NO OVERNIGHT PARKING

Barbusca describes the highs and lows of his yearlong van journey through the U.S., with a detour to Canada.

After purchasing a Volkswagen Eurovan camper that he quickly nicknamed “The Shoebox,” Barbusca “felt the spark of wanderlust.” Next, he walked away from the tech company where he’d toiled for 14 years. Starting from a Las Vegas home base, Barbusca planned to explore the U.S. and also visit Quebec, where he hoped to practice conversational French. Just like one of his inspirations, the late traveling journalist Charles Kuralt, Barbusca describes small adventures and fascinating everyday people along his route. He stops at famous sites like Niagara Falls as well as lesser-known places. He visits Astoria, Oregon, and one of the last extant video stores in the U.S.; in Browning, Montana, Barbusca gets to hold the reins of a horse so its owner can buy a pint at a local bar called Ick’s Place. Yet amid the road’s excitement, some dark clouds threaten. The van has issues, including a battery-draining refrigerator and constant appearances of the check-engine light. But worse is news that Barbusca’s mother has suffered a stroke. Much like his driving, where he cruises at 65 mph so he won’t miss anything, Barbusca’s writing has an easy, understated rhythm, demonstrating an ability to make the mundane enjoyable, such as his detailed examination of small towns’ water towers. The chronology is easily discernible, capturing the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic and an enthusiastic Trump rally held at Mt. Rushmore. Whatever the situation, the author’s tone remains resolutely neutral; he’s learning, not judging. At one point, the author buys dog biscuits for a terrier belonging to a woman living in a Chevy. In another instance, although he initially fears a rough-looking biker he meets, the author discovers good intent behind the intimidating exterior. In part, this is a portrait of a man with conflicting impulses; Barbusca enjoys freedom but also feels the “silent companion” of loneliness on his travels. But the book also reveals much about the contradictions of American life: laborers and those unhoused, abandoned shopping centers and Andrew Carnegie libraries. The text includes black-and-white photographs, maps, endnotes, and an index. 

An easygoing, informative, and often moving account of life in a van.