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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Herman Zapp, Candelaria Zapp

Aired September 21, 2003 - 09:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Chances are your Sunday drive will be nothing like the mega road trip made by a couple from Argentina. They drove from Buenos Aires to Anchorage, Alaska in just over three years. But what makes this even more interesting is the trip was made in a 75-year-old car. Herman and Candelaria Zapp are joining us now, on the phone, from Anchorage, to tell us all about the adventure.
Hi, guys. Can you hear me OK?

HERMAN ZAPP, TRAVELED ACROSS AMERICAS: Yes. Thanks for calling us.

COLLINS: You are more than welcome. Tell us about this trip. It took a little while. Take us through where you went, exactly. Starting in South America, obviously.

CANDELARIA ZAPP, TRAVELED ACROSS AMERICAS: Yes, we started in Buenos Aires, and our dream was to go to Alaska. You know when you live in the bottom of America, you want to go to the top. This is only a dream that we had since we were a kid. I met Herman when he was 8 years old. When we were 14, we started to date. And we said we were dreaming to travel some day. And here we are. Nothing is impossible.

COLLINS: We are actually looking at some animation right now of your travels, starting in Argentina. We have you up in Colombia. I know that, actually, in Ecuador, now, you spent nearly two months building a raft to put the car on to get down the Amazon. Tell us about that.

HERMAN ZAPP: Yes. We met Amazonians. They never saw a car before. When we got there, nobody could believe it. Maybe they think that all the cars look like this now. We were in an area where they never saw a car before. This is the one that we used to go down the Amazon.

COLLINS: Unbelievable. We're looking at the car now. We're getting our very first glimpse of this 1928 Grand Prix. Beautiful car. It is a little old. How did the car hold up?

CANDELARIA ZAPP: Oh, the car was the best choice. Herman had to convince me to go with this car. I didn't want to at the beginning.

COLLINS: I can't imagine why not.

CANDELARIA ZAPP: I thought we were going to be all the time at the mechanic shop. But it was great. The car was the best choice. It's so simple. Anybody can fix it. All the mechanics and all the antique car shops on the road help us. It's great, really. The car was better than ever when we arrived here.

COLLINS: OK. So we have you in Colombia last. Want to go back to the map and look to Central America. What was your favorite memory as you traveled through Central America?

HERMAN ZAPP: Well, in Central America we got a romantic moment in Guatemala. In Belize we found out something with Canny. In Mexico, grows in the belly. And in North Carolina was born our son. So the best memory was our romantic moment in Guatemala.

COLLINS: Very romantic moment, telling us that Candelaria was pregnant. We can see that in this picture right here. And there is Pampa (ph). Tell us about that. Did you stop in order to have this child?

CANDELARIA ZAPP: Well, yes, we stopped. Yes, stopped two weeks before his birth in North Carolina, in Greensboro. We stopped in a wonderful, with a wonderful family. It was a meeting of this kind of car. It was the annual meeting of the Grand Prix. So he was the youngest member of the trial. He's so pleasant; he's a wonderful traveler.

COLLINS: I'm glad that he is. I think he's got travel in his future, that's for sure.

CANDELARIA ZAPP: All the people who help us, doctors didn't charge us. We didn't have insurance, nothing. Nobody charge us, hospital help us. People were great. We had a baby shower, everything. People were great.

COLLINS: Yes. We will talk about the generosity of all of the people you met here in just a moment. I want to go back, if we could, to our map here that brought you from Central America up through North America. You say obviously there was quite a stop in North Carolina in order to have the little boy. Then you took your time. You went around, did some sight seeing through North America before you got to Alaska. What are some of those favorite memories?

HERMAN ZAPP: Well, in the United States we were here for the first time. We were in love. We did everything. We did 66. We hit all the big city, New York, Washington. We did all the east coast. We spent 14 months between the United States and Canada. In 14 months we were 14 nights in motel. All the other nights were in homes.

COLLINS: We just saw a picture of the Washington monument. Here you are in front of the white house. I know you were in San Francisco. Just an incredible adventure. How did it feel to finally reach Alaska?

CANDELARIA ZAPP: Oh. We are very, very happy. This dream seemed to be impossible when we started. Everybody was laughing at us saying bye-bye. I see you tomorrow. So when we saw welcome to Alaska, oh, my goodness, we danced. You can see that. We were so happy.

COLLINS: You looked pretty darn happy to me. What an incredible experience for you guys. Want to point out all the wonderful people that I know you met along the way and were very generous to you. Some new tires. Helped you out, obviously, with the birth of your son. We appreciate your time and your story this morning. Herman and Candelaria Zapp coming to us from Anchorage, Alaska. Congratulations, guys.

CANDELARIA ZAPP: Thank you.

