I love to drive my van about that much too.  It really makes me happy when I
wave to someone else driving one and they wave back.  Even happier if they
beat me to the punch (which is a hard thing to do).  I like to fiddle with
my van.  Gets me to relax and use my brain all at the same time.  Often I
open up the garage, put some music on the stereo or a good book, and then
spend some time working on the "next" project.  Nothing is that much of a
black box that I don't feel comfortable at least taking a look and I'm
always learning something new.  I often wish I knew more about these
vehicles so that I could be universally effective at keep them going.

I like to talk to other people who drive them.  My son and I went to a VW
get-to-gather last month and I talked to all sorts of people I wouldn't have
otherwise met.  I liked watching my son covet the DOKAs and splitties.  He's
13 and he's been talking about saving up for a K�belwagen (think they're his
favorite) that we can work on together.

More than just about anything else right now, I'm super excited that my wife
and I are having a baby and I'm making Zeno into the perfect road-tripping
vehicle to support the two of us and this prospective person who's on the
way.  That's just cool.  And completely impossible with any other vehicle I
might own.

MT
http://zenoswagen.wordpress.com/ 

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Michael Sullivan
Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2010 2:03 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Is it Calming to Drive a Vanagon

I know it is a little off-topic...but here goes.

My van relaxes me.

I cannot take the dog in the wife's car.
I cannot drive w/o a/c if I want to unless I am by myself(in the other car).
I can't wave to folks while driving the wife's Mazda even tho it's really
fast and fun and looks cool.  I still feel like a girl while driving it.
I went to the doctor cuz I had an irregular heartbeat. Prescribed rest,
vacation, herbal remedy and some Xanax.
Retested after taking the day off and driving the van to the beach and back
and passed the stress test w/o taking anything, except the herbal stuff.
You do the math.
Michael in San Antonio
91GL Weekender AT 2.1L 'Gringo'

BTW-Just sayiing this cuz I really think the van is more than transportation
but a way of thinking. (And i'm just driving a GL. Wait till I get a Syncro
Westy w/o Fridge).