Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2007 20:50:44 -0700
Reply-To: Ellen in Oregon <elleninoregon@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Ellen in Oregon <elleninoregon@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Remembering the First Bus
In-Reply-To: <8doud3p0inq5oogi9hfs91csmbcrhcab7s@4ax.com>
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B,
Oh yeah, I resonate with your last statment "'87 Westy 'Esmerelda Blanc'
.....who is our disaster survival bus!" I feel the same way about my Lola.
She stays packed, for the most part, with just about everything I could ever
need. Hoping I'm far enough from the mountains not to worry about Volcanos,
far enough from the coast not to worry about Tsunamis. The earthquakes
might get me, but there's really nothing to fall down around here in
Hicksville, Oregon *smile* I feel pretty safe. Especially with Lola out in
the garage.
Ellen
Lola, '85 Vanagon ASI
Sporting a new fresh water tank drain valve!
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow
into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own
freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away
from you like the leaves of autumn.
--John Muir
----Original Message Follows----
From: BA <oddstray@ODDSTRAY.COM>
Reply-To: BA <oddstray@ODDSTRAY.COM>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Remembering the First Bus
Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2007 19:45:08 -0700
Disclaimer: It wasn't my bus. It was, and is, my sis and
bro-in-law's bus. And, in fact, I didn't drive or ride in the bus.
Still, it was an Important Life Experience. So, that's "my" first
bus.
In 1979 I needed a Serious Life Change. I was in the process of
ending my second significant partnership (both personal and
professional). Co-incidentally, in 1979 my sis and bro-in-law needed
to drive cross-country with their '74 bug and '76 bus. And my sis is
eyesight-challenged and hadn't yet been able to drive.
So, my bro-in-law took it upon himself to announce to one and all that
I was going to drive the bug and he was going to drive the bus.
Ummmm ..... OK ...... *shrug* ... my job was going to change and my
residence was going to change and I had no idea how they were going to
change ... so ... why not?
Except, I was a novice, clumsy driver at best. And the bug was a
stick shift, And I had only (just barely) learned enough to be
comfortable driving an automatic. But my bro-in-law had confidence in
me. (And in the long run it has made a huge positive difference in my
life.) He took a coupla' hours and made sure I could drive the bug
without killing the engine (too often).
And on the day after Christmas, I drove the bug from south of Chicago
(where he'd given me the driving lesson) to north of Chicago (where
sis and he lived). And I only killed the engine once, starting out
from a toll booth. :-D [Many years later my sis allowed that she
and her friends had 'prayed' for me to get there safely and were
greatly relieved to hear that I had done so. *g*]
So, we set off. Highlights of the journey:
Driving through Nebraska it snowed. Constantly. Sideways. :-o We
took it on faith that there was a road underneath us, between the
reflector poles sticking up on both sides.
Wound up one night just inside Colorado. Splurged on a motel for the
night. Next morning bro-in-law knocks on my door and says, "come
outside and look up!" Sheesh!!!!! We're surrounded by MOUNTAINS!!!!
I was brought up in Chicago, where we're so topographically challenged
(read, flat!) that we name highway bridges This Hill and That Hill.
WOW! What a sight that was!!! :-D
Driving through Utah. Does Utah understand that it is one of the
"United States"? Their traffic/vehicle laws apparently don't. But
bro-in-law had been forewarned, and did all the stupid red-tape stuff.
So despite that we were essence of hippie we were not bothered whilst
driving through Utah.
Got to northern CA and visited cousins. Drove southward in California
on the way to his parents. As we drove through Morro Bay, both sis
and I said, "Whoa! We could live here ...". Bro-in-law explained
that we didn't have *nearly* enough financial assets to live there!
Met and loved bro-in-law's parents. He has is issues with his 'rents.
Sis and I have our issues with ours. One of life's gifts is to see
someone elses's issues, and thereby better tolerate our own.
Drove back northward in California up Hwy 99 (which in those days was
a two-lane blacktop). Stopped overnight at bro-in-law's high school
teacher's place. What a guy! First, knowing that we'd been living
out of the bus for a coupla' weeks with brief respite at the 'rents,
he offered us all the use of his bath/shower. :-) And later, he told
us a bedtime story which I remember to this day. :-D
Anyway ... several years forward ...
Sis and bro-in-law are living in NorCal. They're the neighborhood
token aging hippies. And they giggle together, thinking that one day
they'll need to evacuate (California - earthquake, wildfire, flood,
etc.) and their neighbors will be gob-smacked when they drive their
ancient, overgrown (bro-in-law says, "hah!") '76 bus, completely
kitted out for disaster survival ... out of their back yard. :-D
B (who never moved back east) &S
'87 Westy 'Esmerelda Blanc' :-D
SoCal
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