Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 21:10:24 -0700 From: Charlie Ford <cford@mindspring.com> To: type2@bigkitty.azaccess.com Subject: Fitness and the Mothership As many of you already know after BBTA I decided to stay at Bill Bowman's home in St. Charles, Missouri. Bill and I had met at the Columbus show and his gracious offer of hospitality, just like so many others along the route, came to fruition in the by and by. Over the past couple of days I have been grounded. the Mothership, because of the ticket and suspended liscence, went to drydock for some much needed and not so much needed sprucing up. Since being here at Bill's home I have had the privilege to get to know he and his wife Kathryn much better. Kathryn and Bill both are Stewards on TWA flights out of Saint Louis. they each have been with the company over 20 years, with Kathryn being there the longest. You oughta see them in their uniforms, they look sharp as tacks laying on a floor while you're barefoot in the dark room where they lay. Kathryn is probably one of the better cooks I have ever met. She can whip out a meal in short order and make it pleasing to the pallet. Garlic is one of her favorite ingredients, and to be honest it is also one of mine. They say garlic has strong healing powers, that is for you, the person that smells your breath after you eat it is not so affected. I just like the taste of it in my food. I remember when I taught Mentally Retarded adults in Tennessee (Appalachia) in the late 70's. Many of the clients were sent to the activity center each day with a clove of garlic around their neck on a string. Now you must keep in mind that this was a "mountain" culture and they still practiced the "root and herb" healing processes. These people thought as many folks still do, that garlic wards off demon's. In their minds, the kids were retarded because they were demon possessed. Tradition is a hard thing to shake, it just takes time, and new lessons I guess. Mountain folks are good people, not so modern, but very good people. I can appreciate their simplicity. But then I lived with them for five years back then. Anyway, over the past few days Bill, Kathryn, and myself have shared a few meals together and each time a little or a lot of garlic was used. Good atmosphere, good food, good company, good conversation, and good chewing gum for desert. Life is good at "abode Bowman". Bill is quite a VW buff. He has one of the most impressive collections of VW vintage paper and parts I have ever seen. I don't mean just a collection, I mean some serious memorabilia and a hell of a lot of it. Not only has he aquired an impressive collection of paper, but he has also aquired a pretty vast understanding of the Volkswagen. Ask him a question and if he can't answer it, which he usually can, he will immediately look it up. Not because he wants to show off, but because he wants to know for himself. VW is his hobby, and like all "great" hobbiest, he is good at it. He also has a corral of very nice vintage and modern VW's. They are all in great shape and one is in the process of getting that way. The flood bus is a hit. Nice split window conversion that went through the big flood a few years ago. It belonged to a duck hunting club and was completely submerged in the waters. It is looking great to date and runs like a dream. Bill and his partner Tom went in on the restoration. Another thing he is good at his "getting things done". I have to admit that over the past 8 months on the road, I have become quite relaxed, and quite lazy in many ways. I don't want to imply that I am slothful, or oozing along like maple syrup on a snow pack, but I do take a much easier approach than I did a year ago. Like the ticket of the other night. Last year this time, I would have reacted with more stress and because of that, more irrational thought. Life in the tin box had done it share of damage, and I was tired of being there. Folks, trips like this work wonders, do one if you need to, it don't take guts, it just takes a need to find solutions. I am certainly not free of all that encumbered me, but I am as Thom Cerniak says, I am more liberated. When that event happened the other night, I immediately started thinking about how to reach resolve. I thought about it with calmness and structure. Well...as much structure as one can muster when one finds out they have just driven 15,500 miles on a susupended liscence. I slept good anyway. In any case, instead of rushing to react, I approached it easily. I just hope I can maintain this new found methodology. You see now, there is the proof that the lesson is learned, don'tcha know. heheheh.....Next time I something abd happens I will probably raise hell and high water, then look back at this post and feel like a total fool. hahaha But back to Bill and the adventure of the past couple days............................ He and she have taken me and The Mothership in with unbridled welcome. First Bill assisted me in putting in the snaps for my new mosquito net in the rear hatch opening. I insist on sleeping in my bus as much as possible so I think he wanted to ensure that I was comfy. The net was a gift from Ted Finesman, the snaps were a gift from Tony Moore. These guys are my Cincy Brothers. By the time this trip is over the Mothership will be totally rebuilt, anybody gotta spare paint job laying around anywhere? hahahahahaha. I say that in jest. : ) Next Bill and I, mostly Bill, went to work on the wheels. We scrubbed them down, sanded them and painted them a nice chrome silver. With the hubcaps shining like new penny's and the rims as their backdrop, she looks like well.........a better looking Motherhship. I mean hell, she was beautiful in my mind's eye already. We just made her look a little more beautiful. : ) Then this afternoon we went to work on the rear shocks (another gift from Ted), and the bumper. The Mothership came with that part. We replaced the rear shocks with no problem at all. Then dropped the bumper, Bill got out his collection of body tools and banged out the dings. He did a damn good job. While he did that the "apprentice" namely me, finished the rear wheels with their coat of primer and chrome paint. It sounded like a body shop in this neck of the nieghborhood. Bill and Kathryn live on a quiet street, in a quiet neighborhood, in a quiet town. I bet the housewives were irritated today. The ticket situation is working right along. I said on Monday night when I got the ticket that I was going to shoot for having it straightened out by Friday. I think I will make it. this being the case after several phone calls to first Florida and Georgia to find out what is what and so forth. I called a friend of mine in Georgia that helped me track down the reason for the suspension. Then I called that reason and aquired explanationas to what i needed to do to rectify it. I sent the money to rectify, now I await a thing called a D-6 Clearance form, in triplicate I am sure. I will take this D-6 Clearance form and mail or fax it too Georgia where they will process me through the system and spit me out as once again being legal. I did contact the Commissioners office in Georgia and have a contact with the upper level management rather than the lowly frontline state office worker. I tell you, you want something done slow call the regular office. You want something expidited, call the boss! The final cost will be somehwere around $200.00. Bill loaned me the amount until I get paid from some work I am doing. A fellow I met at Busses by the Arch offered me a part time postion in a Machine Shop. man have I had a blast. I have made all sorts of high dollar pieces. I have found the machinery and the automation of it all to be astounding and enlightening. The guys that work there, Kurt, James, Tony, and Ernie are good people. All of them are under 35, make pretty fair money, and enjoy a good laugh. James is a world class turkey caller. Now if your not a hunter you may not appreciate such hobbies, but it's an art that has been around much longer than even VW, I hate to say. I heard him call, and he is good, sounds just like a turkey, but then I don't guess he would be world class if it didn't. ; ) Life is good, even though I am still illegally smiling. The Mothership is looking better. My belly is full and there are no demons around to speak of. Thanks for tolerating the 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"