Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 11:47:30 -0700
Reply-To: Bob Gourley <spruce@HARBORSIDE.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Bob Gourley <spruce@HARBORSIDE.COM>
Subject: Re: Friday Vanagon Verse!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Roger; you say that you were going 50 mph after everyone else had slowed to
30 mph?
What is that at the bottom of your page? "Live smart". "Think for
yourself". "Transform the future".
Now listen kid, You had better let someone else do the thinking for you
because with your stupid thinking you wont have a future. I assume that you
are in your teens because of the ego and exhilaration expressed
in your letter. Four teen-agers have been killed in auto accidents within a
6 mile radius of my house within
the last year. Speed and or inexperience was the cause. I knew 3 of the
kids. Sad.
I have never driven my '87 Syncro in snow but it does the job in sand. I
made a full circle with my '63 VW
bus in the Cascades one time. It had rained , frozen and then snowed on top
of the ice.
I wish you young people would listen to us old fuddy duddys when we tell you
to slow down, don't smoke,
don't drink, don't do dope and don't have sex before marriage. What is your
hurry , Roger?
ps. Teen-age kids tell me that I am NOT an old fuddy duddy. When I reach 86
in 11-18-99 , maybe I can
classify. Meantime, if you come up behind a pokey '87Syncro or an '84
Dolphin motor home, rest assured,
I will let you pass as soon as I can find a wide spot.----Bob
.
-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Bowman <bowmanrp@EARTHLINK.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Monday, September 27, 1999 8:20 AM
Subject: Re: Friday Vanagon Verse!
>> Sure, as I'm climbing the pass with a few buddies I get passed because I
>> can't do much more than 60mph up a grade. But when we reach 2500 feet and
>> everyone slows to 30 because of the 4 inches of new, I'm still in the
>> untracked fast lane doing fifty and in total control. Its a sight to
behold.
>> And sure enough, in my wake are the handful of aggressive Legacys and
>> Outbacks, all flying past the bloated Expeditions and Suburbans whose
>> drivers thought height, brawn, and dollars would cure their fear of
driving
>> in the winter.
>> That, friends, is how you can sleep late and get first tracks during the
>> long Northwest winters. Maybe another time I'll describe how fun it is to
go
>> down the pass!
>
>This reminds me of a (hopefully short!) story about me, my syncro westie, a
>ford bronco, and snowy conditions on the Angeles Forest Highway (Near Los
>Angeles, CA) on a February evening.
>
>One of the colder storms I can remember had come through the LA basin early
>Sunday morning, and stuck around to make the day cold, crisp, with showers
>and dark clouds over the San Gabriels - one of the few days each year that
>LA is actually a decent place. (Or so it seems...)
>
>By the time I left the Basin late in the evening for my return trip to
>Lancaster (Sandblaster...) the sun had set, and rain had started to fall;
>snow level was about 3,500 ft, and the pass I had to travel over is about
>4,500 ft., and I was looking forward to some snow time!
>
>Leaving Tujunga (I had to take the alternate route, since the Angeles Crest
>was closed due to stupidity) I quickly acquired a bothersome Bronco on my
>tail, whom I let pass - musta been going 25 mph faster then me by the
>time...
>
>The Angeles Forest Hwy connects Pasadena and (about) Palmdale; it is a 2
>lane mountain road, lots of twisties and elevation gain; I've been driving
>this hwy since I learned to drive. After a while, the rain started to turn
>into snow, and as I got higher, the snow started to stick, and finally
>turned to solid cover, and the asphalt was covered with snow.
>
>As the snow started to thicken, my lowly VW 2.1l started to reel in the
>Bronco with its huge tires and giant (relatively speaking...) motor.
>Eventually, I was on his tail, just as he had been on my bumper - much to
my
>delight! The gutless wonder sucks in the off road machine!
>
>And then...coming around a corner, the Bronco broke traction, and ended up
>sliding sideways down the center of the highway, fully blocking the road as
>he came to a halt. After all my pride in catching up with him, I was
>following too close; braking just locked up all 4 wheels on the camper, and
>It appeared I was going to T-bone the Bronco at about 10 mph, when I spied
>the shoulder, downshifted, and pulled off the road, several inches in from
>of the front bumper, in full view of the passengers and totally illuminated
>by the headlights...and pulled away.
>
>I passed a couple of other cars that night, some of which had been
>abandonded in the snow drifts (of like - 4 inches). The Bronco turned
around
>and went back down the mountain; I was able to see the headlights as he got
>everything straitened out...the syncro was able to pull through a steep
>climbing sweeper that had collected 2 cars earlier. And without chains!
>
>On an interesting aside, do any of the other syncro owners notice how much
>snow packs into the undercarriage, especially when conditions are "mashed
>potato(e)s"? I seem to get several hundred pounds of snow in the frame,
>which significantly slows and quiets the camper...and drips and trails
water
>for miles and miles once out of the mountains..
>
>Roger Bowman - bowmanrp@ earthlink.net
>Live Smart. Think for Yourself. Transform the Future
>
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