as much as I'd love to get a car that would need some work before its trip, I live in Maine- you can't find a '98 that doesnt have some pretty bad rust damage. I've seen three (3) mk1's in this state, ever... so I'm going to have to travel fairly extensively to find this car, and having it shipped back seems silly. So unless I can do the work there, it's not really any good... Gotta drive!
I'm really hoping to get it down to FL to visit a friend for a week or so, too. I could probably dod some minor work there, but nothing major as I'd only have basic tools available to me.
I'm thinking west, like Arizona or so, would be a good place to find a rot-free car. However, a car from arizona would have to drive over 2,000 miles to get to florida, and then another 1500 to get to Maine.... I expect the trip with detours to exceed 4,000 miles, so it has to be a good reliable car; this is why I'm looking now when I don't plan to go for another 4-6 months
Hopefully someone here on the boards will have something they're selling, so I can talk to them extensively about the car before I fly out there.