Date:         Thu, 21 Sep 1995 11:21:00 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         jim@atcweb.atc.1dc.com (Rusty VanBondo)
Subject:      Canceled Road Trip to Denver!

I have been planning all week for a total gonzos "Road Warrior" road trip to
Denver to pickup a recent acquisition. After figuring 900 miles each way,
given only Fri, Sat and Sun. to do the turn around solo and be back in the
office on Monday,(sane and productive), I decided against it. I was planning
on renting a Ford Explorer with unlimited milage and just hauling buns.
Driving straight through with a travel partner seemed somewhat doable and
adventurous. Possibly a chance to "escape" for a couple of days. All
possible travel partners pussed out or were otherwise detained. Figuring gas
costs, rental costs, food, sleeping in the vehicle(no big deal), towing with
a vehicle that I *really* wasn't allowed to tow with (was a potentially big
deal), trying to figure the taillights on the tow vehicle without leaving
any traces for the rental car company to find, plus the unexpected over
night 9" of snow in Denver (major big deal), I threw in the towel!
I called a Auto transport company and was surprised to find that on this
particular trip that the cost was less than what it would have been if I did
it all myself. This was outside of wear and tear on my health, safety,
marriage and employment statuses. Cool, I'll stay home and get some work
done on the '67 Resto and try to figure out, once again, if I still like the
Clydesdale whiz or prefer the the Red Dog. ;)
OK, so the wife has been pensive and crawling up my... er ah "giving me
grief" about every teenyest details of my trip. Hopefully she can now crawl
down and live in a "happier light." The only bummer was that I failed to
give a 48 hr notice prior to canceling the rental vehicle w/o a penalty. It
is actually cheaper for me to rent the Explorer, drive it off the lot, flip
a "U-E" and return it than it would be to just call and cancel. Weird huh?
Maybe I can give my wife a spin around the block in it and try to get her to
smile at least once this week. 

The vehicle from Denver will arrive at an auto auction near me on Tuesday or
Wednesday of next week. I will let you all know 'sup at that time.