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Date:         Thu, 10 Apr 1997 22:04:12 -0700 (MST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         vanbondo@primenet.com (jim ellis)
Subject:      VanBondo's <kelly park trip> report

*I don't know if reading that I have resubbed is good news or bad news* ;)

Last weekend, my wife Paula and I traveled to the Kelly Park show in SanJose,CA,USA. It was a LONG drive for us. Gettin' out on the road did wonders for us- individually and as a couple. We went from Phoenix to LA, then up the inland Califonia freeway (I-5) to San Jose,CA which is basically in the southern BayArea/SanFransisco area. The high winds kept the steering wheel on the 2 and 8 O'clock positions alternating with 10 and 4. The changes came with out warning or reason as the winds shifted. All weekend I was suffering from major allergies/cold which deemed my voice as a Rod Stewart/Rod McKuen with laryngitius. <bummer> We arrived in SJ literally 24 hours after hitting the road. Saturday afternoon Busgirl, Bradley Prunehead, Allan, and Sara met us for a quick cup of coffee. Later in the evening Paula and I joined others for a banquet and then drove to the parking lot outside of the Kelly Park and camped with many other folks. <Insert the variety of imaginable scenes>. We graciously opted out of the "festivities" and crashed. Sunday started with the ususal 05:30 AM LeMans start for the line up and then the wait. I parked the bus so that I only had to jump up in my Jockeys and a coat- jumped into the driver's seat, fired it up, got in line and then got dressed. <break out the video>. I carried 5 gallons of water with me and had time to wash and detail the bus while in line! Set up of the RFH took from 08:00 until about 10:30-11:00. Some good looking gal came by and harrassed us to put our vehicle number into view so that she could vote for us. She turned out to be Kathy Myers of the "Her Purple Majesty" fame. I nearly missed the show due to set up and detail time. I finally hit the swaps at 11:00 and found a few small low budget treats. We met many, many listees and eventually joined some of them for a picnic in the parking lot after the show. The RFH pulled a second place in the "luxury" class of the typeII's. There was no separate camper class. After going head to head with other campers and window buses, we were beat out only by a bitchen Salmon and White 1963 23 window. I could rationalize that at least we were *living* outta the bus and showing it at the same time. =)The truth is that the 23 was very fine! After the show we went on up to a suburb of SF and visited with "Busgirl" and family for an overnighter. On Monday we traveled by invitation up and around Yosemite park to Mammoth Falls,CA to visit Kathy Myer and her SO, Mark Blanchard. <class act, talented folks>. Mark makes his homebrew the same way that he makes guitars. (Kick butt and quality craftsmanship). >From there we traveled though Nevada to Las Vegas. We stumbled on to a true VanBondo award winner in the hills on the CA/Nevada border. Stopped and traded lies for a few minutes, took photos and hit the highway. 150 north of Las Vegas is sidewalk spit of a town with a lot containing a splittie double cab and a sign which reads "NOTHING IS FOR SALE!". Arrived in Las Vegas where we had a quick cheapy buffet dinner and pissed away five *whole* dollars on the nickle slot machines and hit the road for Phoenix. Lots of laughs. The highway between Kingman, AZ and Wickenburg, AZ is death's highway and was no fun at all. Paula says that we traveled 1960 miles. She wanted to pick a gas station 3.5 miles away and top off the tank so we could say that we traveled 1967 miles. I opted for the bed instead.

The job search continues after a sudden politically based "downsizing." Remind me not to write any more cc:Mail "Mission Statements." ;-)

Computerwise, I was finally able to sketch together a few tin cans in order to reach the email lists. Back to lurking and way smaller posts. Peace, VanBondo\


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