On Facebook and Twitter, I made an offer to send a crappy prize to a reader that sent an interesting travel and/or car photo. Kathleen from Chicago submitted this picture of her 2000 Beetle GLS parked at Sequoia National Park in California.

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Here’s the story behind the picture in her own words:

Here’s my travel photo submission:
I bought my first brand new car in November 1999… a 2000 Beetle GLS. A month later I was offered a short term assignment to work in Prague. After that I went to NYC for 18 months, and then London for 2 years. I returned to Chicago in April 2004, where my Beetle had been lovingly stored and cared for by my father for 4 years. She had less than 10,000 miles on the odometer.

After I was laid off a month later, I took off on a 2 month road trip where I visited numerous national parks and saw a baseball game in every major league ballpark west of the Mississippi River.

I drove 9,775.2 miles, used 358.889 gallons of gas, got 27.24 MPG, and paid an average $2.02 per gallon (I have a spreadsheet detailing every fill-up). This is a picture of Beetle in Sequoia National Park in CA. I held up traffic to take it, but one guy called out “that’s gonna be a cool picture”.

I am attaching details of the infamous summer of 2004 baseball trip in the Beetle. I have not looked at this file since late 2004, and it is really scary how meticulous I was with tracking this trip. I guess when you are an unemployed accountant, you must have some outlet.

My Audi (2009 Audi A4 Sedan 2.0 T quattro Tiptronic) became my everyday vehicle upon its purchase in November 2008. I kept the Beetle (yes, I was a 2 car single woman) until June 2010. I figured it was a second car for anyone who needed it (my nephew JD drove it once in a while). I kept it at my parents’ and the insurance was only $215/6 months. I sold the car to my brother John for my niece Julie to drive in June 2010. She still drives it.

–Kathleen

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I asked Kathleen’s niece Julie, who recently adopted the Beetle, how the car was doing:

Current mileage is 71,607 (and about to get a lot more!). I like the car. It’s worked very well getting me place to place (as cars should do), but it can be a pain to maintain. There always seems to be something wrong, and sometimes fixing it myself can be a hassle. Take for instance the air filter, I needed to change it, but everything is so crammed together under the hood that it took a half hour just to get the cover off. But my favorite thing about the Beetle is making middle school kids punch each other when I drive by. 😛

–Julie

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Indeed, many Volkswagens of that vintage can be maintenance-intensive with design quirks that sometimes complicate basic repairs. For example, headlight bulb replacement is unusually challenging, requiring extra steps involving the removal of brackets and covers. Some Beetle owners leave this job to their Volkswagen dealer.

Some of the difficulty is due to the New Beetle’s classic round shape draped over the mechanicals of the fourth-generation Volkswagen Golf. While the box-shaped Golf was a natural fit for a front-drive, front-engined architecture, the hemispherically-inspired New Beetle took after the appearance of the rear-engined 1938 Type 1, making the fitment of components a bit unusual.

Its a bit like wearing your pants backwards. Works fine once you put them on, but getting in and out is a challenge.

That aside, the New Beetle looks sharp and drove well, racking up nearly 900,000 worldwide sales by the end of 2005, an impressive feat for a car with limited interior volume for its class. Fortunately, the rear seats fold flat to expand cargo space, making it possible for two people to load up their luggage and go on a trip.

The car’s iconic shape appealed mostly to single young women and empty nesters — a rolling tribute to youth and independence.

And although fuel costs were quite low in the late 1990s, Volkswagen offered a diesel TDI version capable of 48 MPG, and turbo gasoline models were capable running from zero to sixty in less than 7.5 seconds.

Owners frequently praise the New Beetle’s long-distance seating comfort, which brings us back to Kathleen’s road trip.

An accountant by profession, Kathleen submitted an exceptionally detailed travel log documenting every mile, every day, every location, every baseball game, every gallon of gas, and every dollar spent.

Download the Travel Log (Excel Spreadsheet)

9,770 miles were covered in two months
Fuel costs totaled $724.60
Average fuel price was $2.02 (2004)
Hotel costs totaled $3619.88 for 39 nights (see spreadsheet)

The level of accuracy and the quantity of data is impressive.

In return for submitting this exceptionally well-documented story and photo, Kathleen will be receiving a brand new Audi R8:

Audi R8 Features and Specifications:
Hand propulsion
Five-spoke plastichrome wheels
Fixed-position steering
Red metallic paint
Steel body
Plastic chassis
Manufactured in Thailand
Curb Weight: Around 40 grams

In addition, she will receive a copy of Teen Wolf and Teen Wolf Too on DVD, because Michael J. Fox is awesome and Jason Bateman is pretty darn good.