Date: Sun, 9 Nov 2003 09:22:04 -0800
Reply-To: Robert Keezer <warmerwagen@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Robert Keezer <warmerwagen@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Call for volunteers: VANAGON RESCUE SQUAD
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
It's about time!
Being broke down and stranded can happen to anyone no matter what you drive.
I was stuck two days in Victoria last year. It would have been nice to call
a fellow Westy owner for advice .Lucky I had my bicycle and cell phone.
I'm on the AIRS to but as it says, AIR- it's geared for those type 2 air
cooled vehicles and most of us Vanagon drivers are water-cooled. So, rather
than being taken under the wings of the aircooled busses which are more
likely to break down on the driver, we have our own wings now.
I finally have to admit that my Vanagon can break down even if it has a
conversion motor. Nothing is fail-proof. But we have a whole bunch less
things that can fail that the Type 2. I never liked being under the AIRS
anyway- It's not about which VW is more popular anyway. A Vanagon emergency
list is not a duplicate of the air-cooled list. Vanagon has it's own
classification.
That's as if to say the Type 2 is equal to the Vanagon. It's not, we know
this, and since our Vanagons are getting older, this makes sense.
Join up, Vanagon people. If even all you can offer is directions to a VW
parts store, that can really help someone stuck in a unfamiliar area.
We also only need help- not a rescue. This means that we are not always
breaking down on every trip as our problem prone predescessors.
When I drive the freeway- I see old busses stranded on the shoulder. This is
commonplace here. Vanagons are stranded too but most of these actually made
it to the mountains before a power steering belt broke.
That happened to me in the Cascades and I had to ride my bike ten miles.I
contacted airs members and then it occurred to me- rescuers take a big
chance that they might break down in the mountains trying to rescue me. I
got no-email replies that I sent all day from the Skykomish library.
Maybe they did'nt get replies from their e-mails to fellow AIRS members
asking to come looking for them if they did'nt hear back from them after
rescuing me.
I'm signed up.
Robert K
1982 Westfalia
----Original Message Follows----
From: John Meeks <jmeeks@GASLIGHTMEDIA.COM>
Reply-To: John Meeks <jmeeks@GASLIGHTMEDIA.COM>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Call for volunteers: VANAGON RESCUE SQUAD
Date: Sat, 8 Nov 2003 17:55:59 -0500
Hey All,
If anyone is interested in signing up to help stranded Vanners, I've got an
online database set up to take your info.
http://vw.upnorth.net/index.phtml?catid=74
How about some alternatives to "Rescue Squad" while we're at it.
The rest of the site is ready to take your "best of the best" posts from the
past too, but that's a whole other organizational issue. Feel free to look
around and pmail your suggestions.
John Meeks
Top of Lower Michigan
91 Westfalia MultiVan
Robert
1982 Westfalia 1987 Wolfsburg
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