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Date:         Thu, 11 Jul 96 20:51:42 PDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         copley@healthcare.ubc.ca (Tobin Copley)
Subject:      Big news for a sad goodbye

Everybody, (big news is later in this message, so you have to read this stuff first)

I just wanted to thank everyone on the vanagon list for contributing in their own way to what has got to have been one of the coziest, friendliest, and most supportive corners of the internet. You've all been great, and I'm going to miss those of you who go on a different path through the split. Gerry deserves all of our respect, since without his nurturing and commitment, we would never have had the opportunity to share all that we have. Thank you Gerry, and I hope the beer holds out for a good long time!

On a personal note, thanks to all those who have helped me along the way, including those who have opened their homes to Christa and me on our road trips. I didn't know *anything* about VW buses when I joined the list 2 years ago--except that I'd known for years that I had to have one--and you folks helped me through buying, fixing, and learning about my bus. I am pleased to say that I am now a confident (even if sometimes incompetent) mechanic, and the bulk of my learning has come from the list. Knowing the vanagon list was there for me gave me the confidence to take my then-newly-acquired 1976 camper on a 15,000 mile trip around North America. The supportive feedback from the list spurred me to complete my 14 part report on that trip--a report that when finished appraoched 100 pages in length and the writing of which helped me avoid depression while searching for work on my return home. Without the vanagon list, the Inuvik trip would never have become anything like the outrageous event it has become.

And quite possibly, without the vanagon list Christa and I might not be expecting our first child in February.

Whoa! Bet that got your attention! I'm not pulling your chains on this, by the way. How could a electronic mail mailing list play a part in us conceiving our first (much-wanted) baby? It's quite simple, really: the community and support provided by the list has allowed Christa and me to keep our camper on the road. On the weekend of May 19, we took an overnight trip in our camper up into the mountains along the Sea-to-Sky highway north of Vancouver. At about 8:15 am the next morning, a few hundred million pounds of rock slid off the slope above the highway south of us, burying the highway under 50 feet of rock and cutting us off from Vancouver.

We spent that day doing what any young couple in a VW camper would do when marooned up in the mountains, cut-off from the city and unable to report for work. Oh, and it was a looong day!

Oh, sure, we would have conceived sooner or later, some place or other, but the point is the vanagon list had kept us enthusiastic enough about our bus that when Christa phoned Saturday to tell me she got her shifts changed so that she would be getting off work at 3:00 pm and wouldn't have to report back until 3:00 pm the next day, we both wanted to pile into our camper for a quick over-night trip up into the mountains.

So I want to thank the vanagon list and geologic faulting for both coming together so nicely.

We don't have a name for the baby yet, but we're calling it "Rocky" for now. ;-) ;-)

Thanks everybody! May you all run smooth, cool, and rust-free.

See you down the road! (Northward ho!)

Tobin

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tobin T. Copley VW Busses to Inuvik! ============= (604) 689-2660 www.chaco.com/inuvik /_| |__||__| :| putta July 22-Aug 14 96 O| | putta FOLLOW ALONG WITH US ON THE WEB! '-()-------()-' Circum-continental USA, Mexico, Canada 15,000 miles '76 VW Camper! (Mango)

--------------------------------------------------------------- Tobin T. Copley copley@healthcare.ubc.ca Dept. of Health Care and Epidemiology Voice: (604) 822-6219 University of British Columbia Fax: (604) 822-4994 Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6T 1Z3


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