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Date:         Tue, 11 Dec 2001 18:18:18 -0500
Reply-To:     "Carrington, Tom" <TCarrington@RELITECH.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Carrington, Tom" <TCarrington@RELITECH.COM>
Subject:      Re: Takoma Park
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi List,

I thought I should clarify Ed's comments.

Tom Forhan's wife is Michelle, and my wife is Maureen. Both are lovely women, but there is a difference. :)

I'll have my pictures from the party up in the website in the next day or two.

Thanks, TomC tcarrington@relitech.com http://volksweb.relitech.com 85 VW Vanagon Crew Cab 82 VW Westy Diesel=>Gas Conversion 81 Checker A-11 (Taxi) 65 VW Notchback

-----Original Message----- From: Ed L Lloyd [mailto:elloyd10@JUNO.COM] Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 8:55 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Takoma Park

Last weekend was the 7th Annual Bus Holiday gathering at Tom Forhan and his lovely wife Maureen's house in Takoma Park, Maryland. They have a classic "This Old House" place, with a looong gravel drive, leading to a separate double garage in the rear and lots of space for vans and busses. A Vanagon owner's dream. His 1999 record was 19 busses in the driveway. I'm amazed you can find this sort of place in the built up Washington Metro area, even knowing that Takoma Park is sometimes called "Berkley East."

I spotted Vanagon List Ramrod Tom Carrington, with his light blue double cab, and wondered how he could still be smiling, while trying deal with us thousand or so Listees. Must be like herding 1000 free range cats.

I wanted to talk to the couple who came from Canada last year, along with Ron and his family from Bus Depot, but they couldn't make it this time. Pat from Leesburg and her dog Toto arrived in her Red Syncro, along with Jamie from Harper's Ferry, a yellow van from Frederick filled with a wife and two cute kids, Gaylord the ultra lite pilot and his wife from Baltimore, another yellow van from Auburn, Va, and others from Bethesda, Rockville, and the D.C. area. Soon the place was full of vans, kids, and dogs.

A Type 2 driver with a nice beard was supposed to bring his famous chili like last year, but was forgiven and handed a Splittie Beer. Yes, Tom had picked up a case of this special beer during his August trip to Colorado. There is a large picture of a Split Window Bus on the front. This should be made the List's Official Beer, but I need to test it some more. I only got one and need a least a case of my own for research.

Some van wives looked on tolerantly as we walked up and down the drive inspecting the various rigs. There was a nice blue Syncro with roof racks for canoe and kayak attached directly to the pop top, and stainless steel muffler and bolts that were holding firm.

Tom's friend had brought a HUGE monster truck tire and alloy wheel, and we had fun trying to get it to fit. About this time Maureen came out with a big tray of the famous Splittie Cookies. She ignored the fact we were standing in her garden while watching the monster tire experiment, and passed out this year's batch. Each gingerbread cookie is shaped like the front of a bus and decorated with white icing to form the windows and logo.

Inside there was lots of food, and a chance to talk about trips done and trips upcoming. We wondered where Karl Mullendore was now, and talked about how it was such a loss to this area if he headed out west. Some people say there is a woman to blame... Karl, hope you find your lost jigger of salt. Take care out there.

A 13,500 foot pass, a silver Syncro with alloys, big cleated tires, bike rack, awning, narrow two track "road." These were a few of the pictures that Tom and Maureen had from their August trip out to Colorado. Throw in a 12 year old and a black and white shaggy dog, and you can see why Tom wandered around all day with this big grin on his face. I would too.

He has a website at http://Volksweb.Relitech.com

Ed in Md 87 Vanagon


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