Live Work Wander: A couple traveling North America in a Land Cruiser
- Thread starter Joey G
- Start date
Yes, they have it listed for sale right now:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2125106
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2125106
Tex68w
Beach Bum
Good stuff for sure. I find the constant plugs throughout the videos for their website and IG page rather annoying. I'll have to make my way through the remainder of the videos. I hope they continue on with another similar project in life now that the Syncro adventure has come to an end or so I would assume seeing how it is up for sale.
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Tex68w
Beach Bum
I think it was towards the end of the first season, but most certainly in the latest episode in season 2 when they break down on the dirt road. She is much more level headed under pressure, he freaks out a bit and jumps to conclusions, she most certainly talks him back from the ledge to keep him from losing it lol.
There's no way I could live with a vehicle that has that many issues, nothing is perfect, but those vans are far less reliable than a Toyota or even a domestic. I hope they find their way into another suitable vehicle and continue to travel and live on the road, I'd hate for the van and it's issues to turn them off from that lifestyle show to end with the selling of the van.
vwhammer
Adventurer
I recall seeing these two when they are on someone else's youtube channel in a 2wd westy.
Then they started the new series with the syncro.
For the most part I do enjoy all the vids they post because I am a Vanagon fan and I feel that their sense of humor is right up my alley.
I also recall the episode where they broke both rear axles on a seemingly simple hill climb that made me realize how bad the Vanagon can be.
Of course at this point I had already been working on a "different" 4x4 conversion for my very own Vanagon and contacted them to see if that might interest them.
Alas, they were not interested which is probably a good thing since I am still working on my conversion.
However, I gathered that the timeline between the episodes and real life was totally different and they may have already moved on from the Vanagon or at least decided to do so.
Then they started the new series with the syncro.
For the most part I do enjoy all the vids they post because I am a Vanagon fan and I feel that their sense of humor is right up my alley.
I also recall the episode where they broke both rear axles on a seemingly simple hill climb that made me realize how bad the Vanagon can be.
Of course at this point I had already been working on a "different" 4x4 conversion for my very own Vanagon and contacted them to see if that might interest them.
Alas, they were not interested which is probably a good thing since I am still working on my conversion.
However, I gathered that the timeline between the episodes and real life was totally different and they may have already moved on from the Vanagon or at least decided to do so.
Season one I believe was all filmed in 2016? Cant remember. I think they technically finished up vanlife in mid/late 2017 and are back in a house. I lived vicariously through their episodes and I was so pumped when they started releasing season 2, but looks like that has fizzled out and i doubt we'll see a full season 2.
It also made me wonder how a completely rebuilt/restored syncro with a Subaru engine could have so-many-PROBLEMS.
It also made me wonder how a completely rebuilt/restored syncro with a Subaru engine could have so-many-PROBLEMS.
Tex68w
Beach Bum
I personally think that the persistent/constant engine issues and subsequent enormous added costs probably played a large roll in what led to them calling the adventure short. I can only imagine how demoralizing and defeating it must feel to have simple reliability issues with your rig every time you turn around, how could you ever truly enjoy yourselves and have faith in your rig? It is a shame that it has all come to a close, I was thoroughly entertained with their antics, but who knows, maybe they stumbled upon jobs/opportunity that they simply couldn't pass up and decided to call it quits in order to pursue other more advantageous avenues or possibly even start a family?! Whatever the reason(s) might be, I hope that they finish out the second season with whatever footage they have remaining. I wish them the best in their pursuits, thank them for allowing us to partake in their adventures/lives, and hopefully they will continue to travel in some capacity in the future.
Liveworkwander
New member
Hey everyone! Found this thread following some links while looking at traffic sources. It's so good to read so many kind words from all of you and it's really quite encouraging to hear that some of you enjoy the videos.
It's funny because as I read through this thread I was astonished at how close to right some of you are in your assessments of why we stopped traveling and the dynamics of our relationship. It's totally true, Jessica is the level headed one and I tend to get ahead of myself and easily flustered. I guess maybe that's mostly my personality and also I'm typically the one who has to turn wrenches on the damn van and when something goes wrong I get filled with a sense of dread I can't really describe.