HERMAN ZAPP: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 21, 2003 - 09:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Chances are your Sunday drive will be nothing like the mega road trip made by a couple from Argentina. They drove from Buenos Aires to Anchorage, Alaska in just over three years. But what makes this even more interesting is the trip was made in a 75-year-old car. Herman and Candelaria Zapp are joining us now, on the phone, from Anchorage, to tell us all about the adventure.
Hi, guys. Can you hear me OK?

HERMAN ZAPP, TRAVELED ACROSS AMERICAS: Yes. Thanks for calling us.

COLLINS: You are more than welcome. Tell us about this trip. It took a little while. Take us through where you went, exactly. Starting in South America, obviously.

CANDELARIA ZAPP, TRAVELED ACROSS AMERICAS: Yes, we started in Buenos Aires, and our dream was to go to Alaska. You know when you live in the bottom of America, you want to go to the top. This is only a dream that we had since we were a kid. I met Herman when he was 8 years old. When we were 14, we started to date. And we said we were dreaming to travel some day. And here we are. Nothing is impossible.

COLLINS: We are actually looking at some animation right now of your travels, starting in Argentina. We have you up in Colombia. I know that, actually, in Ecuador, now, you spent nearly two months building a raft to put the car on to get down the Amazon. Tell us about that.

HERMAN ZAPP: Yes. We met Amazonians. They never saw a car before. When we got there, nobody could believe it. Maybe they think that all the cars look like this now. We were in an area where they never saw a car before. This is the one that we used to go down the Amazon.

COLLINS: Unbelievable. We're looking at the car now. We're getting our very first glimpse of this 1928 Grand Prix. Beautiful car. It is a little old. How did the car hold up?

CANDELARIA ZAPP: Oh, the car was the best choice. Herman had to convince me to go with this car. I didn't want to at the beginning.

COLLINS: I can't imagine why not.

CANDELARIA ZAPP: I thought we were going to be all the time at the mechanic shop. But it was great. The car was the best choice. It's so simple. Anybody can fix it. All the mechanics and all the antique car shops on the road help us. It's great, really. The car was better than ever when we arrived here.

COLLINS: OK. So we have you in Colombia last. Want to go back to the map and look to Central America. What was your favorite memory as you traveled through Central America?

HERMAN ZAPP: Well, in Central America we got a romantic moment in Guatemala. In Belize we found out something with Canny. In Mexico, grows in the belly. And in North Carolina was born our son. So the best memory was our romantic moment in Guatemala.

COLLINS: Very romantic moment, telling us that Candelaria was pregnant. We can see that in this picture right here. And there is Pampa (ph). Tell us about that. Did you stop in order to have this child?

CANDELARIA ZAPP: Well, yes, we stopped. Yes, stopped two weeks before his birth in North Carolina, in Greensboro. We stopped in a wonderful, with a wonderful family. It was a meeting of this kind of car. It was the annual meeting of the Grand Prix. So he was the youngest member of the trial. He's so pleasant; he's a wonderful traveler.

COLLINS: I'm glad that he is. I think he's got travel in his future, that's for sure.

CANDELARIA ZAPP: All the people who help us, doctors didn't charge us. We didn't have insurance, nothing. Nobody charge us, hospital help us. People were great. We had a baby shower, everything. People were great.

COLLINS: Yes. We will talk about the generosity of all of the people you met here in just a moment. I want to go back, if we could, to our map here that brought you from Central America up through North America. You say obviously there was quite a stop in North Carolina in order to have the little boy. Then you took your time. You went around, did some sight seeing through North America before you got to Alaska. What are some of those favorite memories?

HERMAN ZAPP: Well, in the United States we were here for the first time. We were in love. We did everything. We did 66. We hit all the big city, New York, Washington. We did all the east coast. We spent 14 months between the United States and Canada. In 14 months we were 14 nights in motel. All the other nights were in homes.

COLLINS: We just saw a picture of the Washington monument. Here you are in front of the white house. I know you were in San Francisco. Just an incredible adventure. How did it feel to finally reach Alaska?

CANDELARIA ZAPP: Oh. We are very, very happy. This dream seemed to be impossible when we started. Everybody was laughing at us saying bye-bye. I see you tomorrow. So when we saw welcome to Alaska, oh, my goodness, we danced. You can see that. We were so happy.

COLLINS: You looked pretty darn happy to me. What an incredible experience for you guys. Want to point out all the wonderful people that I know you met along the way and were very generous to you. Some new tires. Helped you out, obviously, with the birth of your son. We appreciate your time and your story this morning. Herman and Candelaria Zapp coming to us from Anchorage, Alaska. Congratulations, guys.

CANDELARIA ZAPP: Thank you.

HERMAN ZAPP: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com