| Shelagh Rogers | I'm Shelagh Rogers, you're listening to Morningside on CBC Radio. People who own Volkswagen buses think the vehicles are pretty darn special, including Christa Ovenell. This morning she and her husband are setting off in a convoy of 13 VW buses on their way from Vancouver to Inuvik and Christa Ovenell is in our Vancouver studio. Christa, good morning! |
| Christa Ovenell | Good morning, Shelagh! |
| SR | What is it about the VW minivan-- |
| CO | Oh! No, no, no, it's not a minivan, it's a bus! |
| SR | It's a bus! Okay... |
| CO | Well, those new ones are kind of minivans. Well, picture this: you can go anywhere that a tent can go, but you always have your own bed! You can... sleep in it, you can eat in it, you can wash in it, you can... you can *do* your wash in it, you can brush your teeth in it, you can do really whatever you want--and you can go anywhere. The old ones have really high clearance. We've actually rescued people on 4 x 4 roads that were in proper 4 x 4s that got stuck. And we've just sort of plodded our way through. |
| SR | As I recall, one of the selling features of the mini--of, of the *bus* that is, way back then was that you could do your own repairs, right? It comes with a really extensive kit, and good instructions? |
| CO | Well, exactly. I think that's sort of after-market, but a fellow called John Muir wrote a book called "The Compleat Idiot's Guide to Keeping Your Volkswagen Alive" and we call him "St. Muir" because-- |
| SR | (laughs) |
| CO | he really is--he's just done everything. I mean *I've* even learned how to adjust valves and change oil and all sorts of sort of quick fix-it, dust-tape and chewing gum kind of solutions. And you can really go anywhere. When you're in well-populated areas-- and when you're in the West, especially--you don't have much problem finding parts. I think when we get up North it might be-- it's more pick-up country up there. |
| SR | Christa, what's yours like? |
| CO | Ours is *beautiful,* Shelagh! |
| SR | (Laughs) Of *course* it is! |
| CO | (Laughs) It's a 1976 mango colour, which, okay, that's sort of orange, or sort of yellow, depending on whether you're speaking to me or my husband. It's in pretty good shape, it started it's life in Boston, or somewhere in Massachusetts, and it's got a fair bit of rust. A lot of the California buses that are with us they're just beautiful pristine even though some of them might be older. But inside it's really clean and it's got an ice box and after- market porta-potti, and a sink with running water, um... a two- burner coleman stove--we have everything you could need! A swivel seat... it's wonderful! |
| SR | Is it mango on the inside too? |
| CO | Well, no, it's *better!* It's this fabulous plaid green, orangey, [Shelagh laughing] kind of... thing. And it's got orange or mango coloured curtains, and so, it's always kind of sunny and cheery- looking inside. |
| SR | Do you have a shag rug too? |
| CO | Oh, no! It's, it's better. It's kind of a-- |
| SR | --I can't imagine! |
| CO | --an indoor/outdoor kind of greeny, *black* sort of... thing. It really just picks out all the fabulous colours. [laughs...] |
| SR | Do you have a story about getting a VW bus? |
| CO | Well, I do, I guess I do. My husband and I were just finished university--both of us, finally--and we had both finally gotten jobs, and we were working, and making enough money. I mean we had paid off our debts--our university debts--and we were doing pretty well, we thought. Then one day we were driving up to visit my dad in the interior of B.C. and I just had a momentary lapse of all concentration and I literally drove off the road! And I went sort of end over end down a little embankment, and *totalled* the car we were driving, just totalled it. And we came to a stop and we kind of looked at each other and undid our seatbelts and got out, and we thought right then, "Wait a minute! What are we doing?" No kids, lots of money that could be potential savings for a potential trip... And right there the idea was born, and we bought it just a few months later in September of '94, and in January, January first of '95 we took off on a three month tour that took us from here to basically Guatemala up to Prince Edward Island, and back home again. |
| SR | And you were were fine, no break-downs? |
| CO | Um, our solenoid went, and um-- |
| SR | What's that? |
| CO | That's sort of part of the starter motor, and (heh) we uh, sort of had to... push-start it all the way home because we were running out of money at that point. |
| SR | [Laughing...] |
| CO | But it's a fabulous way to meet people! You see, people in Volkwagen campers all love each other--it's just sort of automatic --and people who don't have Volkwagen campers either want one or used to have one, and so they're always willing to give you a push or give you gas or just talk about your bus! |
| SR | Tell me about your trip to Inuvik. How did this come about? |
| CO | Um, well no great car crashes for this one. But we basically got home--I started work again, my husband was unemployed for a bit, and um, boy, I got wanderlust really quickly! So we started looking at places to go. And being a Canadian, I guess there's that lure of the North, and I thought "how far north can we go?" And we wanted to stay in Canada. The exchange is pretty extreme, and we haven't done a lot of travelling north--we've gone across the country back and forth a couple of times--but we've never done it, so I just said, "Hey! How about Inuvik?" I was sort of a place on a map. And Tobin said, "Okay, sure-- |
