for Vintage Cars” in Enzersfeld.

Flo took his daily summer driver from 1966 and Domi his “Trabi” for the ride to the show.

There we met our friends Kathi, Ilse and Peter who introduced us to their new car.

The days are getting warmer again and classic cars are waking up from their winter sleep. Yesterday we visited our first show this year. It’s called “Altblech Friday Night Cruising” in the South of Vienna. We showed up together with other members of “DLV” and friends of the legendary Trabant (“Trabantfreunde”).

On September 20 we’re hosting the 3^rd Late Summer Ride of Vienna!

In one week, on May 1, we’ll go back to United States of America, where we’ll reunite with Herbie No. I and our beloved Californian friends after almost two years again.

One of those friends is Lyle. He has always been the host of our camp in Ridgecrest, Kern County, and he’s also the proud “wizard” of the illustrious “West Oz House”.

We can hardly wait to take our Love Bug for another ride. Below you can see him in front of “Trona’s Fish Rocks”, just outside of Death Valley – the driest area in North America.

Stay on board and follow Herbie’s trip across the US Southwest!

His travel just started recently. Mick Miller is on his way touring the Australian continent in a VW Beetle from 1967. You can follow his journey on his site: www.myndstravel.com

“Around March 2013, I was in a situation that was extremely challenging, I was diagnosed with cancer. This was a wake up call to make a few changes in my life, for which I am incredibly grateful”, said Mick. Traveling Australia is a big change indeed!

We remember circling this huge island in 2010 before shipping Herbie and the caravan from Brisbane to North America. There we got to know another Mick (from “Mick Motors”). He helped us repairing our Love Bug and sponsored us on our African trip.

On May 1 we’ll fly to the United States in order to go on another trip in Herbie No. I,  starting from Ridgecrest, California. We’ll be traveling California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada.

Last weekend Flo and Domi where driving to Flo’s property in Lower Austria. While they were driving through the so-called “Wood Quarter” – the northwestern part of the province, they got to know an older gent who’s repairing and selling motorcycles.

Domi returned with two mopeds. He bought a “KTM Hobby” from 1984 and a vintage “JAWA Stadion” from 1964 – both in good working condition. Now Flo and Domi are both looking forward to ride their mopeds in the upcoming summer season.

They picked up the motorcycles in a trailer pulled by our two-stroke powered “Trabi de Luxe”. And they even carried two bicycles they purchased for friends.

Downgrade! Herbie has four cylinders, the Trabi only two and the mopeds are driven by just one, but all of them are air-cooled! Welcome to the “DLV Aircooled Community”!

Infectious diseases are a big topic for every traveler. Especially if you intend to visit certain countries, you’ll have to think about the local circumstances which can affect your personal health. In many cases you’ll even have to constrain that you are vaccinated against particular diseases.

The so-called “International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis” should prove that you got the vaccine the respective country demands. Although we never got vaccinated against any kind of disease and never took prophylaxis or any other conventional drug, we traveled 80 countries within four years without being sick a single time!

Instead we always used traditional ancient medicine in order to prevent illnesses. Therefore our first-aid kit included only three main cures: Dragon’s Blood (“Sangre de Drago”), Artemisia tea (from the sweet wormood called “Artemisia annua” against Malaria) and pure Grapefruit Seed Extract.

The co-founder of DLV and our dear friend, Flo, is celebrating his 25th birthday today.

We all wish you, Flo, a happy birthday and all the best for your next quarter century!

“The Last Ride for Herbie No. I” was in June 2012. After we’ve traveled to Mexico and South America, we left our Love Bug tucked away at a friend’s house (the world famous “West OZ House”) in Ridgecrest, California. Meanwhile we’ve toured all around Africa in Herbie No. II towing our very own house, the little camper QEK.

Since September 2009, we’ve driven more than 115,000 miles (or 186,000 km) across all drivable continents around the world and now we’re planning to get back to California, visiting our beloved companion Herbie and his friends from Ridgecrest.

Unfortunately it will be just a short visit compared to how long we stayed in the past. But we are eager to get there and we’re looking forward to meeting all our buddies. Almost two years later, Herbie’s going for a ride again! See you there in May!

Our daily driver has been pimped by friends of “DLV’s Aircooled Community”. The Trabi is now ready for the winter season! He got new tires on pearl white painted rims and a deceptively real-looking taxi sign. Many thanks to Flo, Friedrich and Max for their help!

Domi turned 30! Therefore we celebrated his big birthday in one of Vienna’s pubs called “Morgenstern”. Many friends and family members came to congratulate him.

Special thanks go to Flo, Friedrich, Eva, Heinz, Gabriel, Michi, Georgy, Fabi, Christian, Benjamin, Matthias and of course Zainab who made Domi the most marvelous present. They surprised him with a “Trabant” station wagon from the old GDR (DDR).

Before the season is over, we, the club of DLV, invited to this year’s “Late Summer Ride” in the Vienna Woods. Even though the weather was not ideal, many air-cooled vehicles came and attended the round trip along the world famous “Höhenstraße”.

On the weekend we visited a gathering of air-cooled Volkswagens in Angern an der March, right at the border to Slovakia. But it was so hot at that day (104°F or 40°C in the shade), that we just spent a couple hours at the meeting. Now we’re looking forward to our annual event called “Late Summer Ride” on September 15!

Last weekend we visited the 2^nd VW Beetle Show of Nappersdorf in our province of Lower Austria. Together with all the other visitors we drove to the border of the Czech Republic and the so-called “Excalibur City” within the two frontiers.

June 28 is the official birthday of Walt Disney’s Love Bug. Therefore we’re celebrating Herbie’s 50^th anniversary this year and especially on this particular day, even though our Love Bug wasn’t manufactured on that exact date. But one is for sure, 1963 is the year in which Herbies all around the world were made. Happy Birthday!

Domi celebrated Herbie’s B-Day together with our friends Georgy, Matthias and Florian (from left to right) and their Beetles at a vintage car show in the South of Vienna.

Today, June 22, we’re celebrating the International Day of the Volkswagen Beetle. Thanks to this unique car we were able to travel all around the world within the past four years.