Sunday, March 08, 2009

CONSTIPATED

Constipated - Can't Pass a Thing

Never get behind a VW Bus

You're seen one or both of those bumper stickers. Driving up a steep hill behind a VW bus is torture. Your speed goes from 65 mph down to 40. On a two lane highway with double yellow lines you're stuck for the duration.

Wifey and I owned a VW bus much like the one you see on the left of the row of buses. After a year of ownership we sold our bus in favor of something else American.

We bought our bus from our good friends, Carol Ann and Alan. They were ready for something different and now that I think of it, we were ready to buy something different, too.

One summer Max and I drove the bus to Oregon to visit my parents. At the time they were working at Diamond Lake - -- a resort twenty minutes north of Crater Lake. During the visit we slept on the floor of the bus. While the bare floor of the bus was uncomfortable it beat sleeping in the travel trailer with mom and dad. Dad's snoring made for a sleepless night.

I had a VW bug in high school. Wrecked it twice. Damn thing just would not stay on the road. That's a story for another blog post.

Then there was the two VW bugs I owned during my stint in the military.

During college I bought a new VW squareback . . . the station wagon variety of VW's.

You can say I've owned more than my share of VW's.


Old VW buses are coming back. It's like a cult thing. Restored. Conversions to surfer-mobiles. Hot rods for the drag strip. Fruit juice mobiles like you see here at San Diego State. And mounted on the side of buildings like Fudpuckers.
I wouldn't mind owning another van like this one. Classic. Cool. Different.

Then I remember about those long, slow drives up steep hills with the pissed off drivers behind just begging me to pull over.

There's a price to pay for being cool.

Posted by Picasa

8 comments:

Jes said...

I love that last one!!!

Max said...

I can't remember you owning a VW bus, let alone driving up to Oregon and sleeping in it. I do remember your Z, the blue F-150, and the turbo bird...

La Roo said...

I had a 1959 Bug. Oh I loved that car, but it spent half of its life with me on the back of a flatbed tow truck. And man, the stories that invlove that cute little car. :) My husband also had a 1969 Bus. Both supplied us the space away from home for crazy teenage sex and partying. I think back now and can't imagine how we did the wild thing in the front seat of my bug.
Actually right now, I'm in the midst of painting a red bug. 3inx3in. It's not mine, I don't have any pictures of mine that I wanted to use. I'm looking for a cool Bus picture to go along with it.

Bob said...

Jes: I'm with you. I can see you driving that one around Seoul.

Max: I have pictures that I'll share when I find them.

Laroo: Let me know if you would like a cool VW bus picture. I know exactly where to find a couple. I had a '50 bug, too. Sunroof. It was lots of fun. I can't say that I ever got my "OH!" face on in any of the VW's. There were other places to stretch out. :)

Anonymous said...

These were cool. I remember a friend of mine had one and we always used to get stoned in it while driving around.

Bob said...

Fox: VW's were kind of cool for that . . .

La Roo said...

Bob can you email me some of your bus pics, I'd like to check them out and see if I could do something with them.

Big E Photo said...

Hello,
Love this blog, cool photo's. I own 2 VW's a Manx clone for off roading and a 1969 Karmann Ghia. Check out my blog.
Steve

Blog Archive

About Me

My photo
Whiskeytown Lake, Very Northern California, United States