New Friends

We're leaving Seal Beach today - but only because we have to. We have mail waiting for us in San Diego. We both love it here and look forward to coming back. We've made some new friends here and have even run into some old ones (we ran into Glen from Huntington Beach at the grocery store - of all places!). It's so nice to be in a place where people recognize you. We've spent months being anonymous, slipping in and out of towns unnoticed. Here in Seal Beach not only do we have friends, but we even have visitors - and that's how we met Billy.

We first met Billy the classic way. He is the proud owner of an 81' westy, and in the VW world making friends with another VW owner is often initiated by the following conversation.

You usually drive up with the window down, and arm hanging out and say something like:

"Nice bus, what year is it?"
1974. yours?
"oh, it's an 81'"
nice. air-cooled?
"yup, last year they made the air-cooled"
oh really, dual carb?
"no fuel injection"

This is just basic chit-chat, now if there's a connection made rather than driving on you might delve a little deeper. You may talk about where you bought it, where you've taken it, some of the work you've done on it, the upholstery, camper gear, or even any modifications you may have made.

Then, if after this conversation if you've both sized up each other as good solid folks, you may choose to take the final step in your relationship as VW buddys. "The look in the engine". This may be initiated by asking "do you mind if I take a look?" If the owner agrees, then you're off. The two of you can now head on back to the bus to lift up the hatch, crouch down and talk shop. And there you have it - A VW match made in heaven.


We met Billy down at the Beach because he heads down there to check out the surf most days. We met again the next and had a beer together, and then we just kept bumping into each other all over town! It was so nice to have friends again, it was novel to have someone drop by with a few beers for a visit. Since we had no phone number, or address it was all up to chance whether you'd run into someone. It was nice that the van was able to become a little home in that way. We had dinner at Billy's house, met his beautiful wife Cheryl and there 'cute as a button' daughter Mackenzie. He cooked us a feast of king crab, prawns, and steak - what a cook! I think that if was the first time we had sat at a real table to eat in weeks or had been indoors for an extended period of time. Billy and Cheryl introduced us to their friends, took us in and made Seal Beach feel like a home away from home. They are one of the many reasons that Seal Beach is such a cool place.