After traveling around the world without seeing passing cars on both sides of the camper, we finally found the proper extension mirrors for Herbie at an American retailer.

The only mirror we used was the interior one looking through three windows – the back of the VW as well as the front and the back window of our “QEK Junior” camper.

The Love Bug might looks a bit odd with these new mirrors, but they really work and are easy to install. Back in Europe we couldn’t find those – in the US we got lucky.

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Herbie has no blind spot anymore! We were driving hundreds of thousands of miles blind sided around the globe and back in Austria before. We finally improved that!

“Tow-N-See” is the name of the product, Domi discovered at an American retail store. We’re looking forward to pulling “QEK” with seeing what’s going on in the back.

You just place the vacuum cup against the surface of your existing mirror. We tested the strength by hitting the freeway with maximum speed. Everything worked out!

Herbie will remain in the Great State of California, where also his brother from Walt Disney comes from. He enjoys the dryness in the desert of the Golden State.

California is the third largest and by far the most populous state of the United States.

If California were a country, it would be the eighth-largest economy in the world.

Ridgecrest in Kern County, is where Herbie’s camp is located. Although we’ll get home in two weeks, we’ll be back here in 2013, after we’ve traveled through Africa.

At this year’s “VW Classic” show in Irvine, Domi bought new chrome running board moldings for Herbie. So now he got new stripes besides the red, white and blue ones.

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After…

Michael and Domi checked out the lower section of Kern River near Kernville and Lake Isabella in the Sierra Mountains of Southern California last week in order to find out more about its white water rapids, because they want to kayak down there. While observing the flow of the river, they discovered an actual gold mining camp.

It was very interesting for Domi and Michael meeting and talking to the gold miner. He was telling them that he’s making money for all his daily needs by chasing gold.

The Kern River is one of the most storied rivers in the West, as well as one of the most dangerous ones. Merle Haggard actually wrote a famous song about the Kern.

Above you can see one of the signs put up by the miner including his mining claim and its number. Gold mining is obviously getting back in trend, as the stakes are high.

Gold was discovered for the first time along the upper river in 1853 and is still a hot spot for gold rushing men in the West. Below a picture of the miner’s home.

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While we spent time in Veracruz, Mexico, Domi bought a complete hall effect distributor kit (including ignition module) for our American Love Bug. Just a couple days ago Herbie got his new feature installed and he seems to feel very well with it.

Before…

After…

Our neighbors and dear friends, Diego and Pablo Ramírez graduated from Ridgecrest’s Sherman E. Burroughs High School this year. It was a great honor for us getting invited to their commencement exercises at the school stadium.

Today Herbie and Domi visited the reportedly “greatest VW show on earth”, better known as California’s “VW Classic 2012” in Irvine, near Los Angeles. Hundreds of air-cooled Volkswagen showed up and the Love Bug enjoyed being part of the show.

Herbie and Domi are going to appear at the reportedly “greatest VW show on earth”. The 30th “VW Classic” will take place at the Verizon Amphitheater in Irvine, California, on June 10. For more information about the show, just follow this link!

If you’re planning to visit this year’s “VW Classic” too, it would be a pleasure for us meeting you there! This will probably be the last VW show we’ll take part, before flying back to Vienna, Austria, continuing our World Tour in Herbie No. II.

Herbie’s World Tour already started in September 2009, but the “dot-com” just exists since last December. Umpteen thousand people all around the globe were following our adventures within the last six months of driving Herbie across America.

Since March our blogging host offers country related stats. Within in those three months we got visitors from all colored nations you can see above. Our Top 10 are Brazil, USA, Germany, Austria, Peru, Paraguay, France, Canada, Ecuador and Norway.

When we were at the junk yard the other day, we discovered a feature, Herbie really needed. There it was, a VW Bug from the early 1960ies with an original horn on it.

This is a six volt horn exclusively made by “Hella” in Germany for Volkswagen.

Domi removed the horn we bought once at a common automotive retailer.

Finally Herbie got his voice back! As our Bug is actually running on twelve volt, the six volt horn is much louder than normal. But this is exactly what we were looking for.

Today we went “window shopping” at a local junk yard here in Ridgecrest, California. Domi spotted many vintage air-cooled Volkswagen. R.I.P. – Rust in Peace!

As we are back in Southern California since May 25, Herbie and the camper got together again. Our trip to South America was made exceptionally without the trailer.

In 2010 we found our new friend and camp’s host Lyle Gregory from Ridgecrest.

Ridgecrest is the only incorporated city along Highway No. 395 in Kern County.

Here you get an interior look of our camper “QEK Junior” from East Germany.

We just installed mini blinds at the front and rear window instead of curtains.

Herbie’s camp in Ridgecrest, California, is located right between the highest mountain peak and the lowest elevation basin in the contiguous 48 United States of America.

The summit of Mt. Whitney reaches a total height of 14,505 feet (4,202 m).

Mount Whitney is just 85 miles (136 km) East-Southeast of Death Valley.

Death Valley’s basin Badwater has the lowest elevation in North America.

The Badwater basin in Death Valley, at 282 feet (86 m) below sea level, also holds the record for the highest reported temperature in Western hemisphere, 134 °F (56.7 °C).

Today Domi went kayaking. He got invited by our friend Michael, his wife Susie and her friend Vicki to paddle down the Owens River in Inyo County, California. They drove about 130 miles (or 210 kilometers) on scenic Highway 395 up to Bishop in order to get to the point where they started floating down the the winding river.