| SR | This is your husband? |
| CO | This is my husband. Before we even bought the bus we had hooked up with some people on the internet--this is actually what the internet is for, not crazy buying schemes or anything like that it's for meeting people who own Volkswagen buses--and he hooked up with people, and he said, "Hey, guess what we're doing next year!" And someone immediately wrote back--a guy named Ron wrote back and said, "CAN I COME?" And [laughs] we said, "Well, uh, okay." And then about six other people wrote back and then we thought, "Well, what are we doing? Maybe we should organize this!" So we did! And last night twelve people in campers showed up from as far away as *Puerto Rico,* um-- |
| SR | Wow... |
| CO | --Texas, California, Washington, Vancouver Island, um... just about everywhere. We've got people meeting us on the trip, from Oshawa Ontario, and up in I think we've got some people from Yellowknife, and a couple people in Inuvik that'll join us up there--actually I think there's two Volkswagen owners--Volkswagen *bus* owners--in Inuvik, and we've already--through the internet--met them! |
| SR | Did they sleep in their campers? |
| CO | Well, yes, all of them except a young girl Vivian who slept on our couch--a little twelve-year-old girl--her parents have come with their yougest and her, and they left their oldest at home, and we've got two other kids on the trip, a three- and five-year-old, and we've got I couple people look like they *could* be retired... And a lot of them are our age, which is about 25, 30, and we've got Volkswagen fix-it guys--Volkswagen mechanics--we've got people who work for NASA, we've got-- |
| SR | [Laughing] You can't lose! |
| CO | [Laughing] I know! We've got--we've got everybody! We've got researchers, we've got--well, we've got a lot of computer geeks, let me tell you. And ah, then there's me! |
| SR | Christa, I'm going to mention your home page address at the end of our interview-- |
| CO | Thank you! |
| SR | Just so that you don't have to do it and do all the slashes and dots... [laughs] |
| CO | I know, I know, actually I hate it. *I'm* not the computer nerd, but I tell you without it I wouldn't have met all these fabulous people. And I have places to stay... in Puerto Rico now! |
| SR | That's great! What route are you taking? |
| CO | We're going--Today we're taking the Sea-to-Sky Highway which is the really pretty road up past Whistler, and we're going--tonight we hope to get to Quesnel. Then from there we're sort of going inland a bit, coastal-slash, then we move inland and we get up to sort of Liard Hot Springs, that area. Then over to Dawson City, and then of course we take the Dempster Highway, which is the only way in and out. And that's some huge number of miles of unpaved road-- kilometres of unpaved road--but it just looks *spectacular.* I'm a bit nervous about the bugs. And then coming down, we're doing sort of the same thing but we're going coastal a little bit more and we taking--some people are taking the Alaska Marine Highway, a couple of them are breaking off there--and we're taking the B.C. Ferry from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy, and then we'll end up on the Island for a couple of days-- |
| SR | Gorgeous. |
| CO | So it's really going to be--yeah!--it's going to be a real slice of Canada. |
| SR | How long? |
| CO | Um, I think it should take us about nine days up, barring any uh, major break-downs, and you know that's a stop and Liard Hot Springs and have a little soak. That could even factor in a minor break- down. A couple of days in Inuvik, enough to take a train--a train? no, a *plane* up to Tuktoyaktuk, and then we really start back down again. You know, my friends--non-VW friends--just sort of go, "What? Nine days for two days there?" It's sort of the VW experience! |
| SR | And once you get up there--I mean time will--time's different up there, you know? |
| CO | Well, and it's *light!* All the time! |
| SR | Yeah! |
| CO | We're going to play golf at midnight like Peter [Gzowski, long-time host of Morningside] does! |
| SR | [Laughs!] He does it in the winter! |
| CO | [Laughing] Oh, no! |
| SR | It's spring, but it's still winter! |
| CO | It's winter, all right! |
| SR | What's the oldest van that's travelling with you--the oldest bus? |
| CO | Um, a sixty one? Sixty three, something like that. And it's um, apparently it's in pretty good running order--one of the mechanics drives that one. And the brand newest in a 1995 Eur-o-van, which is kind of a mini... van, I think. It's not done in the same traditional style but it counts because VW does actually make it. And that was given to us--given to Ron, one of our web page guys, by VW. |
| SR | Bet it's not mango. |
| CO | It is *so* not mango! They're-- |
| SR | [Laughs, hard] |
| CO | They're all *white* now--white! I mean what are you going to do up in Inuvik with a white camper? |
| SR | The Dempster Highway will be very kind to it--to, to white-- |
| CO | Exactly... |
| SR | Have a *great* trip! |
| CO | Thank you so much, Shelagh! |
| SR | All the best, you're starting off today! It's kind of you to talk to us. |
| CO | Thanks so much. |
| SR | Bye Christa, travel well. |
| CO | Bye bye. Thank you. |
| SR | Christa Ovenell in Vancouver. And if you're on the 'net you can actually follow the convoy's progress. The web site address is (ready?): h-t-t-p, colon, back-slash back-slash w-w-w dot chaco (that's c-h-a-c-o) dot com slash inuvik, slash! That's it! And we'll have it for you if you call in, 'cause I'm not going to say it again, no way! |