Juergen Barbusca grew up in Las Vegas and holds a bachelor’s degree in German from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He’s an award-winning communications practitioner whose career has included roles as a freelancer and corporate translator, nonprofit executive, and communications manager.

Over the years, he’s also taken on a wide range of odd jobs—picking pineapples, washing dishes, sorting packages, hanging placards in subway cars, working as an airline ticket agent and restaurant waiter, selling beer from a hawker’s tray, and managing a concession stand at an arena. After fourteen years in the tech world, when the relentless grind of long hours slowly squeezed the joy from his work, he traded conference calls for canyon roads and a computer screen for a pop-top camper.

Over the course of a year, he traveled more than 32,000 miles across the U.S. and parts of Canada, chronicling the adventure in No Overnight Parking – A Year of Vanlife, Discovery, and the Open Road, a collection of short stories woven into a single, cohesive narrative. When not behind the wheel or chasing down the next story, he enjoys swimming, cycling, foreign languages, and bad coffee at roadside diners.