Matilda's future plans have taken yet another new turn since the last email
I sent out - things move quickly here!

After a lot of discussions with someone on the list who wanted to bring her
to Tennessee, a man literally showed up at my door saying "is that your
van, is it for sale, I want to buy it right now and restore it, I'll give
you the cash."

I had put an ad up on kijiji.ca, not really expecting it to lead to
anything since St. John's is a small place and the market is thin.  Clearly
I was wrong!  After I got over my shock, and he and I talked to for a long
time, I realized it really did make more sense for her to stay where she
is, rather than having someone fly all the way from Tennessee and then have
to drive her back pretty much in her current condition before beginning to
work on her.

So, with many apologies sent off to Tennessee for the change in plans (and
an agreement that hopefully he'll come here to visit someday anyhow, and
maybe I'll go to Knoxville), Matilda is moving just a few miles up the road
from me, where she will be lovingly restored.  The buyer isn't on the
vanagon list now, but he certainly seemed interested in joining, so
hopefully soon you'll hearing from him about Matilda (I hope he doesn't
change her name!) instead of hearing from me.  And I guess after a while
I'll be seeing her around town - running better, with less rust, and all
her problems fixed.  Hopefully she'll be on the road for many years to
come.

For the moment, I'm scouting for a really reliable car that gets very good
gas mileage - but I'm kind of thinking in a few years I'll get the itch to
travel again, and I'll be looking for another vanagon.  I hope so!  Maybe
by then I'll somehow miraculously have gotten rich, and I can buy one of
those vans that's been 100% restored and costs a fortune, but is as
reliable as a new vehicle?  Not likely, but I can always dream!  ;-)

Joy