Date:         Sun, 16 Mar 2008 01:52:55 +0000
Reply-To:     J Stewart <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         J Stewart <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Re: VW of America/Tattoo/Towing With A Vanagon Westy

<You have a VW tattoo....
And, of course, you're going to post a picture of this thing somewhere>


But of course! My '84 Westy with trailer and Yamaha in tow plus a picture of my tattoo can be seen at http://veedubguy84.com/vantattoo.html  . I hooked up my trailer to the Vanagon today and loaded the bike, then went out for a test drive. It did "OK". Performance was acceptable. I live about 5 miles east of the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia, so I headed toward the mountains to see how it would do up a fairly steep grade. I was able to maintain 45mph in third with no problem. On flat terrain I was able to do 65mph with no problem. So, at least for now, I am happy with it's performance. Especially since I don't plan to venture too far this summer with the price of gas being what it is. I am not too far from Skyline Drive and have always wanted to take the camper and bike up there for a weekend of camping and riding. My other destination this summer is Chincoteague, Virginia and heading in that direction (east) is pretty much flat, probably the steepest grade being the Chesapeake
Bay Bridge. But, for my future plans, a cross country trip, at least from Virginia to Arizona with the bike in tow, I don't know, that may kill the waterboxer. I have a Subie 2.2 ready to transplant someday, but now I'm not sure that's enough-what about a Subie 2.5 or Zetec? Anyway, on to the tattoo. VW's have been a big part of my life since the age of 8, which was a long, long time ago. I got the tattoo a little over a year ago, it's the Grateful Dead "Steal Your Face" design with the VW logo, most of you have probably seen it before. Last year at Myrtle Beach, in addition to the retired VW mechanic, at least 5 young women between 18-25 came up to me and told me how much they loved my tattoo. This, of course, p*ssed off my wife, who had to point out that nearly all of them addressed me as "sir", which is true, they did <sigh>. I asked the tattoo artist about trademark infringement, and she said she had never heard of anyone being sued over a tattoo-how many folks have Harley Davi
dson tattoos? So, if VWoA wants to come after me, so be it. I was surprised, at last years Manassass Bug Out no one mentioned it-go figure.    Jeff