At 08:49 AM 2/27/2009, Michael Sullivan wrote:
>Opinions welcomed. Thanks.

To me a lot of it comes down to how well you really know your boy,
deep down, and how well he knows himself.  I think that anything you
send into Spring Break that you care about (possibly including the
boy) is asking for it; but I could easily have an exaggerated notion
of what Spring Break entails.

As for the rest, I agree with the folks who say that intimate
knucklebusting knowledge of how the beast works is important to
continued success and happiness.  I always considered Dutiful Passage
to be pretty reliable in its own way, and never hesitated to take a
trip in it except when it was officially not working.  But part of
the reliable was the reliable expectation that sooner or later I'd be
underneath it or head down in the engine at a campground or parking
lot or off the side of the road somewhere chasing gremlins.  I drove
it something like 150,000 miles and never had it towed until the
night it went to Mike Collum's to retire and *he* had it towed the
last 17 miles.  But in the course of that I learned an awful lot
about the vehicle and pretty much covered Bentley with grease and
dogeared pages.  I used to look at it sitting next to the Corolla
manual which had one greasy thumbprint on the cover from when I
couldn't find the oil pressure sender (under the alternator, of
course).  And like an ijjit I gave the Bentley to Mike and when I
started talking on the list again had to beg one from Doug Ford.

So me, I wouldn't lend one farther away than I could get to except to
a seasoned Vanagonaut, I guess.

Was my boy, I'd help him get a beat-up loaf and a copy of Muir.  That
way he'll be thinking in terms of his own sweat and blood rather than
your money, when it comes to peer pressure and taking care.

With respect,

  --
David Beierl - Providence RI USA -- http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'89 Po' White Star "Scamp"