That’s right: in 1990, Pedro fulfilled a lifelong dream of driving the Pan-American Highway. As a kid, he’d see drivers zoom along the stretch of the highway that passed through his hometown of Tucuman, Argentina and think, “I’d like to see where that road leads.” So at the tender age of 59, he got behind the wheel of his 1981 Beetle and found out firsthand, driving from Ushuaia, Argentina to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, a journey not unlike the one Rainer would travel some 21 years later. But unlike Rainer, who was part of a three-man team driving a 21st century vehicle around the clock, Pedro traveled solo, and his journey took a bit longer.
“The trip took me 68 days, of which 38 days were traveling, and 30 days were spent doing custom duties, some car maintenance, and the time spent in Colombia waiting for the ship that took my Volky [Volkswagen] from Colombia to Panama by ship,” explains Pedro. Besides the added difficulty of traveling alone, Pedro faced other challenges that Rainer and team didn’t.
Part of the reason Pedro’s trip took so long is that he strayed from the Pan-American Highway so that he could see more of the US, specifically the West Coast. And it’s a good thing he did, because he says that the most memorable part of his journey took place in Southern California, just before he reached Los Angeles, when he was suddenly surrounded by some 50 cars, all of which began honking and waving. As it turned out, they were Argentineans who lived in Los Angeles and were on their way to a get-together at a local park. When they saw Pedro’s Argentine license plates, they greeted him warmly and wished him well on his journey.
After his adventures in sunny California, Pedro got back onto the Pan-American Highway, eventually traveling the same route through Canada and Alaska as Rainer and his team. But his story doesn’t end there: after reaching the end of the road, Pedro decided that he wanted to see even more of Canada and US, so he drove all the way to San Francisco before shipping his beloved Volky back to Argentina and boarding a plane himself.
But the best part of Pedro’s story? He still owns and drives that ’81 Beetle, which now has more than100,000 miles on it.
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