friends this is the first item I have posted to this list (other than a request for help from my Wolfy-driving cousin who was passing through) My wife and I have three Vanagons, all Westys, two '84s and an '88 We got our first Vanagon in 1991, the same year I helped organize what has since grown into an eighteen state regional cooperative network of local, grassroots forest protection organizations called Heartwood. I mention this because my wife and I have spent a lot of time in our vanagons in every one of those states, hooking up with the good, caring, hard-working local folks who sometimes alone, and sometimes with a handful of friends, organized among their neighbors to stop the careless and wanton destruction of the remnant hardwood forests of the East, Midwest, and South (heartland + hardwood = Heartwood). Our Vanagons have taken us down some windy-ass driveways in the Ozarks and the Appalachians, from Mississippi to Minnesota, and from Missouri to Maryland, from the mean streets of big cities to the most rugged and remote rural areas, the Vanagon has proven itself, time and again, the most useful beast in the barnyard. We always had a place to sleep, even when broken down by the road in the middle of nowhere--- and when you're in this line of work, the great thing is you're never more than a couple of hours from someone who will come get you, help get your vehicle back on the road, feed you a great meal, and set you up in a beautiful place for the night-- and, the next day they take you to the most beautiful forest, or a wild free-flowing river, or some other sweet precious spot that gives them solace and strength in a crazy old world. I am on a lot of lists, none of which get as much traffic as this one I am beginning to recognize names and personalities and wish to say thank you for the generosity in sharing wisdom and experience and spare parts for good advice and good laughs for your devotion to these contraptions and their many admirable qualities and of course their idiosyncrasies long life to them all, and to you I don't spend as much time on the road as i used to spending more and more at this computer in the woods here in southern Indiana I'm going to go on digest mode for a while (too much to read as it is) but I wanted to post this message before I do and now, to the point to me the Vanagon is not just a conveyance it is a political tool a remarkable utilitarian expression of personal transportation and self-sufficiency (those who do not wish to read a political opinion are advised to discontinue reading now) Times are getting tough and people are carrying a lot of stress The political situation is getting ugly and the bill of rights is getting constricted and eroded I may bring down coyote's wrath, but I just have to ask Won't you all please take some action, small or large, soon,
TO STOP THIS INSANE WAR!!!
Thanks for listening thanks for caring thanks for whatever you choose to do and thanks to TomC and Coyote for moderation peace @ andy
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