The Story of the Van…

Maybe it is the fact that I lived in California as a child. Not just anywhere in California, but in Humboldt County, the marijuana/hippie capitol of the world. Or maybe it is because my parents owned one when I was really little and it is the first vehicle I can remember. Regardless of the reason, I’ve always been fascinated with the VW Van!

It’s Saturday night, I’m at Tan Tara and I’ve just finished listening to the pre-race briefing for the Ultramax Half Iron Triathlon which I’ll be competing in the following morning. But my mind isn’t on the race, instead I leave and wander around the Inn, trying to find an internet connection for my computer. Finally I have to settle for a “High Speed Internet Kiosk”, one dollar for every three minutes. With a high speed connection, that wouldn’t be bad, but as I would soon find out, it wasn’t high speed.

After inserting my first dollar I tried loading the website. Finally, after my first three minutes are just about up, I’m able to login into my account on ebaymotors. There is now just 10 minutes left on the bidding for a 1977 VW camper van. While I had been winning the bid for the last several days, I wasn’t anymore. With a $3,000 price cap in my mind, I increase my bid, only to see myself outbid again. Of course, every time I place a bid, the page reloads which eats up several of my minutes so I keep on pumping in those dollars. By now the time is down to less than one minute remaining and the price is at $3,100. After doing some quick math in my head, I decided I could go up to $3,200 or maybe even $3,300 but this was my last shot since I knew I could only get one more bid in. So I entered $3300 and submitted it just as the time expired! My competitor had put in a final bid of $3275…

So that is how I purchased “the van”…