DubLife Diaries The VW Lifestyle Podcast May 30, 2026

Magic Freedom & Life in a VW Bus Elijah Paulie (Uncle Funk) Ep67

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73:37

Concept

home on wheels

“Home on wheels” means turning a vehicle into a place you can live in—like sleeping and storing your stuff inside. It’s basically van life.

Concept

full time

“Full time” means they’re living in the bus most or all of the time, not just taking it on weekends. That’s why the vehicle has to be set up to handle real daily life.

Term

VW bus

A “VW bus” is a Volkswagen van that people often turn into a camper. It’s famous for its classic look and for being used on road trips.

Term

camper interior

A “camper interior” means the inside of the van is set up for camping. It’s like having a small home inside the vehicle.

Concept

home is where you park it

It’s a saying that means your van can feel like home when you stop and park. The trip and the camping experience are the point.

Term

burnout

A “burnout” is when you spin the tires on purpose to make smoke and heat them up. People sometimes do it just to show off.

Concept

low and slow

“Low and slow” means taking it easy instead of driving aggressively. It fits the idea of enjoying the trip rather than trying to go fast.

Concept

enjoying the ride

It means the trip itself is the fun part, not just how fast you get there. It’s about enjoying driving and the vibe.

Car

Volkswagen bus

A Volkswagen bus is a classic VW van. People love it because it’s roomy and perfect for road trips and VW meetups.

Car

Volkswagen Beetle

The Volkswagen Beetle is the famous VW “bug.” It’s a classic car with a big fan community, and here it’s the car Zach drove to meetups and local spots.

Topic

A Volkswagen show is a car meet focused on VW models, where owners bring their cars for display, judging, and community hangouts. These events are a big part of how VW owners find parts, learn fixes, and meet other enthusiasts.

Term

swap meet

A swap meet is like a car-parts flea market. People come to trade or buy parts, and it’s also a place to meet other enthusiasts.

Term

break, bleed the brakes

Bleeding the brakes means getting trapped air out of the brake fluid lines. It helps the brake pedal feel firm and makes sure the brakes work properly.

Term

wiring

They’re talking about the electrical system. If a van has been sitting for a long time, the wires can be damaged or disconnected, so you have to fix them before it will run and drive.

Term

1600

They mean the engine size was about 1.6 liters. A smaller engine usually makes less power, so the van wouldn’t feel as quick.

Term

full throttle

“Full throttle” means the engine is receiving the maximum opening of the throttle body/carburetor linkage, allowing the engine to produce its highest power potential. If the pedal linkage or pedal mounting is improvised, you may not reach full throttle, limiting performance.

Term

AC

“AC” means air conditioning—basically the system that cools the inside of the bus. It helps a lot when it’s hot outside.

Term

Wi-Fi

Wi‑Fi is wireless internet. It lets you use the internet in the bus without needing a cable connection.

Term

instant hot water heater

This is a water heater that makes hot water quickly when you need it. It’s useful in a camper because it saves space and you don’t have to wait as long for hot water.

Term

break down

Here “break down” means the bus can stop working because something goes wrong mechanically. The point is that it’s not always smooth sailing.

Term

motor

“Motor” here means the engine. They’re saying their first engine failed badly and they had to deal with it.

Car

Dodge Neon

The Dodge Neon is a small, everyday car. People often talk about it when something specific happens—like an accident—because it’s a common model you might see on the road. In this context, it’s mentioned to explain what car the other driver was in.

Term

gas tank

The gas tank is where the car stores fuel. If it gets hit in an accident, it can leak and become a fire hazard.

Term

rear axle

The rear axle is the part that connects the rear wheels. If it’s damaged, the car can handle weirdly or the wheels may not line up right.

Term

front axle

The front axle connects the front wheels to the car. If it gets damaged, the car may pull or the tires can wear unevenly.

Term

slider track

A slider track is the metal rail that lets something slide back and forth. If it’s bent or crushed, the sliding door won’t work correctly.

Term

frame rack

A frame rack is a big repair stand that holds the car in place after a crash. It helps the shop pull the bent parts back into the right shape so the car can be repaired properly.

Term

secondary door

A secondary door means an extra door they used to replace the damaged one. Restorers sometimes take a door from another bus to get the fit and function back.

Term

double

Here, “double” sounds like a second bus they used for parts. If one bus is wrecked, the other can donate usable pieces.

Term

ASC certified

“ASC certified” means the mechanic has been trained and approved by a certification program. It’s basically a way to say they’re qualified to work on cars.

LIVE

[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Dub Life Diaries.

[SPEAKER_00]: The podcast where passion meets the open road.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Joe Parson, your host, and also a lifelong lover.

[SPEAKER_00]: Book a love, because this ride is just beginning.

[SPEAKER_00]: This podcast is sponsored by Volk's Mania Magazine.

[SPEAKER_00]: Good times, great cars, awesome Volk's Maniacs.

[SPEAKER_00]: Visit Volk'sMania.com to learn more about this class leading VW Magazine.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, welcome back to Wife Diaries.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, imagine being 15 years old.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, you're broke, and there's no plan.

[SPEAKER_00]: And instead of dreaming about a Lamborghini, you're actually sleeping in the back of $125 broken down Volkswagen bus, and you're telling yourself this, this is gonna be my life one day.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now fast forward, that same kid's travel in the country live in full time out of that bus, performing magic at festivals, running his own lifestyle, and somehow he turned out peace and junk into a fully functional home on wheels.

[SPEAKER_00]: Today's guest is Elijah Pauli, aka Uncle Funk.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now he's rebuilt this bus multiple times.

[SPEAKER_00]: He survived getting tea bone that almost loosing this bus completely.

[SPEAKER_00]: and still chose this life over comfort, stability, and everything else people told him that he should want.

[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't just a car story.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is about obsession.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is about identity.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is about what happens when you refuse to give up on a dream that makes zero sense to anybody but yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're getting into it.

[SPEAKER_00]: How he rebuilt it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: How he makes money [SPEAKER_00]: This is going to be one of the wildest lifestyle builds we've ever had on dub-life diaries.

[SPEAKER_00]: So let's get into it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Elijah Pauli, aka Uncle Funk, welcome to dub-life diaries.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, bud, no problem, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: We appreciate you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for coming on and jumping through the hoops that you have to, you know, to go on the website and register as a guest and all that great stuff.

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[SPEAKER_00]: All right, my friend.

[SPEAKER_00]: back to you, no more shout-outs, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: No, you're all good.

[SPEAKER_01]: If that's sponsorship to make the world go around and got it, you know, it's got to thank the people that help you get to where you are.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but the exactly right, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so let's get into it, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: So for people who don't know you yet, tell me who is Elijah Pauli.

[SPEAKER_01]: I always, I usually tell people I'm a man of many hats, many talents.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm into a lot of wide variety of, uh, [SPEAKER_01]: hobbies and collections and all kinds of different things people would say I'm probably a dreamer and a lover and you know I love people with the passion and that's kind of why I'm in the different businesses that I am, magic and ice cream and then billion for her and stuff and I'm just I'm just me in the words of wave of gravy be the best you you can be and I'm just thankful to still be here after all this time.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, well, let's talk about this then.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where did Uncle Funk come from?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because what a cool name that is.

[SPEAKER_01]: I appreciate it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, for years, you know, I always tried to get a cool name.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you can't give it to yourself.

[SPEAKER_01]: You have to be given it, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I went to a lot of music festivals for me, H.A.J.

[SPEAKER_01]: 18, and till so now, but, you know, my mom, my wonderful mother made me a lot of custom clothes.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was big in the bell bottoms.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, the church, you know, I was looking good and some one day some girl on and on the lot would say, hey, you're just that funky uncle funk everyone, which they had and from then on, I just kind of ran with it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I just, I mean, I.

