Date: Sat, 11 Oct 1997 23:04:44 -0700
Reply-To: jim ellis <vanbondo@PRIMENET.COM>
Sender: Vanagon mailing list <Vanagon@Gerry.SDSC.EDU>
From: jim ellis <vanbondo@PRIMENET.COM>
Subject: Albuquerque Balloon/VW meet~ Part2
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In Part 1 I left off with everyone at the site of the 1959 Discover/Novus
"Garcia" bus.
Yeah, the exterior did have the approximate pattern of one of Jerry's
paintings applied. I personally would drive it as it sat. Why not! =)
The interior did look real nice and original. The windows had the pattern
applied over that "micro-dotted" material that many City Transit buses use.
Well, you know what I mean. It was a DiscoverCard give away thing. Poloroid
pictures were being taken in front of the bus as part of the food gathering
charity drive. The VanBondos stepped up with their dollar and smiled. The
photo came out "faulty" but we loved it. A sun flare or something caused the
image to appear like there was a hugely bright light emitting from directly
over my heart. There we were in our tie dye regallia etc. in front of
Jerry's bus and a huge Kharmic spooge erupting in our Poloroid. We loved it.
The corporate Young Republicans behind the camera weren't tracking as to why
we thought it was hilarious. I can scan it if someone wants to post it. I
think it ranks right up there with those velvet paintings of the Kennedy
brothers that are often seen in the households of Hispanic Grandmothers. Que
Bueno!
We all checked the bus, AZ Bus Club&Rt66 Splits presented the Corporate
dudes with an award for the charity/VW thing and eventually made it back to
the campout at the YWCA.
Everyone fired up the BBQ's, roasted Chilies, ate Burgers, Mushrooms,
Veggies, Chicken, Bratwursts and our favorite bevarages. A good time was
enjoyed by all. Some of us attempted to crowd around a teeny Sony walkman TV
thing in an attempt to see ourselves on the news. A cameraman had come by
earlier in the day. Supposedly, Paula and the RFH were included. I havent
seen the video sent to me by JP yet.
Sunday AM was a repeat of the massive balloon send off. Soon everyone was
packed up and headed for home.
The roadtrip home was mostly uneventful but included continuous craning of
our necks looking for that undiscovered secret junkyard that the other nini
billion VW lovers had som how over looked. Instead of finding the miracle
spot we settled for a twelve hour running commentary between several of us
via Walkie Talkies and CBs'. Some how everyone's speedometer varied by what
seemed like 15mph. Some of us were doing 47 mph and thinking we were doing
62 and vice versa. Mark Chambers was the casulty of the day with a broken
water hose in his usually trick *Watercooled* splittie double cab. He only
gave up ten minutes switching hoses and was hitting it again. He's da man!
>>I did notice that there is a very cool abandoned garage at milepost 333 on
I-40 that has the word GARAGE painted on an old faded tin roof in five foot
capital letters. From a distance it reads "RAGE" as the G-A is mostly faded.
Even at age 42, I laughed and hummed a radical tune as I passed by. The DEAD
RIVER is still at mile post 265 with all kinds of deady stickers on the
eastbound side of the river. =)
VWFOOL's brother, Dave was the Dave Osborn award winner of the evening.
California has the Grapevine climb on southbound I-5. Arizona has the
dreaded southbound climb out of the Verde Valley on I-17. Imagine 20mph
truckers, 75mph vehicles combined with struggling aircooled VW's. All
lumbering up a motorblowing hill. Somehow in the mix, Dangerous Dave was
passing Type-four Traci when someone with a real car passed Dave. There are
only two lanes. Buckwilde@AOL.com and I were huffing our buses up the hill
and watching this all from behind. We all were jabbering on the CB's at the
same time. The occasion had the panic of the last thirty seconds of an Art
History final essay question exam!!!! EEEEK!!! Doric! no wait- Um,
Corinthian... No!!!!! Iconic? Ah- Moronic, yeah! that's it. Whew!
Oh well, We all made it home in time for a good night's sleep and dreams of
chasing the steering wheel up and down I-40. Thanks again to the RT66 Splits
and the Albuquerque YWCA for a excellent weekend. Watch for future events of
the Arizona/New Mexico chapters of NEATO for an excellent time!
Peace until the next time,
VanBondo\
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