Apparently the VW gods frowned upon our decision to spend New Year's Eve
 in a rustic lodge near Kings Canyon Nat'l Park rather than go to Martha's
 New Year's Eve bash.

 Here's how they had their revenge: Francesca and I returned from a xc-ski
 outing to be greeted by one of the lodge staff -  "Uhhh, Nikki had a sledding
 accident and did something to his shoulder.......". They had done a good
 job with the first aid but it was clear that Nikki was in real pain and
 that something was amiss with his collarbone. Sooooo, we set up the lower
 bed in the westy, moved him in, bundled up with blankets and padded with
 pillows and I started the 90 minute trek down the mountain to the hospital
 in exciting Reedley, CA.

 Now here's the VW content: When you are in a hurry, few sounds are more 
 comforting than those twin Solexes wide open, calling out for more air
 and fuel. Second item, if you haven't already spent the eighteen bucks to
 upgrade your sealed beams to the halogen type, consider doing so. On low 
 beam the change is very subtle, but on high beam these puppies throw out
 a lot more light, a comforting commodity when you are trying to make 
 good time over dark, unlit, country roads.

 The hospital emergency room was a hub-bub of activity. I'm convinced that
 every sick Mexican-American infant in the central valley was in there 
 wailing. There was nowhere to sit. I put Nikki in a wheelchair and left 
 him in the hall while I "spoke" with the Nurse-in-charge.

 The folks at the Sierra-Kings District Hospital are actually quite good. They
 see the babies when they can but this was New Years Eve and they had their
 hands full with other problems of a more urgent nature - One young man had
 neglected to put on his seat belt and landed face first on the pavement when
 his car was hit. There was a woman who had gotten into a fist fight with one
 of her in-laws and then, a half hour later, been poisened. Even after having
 her stomach pumped, her face <bruised from the fight> was the color of 
 window putty. 

 Nikki got x-rayed on a machine may have been good when it was built in the
 fifties. The films from it were so light as to be nearly unreadable. The
 offset in the clavicle was evident but fortunately only a couple millimeters.
 Surgery not required. Nikki was put into a brace, given some hefty pain
 killers and we were on our way. Just under two hours total, most of it 
 waiting.

 Now if only we had left that morning, destination Moraga, that sledding
 adventure would never have taken place. Nikki would be at school now, instead
 of at home enjoying narcotics and running up my AOL bill......

 Happy New Year! <?>

 Dave