[SPEAKER_01]: haven't let it go since was like, that's me.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I like it, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's cool and you're right.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you do.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can't really name yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it be something that is original or that sticks.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's usually got to come outside and flu it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So happy that you found that name.

[SPEAKER_00]: It definitely fits who you are.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was I was eager to hear how how you came up with it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But cool, cool story.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you said it a second ago.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're a magician.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're an ice cream guy.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're a video [SPEAKER_00]: Dude, how do you explain your life to people and they ask you about it?

[SPEAKER_01]: I guess again, kind of like I said, I'm just a man of many hats, many talents.

[SPEAKER_01]: I, if I get stuck on one thing, I just don't really like it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I like to have a wide variety of things.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then sometimes the most of the stuff just comes to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Either it just comes to me by the happens to grace, I guess.

[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't think I was going to be a nice, [SPEAKER_01]: uh... but i i have such a sweet gig that i really just can't give it up right now so you do you sell ice cream out of your bus no i don't i i have way too much stuff in here to ever do it uh... almost was thing about going to a show and taking a small uh... ice cream freezer with me to do it a would be a dream of mine to maybe get a bus and do that in the future uh... but right now now i i live in your full time

[SPEAKER_01]: And then I have the ice cream truck that I've leased from my company every year.

[SPEAKER_00]: And guys, he's in the bus right now doing this podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's on the way.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's living the life, the real life that this is the guys that we look for, man, on the podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you guys are out there living this thing full time.

[SPEAKER_00]: What I want to hear though is what is a reaction that you normally get from people when they first hear your story and your life and how you're rocking it?

[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, it's kind of a 50 50.

[SPEAKER_01]: There are a lot of people that are like, man, you are living the dream.

[SPEAKER_01]: One of my buddies, you basically says, you're basically retired.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, uh, you know, a lot of people are like, you are crazy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Why don't you get an apartment?

[SPEAKER_01]: Why, uh, you know, you know, there's all kinds of facets to that answer, I guess, with, with, with really to my whole life.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of facets.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it sees there are 50, 50 they love it.

[SPEAKER_01]: They think it's amazing or they think I'm absolutely crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right on, probably a little both and that's okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, both.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: So let's go back to a 15 year old, all right.

[SPEAKER_00]: What made you actually want a VW bus instead of something that, well, most 15 year old kids these days, they want lambos and Ferraris and Bentley's and all this other flashy stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: What made you want a bus instead?

[SPEAKER_01]: the, you know, the camper interior was always so cool to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's like home is where you park it, you know, I always down the street from where I lived.

[SPEAKER_01]: There was a, a little hip-y shop, and it was called that 70s to work, and they had Volkswagen buses that didn't run, but they were there for, they look just looks so cool.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they're painting them up every few years.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, that's, that's, that's for me, you know, I was never really into the, [SPEAKER_01]: super flashy stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes people especially when driving the bus that will rev their motor really hard and to do a burnout, my cat doesn't impress me, otherwise that wouldn't be driving a Volkswagen bus.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's low and slow, baby.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's how we get this is kind of you it's not about getting it's not about getting there It's about enjoying the ride.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now you found this bus in a newspaper went How long ago was it tell me what that moment was like kind of described for me how you found it and and what happened with this bus.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it was 15 years ago this year.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was 15 years old and at the [SPEAKER_01]: And I was getting always lessons and I was waiting for class and I had a newspaper.

[SPEAKER_01]: I used to always go through the class to see what they had.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, almost every week, I'd be like, folks, I can best.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, let's see what they got.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and just so happened, I'd found this one and the guy, you know, of course you don't, it's not like today, like you where you can just look on what they look like, you know, [SPEAKER_01]: in the low near which is like maybe an hour from my house and I have two buses and one of grand apiece.

[SPEAKER_01]: So somehow out of the grace of God, I talked to my dad and to go and then looking at it, you know, my parents, my dad, because both of my parents, they've never been in a vote flag and they've never had a vote flag and so I still don't understand how [SPEAKER_01]: But we went over to the guy's house and he was about to move.

[SPEAKER_01]: And this bus in particular magic bus, it was in the back of his yard and a subdivision.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I just fell in love with it instantly.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was such a PLS, if I'm honest, it didn't have lights.

[SPEAKER_01]: It had several boxes full of parts.

[SPEAKER_01]: It had the motor sitting in here in the cargo area.

[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know what the motor was like.

[SPEAKER_01]: He always said he just wanted to have it to make it into a Scooby-Doo but Mr. Machine.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a bull-tracking bus, so.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, yeah, yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: But that always made me laugh and I just always had to have it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I hound of this guy for months, I really did.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I went through that.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was my next question.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was going to say, you see, you have to this guy to get him to sell it to you, but you know, tell me what that was like.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I mean, I really did have on this guy.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we went seeing a one day, you know, this one on the outside was a lot nicer than my second bus.

[SPEAKER_01]: I bought them together at originally I was like, oh, I'll take the interior of that bus, put it in this one.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he left the window open so that [SPEAKER_00]: What year, what year, what year?

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, 69.

[SPEAKER_01]: 69.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Early.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah, the good year.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_01]: And years.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I, I just kept calling this guy.

[SPEAKER_01]: And finally, I guess I just, I don't remember how many times I called him.

[SPEAKER_01]: But finally, I got him on the phone and was like, hey, man, you know, like, I don't think my dad's really wanting me to get into this.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's not really wanting to.

[SPEAKER_01]: Help me pay for it, you know, at a grand apiece, I'm not really, I can't do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think maybe at first he might have said how about 500 apiece and then finally, like I said, I just kept calling him and handing me as like dude $250 coming get it today only like stop calling me.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I immediately like ran to my dad is like, we got to get the truck and trailer and go get them.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so that that was that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we went over there and [SPEAKER_01]: uh... it was kind of a pain in the in the butt to get them on the trailer uh... you know every breaks are locked up for whatever by and uh... but we got him here and you know that they set them are uh... in our upper yard for a long time

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, the rest was history, huh?

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, in your storyline, you talked about how you were laying in the back on a mattress and you were dreaming about the future.

[SPEAKER_00]: What were those dreams like specifically?

[SPEAKER_00]: What were you dreaming about?

[SPEAKER_01]: I just, you know, I just couldn't wait to camp in it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think the first week I had it, I immediately set up a box fan in between the walkthrough at an old camping mattress on the floor.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, I was just kind of relishing in the moment that this is mine.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's something that would be mine forever.

[SPEAKER_01]: And somewhere that I could take to places, I could, you know, I could travel, I could camp, I could live, I could, you know, just make it my own car, you know, so many cars, they just look like everyone else as I was like, this could be mine.

[SPEAKER_00]: How old were you?

[SPEAKER_01]: I was 15 when I first bought it.

[SPEAKER_00]: did you know at that age that you already, you know, wanted a different life than most people?

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I guess so, I'm, you know, I'm definitely a lot more different than most people.

[SPEAKER_01]: I just, for me, of course, there's sides of me that happening wants a big giant house that I don't know what to do with, but the other half of me is that I love to be able to travel.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't get [SPEAKER_01]: Have all that I want and to live and to go from place to place is definitely a big thing, you know, and I started going to music festivals at the time I either had to tent camp which sucks after a big rainy weekend, you got to pack all your wet stuff up and then go home or you know, I camped in my 70 sick Chevy for a long time and as nice as that was it really wasn't what I wanted so finally when I got the bus all together.

[SPEAKER_01]: And how I wanted it, I was like, I have this set up.

[SPEAKER_00]: I really do.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the life you thought probably.

[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, right on.

[SPEAKER_00]: So talk about Zach.

