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Shane Tretheway • September 22, 2018
The Owners of Miss Daisy
We are Shane & Kaley Tretheway. Kaley and I met in college at Lee University in Cleveland, TN and were college sweethearts. We married in October of 2015 in Gruene, Texas. Two days after our wedding, we flew to our new home in Melbourne, Australia, where we would spend the next year. We pit-stopped in New Zealand & Fiji for our honeymoon before arriving to what would become an amazing adventure. Kaley got a job as a hostess for a 5-Star Accor Property Restaurant, and I was placed at an internship at VidCorp, where I would eventually be salaried as their Digital Media Integration Specialist.
During our time in Melbourne, we decided to go on a trip down the Great Ocean Road, one of the most iconic surf destinations in the world. It was only about an hour away from the city, so it was a no-brainer for us to go see. Kaley, for some reason, had the idea to rent an old VW Camper Bus to drive down there and camp in. So after one of Australia's MANY 4-day workweeks, Kaley and I, as well as our American friends, Courtney and Mark embarked on an unforgettable journey for the extended weekend. Our destination: The Twelve Apostle, if we made it that far. But we weren't in a hurry. Obviously.
We began our journey by taking a train from Melbourne to Geelong, Australia, where we were renting the VW Bus from. We met the owners of the bus, who had an army of busses on their lawn. Our bus's name was Applejack, a bright yellow 1978 4-speed Baywindow Camper. Neither Kaley nor myself knew how to drive a manual transmission, so we were really excited when Courtney said she did. After a very long training from the owner on how to drive Applejack, we were off! On the left side of the road, driving from the right side of the vehicle (Poor Courtney!!).
After stocking up on some groceries at a local store, we embarked the first leg of the Great Ocean Road. We didn't get very far the first day before the sun was already setting, so we found a random parking lot that faced the beach to park in for the night. The stars that night were the most beautiful we had ever seen in our life. There wasn't a single light within eye-sight. night with the Milky Way galaxy so vibrant. We were seeing constellations that could not be seen from the Northern Hemisphere. Absolutely breathtaking!
We woke up that morning to find our van surrounded by more than 30 cars (at 6:30 am!). Dozens of surfers (and their dogs) were down below on the beach taking on the waves of the most beautiful beach I had ever witnessed. We had no idea at the time that Bells Beach is one of the most iconic surf destinations in the world. But we learned that one pretty quickly.
The next two days were spent putting around the Great Ocean Road with some amazing friends. The VW Bus taught us to slow down and enjoy the simple things in life, such as friendship, the vast beauty of nature, and patience. We learned to love Applejack for his retro vibe, slow speeds, and Hooga Horn!
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After 150 kilometers of fun-filled memories that will last a lifetime, we arrived at our destination of choice: The Twelve Apostles. These are a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park. Their proximity to one another has made the site a popular tourist attraction. There were once 12 of these massive natural formations, but due to erosion from the ocean, only 8 remain today. What a view they were! We trekked to an overlook, where we took these pictures.
After 150 kilometers of fun-filled memories that will last a lifetime, we arrived at our destination of choice: The Twelve Apostles. These are a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park. Their proximity to one another has made the site a popular tourist attraction. There were once 12 of these massive natural formations, but due to erosion from the ocean, only 8 remain today. What a view they were! We trekked to an overlook, where we took these pictures.
We didn't know it then, but we were creating memories that would last a lifetime. We were creating memories that we already long for now that we no longer live in Australia. Our time in Melbourne was such an amazing year. It taught us how to rely on one another, and how to truly look out for the interest of our other half. It was a time of adventure, amazing friends, and independence.
After that trip, VW Bus's have held a special place in our heart. They inspire us to be patient, to seek adventure, and to love each other even more than the day we married. We love the atmosphere and happiness that buses like Applejack create. You can't help but smile when you see one. This is the fuel that feeds the passion behind what we have created here at Sunkissed Photobus. We want to share this experience with you, our friends, and stand by you to create lasting memories that you will cherish for the rest of your life.
Stay Happy. Stay Hippie.
Yay! It's our first wedding with Miss Daisy! Just like the Pink Bride Show, we were nervous and excited. We had everything loaded in the bus and ready to go. I drove the bus and Kaley followed behind in our truck since were also photographing and filming the wedding. We were chugging along in the right lane on I-75 getting passed by nearly every car because we are slow. Remember when we mentioned that we had little knowledge of VW buses? Well we didn't realize how easily they can overheat and it was about 95 degrees this sunny August day. I get a call from Kaley saying "Pull Over! You are smoking!". I quickly took the next exit and pulled into the nearest gas station. Now what? How are we going to get to this wedding? We also have to photograph and film it. We called our most wonderful friend Julia and she came to the rescue. Julia immediately came to the gas station and we called a tow truck. They would be there in about 20 mins and Julia waited to give them the keys while Kaley and I took the truck and went to the wedding venue with our camera gear. We were stressed but had to keep going. We made it to the wedding in plenty of time to begin photographing/filming. The Tow truck arrived and dropped off poor Miss Daisy hours before the ceremony and guests arrived. We were very thankful not to cause a disruption to the bride and groom's wedding day. I got Miss Daisy in place where she would be in operation during the reception. Stress started to subside and we focused on documenting the couple's gorgeous wedding. Later our booth attendant arrived and made sure the kiosk and props were ready to go. Everything was working just fine and Miss Daisy fulfilled her duty as a super fun photo booth. Guests hopped in and out of the bus all night for their photos and had the best time. It wasn't the experience I had hoped for as our first wedding but we made it.
This was such a nerve wrecking day! This was the day we showed the world what we had worked so hard the last 6 months to create. Would it be a bust or success? We were so stressed but we had to keep going. Luckily Miss Daisy ran well and made it inside the Chattanooga Convention Center for the show.
Miss Daisy is bright yellow and beautiful now but she wasn't always this way. We were young (still are), had a dream, and were willing to take a risk. We wanted to start a photo bus business and that means we needed a cute VW Bus. Ones that were fully restored were expensive and often didn't have the look we were going for. We spent months looking at VW buses on all sorts of used car platforms across the U.S and we found Miss Daisy on Craigslist. Yes, on sketchy Craigslist. She was listed for sale for a couple months and we had our eye on her since the owner stated it had a rebuilt motor (Later we found out that wasn't the case...) We decided we liked the idea of restoring a bus ourselves so we could customize it and slowly pay for the projects. We drove to Dandridge, TN where Miss Daisy was located and she was in bad shape. She barely had paint on her, just a poor gray primer. She had some visible body damage with dings here and there. She was not taken care of very well but to be fair she was 48 years old. Her headliner was moldy, and yes there was a distinct smell. Parts of the floor board was rusted through to the point where we could stick our fingers through. But none of those concerns mattered. We fell in love with her and her potential. We didn't see all the dirt and grime. We saw her cute smile and the happiness she would bring to newlywed couples. We wrote the man a check and trailered her back home to Chattanooga.
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(210) 374-0983sunkissed.photobus@gmail.com
sunkissed.photobus@gmail.com
