Date:         Fri, 13 Sep 2002 22:02:43 -0700
Reply-To:     andy@BLUERIVER.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Andy Mahler <andy@BLUERIVER.NET>
Subject:      Vanagons for Peace
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; x-avg-checked=avg-ok-393A2B77;

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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