[SPEAKER_00]: Tell us about Zach.

[SPEAKER_00]: Tell us what roles Zach played in this journey of yours.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Zach was, he was in the end.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was my only friend in town.

[SPEAKER_01]: They had a Volkswagen bus.

[SPEAKER_01]: We played percussion together.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he had a Volkswagen Beetle.

[SPEAKER_01]: Zach Showman.

[SPEAKER_00]: Zach Showman.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, yeah, sounds like Hollywood.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he is amazing.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's amazing.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we put he had a beetle and this was before I finally got the bus fully running, you know, he did all his work.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was he is such a creative and smart person that, you know, him and his father bought, you know, a recipe beetle and fixed it up.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it was, I mean, a show winner for several years.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I mean, him would just cruise around in it, go to the flea markets, go into record stores, you know, cruising in it.

[SPEAKER_01]: He actually took me to the Eureka Springs Volkswagen show my first year.

[SPEAKER_01]: We went to another.

[SPEAKER_01]: We went to several other small Volkswagen get together over the years when we were still young and still in high school.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that just kind of, you know, I was like, oh, this is the place for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I actually had Jeff on that puts that show on not not long ago fantastic guy fantastic show.

[SPEAKER_00]: I actually added that show to my bucket list because I just heard about how the town shows up for that show.

[SPEAKER_00]: But my question about this is [SPEAKER_00]: Well, tell me about what maybe how it felt to be involved in the VW culture, you know, for the first time, because hell of a show to show up at for your first big show, but tell me about what was the culture like, you know, what did it, what did it kind of show you or prove to you, you know, back then about VW culture.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I just it's just it's just something like nothing else.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, you know, I always kind of notice that if you break down in a Volkswagen, someone's bound to stop by and ask if you need help, you know, you can't really get that in a Ford pickup, or even by 76 Chevy, you know, I used to break down often and no one would stop.

[SPEAKER_01]: But in a Volkswagen bus, someone even if they can't help you necessarily, though, stop at asking stuff, um, it was just really cool, you know, I've been to some car shows growing [SPEAKER_01]: It was like nothing else.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was just really amazing to see that many in one location.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now, you know, 15 years later, they have three shows in your request.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's even more, but it was just awesome.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you get to meet people kind of like this podcast.

[SPEAKER_01]: You get to be like, oh, I love your bus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Tell me about it and they'll tell you their whole life story.

[SPEAKER_01]: Or you'll be like, how did you do this?

[SPEAKER_01]: And what did you know?

[SPEAKER_01]: And that to me is just so amazing, you know, [SPEAKER_01]: he was such and he would always fix record players and he would pop up the hood of his beetle and play a record at the car show you know and just that was so cool to me and people you know set out like a whole you know scene at the car show it's just it's just so fun one of my favorite memories at being 15 at the car at the eureka spring show this was [SPEAKER_01]: I got invited.

[SPEAKER_01]: I hung out with the people at the swap meet, which is the whole other side of the show.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I made really good friends with the people there, and they invited me to come camp with them.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I remember walking, or I guess before I walked down this big hill, we cooked food all together.

[SPEAKER_01]: We had a big communion kind of just making food being like, hey, Dave, you got some peppers.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, does anyone have an onion [SPEAKER_01]: You know, and just made fajitas, and I was like, this is cool.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you got five buses in the circle, making food to make sure everyone's get fed.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I walked, I walked down this hill and just saw like this beautiful scene of like five others split window buses in the row, and there were kids playing, and the, you know, the adults were hanging out and talking shop or talking food, and I was like, [SPEAKER_01]: where I want to be, you know, I want to be friends with these people.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right on man, let's touch on Travis Travis was in your story line was a mechanic who you described him as somebody that didn't even like Volkswagen's.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I know he helped you, but describe how Travis helped you.

[SPEAKER_01]: So as a time I was working at a little bar in town called Bearsden Pizza and [SPEAKER_01]: Travis would come in there pretty often and I knew him to be a really again a smart, wonderful person and he kind of let me know well when I was growing up I worked a little Volkswagen shop and you know I've done it all and so I you know at the time I probably again kind of like I did with the guy that sold me and I just kept pestering and I was like man I you know I really want to get this thing done you know at the time Zach really just didn't have the time

[SPEAKER_01]: to help me, you know, he was starting his family at that point and just had so many other things going on.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, Travis came into the next chapter and was like, you know, yeah, man, I'll, you know, let me come over this weekend and we'll see what you got, you know, we'll see what you need to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, we got it done.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have a video of the first time that magic bus ever started that [SPEAKER_01]: The motor set in the inside of the, like in the floor of the bus for years, and then it finally we moved it into my dad shop and it's set there for again a year or two Travis came to look at it as like man this is kind of a clean motor it must be rebuilt at some point and you know so we checked fluids and we stabbed it in and got it going from then you know we, I mean immediately went to go and drive it I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm

[SPEAKER_01]: ready, you know, maybe a few things to get things going.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think, you know, just to break, bleed the brakes, you know, get the gas pedal working, because none of the pedals were even attached at the time.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, shot a wiring, just different things because it's never, you know, probably 20 years before this thing was even resurrected.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, let's talk about pedal, because you said that, you would said in your story that you had a gas pedal that was screwed into [SPEAKER_00]: just to enforce how that even worked.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you know, the metal in the poor board were not very good as any bus, using, at least in the front floor, you'll have some rest.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it was missing a little hinge pan and all that.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it wasn't actually working.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I think at the end, you know, Travis was, you know, he's an American mechanic.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was probably the best way to put it.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to ride this thing, we're going to get a go and it's going to be get a rigged and put it together.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so he just grabbed like a little piece of wood and screwed it down, where hinges would work.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, it worked, it wasn't great, it probably wasn't getting me full throttle, you know, because at the time, you know, I only had a 1600 in it and, you know, it didn't go very fast.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, just things would always happen to it, but you know, it just got to go in and that's really everyone You used to be like, well, why don't you do this?

[SPEAKER_01]: Why don't you do that?

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, I just want to get a drive of why I want to bring it back to life because if I wait till it's perfect You know, it would never be perfect.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have the money or the time to make it perfect, but it's mine [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what I was making it into.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So let's fast forward a little bit in your life, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about how magic entered your life.

[SPEAKER_01]: So like I said, I went to a lot of music festivals.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would volunteer for my ticket.

[SPEAKER_01]: I did, you know, I would check people in.

[SPEAKER_01]: I did trash cleanup.

[SPEAKER_01]: I moved up to security.

[SPEAKER_01]: I moved up, you know, I've done it all.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I was friends with all the fire spinners, you know, fire dancers, fire breathers, you know, entertainers, if you will.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, I always wanted, you know, hang out them so much.

[SPEAKER_01]: I really wanted to get into that and do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But with this and my long hair, I'd go up and smoke faster than Cheechen Chong.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I figured, let me find something safe.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, again, working at that bar.

[SPEAKER_01]: Some guy said, hey, I'm going to a magic shop.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you want to go with me?

[SPEAKER_01]: There's a little rock in about an hour and a half away from my house.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, yeah, that would be really cool.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so when to this magic shop, come to find out it's closing in like a few days.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I bought as much as I could afford, you know, probably four tricks at the time.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I was like, let, you know, this would be cool.

