Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 13:15:33 -0700
Reply-To: Roger Bowman <bowmanrp@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Roger Bowman <bowmanrp@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject: Re: Friday Vanagon Verse!
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Gee, I dont recall saying I was going any particular speed at all, although
I sure would like to have seen your original reply to the gentlemen who did
mention he was going along at 50 mph passing all in the slow lane. I would
have been more clear with my post.
Once you get around the fact that I never said I was going 50 mph, the rest
of your post appears to be more personal attack then I was prepared for in
describing my experience.
I sure admit to at least an excess of pride in following too close; I
certainly did not think a Bronco was going to spin out and stop in the very
middle of the road on my very front bumper. That was indeed a mistake, and
I did learn a valuable lesson from the experience. I hope this point was
not lost on the list. On the other hand, I cannot conceive of the thought
process that would lend itself to spinning a bus. Guess the "slow down"
advice has a noble origin; guess we are even.
Since the rest of your post seems like good advice for all, I will not take
too much time to mention how many hundreds of thousands of miles I have
driven without accident, or any of the other hazardous, everyday activities
that I engage in, without (thank God) serious injury - despite not having
anyone to think for me - except myself. But thanks for the offer.
If you have anything to add to your first reply, especially if it seems even
the slightest bit personal, I would appreciate you addressing the message to
me off list. I will do the same.
Roger Bowman - bowmanrp@ earthlink.net
Read the post. It says what is says. Nothing else.
----------
>From: "Bob Gourley" <spruce@harborside.com>
>To: "Roger Bowman" <bowmanrp@earthlink.net>, <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>Subject: Re: Re: Friday Vanagon Verse!
>Date: Mon, Sep 27, 1999, 11:47 AM
>
> 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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