Date:         Wed, 16 Apr 2003 23:45:15 -0800
Reply-To:     James Walldow <jwall@ARCTIC.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         James Walldow <jwall@ARCTIC.NET>
Subject:      Re: Essential Tools
Comments: To: Mike Collum <collum@MFX.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

awwwww........would'nt you know it...........last year after driving
hours thru the desert of baja, my van broke down just as i reached a
town.......and right across from a mech shop too......once in a life
time expereince says me............just like hitting a
jackpot..............james

Mike Collum wrote:

><snip> My thoughts are ether get it to a good shop in the area, or rent
>a U-haul and tow her home. <snip>
>
>Good shop in the area?  Don't you know that, when traveling, Vanagons
>never break near a good shop?  Besides, in the 12 years that I've been a
>V'gon owner, the only time one of mine's been worked on by "Others" is
>when I've had the A/C recharged.  I subscribe to the theory that nobody
>else (typically) is going to care enough to do the quality job that I
>would do
>
>As to towing ... the only times I've had problems, that required
>extensive mechanical attention,  (which actually have been few, by the
>way) I've been over a thousand miles from home.  Being somewhere between
>cheap and on a budget (not to mention the attitude of self sufficiency),
>I've always opted to tackle the thing myself.  An exception would be if
>the transmission went out.  Then I would still handle it myself if I
>were just swapping in another one.
>
>If you join the AIRS list ... you might opt to be towed to a nearby
>listee's place where you can do the work unmolested.  If you breakdown
>anywhere near where I live, my driveway (or my friend's barn) is your
>best bet as no area mechanics, that I know of, speak any V'gon and
>certainly not W'boxer.
>
>Some of us pay through the wallet .... some of us pay through sweat.
>.... and some of us pay through the wallet only to find, a few miles
>down the road, that the job has to be redone.
>
>Mike
>