Date: Wed, 4 Oct 1995 17:59:53 -0700 (PDT)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Jeffrey Olson <jjolson@u.washington.edu>
Subject: story about bus, heat and winter
20 years ago when Rollin' my 66 camper bus and I did a lot of travelling
I fell in love with a woman. I know Rollin' felt betrayed, but hey,
what's a 21 year old guy to do. At any rate, she did a semester at
Hampshire College in Massachesetts and I volunteered to drive her there,
set up house, get a job, and play at being a couple. We started from
Sacramento, her home, in the first week of February. My eight year old
heater boxes were pretty shot so we slowly found ourselves getting colder
and colder as we headed east on I-40. We drove through Albuquerque at
night during a minor blizzard/heavy snowstorm. Now my memory may be
romanticizing it (I'm sure if Annie were still around she wouldn't
romanticize the trip), but I remember driving east up a freeway in a
blizzard IN FIRST GEAR!!! I couldn't go any faster.
There was a 40 mph+ wind blowing right into the nose of the bus. Big
rigs weren't doing much better. My hearty 1300 was struggling mightily
at a steady 18 mph. Every screw hole, every spot with missing or twisted
rubber, every crevace (sp) and crack in the nose let in a powerful wind.
The overhead vent was off but blowing freezingly.
The heater of course had been ineffective for a couple days. We wore all
aour clothes, and finally, at some coffee shop somewhere, we broke out
our down sleeping bags. I slithered into the double-zippered bag and
zippered it at my calves and under my armpits. I already had on my
expedition down parka, a pair of gloves and mittens, and a balaclava
(sp?) I drove like that for much of the trip across Texas and Oklahoma.
The snow turned to rain in Arkansas, but I'd grown used to being warm in
my sleeping bag and "wore" it for much of the remaining miles.
The trip for me was very romantic. I think she decided deep inside that
she was happy being used to finer things, like a working heater. AT any
rate, the relationship went down hill from there. No job, little home in
the snow, and "love for all time". Rollin' and I were soon back on the
road, on to more adventures...
Jeff Olson
Seattle Washington, where it's warm, sunny and the freeways are clear...
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