Get to know your fellow Itinerant members

[Amskeptic]

Well, we have all heard the story before...
This last spring, after a bad batch of Anxiety medication I purchased 17 Volkswagens, and have moved into another chapter of my relationship with Volkswagen.
Life is a winding unexpected lane of beauty and sorrow, drink it up boys...

Though you had a quiet first couple of decades or so,
I see things picking up. 17 Volkswagens will do that to you.
Colin

[lari]

Hi, everyone. I'm Lari. My husband and I own 2 westies--a 76 (orange named Ted, who needs lots of love) and a 78 (CE named brown bear). I grew up in central Illinois and took piano lessons with a kid whose dad LOVED VWs. His name was Ted (the dad) and that's who I named our first westy after. Ted always had a lot of extra cars and a lot of parts around, which I thought was pretty cool and he did the work on them himself, which was even cooler. In the meantime my husband grew up with a few VWs himself and spent his formative years in Oak Ridge, TN. His ride home from the hospital as an infant was in a transporter, and his mom has lots of funny stories about driving Amos and his 5 siblings around in their bus. We met in Chicago, where we both settled after college(U of IL-me & U of TN-amos) for work. In 2002 we moved to Seattle so I could work on my PhD at UW (in education). We love the pacific northwest, and consider it home now.

We bought our first bus (Ted) not knowing anything about them (maintaining, repairing, etc) last September. We figured it would be a project, and it is. Our intention was to pay someone to have all the cancer cut out and do some engine work ourselves, but alas, the news was not good from the body guy. Since then we read a lot (online and off) and decided to look for a cleaner bus to replace Ted. We found his replacement sooner than expected and bought our second bus (brown bear) a month ago. We have so much to learn about these buses, but since buying our second bus we've decided to keep Ted around and fix him up ourselves (learning as we go). Sure, he'll never be a show bus (but that's not really us anyway), but it's another bus kept on the roads, and that makes me happy.

Oh, and we play in a band (I play bass and sing, my husband plays guitar and sings) with another guy (drums). This summer after riding to a gig in Ted, our drummer decided he needed a bus for himself (his uncle had one when he was a kid--nostalgia is very powerful indeed!) After serious looking he found a great transporter, so now our 3 piece band has 3 buses. We've all 3 got a lot to learn, and since I'm the researcher I've taken it upon myself to learn as much as I can here, so I can turn a wrench when needed (and just for fun!) We want to take these babies on TOUR!
--lari

[Amskeptic]

so now our 3 piece band has 3 buses. We've all 3 got a lot to learn, and since I'm the researcher I've taken it upon myself to learn as much as I can here, so I can turn a wrench when needed (and just for fun!) We want to take these babies on TOUR!
--lari

I'm sure we all will do what we can to help you here. Then we'll catch one of your gigs.
Colin

[LiveonJG]

We want to take these babies on TOUR!
--lari

Give a heads up when you make it to Oregon!
-John

[lari]

Thanks, Colin & John. Hmm, here's an idea maybe we can book a tour that *happens* to follow Colin on one of his trips, just in case we get into VW trouble! Talk about peace of mind...
-lari

[spiffy]

Good to see some more musicians around here!

[Amskeptic]

Thanks, Colin & John. Hmm, here's an idea maybe we can book a tour that *happens* to follow Colin on one of his trips, just in case we get into VW trouble! Talk about peace of mind...
-lari

Better book Ivunik early. . .
Colin

[bdann]

First post here....

Brian Dann, Rowlett, TX. I was transported home from the hospital in a yellow Karmann Ghia. The facination with ACVWs has pretty much carried over since then. I still wish I'd bought one for my first car when I was a kid. Incidentaly, my dad's first car was a '64 beetle, my younger brother #1's first car was a '74 beetle, and my younger brother #2's first car was a cherry '63 Ghia. I'm the current owner of a 1971 Westy that still needs a little help to get back on the road.
I was born in Kentucky, but have lived in Texas for the past 25 years (i'm 27). My other hobby is all things related to Big Bend National Park.

I've been a member of that "other forum" for years. I'd been away for the past couple months and had no idea this place existed. One thing I noticed right away when i started posting there again was amskeptic was missing. It's nice to find out where he went off too. I also noticed the Shark was missing and vwbusrepairman. I always enjoy your posts, so it's nice to see where you all are!

[hambone]

Glad you heard, this is where all the fun is! welcome

[Amskeptic]

Welcome. Get the bus on the road where it belongs.
Colin

[bdann]

Welcome. Get the bus on the road where it belongs.
Colin

i'm working on it! should be this week or next. i will have pictures to prove.

[blue jay]

My Name is Jason Morton, I was born and grew up and still live in Edmonton Alberta Canada. I have been driving Air-cooled VW’s for over 17 years now. I like all years and models of air-cooled VW’s. For me it doesn’t matter how old, new, fast, slow, low or high, I like them all. I’m a big fan of leaving VW’s as stock as possible with maybe a lowering job, and some aftermarket wheels and vintage accessories. I’m a big fan of leaving VW engines they way they came from the factory. I’m presently in a relationship with an amazing VW girl. We presently have 6 VW’s in our family, two 66 bugs, a 53 bug, a 61 kombi that needs a restoration before it is road worthy, my daily driver a 71 Westy and her daily driver a 2006 TDI Golf. We love going to shows and meeting other VW friends world wide. My other passion is music I love all kinds and presently my carrier is DJing music in night clubs, and a night club promoter. I just recently left my other place of work that just happened to be a VW restoration shop. I worked there on and off for the last 5 years and recently left to work on some of my own projects, and concentrate on my DJ carrier.

Cheers

Jay

Here is a pic of my 71 Westy and my Girlfriends 53 camping in BC.

[Amskeptic]

Here is a pic of my 71 Westy and my Girlfriends 53 camping in BC.

Beyootiful. Welcome.
Colin

[lari]

what a great picture! Love the scenery (the mountains aren't bad either).
-lari

[nakedfrog]

My name is Jason, many people call me Jay (for various reasons)
Born in 1977 in Dover, Delaware. Parents were both in the military which resulted in moving every 3-4 years... it went like this: Delaware, England, Nebraska, Japan, Utah, Germany. Then when I moved out, I ended up in Michigan, was a door-to-door magazine salesman for 6 months and travelled the country that way, and ended up in Texas, where I joined the military (satellite/wideband comm), did some training, went to Georgia for more training, then got sent back to Nebraska, of all places. I'm still there.
My first experience with a VW was in Utah, my best friend's older sister had one... then when we lived in Germany, my best friend's dad had an 80-something Westy that we took trips down to Italy in. I've wanted a bus ever since then.
I got my first VW two years ago. Somebody had been given a 1973 Super Beetle, but after 6 months in storage realized they weren't going to do squat with it, so they gave it to me. I jumped on it as an opportunity to learn about working on VWs. Now, I've finally got a bus headed my way after 14 years of wanting one.
I'm also a musician, I mostly play guitar. My GF of 7 years plays piano, and my best friend plays trumpet and programs the drum machine. I handle all the recording/producing and everything else, although not very well. Our ugly website is here:
http://purplepolefinger.com
A redesign to de-uglify the site is in the near future.

Oh, and here's a pic of me