Date: Sun, 23 Feb 1997 23:56:56 -0800
From: David Robinson <dprobins@pepperdine.edu>
Subject: My time with Charlie Ford

I was honored this weekend to have our friend Charlie Ford visit.  I am in
Malibu, southern California, and I invited him to check out the view from
Pepperdine University.  He arrived Friday morning, and I met him out in
the parking lot.  It was fun to finally meet the creator of many dreams
and the sharer of many journeys.

Charlie is a big guy.  I would guess he is 6'5".  Maybe more, maybe less,
but he is just big, and I am glad we're friends (I'd hate to be on the
side he wasn't favoring in a bar fight).  He fits just fine in the
Mothership, whose interior looks more like that of a boat, with a berth
along the drivers side behind the driver's seat, and the front passenger
seat is turned around to provide a larger living area.  There is also
another seat facing front toward the rear of the van.  Lots of storage in
there, and even more in the car-top carrier he picked up at a garage sale
for $3.  Mountain bike mounted on the back door finishes it up.  A grand
ship indeed.

It runs beautifully.  My bus, I now realize, runs like crud, hence the
call for help in my previous post about tune up advice.  The Mother runs
so quietly and smooth, with tons of power (he could shift into third on an
uphill!).

Charlie is a very genuine guy.  What you see is what you get.  He was more
than willing to share advice and experiences with me, a 21 year old made
to feel like a peer.  I thoroughly enjoyed all the time we were able to
spend together.

I was happy and sad to see him go.  I was sad because
I enjoyed my new friend.  We talked about love, life, jobs, relationships
in general, and we even managed to talk a bit about VW's (imagine that).
Those talks will continue on as I meet different people with different
perspectives and bias', and I am thankful for the part of the conversation
Charlie gave me.  Ideas that I will carefully remember.

He is very generous, as well.  He tried to give me a Haynes manual, but it
was for the type I engine and mine is the type IV.  I left it with him as
a present for someone else.  He gave me a spare headlight, just so I'd
have a spare, although, as we discovered while examineing the wiring in the
bus, a headlight going out will be the least of my concernes (anyone have a
wiring harness for a '73 that they don't need?  How about a diagram
clearer than the Haynes?  I have a lot of time to look forward to
spending with my bus figuring out the wiring).  A generous and man with
his posessions as well as with his heart, knowledge, and experience.

I was happy to see him go, on the other hand, because he has a trip to
take.  A search for the beginning of wind, as he so often says.  It is a
trip I have been allowed to participate in vicariously through his
"ramblings."  A journey I look forward to hearing about as the miles pass.
 It is a journey we must all make sometime in our lives, in one form or
another.  I am now enjoying his journey.

I just wanted to tell of my fine 2 days with this man.  Charlie, thanks
for stopping by, and I will continue to pray for you.  I look forward to
reading your posts, and I am tackling the valve adjustment in the next few
days.  Wish me luck.

David P.
'73 Kombi (Magi)