[SPEAKER_01]: And from there, you know, that was about the same time where I got Uncle Funk.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, I was like, man, [SPEAKER_01]: They have about eight yoga workshops, you know, there's so many things to do, but they also have a little more than they probably should yoga workshops.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I pitched the idea, you know, I had about, I had at least a good case of magic tricks.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I said, you know, would you guys let me do a magic show instead of a yoga workshop and they said, sure, we'll try it out.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, so it was just, [SPEAKER_01]: there wasn't very many people at the start, you know, there was eight people next, you know, this third festival in my hometown had about four or five a year, every two months, it had a new festival.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, I started out there, I'd have eight people, 18 people at the next one, turned into 80 people where people couldn't even look inside the tent to even see what I was doing.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it really just grew from nothing, [SPEAKER_01]: And I, you know, that's why I always say it's about the community that you build and the people that support you, you know, it all grew into It grew so big that they would, you know, kind of how in the people at the festival that hey, we should have him on main stage.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't want him in this little workshop tent.

[SPEAKER_01]: We want to see the magic.

[SPEAKER_01]: We want to see Uncle Funk.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so that was, I mean, really the time that it blew up and changed my mind.

[SPEAKER_00]: Dude man, so cool and thanks for sharing that.

[SPEAKER_00]: So why do you think magic works so well in a festival environment?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because, you know, 8 to 80 and then now main stage, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, obviously this works well.

[SPEAKER_00]: What do you think magic works so well for in this type of environment?

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think to a certain point, I got a special niche, I mean, there's not many people that are doing magic at festivals.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's not many people that want to put on the show.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's not, there's not many hippie magicians, if you will, that fit, that kind of, I mean, compared to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not trying to be big headed when I say that, but there's just not many people that, [SPEAKER_01]: I take it, I take it so, I want to be so professional at this, I want to do such a good job and you know, I really try to create something so amazing for people.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think the biggest draw to it is that people can listen to music at their camp.

[SPEAKER_01]: People can indulge in whatever they want to indulge in at camp and they can listen to the music.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're comfort zone, you have to get out of your, you know, your campsite and you have to go find it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You have to go see, you know, sometimes they always either put me at like early early spot like a few weeks ago, they had me at.

[SPEAKER_01]: But people have just been an amazing supporters of the show.

[SPEAKER_01]: They get up and they come out and show support.

[SPEAKER_01]: My favorite quote of mine is that the day I forget the people who built my castle is the day my castle falls.

[SPEAKER_01]: I am just some regular, for a lack of about terms, some Joe Schmo on stage.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm really a nobody, but I am built up with the wonderful people that come to support me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Even after this is my 10 years of performing, I am so beyond thankful that they have helped me get this far keep supporting the show even if maybe they've seen a certain trick that they've seen a time or two, I do usually put [SPEAKER_01]: Um, either a different twist on it or I definitely always have to get new tricks to add into this show.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, anyone can be a magician with a million dollars worth of props and 20 years of practice.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm only half way there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, so, you know, I, it's just, my, my fun family is a call.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't like to call them fans.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're my fun family.

[SPEAKER_00]: I like it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they are, they are the real magic is I tell them all the time.

[SPEAKER_01]: they are the real magic.

[SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't be here without them.

[SPEAKER_00]: So let's talk about them for a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's like the wildest crowd reaction that you've really ever ever received.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't really necessarily know about the wildest one.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, there's definitely been like uncle-funk Franks that kind of got me started into what I would kind of started in my tagline [SPEAKER_00]: You know, and I used to mess with some people, pretty hard core.

[SPEAKER_01]: I used to, you know, change outfits every hour on the hour and people like, why don't you learn something else?

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, no, I've been wearing this whole day, you know, stuff like that.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think maybe just the really the water's reaction to me that will never leave me is, you know, people just showing up to that one show, our main stage and really supporting that, you know.

[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, I've done little things like another one [SPEAKER_01]: I was driving the car around the little festie car and my friends got in the back.

[SPEAKER_01]: I gave him a ride down and they got out and they're bag of wine turned into a bag of water.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they're like, Uncle Funk, look, how did you do this?

[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't even know anything about it.

[SPEAKER_01]: But that obviously they'll never forget that when Uncle Funk turned their bag of wine into a bag of water.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you gotta stay hydrated, you know?

[UNKNOWN]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: No water to wine.

[SPEAKER_00]: So talk to me about the psychology behind magic because not a lot of people understand magic.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not a lot of people, you know, are into it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're obviously very into it created a career out of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what is the psychology behind magic that people really don't understand that you can explain?

[SPEAKER_01]: The best thing to explain is, [SPEAKER_01]: You know, like, even today I posted a video that's gone viral now and people are just trying to expose the trick.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's not about how it's done, it's number one entertainment, you know, like another buddy of mine, he always kind of explains that he's like, you like watching TV and you're like, yeah, like watching TV, well, do you know how it works?

[SPEAKER_01]: And then they're like, usually sometimes they'll say, oh, yeah, I know how it works, we'll [SPEAKER_01]: But for me, I always just think that it's it's for fun, you know, have always said for the last 10 years, if my show can bring someone out of maybe depression or like a bad mindset and make them laugh and smile and live life because, you know, especially this show right now that I, you know, [SPEAKER_01]: And this one is really about thinking about how life is beautiful, life is magical.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have so many good things in our life that sometimes we dwell on the negative, when there's the positives usually outweigh the negatives.

[SPEAKER_01]: Even with owning a Volkswagen bus, there's got to be more positives than the negatives.

[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, the psychology is just, for me, like I said, I just want people to [SPEAKER_01]: know that there is so much peridiot in the world magic is something phenomenal, amazing and especially for me I do comedy magic.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it's usually just to make you laugh and have a good time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, man, that's awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, as far as, as, as, you know, paying bills, so to speak, you, you, you went full time into magic in, in 2019.

[SPEAKER_00]: Did you have some type of a breakthrough or was it something financial?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, what pushed you or, or pushed the desire for you to make that leap?

[SPEAKER_01]: Ah, I mean, I've just, [SPEAKER_01]: After doing it for so many years, this is, you know, definitely, of course I dealt with I almost like any business honestly, you know, most people that were out in a business, they don't really understand when they first start out, they don't understand pay.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're not going to make a profit, you're not going to be, you know, rolling in the dough for the first couple of years, you know, it's like any good thing takes a wall to get started.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm by no means a rich man, obviously I'm living in a Volkswagen bus, but then again, you know, I'm rich in life.

[SPEAKER_01]: I just wanted to try to see if I could make this work, excuse me, you know, I was like, I really want to push this as hard as I can.

[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, half me wishes I would have pushed it harder because now in close to 10 days, I'm turning 30 and I'm like, okay, now my youth has gone.

[SPEAKER_01]: what's going on here, you know, I wish I would have a pretty good partner.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm 48.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've been asking myself the same question.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where in the hell did the time go?

[SPEAKER_01]: But you know, there was always times where I'm like, okay, I really don't make money at this.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I love it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I love the interactions with people.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love getting to see all my friends and my family at music festivals.

[SPEAKER_01]: I love to get, you know, as any job, if you get paid to do what you love to do, it doesn't or if you love what you do, it's not really like a job.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's right.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I really do love it.

[SPEAKER_01]: It has been my passion because in the end, people were my passion.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Good stuff, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: I like that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I can relate to that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've had a background in a career in sales and customer service, my whole life ever since I was a teen and that's what I say all the time, you know, people are my business.

[SPEAKER_00]: go.

[SPEAKER_00]: So let's talk about magic bus, break the set up down for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Tell me what you got.

[SPEAKER_00]: You got AC, you got a shower, what do you have on this bus?

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, after living in the first seven years, the only thing I don't have is a flushable toilet.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have, you know, I have Wi-Fi, I have a big screen TV.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have a quick pitch on three, which is, you know, [SPEAKER_01]: Probably the best I could ever bought at little robable, foldable shower on the outside, I got hot water, instant hot water heater, I got an air fryer, I got my AC that I'm so believable, thankful for.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, I almost have everything that I could ever need in here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when you look at a bus life, like I've talked to a lot of guys that live the bus life, right, in your opinion, what's something that a lot of people might romanticize about bus life that in your opinion is not real?

