Date:         Mon, 23 Apr 2001 10:39:26 -0500
Reply-To:     Jennifer <ncc876@yahoo.com>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jennifer <ncc876@yahoo.com>
Subject:      Re: Why do you like your Vanagon?
In-Reply-To:  <65.132fd80e.28149949@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

At 4:30 PM -0400 4/22/01, Sean Lynch rearranged electrons to say:

Hey, Sean, was that Haystack in your story?

>      In conclusion, I don't just LIKE my Vanagons, I LOVE my Vanagons.

Allright, before I respond to this, I must first clarify that I do
not yet have a Vanagon, though as I said when I rejoined the list, I
will come August. However, I've taken a trip in a former listmember's
'81 westy (aircooled, of course) and I won't forget that for a long
time to come.

It wasn't all that long a trip -- from Ames, Iowa to Minneapolis and
back. We were planning to attend a VW show there, which we did and at
which I had a great time; however, the part of the trip that I
remember with the most fondness is the journey there and back again.
We left in the late morning in the Westy, which was medium tan-brown
with a white poptop and a brown/tan interior, and did about 55-60
most of the way; I found being passed by semis a reversal of my usual
experience. However, I didn't care as I found the van a perfect
vehicle in which to travel. Not fast, certainly; very roomy, though,
with space to stretch out on the rear seat if anyone got tired on the
way (we never did this while moving, but the option being there was
nice.) Curtains (tan) all around gave me the impression of a little
home on wheels, which the van certainly was but not as large as most
RVs (my in-laws have a smallish one based on the Chevy Astro, and one
day we all plan to take a trip in that.)

I drove it for a while on the way back and found that I had to "fly"
as much as drive, given the way it reacted to every gust of wind.
Pilots will be familiar with having to push the rudder hard over into
wind -- that's what I had to do to keep from being blown off the road.

But my fondest memory from that trip was stopping for the night. It
took us less than twenty minutes to convert the van into a little
home -- put up the top, draw the curtains, set up the beds, swing out
the tables. I slept up on the top, never having gone anywhere in a
Westy before, and my friend slept on the bottom bed. The following
morning, I woke up to sunlight streaming through the canvas and
shedding a nice warm light on my sleeping bag. I felt around for my
watch and realized that it was 6:30 in the morning -- and I wasn't
tired at all!

The stories about how natural light wakes you up slowly and
gradually, it seems, are true. I tried to get back to sleep but I
couldn't, so I just watched the tree we'd parked under wave in the
breeze for a while before I climbed down to walk around the
campground. It was so quiet -- no one else was awake yet, and there
were tents and campers all over the place. We left a note at the
office -- we'd gotten there after it closed and left before it
opened, and some attendant had let us in the previous night but
couldn't do much else -- and left. I don't think I saw more than two
other people awake except for my traveling companion.

I had wanted a Westy of my own ever since then, but even now I don't
really have a whole lot of money for it. I've gotten lucky and have a
chance now I'll probably never have again to get one, at least not
without spending a fair bit we can't afford until the Golf is paid
off. But that experience left me wanting to do it again; it's been
some years, but I haven't given up yet. We needed a new, warrantied,
reliable car (also, easier to get for a first vehicle loan than a
used, I heard) so a Golf was right for us, but now that we've got
that, I've gone back to working toward the westy I always wanted.

I'm sure Sean could tell you some stories regarding finding this or
that for me; he found a silver '86 (non-westy), and we were going to
work on fetching me that, but when the '90 westy popped up a few
months later, I saved it from going to charity just in time.

Whew.

Now we just need to bring her home. :) And I need to come up with a
name -- after all, any sailor will tell you it's bad luck to launch a
nameless ship!
--

-----

Jennifer - ncc876@yahoo.com
... knee-deep in the hoopla ...

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