Pop-Ups Tour 2014: Thank You (Part 1)

Apr 23, 2014

By Morgan

We were taught to write thank-you notes after people had been kind to us, and one thing this tour has proven is that extraordinary kindness isn’t really extraordinary after all. In fact, we met it in every stop, in every state, and before we’d even hit the road.

This is the first of our Tour Summary Thank You Posts and it goes out, only half in jest, to our car.

Oh Little Yellow Car, you were valiant!

We can’t imagine that you were intended to drive nearly 11,000 miles through 28 States in two months, to trek from blizzards to desert heat and back again. Certainly not while lugging 3 people, their luggage, and a cargo box full of cardboard. People thought we were a little crazy, but you showed them! Not a cough or splutter from your engine (and we’ll have the windshield replaced, that was really not your fault).

pop ups tour 2014 - thank you
Brattleboro, VT
Even though you struggled up some of those hills, and sometimes found 75mph difficult to reach, you got us coast to coast and back again. When we hit the beach in California and ran out of you yelling, arms open to the sunset, we didn’t mean anything by it. You gave us a place to lean, in the darkness of the redwoods, so that we could gaze at the stars. You drove through storms of rain and snow, with only an occasional ‘check engine’ light of protest. Not for nothing, in parking lots across the country you were very easy to spot.

pop ups on tour 2014 - Thank You
Redwood Forest, CA
Actually, one of our favorite things was your high visibility. With those logo stickers on your doors, you announced our arrival better than we ever could. People came into workshops whispering “I don’t know which people are from Pop-Ups, but I know they’re here!”
pop ups tour 2014 - thank you
Philadelphia, PA

Surprisingly roomy for one so small, you also gave us the unsurpassed game of Yellow Car FM. You gave us the cheery waves and confused stares of fellow travellers stuck in traffic, of toll booth operators and gas station attendants who were all wondering what on earth a tiny car with Vermont plates, packed with English people, was doing in their town. You gave us the opening to those conversations, and many more besides.

pop ups tour - 2014
Middle of nowhere, OR

Thank you, Little Yellow Car. We love you.

For more photos from our adventure, please visit the tour’s photo album on our Facebook page. To find out more about our work, join our mailing list on our website. For more from Morgan, please visit her personal blog.