[SPEAKER_00]: Cause you're out here really.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I have people always romanticize that they wanna do it until they break down, if that's a big essay.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, that's for years I would break down and break down, you know, I blew the first motor that I had in here.

[SPEAKER_01]: I ran to town to get a pizza and I was driving back and I'm like, oh man, something smells burn up.

[SPEAKER_01]: I hope that's not my motor.

[SPEAKER_01]: And sure enough, it was locked to that tighter than anything.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, luckily a good buddy of mine, child to Jason Sellers came out and told me home and, you know, [SPEAKER_01]: got it fit, you know, set here for a while.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the really the romance size is a breaking down that or maybe travel wise all the time.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I do travel, but I don't get to travel all the time.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, maybe half me and want to put more effort into, you know, putting like an A to B plan of like word to go and to set a bunch of shows within that route.

[SPEAKER_01]: Again, [SPEAKER_01]: maybe my greatest fear is breaking down and not having the thing to fix it or not having that money.

[SPEAKER_01]: I am working on a sponsorship from Triple Way because there if you have the bus and you don't have a lot of money spend on 20 bucks for Triple A premium.

[SPEAKER_01]: because it pays itself off immediately, but one toe is all you need.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's paid for that year.

[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then I have used almost all four toes every year.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think last year was probably the only years that I had to use it maybe once.

[SPEAKER_01]: And even then, I probably could have just fixed it myself.

[SPEAKER_01]: But once you get to a certain, I'm six, three.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I used to be about two, four.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that's kind of hard for me to get under there and change some things.

[SPEAKER_01]: So shout out to my buddy, JB, he has helped me more times than I could count.

[SPEAKER_01]: I owe that guy my wife and a million dollars for helping me fix a magic bus time and time and get in.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's to me, it goes back in, goes back to the community.

[SPEAKER_01]: Community I wouldn't be here, who wasn't for friends, [SPEAKER_01]: and said, hey, we'll help you out.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're just a young dumb brook kid.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we'll help you out.

[SPEAKER_01]: So.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, let's go to the opposite end of that spectrum then.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is something that people actually underestimate now about how amazing bus life can be?

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, that's again, once you're flying down the road and you're on your way to your next location, [SPEAKER_01]: to be able to roll down the window.

[SPEAKER_01]: For me, I'm always doing this down the, my friends make fun of me, but I'll put my hand out in the air and just feel the breeze and I'm like, you know, again, I just go back to that time when I was 15, just laying in here and being like, I am driving this thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: We are living.

[SPEAKER_01]: We are, you know, doing the damn thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, it's such an amazing thing to be able to pull up, [SPEAKER_01]: And number one, for me, I have everything that I need.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, sometimes people will be like, hey, do you have, you know, a cooking utensil?

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah, I got it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you have a bandaid?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I got it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You got, you know, something wild, oh yeah, I got it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that's always an amazing thing to have everything that you need when you need it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, that are being able to like, if you're on long trip, you know, let's see, you know, I always have trips that are five or more hours from home.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's nice just to pull over and be able to take a nap in the back and wake up a few hours later and get get back on the road.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hell yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've had that feeling myself.

[SPEAKER_00]: I just don't have a camper, but at times when I've been on road trips without my kids, without my family, let's say go pick up a vehicle or or something along those lines.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love because I'm getting older.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love naps, but I love when I can fall over.

[SPEAKER_00]: I could take that power nap or that cat nap.

[SPEAKER_00]: You give me an hour, brother, and I'll be ready to rock again for their 10 hours.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't need much sleep.

[SPEAKER_00]: But now I feel that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about this car accident.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know in this bus you got you got T bone in 2019, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Walk me through the accident.

[SPEAKER_00]: Walk me through that moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Tell me what it was like.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, man, just to tell everybody what it was like.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was I shouldn't have driven that night.

[SPEAKER_01]: I was heading to a friend's sister's [SPEAKER_01]: I just wanted to get out of the house or out of the bus if you will, just do something.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I drove to two towns over rainy, there was night time.

[SPEAKER_01]: I go to make this turn, and at the time I'm cut us one, and I'm pretty sure I had a green light.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I took it, and made the turn, and boom!

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and I'm in the front and I'm like, what in the hell just happened, did I just get hit and, you know, at the time I was, I was maybe a little too spooked, but I didn't just stop.

[SPEAKER_01]: I knew that I was in the middle of an intersection, so I kind of, I just pulled off.

[SPEAKER_01]: I just kept going a little bit.

[SPEAKER_01]: I got out of the intersection, which some guys thought I was trying to drive off.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, hell, no, I'm not driving to drive off in my bus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Some guys just hit me.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to see it, but I'm not going to assess the situation and stop 200 other people trying to get out of it, you know.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I get out and I look and my whole slaughtered door is just crunched in and the guy that hit me was in a Dodge Neon and so I was at a range full of emotions that was 2% obviously [SPEAKER_01]: You know, he's probably glad or we're both glad that didn't go at him with the tire iron, yeah, you know.

[SPEAKER_01]: And at first, you know, I figured I asked him, I said, did you call the cops?

[SPEAKER_01]: And he just said, yeah, yeah, yeah, little did I know to come out, come to find out.

[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't speak a liquor English.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he, so I kind of set their weight and I thought he called the cops.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I finally called the cops was like, hey, this is what happened.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so they come and they look at it out, you know, and come to find out, you know, in the end, he hit me in the most perfect spot as weird as it is to say it didn't kind of wreck.

[SPEAKER_01]: But if you would have been, you know, this far over to the left, it would have taken out my, my gas tank and my rear axle.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you would have been this far to the front, would have taken out the front axle, you know.

[SPEAKER_01]: you know, it was the best place to be.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think I actually had my camper interior out at that time.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I didn't really crumple much, you know, other than the door and about a foot of the floor.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, but I'll never forget, I went to my friend's house at night and I tried to get in the door.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I, you know, went to crank it open and [SPEAKER_01]: pulled open and it just fell off in my hands and it's raining and I, you know, and I live in here and I'm just like, what am I going to do?

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm like, this is horrible.

[SPEAKER_01]: Luckily, I had to walk through or I had to walk through, but that's where my air conditioner goes.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I think at the time, maybe I was able to pull it out, maybe for that time being or something and got in here between the seats, you know, for [SPEAKER_01]: a couple months.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was, I don't remember exactly how long it was, so I got out at fixed, but it was definitely a couple months.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, this is where Zach comes back into the story again, bring us up the speed on how this happened and what this meant to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Zach, you know, again, even when we were younger and I was doing high school and he was going to [SPEAKER_01]: is such an attention to detail kind of person and you know he is probably one of the best body men out there and you know so he was working at a shop in the town that we lived in and you know he knew how much displacement to me he knew you know just what it was for me and I can't remember our exact conversation at the time but you know I told him hey Zach you know

[SPEAKER_01]: I broke down or I got sidesteped and this is what's wrong, you know, my slider track, it was you couldn't even put a pin in it, it was just crunched to nothing.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he said, man, just, you know, we have a frame rack here at the shop, if you just come over, bring the bus over after hours or on a Saturday, I'll see what I can do.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, and he's like, I'm not sure what I can do or, you know, we'll just see what I can do.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, and I got pictures of this too, where, you know, it had the floor all crumpled.

