marlin, i told them to stop by or call when they get down my way.  
(huntington beach)  i guess i will have to wait a while till they get 
here.  say hi for me.

take care and God Bless
matt
On Thu, 14 Mar 1996 mbates@s3.sonnet.com wrote:

> I know it is not friday yet but this is not exactly joke material either
> (although it is hopefully humorous).
> 
> Background:
> 
> About 2 months or so ago when I first joined the list Matt J. and Susie
> (his girlfriend from New Zealand by way of London) sent a message out that
> they would be doing a cross-country trip and could they stop over and meet
> some people along the way.  Well, I was new and eager so I gave him my name
> and number and told him to look me up when he got to Stockton, CA.  Many
> moons went by and I just kinda forgot about it.....
> 
> Present:
> 
> Matty called the night before last as I was trying to wrest the steering
> wheel out of Lazarus (who IS appropriately named) and said he was in town.
> He wanted to get together with us and some of the Sacramento folks if he
> could.  I said great and we just seemed to hit it off so we talked for
> awhile and chatted and we agreed to get together for lunch the next day.
> So the next day I came home and got my wife (she substitute teaches so is
> on call.  thankfully she did not get a call yesterday) and daughter and we
> all went out to lunch.
> 
> We met at their hotel and, of course, I checked out their '70 Westy before
> I actually saw them!  Fun folks.  We all just seemed to hit it right off.
> We managed to get through lunch with a blast and agreed to meet later that
> evening.  Perhaps get up to Sacramento.
> 
> Welllllll  :-)  We never quite made it.  We spent the whole evening just
> having LOADS of fun.  We spent a great deal of time in the bus.  This was a
> little weird considering that we had a cozy, warm house not more than 6
> feet away but we all agreed that it just felt right.  We ordered Chinese
> food and ate it right there on lawn chairs and by the light of his dome
> light and a candle and chatted for hours.
> 
> It started to get cold so we moved it inside and we watched a little bit of
> Ren & Stimpy, we blew Barney to bits on my Mac and continued to drink.
> They found this intriguing little drink called Bullwinkle Soda.  It is a
> ELECTRIC BLUE color and is called a "Vitamin Soda Pop".  Matt and Suz also
> demonstrated its unique ability as a Vodka mixer.  Oh, I think we accepted
> that ability a LITTLE too much.  I am *STILL* reeling from that!
> 
> So, about 4:45 AM *I* trudged off to bed as I was dying for sleep.  A few
> hours later as I was trying to get ready for work.  I was oh so painfully
> reminded of the nights activities.  Matt and Suz had slept on our sofa bed
> (we really did not want to find our new friends frozen in the morning!
> 
> They are out right now getting a boom box for the Bus.  I am going to wire
> up a cigareete lighter for them in the Bus so they can run an adaptor to
> power the Boom Box when they are driving.  We have both taught each other a
> lot about our Westys and have had a lot of fun.
> 
> I guess this is sort of a "See you too can do this" message.  If you also
> responded as a person for them to see write back!  They are loads of fun
> and a welcome addition to your lives!
> 
> -Marlin
> 
> P.S.  there are lots of little side stories that arose in the last two days
> that I would love to tell but the noise from the keyboard is giving me a
> headache! :-}
> 
> 
>