Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 23:49:59 -0600
Reply-To: "Edmund A. Hintz" <ed@HINTZ.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: "Edmund A. Hintz" <ed@HINTZ.ORG>
Subject: My bus is gone
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I'm a little sad right now; I just watched my bus drive away without
me.
She's been a good bus to us. We rescued her from an impound yard in
Los Angeles, in January of '94. The dreaded PO was the usual dastardly
type, doing various irresponsible things to disfigure the poor girl. We
bought her for $150, with a rod thrown through the #3 cylinder and case.
She had bondo over about 80% of her body, an AMC ignition switch shoved
into the dash, an aftermarket switch controlling the lights (slowly
melting since it wasn't electrically up to the task), and a Ford sedan
rear view mirror bolted to the drivers side door with sheet metal screws.
They'd raped her, used her, and left her for dead on the side of the road.
We came of age together. I slowly healed most of her abuse, and she
taught me patience, tolerance, and the magical art of the internal
combustion engine. In short, I was good to her, doing everything I could
to return her to her former mechanical glory, and she responded in kind,
bearing Samantha and myself where we needed to go.
I left California to attend school at the University of Texas at
Austin in August of '94. Everything I owned, including my pet snake and
cat Tosca, were in that bus. Tosca didn't care much for road trips at
first, and let me know by having a nice case of diarrhea about 50 miles
out of LA. I cleaned him up, and on we went. The bus took us all the way
to Austin, with no complaints, just an example of her excellent
mechanical servitude, which was to continue up to this day.
She went on a 12,000 mile journey from Austin to Inuvik and back
(documented at <http://www.hintz.org/trip/>), and her only complaint was
up on the Dempster highway, after 200 miles of rough dirt road. True to
her nature, a small amount of attention allowed our trip to continue
unhindered.
Our first son, Hunter Leroy Hintz (<http://www.hintz.org/hunter/>),
came home from the hospital in style. His first ever ride was in our '70
bus, which also bore Sam to the hospital to give birth.
And for every little victory of the past 5 years, she played a part,
however small at times.
Tonight, a nice enough college fellow, by the name of David Van
Winkle, purchased a piece of our family history. I wanted to keep her
forever, as she was my first bus, but financial and living arrangements
dictate we can have only one bus, and we're purchasing a '78 Westy from
longtime friends in Los Angeles. I've shown Dave all her oddities, and I
think he will be good to her, but it was still kind of hard to watch her
drive down the street with him, knowing she's no longer my bus. So, all I
have are fond memories, and a few photographs.
And Mr. Van Winkle has joined the ranks of bus owners, thinking just
a little differently than the rest of the world. I hope she builds as
many happy memories for him as she has for me.
Peace,
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Edmund A. Hintz **|** "You may say I'm a dreamer,
Tenor and Mac Techie * | * But I'm not the only one...
<ed@hintz.org> * /|\ * I hope someday you'll join us,
'70 Primered Transporter */ | \* And the world will live as one.
'73 Super Beetle ***** Imagine."
Web page: http://www.hintz.org
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| 