[SPEAKER_01]: He cut out some of my wood paneling flooring, so he could, you know, try to, you know, and weld it to little brakes on to the thing and put it on the frame rack and it just pulled [SPEAKER_01]: And he might have worked on it for another hour and got the frame rack for the track all nice and neat and straight again at least.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I think at the time, yeah, I just had to get my secondary door from that double, or my second bus, I stole the door off of it and put it on here.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's been like that ever since then, because I have a few of my friends that said, [SPEAKER_01]: But for now, I have this one, at least I can use it and get it in the now because I have to use that door.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a pain in the butt to get all my magic shows to stuff in here without it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So at this time, when this bus was, I guess, being rebuilt, you had set in your storyline that a lot of people kept asking you to restore it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're fattening so much money.

[SPEAKER_01]: Won't you just get a Honda?

[SPEAKER_01]: But it was honestly even before the wreck at the time, you know, it was the original white color.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, it had some rest spots.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, a lot of, I have a few of my friends that won't drive the bus if it has rest.

[SPEAKER_01]: They want to get it all fixed up, ride.

[SPEAKER_01]: They want, and, you know, good for them.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm proud of them.

[SPEAKER_01]: But at the time, you know, I just wanted to roll and I wanted to drive and I wanted it, you know, just get living, you know, I didn't care what it looked like, but you know, if you pull up and dig a gas station and the first thing someone would say is, when you're going to restore this thing and I'm like, okay, I run.

[SPEAKER_01]: fixes here and I'm like, dude, it's not sitting in the field that I dragged it from.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's, you know, 50 years old.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just glad that it's driving and we're alive, you know.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So in your life, in the journey of, of having this bus of living in it, of Reconit, of rebuilding it, all the things that you've gone through.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, what point?

[SPEAKER_00]: How old were you?

[SPEAKER_00]: When this went from a project vehicle to basically your identity, because that's really what it is now.

[SPEAKER_01]: I guess about 20 or so, you know, like I said, when I finally, [SPEAKER_01]: started driving it every day.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, people, even in high school, people knew that I had it, you know, I'd post about it on Facebook and I would have friends come over and check it out.

[SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, I guess in the last 10 years, you know, I've been going to Eureka Spring Show every year.

[SPEAKER_01]: I go to Port City, where am I Port City shirt today?

[SPEAKER_01]: I've been going there.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think this is [SPEAKER_01]: I've been going to another show called Being In T.A.

[SPEAKER_01]: and Hannibal Missouri for the last five, six years.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, when I started going to Volkswagen shows, we're all regular, regular, regular, regular, or you, I got a long time, can't say it.

[SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, I just went, you know, going to a lot of shows in Lebanon.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, at the time, I kind of had to live out of it out of necessity.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, and, uh, you know, I, I don't lie to people.

[SPEAKER_01]: I, I live here at the ice cream ward where I work and I live at the time I had something come up in life and I needed a place to live and shout out to Tyler and Lincoln, my bosses.

[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, you know, I asked him, hey, you mind if I park here for a few weeks to a month to see, you know, what I'm going to do where I'm going to go live and here [SPEAKER_01]: So shout to them and thank you for putting up with me, you know, sorry, I get to plug in for free.

[SPEAKER_01]: So I have all my amenities I'm plugged in, I get free water free electric, no rent, my only rent is checking the ice cream trucks at night making sure they're plugged in and helping unload the, you know, 1200 dozen ice creams that come in every week, you know, so I have a made and that's kind of where, [SPEAKER_01]: Sure, I would, half of me, sure I would like to be roaming a little more, but then when you have it's made so well, it's kind of hard to one leave.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, understand, understand for sure.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, awesome thing happens for you, fast forward many, maybe many years, but from what I saw in your timeline and from what I remember, you actually made the cover of Volkswagen Magazine.

[SPEAKER_00]: Talk to me about that feature and there it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: There it is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, when first people that got it, they're like, I don't see you on there.

[SPEAKER_01]: They thought this was my bus or like, is that you and I'm like, no, I am gonna.

[SPEAKER_01]: are a mirrored here, so it makes it even harder, my goodness.

[SPEAKER_00]: Other side.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, there we go, there we go, there we go, there you go, there you go.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm right there in the eye.

[SPEAKER_01]: All bad.

[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, shout out to Denise Brown and Paul Cave outstanding people.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I have bothered Paul a lot with a bunch of things and Paul is just so nice and kind and caring.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I would love to be them in person.

[SPEAKER_01]: right back at Denise as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've been such a huge fan of her and her Volkswagen things bronxin for years and I also shout out to Jason Morgan.

[SPEAKER_01]: But Denise hit me up.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think in this November, this one gave my 2020-37, 2020, too.

[SPEAKER_01]: She hit me up and said, hey, do you, you know, we're looking for some people [SPEAKER_01]: do you want to be featured?

[SPEAKER_01]: And I said, you know, that would be, I mean, the most epic thing in my life.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would love to.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, we have a four page feature.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, show, show in the bus, you know, this, they had photos of, uh, photos of my crowds right here.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then the photos of the bus got out to see Max photography for helping me take the photos of the bus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, [SPEAKER_01]: You know, and it kind of says kind of the stuff that I shared with you, you know, talks about me getting it for 120 by bucks.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it talks about, you know, You know, just the wonderful life that I live and it's all all thanks to the people who have supported me over the year.

[SPEAKER_01]: This was we're in this little reason.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's there's there's the shower on the outside.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's magic trunks.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, man.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's the inside of the bus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's see if I can get it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that was over the moon about that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I never thought that that'd be in a magazine, let alone to make the cover.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, for a few months, I had a lot of fun making TikTok videos about it and using it on the cover of a roll in stone.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, so I had to buy my mom a few copies [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, luckily, you know, I bought out like 10 of the last copies, uh, from his, uh, Paul supplies and was able to sell them at a few shows, uh, because not, not everyone in Arkansas had the ability to find them, uh, at Barnes & Noble in books a million.

[SPEAKER_01]: Um, there were very few people that got them that knew me, uh, uh, [SPEAKER_01]: inside my state, but then I've had people from all over make videos about getting them and stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, in your opinion, what do you think?

[SPEAKER_00]: What is it about the VW community that maybe is different than other car cultures?

[SPEAKER_01]: What kind of like what I said earlier were, if you break down in a Chevy or forward anything else, you're probably not going to get my [SPEAKER_01]: In the bus, you're going to get someone's, you know, there was a time where I was broken down, head in the engine compartment, and some guy pulls up and he didn't have much to say, but he stopped.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he said, you don't see these much anymore, I'm like, yeah, man, you know, I was kind of covered in oil and upset, and he's like, and they were painted, you don't see these much anymore.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, you don't because people don't want to work on them.

[SPEAKER_01]: People, you know, the younger generation like me, they fantasize about having them, but they don't understand the work that goes into them.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I definitely understand the work that goes into them.

[SPEAKER_01]: But for me, it takes me two hours to get something done versus my buddy, JB, who's like a NASCAR pick crew and it comes to putting stuff together.

[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, so I'm like, I pay you some money and take you out for dinner to repay you for your 20 minutes of time versus my two hours and there are my good friends that are also like, well, Elijah, that's not how you learn, you know, I just worry about breaking stuff, you know, and make it worse for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, I feel like I feel that like more than you could ever even realize.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's not just it's just like maybe you already spend a lot of money.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to break it again.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I also want to get it on the road.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, like I said earlier, time is the most valuable thing you have on this earth.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, it's time of money.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I relate to that because I'm I'm not I'd say mechanical enough to be dangerous, but I feel like with these cars I respect them so much and I also like to drive the shit out of my cars because I like to drive them so much.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want them to break down so I don't want like this.

[SPEAKER_00]: half-pitch effort to repair or to replace something when I've got friends that are right here in my community do that are expert mechanics.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're like ASC certified and they got you know $10,000 worth of tools and they got a lift and they got all this stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, why would I not just want that dude to fix my car when he knows exactly?

[SPEAKER_00]: doing any skill trained when I'm going to go out there and probably have fast everything that I do.

