Eventually I traded the Bug for a 1966 Ford F100 pickup. During the next ten years I drove everything but VW's until I purchased a 1970 VW Bus right after my first transplant. The day after I brought it home the engine siezed and it sat for about a year before I got up the nerve to tear the engine apart. I had never done mechanic work like this before, but with a lack of VW repair shops in the midwest, I had to learn to take care of all aspects of Bus repair and maintanance. I kept the Bus on the road for five years and put a total of three rebuilt engines and one gearbox in it over that time period. The last engine replacement caused me to lose that lovin' feeling and eventually I sold it to a guy from Ohio.
I also owned, during that time, a 1968 VW Singlecab pickup. These are very rare in the midwest and I was able to locate one in an old VW boneyard located just north of the small Missouri town of Freeburg on Hwy 63. It was pretty rusty and was missing the engine and gearbox, but at the time I saw some potential in it as a fix up project. After tinkering with it for a while I came to the conclussion that it was too big of a project for me and I was able to sell it on the internet.
I sometimes miss driving the original "Jesus Bus", but nowadays I wouldn't be able to handle all of the work that goes into keeping a classic automobile on the road. Presently I drive a 1995 Ford Aerostar minivan, with the back seats removed, that provides me with the ability to haul stuff like the firewood and my Schwinn Frontier mountain bike that I sometimes go riding on the Katy Trail.
