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About
Juergen Barbusca leaves a demanding job in corporate America for a yearlong, 35,000-mile journey across the United States and Canada in a van he nicknames The Shoebox. With a road atlas and a check engine light for company, he sets out to right-size a growing work-life imbalance by exploring small towns, sweeping landscapes, and the spaces in between, right down to the perils of overnight parking. This vanlife adventure captures the heart of life on the road, from highways to hidden corners of America and Canada.
A self-described vanlife greenhorn, he soon discovers that the real treasures aren't just iconic highways and spontaneous detours but the people he meets along the way. Chance encounters, unexpected kindness, and an unflagging curiosity carry him through moments of adventure, introspection, humor, and solitude as he navigates a growing pandemic and an unexpected family crisis. In the end, he carries home lessons only the open road can teach.
Barbusca steers his way to Going-to-the-Sun Road, The Cabot Trail, the Loneliest Road in America, and well beyond. Nights unfold in big-box parking lots, truck stops, neighborhood streets, and wide-open nature. He browses one of America's last video rental stores, recounts the night he catches out on a freight train, learns the secret to making Dutch-oven biscuits, and engages with a cross-country walking minister. He also reflects on life's twists inside Ernest Hemingway's favorite haunt and observes the spirit of giving in action - one of America's greatest qualities. Water towers, grain bins, abandoned places, and libraries become unlikely stops on this cross-country road trip.
Adventurous, thoughtful, and lighthearted, "No Overnight Parking" is an unscripted travel memoir inspired by John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways. Blending vanlife experiences, memoir, and travelogue, it's full of zigzags, split-second decisions, and unexpected discoveries. This journey invites readers to rediscover their sense of adventure and reminds us that sometimes the best destinations are the ones we never plan.
A self-described vanlife greenhorn, he soon discovers that the real treasures aren't just iconic highways and spontaneous detours but the people he meets along the way. Chance encounters, unexpected kindness, and an unflagging curiosity carry him through moments of adventure, introspection, humor, and solitude as he navigates a growing pandemic and an unexpected family crisis. In the end, he carries home lessons only the open road can teach.
Barbusca steers his way to Going-to-the-Sun Road, The Cabot Trail, the Loneliest Road in America, and well beyond. Nights unfold in big-box parking lots, truck stops, neighborhood streets, and wide-open nature. He browses one of America's last video rental stores, recounts the night he catches out on a freight train, learns the secret to making Dutch-oven biscuits, and engages with a cross-country walking minister. He also reflects on life's twists inside Ernest Hemingway's favorite haunt and observes the spirit of giving in action - one of America's greatest qualities. Water towers, grain bins, abandoned places, and libraries become unlikely stops on this cross-country road trip.
Adventurous, thoughtful, and lighthearted, "No Overnight Parking" is an unscripted travel memoir inspired by John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways. Blending vanlife experiences, memoir, and travelogue, it's full of zigzags, split-second decisions, and unexpected discoveries. This journey invites readers to rediscover their sense of adventure and reminds us that sometimes the best destinations are the ones we never plan.