Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 11:11:49 -0800
From: Charlie Ford <cford@mindspring.com>
Subject: Chicken Town to Motor City

I am this writing from Toronto.  Sometimes on the road, it is difficult to
find a place to pug into a phone line.  Thanks, Charlie


As I posted a couple weeks ago, I had been staying in Chicago.  It was
there that I took a Saturday and went north to the MOFOCO VW meet.  The
meet was held in the small town of Union Grove Just south of Milwaukee.  A
great time was had by all, and many mosquito's lost their bloody little
lives during that meet.

After arriving back in Chi-town I settled in for a long hot week.  I will
have to say the Chicago humidity has been some of the worse I have seen
thus far in my journey and that is saying a lot.  Especially since I am
from southern Georgia where sometimes during the summer it feels as if one
is walking through hot soup.

I ended up finding some work with Dan Lahey, a brother of probably my best
friend of all time, Mary Anne Lahey from Georgia.  Dan owns a carpet laying
company and though he had plenty of labor for his carpet business, he did
hire me as sort of a handy man for his house.  Apparently the carpet
business takes up so much of his time that he doesn't have time to tend to
the daily chores it takes to maintain a house.

I was glad to help and in no time had secured enough work to last the
biggest portion of the week.  The first task was to paint the porch.  His
wife gave me the colors and the paint to match, and off I went to do the
job as instructed.  it actually took me a couple of days because she wanted
it painted in two different colors, white and deep green.

The post on the porch were the lathed type with little Victorian balls
located at various points along the beam.  The first coat of white went on,
then a second, then came the arduous task of painting the little balls.  I
don't know how many of you have ever painted you balls, but it ain't no
fun!

I am not an intricate painter by no means.  I had to do them three
different times and each time the paint would somehow invade the white
surface.  because of this I had to keep going back and painting over the
same area again and again.  Finally I was satisfied enough to quit.

On another day of that week I helped mow the grass.  On another I hung a
storm door on the garage door, and on yet another I helped lay carpet.  The
carpet laying by far was the toughest of all the task I undertook.  It was
a hot and humid day with no breeze to speak of.  I thought several times
that I was about to suffer from sunstroke.  Man it was really tough.  That
is one occupation I hope I never have to do again.

On Sunday, after being at Dan's for a week I left, headed for Detroit.  It
was there that I would do what I do know how to do, train with an
AmeriCorps program to make them better.  I was looking forward to getting
to the town that I had always thought of as the heart of American industry.
Little did I know what I would find when I got there.

I drove along I-94 until I reached Highway 12, that is the old way from
Chicago to Detroit.  This drive is absolutely relaxing with farms and
fields full of growth all along the way.  I stopped at a couple of the road
side stands that sell various yard sale items daily just to break some of
the monotony and meet some of the people of southern Michigan.

Surprisingly enough the land is much like you see in Georgia.  To add to
that, the people are also much the same.  They are just plain oleo folks
trying to make America work for them.  They are talkative and welcome you
as soon as your foot hits the ground at their business.  I guess partially
because they want you to buy something, but I think it also because they
are happy to have someone new drop in.

The only thing I really bought was a "sand wedge" golf club.  I know many
of you are asking "why didn't you buy the whole set?".  Well...the entire
set takes up a lot of room, which for me, space is already at a premium,
and a sand wedge is good for breaking the boredom one can experience at
some of the campgrounds.  I was sure it would bring me many hours of
satisfaction, plus i could improve my short game.

Speaking of campgrounds, that night I found one in Three Rivers, Michigan,
appropriately called Three Rivers Campground.  I pulled in and found this
little village of RV's and trailers.  All of them filled with elderly folks
that had chosen this as their desired place of retirement.  the campground
was a very quiet and peaceful place.  The people all seemed to be nice,
even to a VW breadloaf with stickers all over the windows.

It was Sunday evening and the first thing that happened was that I was
invited to was the church service that were to be held on the grounds.  I
am not a rabidly religious man, but I do believe and have that foundation
of belief that has grown in me since I was a child.  I decided I would
attend and maybe be fed with some stimuli for thought as I drove.

Sure enough I filled that need at this small church service.  Not only did
I receive a blessing of spirit, but they also had snacks and finger food
afterwards.  I discovered this when the visiting minister form the local
church announced in his closing prayer "Lord, bless this finger food of
which we are about to partake".  I was thrilled to no end to hear these
words of culinary delight.  Free food is always welcome to a traveling
individual.

Of course during the course of the meal everyone wanted to know who this
young man of 40 was that happened into their presence driving a VW bus.
They all welcomed me in.  of course they all also wondered how i happened
upon them and their little piece of earth.  I explained to each of them
that i was celebrating my 40th birthday.  A couple of them said they had an
internet connection and would like to visit my webpage.  I gave them the
site address, and had to wonder if they really would visit.

Many of them ask me to stay around a few days and enjoy the lake and the
campground.  I had to turn them down, but I must say I was tempted.  the
place was filled to the brim with conservative types, but they are part of
the journey as well.  As I was leaving the next day there were may that
waved me goodbye as I passed.  it was almost like leaving my Grandparents
house.

The next morning I drove on toward Detroit.  I arrived in Ann Arbor and as
many of you remember this is where I posted that I was having a "points"
problem.  By the way, I changed out two sets in record time.  Thanks to
Doug and Michael, I know how to do this now with some degree of accuracy.
but the first thing I had to do was find a shop that could tell me why the
problem was occurring in the first place.

I found a VW shop called Han's and inquired as to whether they could help
me out or not.  To this question I was given a very rude response of "I
don't have time to mess with you today".  This shop was awful to say the
least.  The people were rude and not customer oriented at all.  I wouldn't
recommend this place to my worst enemy.

I went to another shop called Jim Muncy's.  I found them to be just about
as bad.  I wasn't impressed so far with the mechanic's attitude in Ann
Arbor.  It seemed as if these guys had no time for anyone except the
customers that had been with them for years.  I wonder what they will do
when those customers die off, I personally hope they close their doors and
file bankruptcy.  I don't like bad businessmen at all.

Finally after checking with a mechanic I met at a parts house, I found a
place called PAT, Performance Auto Technicians.  These guys were great,
they told me to pull the Mothership in and they would check it out.  They
checked the timing and the points.  They took a look at my distributor, and
then gave me their analysis.

They said all looked fine and that my problem could have been a glitch with
the points themselves.  I asked the guy how much I owed him and he said
"nothing at all".  I thanked him and left, thinking then how I would
explain the goodness of this shop to you guys around the country.  if your
in Ann Arbor and break down, call them.  Remember the name, PAT.

I left and because I had already secured a sleeping place for the night
with the Director of the program I had come to do the training for, I
headed on over and set up camp.  The next day we had a meeting and the
training happened the next.  All went well and was very successful.  I love
it when it all works out as planned.  the members were an inspiration to me
and all in all I walked out feeling really good.

I was leaving Detroit, but before I would leave I had some folks to
contact.  Ed Gould had contacted me a few days prior and had invited me to
visit the Milan VW show.  I told him I would be there.  gary Gibson, a list
member from Tuscon had also sent me a mail and explained that he was in
town if I needed any help.  It just so happens I did.  More on that, and
the adventure that went with it in the next post.

Thanks for tolerating my rambling's.

Charlie Ford




"79" Transporter, dressed for the road
The Mothership

 The"Turning 40 Nostalgic VW Service Tour, and
Search for the Beginning of Wind".

http://www.armory.com/~y21cvb/charlie/charlie.html

"Wider still and wider.....shall thy bounds be set"