As far as why we got off the road, that's a super complex story. It was partly the van and the constant struggle although truth be told, we had hardly any issues whatsoever with it in the last 20k miles of ownership. But, well, I just couldn't ever trust the thing and it was always in the back of my mind that at any moment we might break down for no reason that couldve been prevented. That's an awful feeling when youre traveling and depending on your rig as your full time home. Other issues abounded from money concerns to just being really really tired of always traveling. That sounds odd to say but man, having a home to come to every night, a shower, a **************, a big bed, climate control...those make life a lot more pleasant especially when you have to get up every morning and work, which we do a fair amount of every week.
The van is in fact sold. A nice lady in Boulder, Co bought it and she is excited about all the adventures she and her family will have in it. Ultimately, the problems with the van were due to the ******** engine conversion done by the shop in Seattle and there is a high likelihood that it will be getting a whole new harness, ECU, and tune in the near future. We took that van to a number of mechanics and every single one commented on how ************ the harness was done. It looks like a rat's nest in there and seems to have been haphazardly done. So bad is it that even the wiring diagram the shop provided us doesnt match what the tech did. We never wanted to believe it was that because we knew the fix for that would keep us off the road for a good long time. It took many months and distance (we went to live in Mexico for a while) from the rig to come to that conclusion and by that time she was sold and we had already put some money down on a new rig: A Toyota.
We do plan on hitting the road again soon and continuing to film our travels and tell stories on YouTube (minus annoying "ads" in the middle of videos promoting our site and instagram
) and the 'gram. If you have any kinds of videos you'd like to see, we're open to suggestions.
Thanks so much for watching our episodes. There are definitely more coming. So far this "Season" there are 6 episodes and the 7th is rendering as I type this. I imagine I probably have enough footage right now for at least 15 more episodes so stay tuned.
Jorge
It's funny because as I read through this thread I was astonished at how close to right some of you are in your assessments of why we stopped traveling and the dynamics of our relationship. It's totally true, Jessica is the level headed one and I tend to get ahead of myself and easily flustered. I guess maybe that's mostly my personality and also I'm typically the one who has to turn wrenches on the damn van and when something goes wrong I get filled with a sense of dread I can't really describe.
As far as why we got off the road, that's a super complex story. It was partly the van and the constant struggle although truth be told, we had hardly any issues whatsoever with it in the last 20k miles of ownership. But, well, I just couldn't ever trust the thing and it was always in the back of my mind that at any moment we might break down for no reason that couldve been prevented. That's an awful feeling when youre traveling and depending on your rig as your full time home. Other issues abounded from money concerns to just being really really tired of always traveling. That sounds odd to say but man, having a home to come to every night, a shower, a **************, a big bed, climate control...those make life a lot more pleasant especially when you have to get up every morning and work, which we do a fair amount of every week.
The van is in fact sold. A nice lady in Boulder, Co bought it and she is excited about all the adventures she and her family will have in it. Ultimately, the problems with the van were due to the ******** engine conversion done by the shop in Seattle and there is a high likelihood that it will be getting a whole new harness, ECU, and tune in the near future. We took that van to a number of mechanics and every single one commented on how ************ the harness was done. It looks like a rat's nest in there and seems to have been haphazardly done. So bad is it that even the wiring diagram the shop provided us doesnt match what the tech did. We never wanted to believe it was that because we knew the fix for that would keep us off the road for a good long time. It took many months and distance (we went to live in Mexico for a while) from the rig to come to that conclusion and by that time she was sold and we had already put some money down on a new rig: A Toyota.
We do plan on hitting the road again soon and continuing to film our travels and tell stories on YouTube (minus annoying "ads" in the middle of videos promoting our site and instagram
) and the 'gram. If you have any kinds of videos you'd like to see, we're open to suggestions.Thanks so much for watching our episodes. There are definitely more coming. So far this "Season" there are 6 episodes and the 7th is rendering as I type this. I imagine I probably have enough footage right now for at least 15 more episodes so stay tuned.
Jorge