In the summer of 1968 I was college student working in the tiny town called Woodville in central California. The place was a medical clinic that served migrant farmworkers, operated by David and Wendy Brooks.

I was driving a MG 1100 sedan, burning valves and having electrical failures right and left. I needed to get to a class at the local junior college, and Wendy -now long term citizen of Telluride- told me to take the bus.

What bus? I was thinking public transportation, but let me assure you there wasn't any. "The clinic's bus", she said.

It was a 1959 standard microbus, Mango Green over Sea Gull Grey. I'd never driven a VW before, but was off in no time, loving the feel, the sound, the practicality and the view of the road. I soon became the clinic's "driver" and errand boy, and no task was better than driving that bus.

Several weeks later I was visiting my mom in San Diego, and convinced her to co-sign on a loan with me. I went out to Kearney Mesa VW and bought the only used microbus on the lot, a 1963 Deluxe (no sunroof) in Sealing Wax Red over Beige Grey. It was $1295, and it served me well over the next several years.

But the first bus, that was the 1959 Standard.

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