I am the owner of a 1977 VW camper, it is guacamole green.  In reality it is my husband’s bus, but it is my name on the ownership making it my bus.  A few years ago I had a bout of bad vehicular karma.  I was in a fender bender with our daily driver which subsequently lead to the vehicle being written off.  Every time I got in to our ‘new to us’ replacement daily driver for the first several weeks the engine light would come on.  That meant a drive to the dealership to check why the engine light was on, resetting the engine light, and driving back home only to have the engine light come back on the next time I got into it.  I started to feel a little cursed.  My husband went away for a weekend.  When he left the car worked just fine.  I went to drive it and the engine wouldn’t even turn over.  The nail in the coffin was when I went to drive the green van and I didn’t even get to the corner on our street when it started to make a horrible noise.  It was the sound of the starter motor deciding to self destruct.  I haven’t driven the green van in almost 3 years, because if bad vehicular karma is going to strike I figured it was most likely to strike in a 30+ year old vehicle.

I recently decided (with some unsubtle encouragement from my husband) to pull on my big girl pants and get back in the green van’s driver seat.  I had forgotten how fun it is to drive.  I love the position of the steering wheel because it is set up like a bus.  The stick shift is so long I need to lean over to reach fourth gear.  It is a tin can on wheels, there is no sound insulation or warmth insulation for that matter.  The front tires are situated under the front seats making the turning radius a wee bit different from what you would expect, especially backing up (no one wants to be anywhere near me when I am backing up).  It corners badly, it is not partial to any kind of incline, it has huge blind spots, and it makes you feel guilty if you need it to go highway speed.  The big thing is, it is like driving a parade float.  People smile and point, lots of waving and thumbs up, strangers ask questions, make funny comments, and want to take a look inside.  It is about maneuverable and as fast as a parade float as well.  When you are driving it your head needs to go into the ‘we will get there when we do and whatever will be will be’ space.  It is an activity in letting go.