[SPEAKER_00]: To me, I, you know, it's not a thing about, well, you can't learn it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I value learning.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do.

[SPEAKER_00]: But at my age bro with my back, I got a bad back.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've had back surgery, like all of these variables, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: When that all adds up, [SPEAKER_00]: brother I'd rather pay somebody else that's an expert and I'd rather just get the expert to handle it so I know when I turn the key and I go to start it and it will be something else that I got to mess with you know or so I feel that I feel what you're what you're saying and again I do [SPEAKER_00]: you know, I probably get some shit for that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do value, you know, learning.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, and, and I feel like you should, if you're going to drive a car 50 years old, you should probably learn, especially these air cool cars, you should probably, you know, know enough to be able to at least rescue yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: But again, man, I live in a densely populated area.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got buddies that are absolute experts, builders, craftsmen, you know, way better at me than, you know, fixing these things than I am.

[SPEAKER_00]: So why, what I even care enough myself when I've got all these experts right around me that, you know, will grab the helm with no problem.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, that's just me, that's my opinion.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, with any people who own a Volkswagen usually have more than one, so I have three and seven, eights buses and a Volkswagen thing and I've been handed my buddy JB for a couple years now because it's been, I did a lot of work myself on it and then it kind of stopped and you know, for me now I want to just get all the brakes done on it and for me, yeah, I can do it [SPEAKER_01]: So I don't want to have to ever mess with it again until something breaks over stress.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you probably go pay somebody else to fix it, because why not?

[SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of where I'm at at my age.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I got five kids and dude, I just don't have the time to be out there messing around.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not saying that I wouldn't want to.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I had a little bit, maybe when I retire one day, you know, I'll get into, you know, really the mechanical aspect.

[SPEAKER_00]: But right now I'm in too busy and I just, I want to go ahead.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm selfish, damn it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to enjoy it, working on it all the time.

[SPEAKER_01]: I told you so that I felt a failure with that for sure.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why do you think, you know, live in the lifestyle that you live?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why do you think some people choose comfort when maybe other people like yourself might choose levels of freedom over comfort?

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, to a certain point, I have a little bit of both because now with Evan Nacy, hot shower and all that I definitely am living in comfort.

[SPEAKER_01]: But, and it's funny you said freedom because the four magic bus was named the magic bus, this bus was named freedom.

[SPEAKER_01]: That for me was my ticket to freedom and to live, I wanted and to live, not to really romanticize the 60s, but to live that freedom that we're just driving on the big up and road and headed to cool locations and to not have, maybe let's just say, now have a big car payment every month or if you're just getting to live or drive something [SPEAKER_01]: You won't have, you know, like I said, Zach Crow and up was the only guy in my town that had a bolt flag and as was the beetle, no one else had a bus and, you know, so it's just something like, you know, there's nothing else you can get.

[SPEAKER_01]: Once you're behind the wheel of this, big old wheel, big open window, windows rolled down, and here we are.

[SPEAKER_01]: When go through your hair, you're like, this is, this is it.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is, this is free to them for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm get it, brother.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, not a lot of people outside of this community understand that feeling that you were just describing right there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not a lot of people get it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You roll a window down, you're behind the wheel, you're chilling, you're probably going pretty slow.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just a vibe and it's a vibe unless you own one or have ridden in one.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's just not really a vibe that you can describe, you know.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you can't, you can see videos where you have to experience it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and then, you know, you hear these folks, right, when they talk about the first time they ever rode in a classic Volkswagen first time in their life and sometimes they're, you know, meet their medium adults, you know, they're in their late 20s early 30s sometimes in their 40s and they finally ride one and they usually say this something like this, man, that they rods a lot better not thought it would.

[SPEAKER_01]: I had my answers, uncles and my dad say that.

[SPEAKER_00]: it rides a lot better and you thought it would.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: So tell me this man what's what is what does success actually look like to you at your age right now living the lifestyle that you live?

[SPEAKER_00]: What does success look like?

[SPEAKER_01]: For me you know it successes many things but for me is when I'm long gone when I'm dead even if I stopped doing magic I would like to think success [SPEAKER_01]: can't say a bad thing about me, you know, they said, you know, they say Uncle Funky is just that groovy guy that really loves people with a passion, I'm, you know, it's not selfless to say that I'm pretty selfless, I, you know, I would give anyone anything to make their day better, usually to the detriment of my own.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I, I just love people the passion I love to share the love and the light and the, you know, the life that we've been given.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, that to me is the great success.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, sure half of me, you know, as I'm like, yeah, if I, you know, had a big old mansion and I had 20 vote flaggins.

[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, that, that's, you know, success.

[SPEAKER_01]: But in the end, you can't take that with you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And for me, the day that I [SPEAKER_01]: You know, hopefully I'll have one heck of a party celebration, kind of like the movie of Big Fish.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have a lot of people that have known through different variants of my life, you know, because I'm just, I'm not, I can't be categorized as one thing in my life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you, do you remember the the name of that small town in the movie Big Fish?

[SPEAKER_01]: All right, now I'm top of my head, but I've watched it move itself to one of my top.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's one of my top two.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: That little town is located in this little ass town called Millbrook, Alabama.

[SPEAKER_00]: How do I know?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because I had a house there for almost five years.

[SPEAKER_00]: How do I know?

[SPEAKER_00]: On that because I did a whole bunch of weddings out there in that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, wow.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's amazing.

[SPEAKER_00]: Same tree.

[SPEAKER_00]: The props are still there.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're all beat up and beat the shit and stuff now, but the goats are there.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a dude.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: The lake.

[SPEAKER_00]: All that whole movie scene.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now where you barefoot.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's the real question.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes some of the guests, and then they throw the shoes up on the court, and it was a really cool town.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's in Milbrook, and it's just this property that this family owns, and they have a bunch of weddings and stuff out there, and it's really cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, it's crazy to hear you talk about that town and talk about big fish, because normally I just don't I don't ever have that conversation.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right, well it's kind of like it's kind of like my life people wouldn't imagine or Believe half the stores.

[SPEAKER_01]: I tell them anyways, and then you know I in the end of my life people are gonna show up They're like how did you know him and then back?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, he tried to tell you and he didn't believe I love it dude.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love it for your age.

[SPEAKER_00]: You sound like a nice young wise man Describe the Volkswagen community for me and just one word [SPEAKER_01]: family.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's just again.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've heard other friends say that on there, but it's true.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's it's, you know, you get to be one big family, you get to have communion with other making food around the campfire, getting the crews together on a big old crews and camping and hanging out, staying up to the wee hours of the morning, you know, if you break down, someone has a, you know, [SPEAKER_01]: You know what you don't get that with anything else.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's one big happy family.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can I can vibe with it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Tell me this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Tell me where people can find you.

[SPEAKER_00]: If they want to look up.

[SPEAKER_00]: They want to see you mentioned.

[SPEAKER_00]: You had a tick talk earlier.

[SPEAKER_00]: Tell me where people can find you.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we used to have a really awesome website where we're hoping to get that back up and running again, that's gruviancofunk.com.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's the best way to find me gruviancofunk on.

[SPEAKER_01]: Should be on everything.

[SPEAKER_01]: I need to get patented here pretty soon, but I've been doing it for 10 years.

[SPEAKER_00]: co-man.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, dude.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got some rapid fire questions for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[SPEAKER_00]: These are questions at the manifest response.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what they're designed for at least if a story comes of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm certainly not going to stop you.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what we're here for.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're here for all the stories.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you see that meme I put out like maybe three, four weeks ago?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a it's a it's a old beetle cartoon version of a beetle and he's holding a little gun and he says give me all your [SPEAKER_01]: I think that's it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I said, yeah, give me all your money.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like that's what the bumper sticker came from because the obviously these cars take all our money.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I saw that one that I'm going to do a little, I'm going to redo this sticker a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to say give me all your stories.