Herbie’s camp is located in Ridgecrest, the biggest city in the Indian Wells Valley. Recently we took a short ride to “Cerro Coso Community College” to get a better view.

Above you see Ridgecrest and along its most important street, China Lake Boulevard.

You can find beautiful gardens and interesting sculptures at the college campus.

Other towns in the so-called Indian Wells Valley are Trona, Inyokern and China Lake.

We got the chance to park on a dramatic spot, enjoying the sunset and overlooking the valley as well as the Sierra Nevada, Coso, Panamint, and Argus mountain ranges.

We got Herbie No. I exactly six years ago. On May 31, 2006, Leopold Katzmayer, an older gentleman from our hometown Klosterneuburg, sold the Love Bug to Domi. But at that time he had no racing stripes or even gumballs with the number “53”. After Domi found out that his “new” Beetle has the very same age and color as the original Herbie from the movies, he decided to shape his “Vee Dub” just like that.

Herbie was gaining his stardom already before his transformation. In summer 2006 he won his first award, getting elected the most original as well as beautiful vehicle at the grand air-cooled Volkswagen meeting in Vienna, Austria (see picture below). Just one year later, Herbie prevailed at his very first rally he participated in (see article above). Back then, he already had his friend, “QEK Junior” the camper, in tow.

Herbie got his first registration on March 15, 1963, after he was made in Wolfsburg.

The color of Herbie is ivory (or pearl white). The international color code is “L87”.

The engine: 34 hp (horsepower), 25 kW (kilowatt) and 1,192 cc (cubic centimeter).

The Love Bug got an original venetian blinds jalousie by “Gradulux” from France.

Meanwhile there is a Herbie No. II as well as another “QEK Junior” camper to pull.

Domi had his last hair cut in summer 2009, just before we went on traveling. While we were on the road, he let his hair grow. Yesterday he eventually met the barber again.

The cropped plait you see above will be donated to an aid organization producing high-quality wigs for cancer patients who lost their hair due chemotherapy.

That’s how Domi looked from the back before he went to the hairdresser the other day. The last visit at a coiffeur was in our Austrian hometown already three years ago.

It was a historical moment for Domi and his hair. The barber is cutting off his long grown braid. That took him quite a while, because Domi’s hair is so rich and thick.

The hair is gone! But this doesn’t mean that Herbie’s World Tour is over. We are now thinking about what will be next. As soon as we are certain, we’ll let you know.

Only one month to go! We just booked our flight going back home to Vienna, Austria.

So we will take off at the airport of Los Angeles (LAX), California, on June 29, arriving in Vienna on Saturday, June 30. But Herbie’s World Tour will be continued!

Yesterday we got back to our camp in Ridgecrest, located in the Mojave Desert of Southern California. For the last four months we were traveling across the USA, Mexico and South America along the “Pan-American Highway”. Herbie made 18,166 miles (29,236 kilometers) going down south and all the way back.

It really feels like home being back in California. Even though we’ll have to fly back to Austria, Herbie already got a resident of Kern County. For the next couple weeks, we’re planning to take Herbie for some rides exploring more of Southern California, before we’ll go home in order to prepare Herbie No. II for another adventure.

Today we were following the legendary Route 66 aka the “Mother Road” of America. We took several business loops in order to get through cities like Holbrook, Winslow and Seligman. In New Mexico we crossed the so-called Continental Divide. We ended up in Kingman, Arizona, at the end of the day, but we’ll continue our road trip towards Ridgecrest, Southern California, tomorrow.

After traveling the USA for more than sixteen months, we got the chance to visit almost all National Parks across the 48 lower United States. Only a few are missing. Yesterday we explored Carlsbad Caverns National Park in the Southeast of New Mexico.

Later on we headed north on Highway 285 until hitting Interstate 40, which replaces the old Route 66. Even though the so-called “Mother Road”  doesn’t exist anymore, it remains as an important American icon as well as a true legend with all its stories.

Following the so-called Texas Mountain Trail towards New Mexico brought us through Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We had a pretty gusty cross wind while gaining height. Road signs got blown away and Domi had to steer very carefully.

Herbie is still running. We’ve already driven almost 150,000 kilometers (more than 93,000 miles) around the planet. And Herbie’s World Tour has not even ended yet!

Right now we’re following old American trade routes as well as the legendary Route 66 traveling across the Southwest of the US towards Southern California.

As posted here before, Herbie got featured in the Paraguayan “ABC Color” magazine. Thanks to Jorge Ortiz from Asunción we just received a copy of the printed version.

The Classic VW Club Paraguay also published a story with a lot of photos about our meeting with Osvaldo Espínola, Jorge Ortiz and Natalia Florentin on their website.

We’re still looking back to our terrific experience traveling through Paraguay and meeting such wonderful people like Osvaldo, Jorge and Natalia as well as their Bug.

We just arrived in Van Horn, Texas, after crossing the second largest United State. The landscape changed dramatically while Herbie followed old American trade routes.

Tomorrow we’ll head north to Roswell, Artesia and Carlsbad in New Mexico, visiting its Caverns National Park right after crossing the state border on Highway No. 62 or 180.

Our plan is to get further north to the old Route 66 (today’s Interstate 40), heading west across New Mexico and Arizona towards California and our final destination.