Date:         Sat, 5 Nov 1994 09:00:01 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         John Ritchie <ritchiej@ucs.orst.edu>
Subject:      Re: Bobo Iceskater


Steve, in a fit of wit, writes:
> 
> So John Ritchie says:
> > 
> > John,
> > and Bobo, the `74 bus that REALLY hates doing 360s on ice!
> > 
> 
> But John,
> 
> Then Bobo could be known as 'Bobo The Dancing Bus'.  ;)
> 

Heh.  Yeah, maybe the part Bobo hates is the mess I make in the seat on those
360s!  Seriously, though, the only times I've driven the bus on ice (one long,
miserable trip through ice-storms from Seattle to Portland stands out in 
particular) he's handled pretty well; I've never lost control while people
were sliding off the road all around me.  That with summer tires...  It was
only after that trip that I found out that my brake lights only worked when I
press down hard so all my attempts to signal people behind me by touching 
the brake had gone unnoticed.

Anyway, although the bus seems to handle well enough on ice, I think that I
can detect when the roads are getting slippery easier with the bus than other
people in their cars can.  Maybe it's because the front is so light, it starts
feeling funny quicker.  Case in point:  Driving on the highway one night in a
freezing rain (again, summer tires!) I could tell the road was icy so was
going slowly.  Some bozo is riding right on my butt.  Then this car coming
toward us gracefully slides sideways, then backwards, and I see it go off the
road backwards in my rear-view mirror.  Guy behind me suddenly has a clue:
Whoa! there's ice on the road!  and backs way off.  Jeez!  Bobo made it home
without ever sliding out.

So maybe my fear of driving on snow and ice is unfounded!  Maybe my bus is
impervious to slick conditions!  Yeah!  Maybe I can start taking him on
snowmobile trails in the snow like (Derek, wasn't it?) does with his synchro!
Yeah!  :^P  On the other hand, how much of my success has been due to careful,
slow driving (and not using my brakes!) when other people are acting
foolishly?  Maybe I better skip the snowmobile trails after all...

Anybody else have any good bus-ice-and-snow anecdotes?  None could match the
snowmobile trails one, but what do other people think about driving their rigs
in adverse conditions?  (Synchro owners automatically get 10 daring points
subtracted due to special equipment!) :)

John
and Bobo Snowmobilebus, the `74 ATV