Date:         Sun, 3 Aug 2008 12:07:23 -0700
Reply-To:     John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: SPAM for the Lord, or something like that!
In-Reply-To:  <080220080342.9759.4893D78D00059C4B0000261F2200734830CE020E9C0E02020E@comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

>  just an informal survey to hear if vanagon folks (volks) have curtailed some / most / pretty much all  of their travels and camping this summer because of gas prices or "other", like job insecurity, or work overtime, can't get van fixed, etc etc . . .

I haven't been on a "vanagon vacation" since march, but only
indirectly because of gas prices. I converted my vacation vanagon to a
work van so I could get rid of the gas guzzling Chevy Excess(Express)
3500 cargo van I was driving before. I drive for work and my oh-so
efficient and generous employer (Los Angeles Unified School District)
only pays 38 cents a mile, so a 10MPG vehicle is a losing proposition.
THis left me with a "vanagon deficit" though, so I went and got a
second one, nicer than the first one was, for vacation purposes. I
haven't had the time to fix all the usual "new-to-me" vehicle
necessities--- fuel lines, tank reseal, etc.--- so for now it sits in
the parking garage, pressed into service as a storage container. The
outlook for future vacations looks bleak in the near term. Once we buy
this house we're looking at and get out of apartment hell I'll have
space to work on the Vanagon, but there probably won't be a lot of
vacion money around...

--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Lastwagen"
'90 Vanagon GL - "Wiesel"