[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, cool man.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Rapid fire, you're ready to get into them.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm ready.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, here we go.

[SPEAKER_00]: First question, favorite place that you've ever taken the bus.

[SPEAKER_01]: Eureka Springs, worse breakdown story and just one sentence, a car and trip away two times in a row in one day.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, all right, one thing doesn't necessarily have to be a tool, just one thing that you always carry with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: oil.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, nice.

[SPEAKER_00]: Coming from a guy that talked about calling Triple A two times in the same day.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: How about this one?

[SPEAKER_00]: Dream upgrade for the bus.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's such an hard disk breaks.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'd like at some point.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's about the only thing I haven't really upgraded.

[SPEAKER_00]: One magic trick that you'll never get tired of.

[SPEAKER_01]: the magic we create all together.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's my favorite magic trick.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, that's cool, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lookin' back on your life now.

[SPEAKER_00]: What advice would you give 15-year-old you?

[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, and then be persistent, never give up, and believe in yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: If your bus could talk, what do you think your bus would say?

[SPEAKER_01]: I, and then it would say live life and enjoy, but also pedal to the metal and drive like hell.

[SPEAKER_00]: Alright.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what's next for you?

[SPEAKER_00]: What's next for Uncle Funk?

[SPEAKER_00]: We chill in, we do in our thing, we we're just going to continue to do what you're doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: You got any plans on the horizon?

[SPEAKER_00]: What's next for you?

[SPEAKER_01]: I've been in talks with a few more magazines.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm hoping to be in another magazine or so.

[SPEAKER_01]: I have several shows.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, this year's Mark's 10 years of performing magic, [SPEAKER_01]: And I have been pushing harder than ever, I have more shows than I ever have in, you know, sometimes they were going to be maybe five in a year now, I've had five in a month and every month as at least a couple of gigs every, you know, every week or so, and yeah, just to hope and to keep it going and you know, never know what I'm going to do.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'd like to do a big like maybe Route 66 magic show tour.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'd like to own, I'd like to own my own theater at some point in the future or at least be performing at one.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nice, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: I like it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I like what's next.

[SPEAKER_00]: I like the future.

[SPEAKER_00]: I like the the dream and I like the inspiration.

[SPEAKER_00]: So speaking of inspiration, somebody listen into this podcast or because now I do them on YouTube, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: So now I got these videos if they watch this podcast on YouTube and they feel inspired by your story.

[SPEAKER_00]: They might want to live in a bus.

[SPEAKER_00]: They might want to become a magician.

[SPEAKER_00]: They might want to take a risk and live a life like you live.

[SPEAKER_00]: What advice do you give them?

[SPEAKER_01]: And it kind of goes back to the advice I gave myself.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't give up, keep persisting and believing yourself.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, again, there were so many times where I didn't think that this would happen or I could be here and then, you know, then you know, all the efforts that I put forward got me in the Volkswagenia, even got, you know, got me to hear on this podcast, you know, it's just, you know, if I gave up, like everyone told me just to get a Honda, wouldn't be, you know, living in the bus, [SPEAKER_01]: You know, there's, you know, I have a lot of friends, sometimes I'll get a bus and sell it, which, you know, again, good for them.

[SPEAKER_01]: But this has been a part of me.

[SPEAKER_01]: This bus has been here for me.

[SPEAKER_01]: When I didn't have anyone else to lean on, you know, I could have been either living in the streets or doing something else.

[SPEAKER_01]: But this has become my shelter of my home.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, again, I didn't give up on it, you know, I'd broke down so many times where it wouldn't be even worth it.

[SPEAKER_01]: uh... to to be in there but uh... it was just it is always my dream to be uh... supposed to live in we know we both could have been down in the dirt but we're living now and i'll all end on this note love the hat your hat says thank you make me w is cheap again my little buddy Russell gave us to me and i was like oh i got to wear this for the

[SPEAKER_00]: When you when you first came on I saw the hat I thought oh shit here.

[SPEAKER_00]: We good.

[SPEAKER_01]: I figured I was waiting somewhere.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I was kind of nervous about that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I was like, Oh, come on.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's just a fun, you know, for a guy that bought his butt for 125 bucks.

[SPEAKER_01]: That would never be able to find that deal again.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, my second bus was 500 bucks.

[SPEAKER_01]: My Volkswagen thing was a thousand.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, you're doing good, you're doing good.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so I'll make me never just cheap for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I love it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love it.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, we'll end on that note, man.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a wrap for this episode of Dub Life Diaries.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for riding along with us and diving into these incredible stories of the people in the dub that drive their dreams.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you love today's episode, don't forget to subscribe or hit that follow button so you never miss an adventure.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you have a story to tell or know somebody else who's living the dove life?

[SPEAKER_00]: Awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: Reach out to us.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can find us on all socials and dove life diaries.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or shoot me an email.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not hard to find.

[SPEAKER_00]: Double life diaries at gmail.com.

[SPEAKER_00]: Until next time, keep the engine tummin and the wheels turn in and always follow the road that inspires you.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is Joe Person.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm signing off.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll catch you on the next ride.

About this episode

A VW-bus lifestyle story that starts with the reality of “sleeping in the back of $125 broken down Volkswagen bus,” then follows Elijah Paulie (Uncle Funk) as his bus becomes “freedom.” Along the way, the conversation hits full-time van life, building a “fully functional home on wheels,” and the practical side of breakdowns—like blowing “the first motor.” Between VW community moments (help when you break down) and festival magic, they share why this culture feels like “one big family.”

1600 break, bleed the brakes break down burnouts camper interior double enjoying the ride frame rack front axle full throttle

Dodge Neon Volkswagen Beetle Volkswagen Bus

Original notes

What happens when you trade comfort for freedom and turn a vintage Volkswagen bus into your full-time home?

In Episode 67 of DubLife Diaries, Joe sits down with Elijah Paulie, better known as Uncle Funk—a professional magician, festival performer, ice cream man , videographer, and full-time VW bus dweller. From buying his first Volkswagen bus as a teenager to building a life centered around magic, travel, and community, Elijah shares the incredible journey that led him to become one of the most recognizable personalities in the VW scene.

In this episode, we discuss:

✨ How a $250 Volkswagen bus changed the course of his life

🚌 Living full-time in a vintage VW bus for years

🎩 The path from opera training to professional magician

🎪 Building a career performing at festivals and events across the country

🔧 The realities of bus life, breakdowns, repairs, and life on the road

❤️ The power of community within the Volkswagen world

📖 Being featured on the cover of Volksmania Magazine

🌎 Why he chooses freedom over comfort and conventional living

Elijah's story is equal parts inspiring, entertaining, and unconventional. Whether you're a Volkswagen enthusiast, a dreamer chasing a different path, or someone who loves hearing stories about people living life on their own terms, this episode is packed with wisdom, humor, and plenty of magic.

Connect with Uncle Funk

Follow Elijah "Uncle Funk" Paulie and keep up with his magic shows, VW adventures, and festival appearances. "Groovy Uncle Funk" on all socials except Facebook. He's just "Uncle Funk" on Facebook.

Enjoying the show?

Please leave a review, subscribe, and share this episode with a fellow VW enthusiast. Your support helps us continue telling the stories that make the Volkswagen community so special.

#DubLifeDiaries #VolkswagenBus #VWLife #UncleFunk #MagicShow #VanLife #VWBus #VolkswagenCommunity #Podcast #ClassicVW #BusLife #Episode67

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/dublife-diaries-the-vw-lifestyle-podcast/donations

DubLife Diaries The VW Lifestyle Podcast

Joe Person

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