Date:         Fri, 11 Aug 2006 22:27:00 -0500
Reply-To:     joel walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         joel walker <jwalker17@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject:      Re: Zzzz . . . least interesting Friday ever
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
              reply-type=response

want more!? :)
---------------------------------
and now, back even further into the past ...
from the first year of the vanagon list ...

haiku (high-koo)
an unrhymed japanese verse form of three lines containing 5, 7, and 5
syllables respectively; also a poem of this form <compare to Tanka>

tanka (tank-ah)
an unrhymed japanese verse form of five lines containing 5, 7, 5, 7,
and 7
syllables respectively; also a poem of this form <compare to Haiku>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who Started This Mess??

From: "William R. Kennedy
I've been noticing cars that are like rolling haiku -- a whole short
story
in one car.  For instance:

Spotless black 85 Cadillac Fleetwood.  Red mudflaps on all four
wheels.
Navaho blanket covering the front seat.

Stick-shift Volvo station wagon with a dent in one back door.
Stickers on the
back window for Rice and Oberlin.  Missing one wheel cover on each
side.

71 volkswagen bus, some rust but good shape. used to carry chickens.
smells bad.
                                 Joel Walker
White knuckled vanagon driver hunched
forward on seat watching heat gauge
                                 Will Self
Vanagon too hot,
Rebuilding engine again,
Hope this time it's cool.
                                 M. Rubin
    Brown bus girded by
Detroit steel, a precious egg
    In a nettle nest.
                                 Joel Danke
Once again Friday
Vanagon list springs to life
Joel's list and a song
                                 Ric Golen
Three generations,
little engines in the rear.
eurovan screwed up.
                                 Joel Walker
Internet Mania
   Net heads at their desks
         Hearts home with VeeDub Bricks
                                 Gerry Skerbitz
blocky and stubby
a loaf of bread in motion
well below light speed
                                 Mark Janello
The bumper sticker said:
Zero to sixty-seven,
In only thirteen minutes.
                                 M. Rubin
   Bus line rambles down
the long road from near to far
   Happy campers smile
                                 Dyer Lytle
  Slow bus rolls along
Bumpy dirt roads beckon
 Quiet backcountry bed
                                 Dyer Lytle
A fahrvergnugen
goes a long way to
explain Volkswagon
                                 Joshua Poulson
Wheels of Time roll on,
Buses pass to history,
and still we love them.
                                 Joel Walker
If you don't succeed
at first attempt, then go get
a Bigger Hammer.                    :)
                                 Joel Walker
everything on wheels,
including the kitchen sink.
volkswagen camper.
                                 Joel Walker
     See the bus idle
It will if you feed it some
    Twenty weight fifty
                                 James Brill
It's Friday P.M.
I'm sure no one can tell that
I don't want to work
                                 Mike Wright
Soon the old Bus fires
And transports me home again
To dogs needing food
                                 Mike Wright
Fresh snow on the world
Bus moves ahead sure-footed
Secure and peaceful.
                                 Mike Wright
----------------------------------------

Hitchhiker's Lament
(sing it to the tune of Streets of Laredo or Cowboy's Lament)

As I was out driving one morning for pleasure,
My bus and just me, one morning so fair,
I spied an old geezer beside of the highway,
A pack on his back and his thumb in the air.

There was something about him that gathered my notice,
A something familiar, and yet still unseen,
A spirit so kindred, I felt in a moment
That here but for god's grace was easily me.

I pulled to the shoulder and waved to him friendly,
He walked to the bus and he slowly got in.
I asked, "Where you headed?". He answered, "Out that way."
"And I'm later than usual," he said with a grin.

In talking while riding, he told a sad story
Of trading two morrows for one yesterday,
And then he admitted that he once had buses,
And like his tomorrows, they faded away.

"I once had a camper, a nice sixty-seven,
A neat little Microbus rolling along,
But the wife and I split up, I needed some money,
So I sold it to strangers, for nearly a song."

"My fortunes rebounded, a year or so later,
But by then the buses lost most of their charm,
Still I bought me a Breadloaf, and learned that I loved it,
For it still was a Bus and could do me no harm."

"After that there were others, in lengthy succession,
A Vanagon camper I had for a while,
A pickup, a kombi, a double-door panel,
I had always thought I'd be riding in style."

"But fortunes and favors don't stay long at my house,
They find better lodging with others some day.
When I lost all my money, my job, and my buses,
That's when I packed up to try traveling this way."

"As the years added to me, I wandered the country,
Searching and seeking and moving along,
Unsure of the way that my destiny pulled me,
I changed my direction like changing my song."

He talked for a long time to tell his life's story,
I listened intently to his sad refrain,
For his tale was spell-binding, no matter the sadness,
And he spoke as if knowing he'd rebound again.

My exit came up as we rode down the highway,
So I pulled to the shoulder and bid him farewell,
He thanked me profusely and wouldn't take money
And waved at me til I had turned down the dell.

And as I was driving, my home road returning,
His last words were ringing around in my brain,
"Enjoy this nice bus for as long as you have it,
You just never know if you'll have one again."
                                      Joel Walker

ain't that enough!??? :)
unca joel