Date:         Mon, 30 Apr 2001 12:05:24 -0600
Reply-To:     DGT <hetchins@montana.com>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         DGT <hetchins@montana.com>
Subject:      Re: Waving (Was: Van reactions)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I was going to stay out of this thread, since I am a motorcycle rider and
have been down this wave/don't-wave road numerous times on various
motorcycle mailing lists, but it's so much fun that I can't resist.

Back in the 60s and 70s with my '56 bug (Erica) and '69 bus (Brother
Abraham) I only waved at and/or received waves from other freaks/hippies.
Straight people in their shiny new bugs and buses ignored me. When the
Vanagon was first introduced I never waved at them because I hated them for
not being air-cooled and because they weren't real buses, and if I did wave
they never waved back, and they never ever waved first of course. Nobody in
a nice shiny new Vanagon would wave at some freak in a bus.

When I finally gave in and became a Vanagon owner back in '89 (1986 GL
'Little Bear') I didn't do much waving because I still thought Vanagon
owners were a bunch of stuck-up traitor snobs, and I was too ashamed to wave
at buses because I felt like a traitor. The only people I waved at were
people who were obviously phreaks, and it didn't matter what they were
driving.

Nowadays, now that Vanagons are being replaced by those stuck-up traitor
snobs in Eurovans, I wave at Vanagons, buses, and bugs on a pretty regular
basis, although there are so many of them here in Missoula, Montana that I
am worried about carpal-tunnel. Whenever I forget and accidentally wave at a
Eurovan they look at me the same way those Vanagon drivers used to look at
me long ago. And so it goes...

(None of this applies to two-lane highways in western Kansas, where everyone
waves at everyone else, even motorcycles. A nice policy.)

Dick Taylor
Missoula, Montana

'86 GL 'Little Bear'
'87 Syncro 'Big Bear'

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to... uh... something






>                                    '82 GL Diesel 'Donder'
>                                    '83 GL aircooler, currently nameless
>                                    '86 GL 'Blitzen'
>
>                              soon to have a '58 Panel
>                              still eyeing a '81 Westy
>