Chapter 25

Ginnie Springs, near High Springs and Fort White,
August 13 and 14, 2011

Let's go camping, we'll take my bus, it's running great! (You remember how to work on them, right?) Ha, ha, ha. Well we survived 3 hours on I-10 in the middle of fnw. Harbor freight has really affordable tools like box end-open end and socket wrenches, pliers and screw drivers, and heavy duty floor jacks and jack stands. Northern Tool on Atlantic Blvd has good prices too. You can get a decent home shop compressor for @ $100 or so. You should probably carry a good toolkit in the bus, and get it lockable. And carry a phone charger. Just saying. See you Tuesday.
August 15, 2011

This is an e-mail I sent my buddy, James Lentz after we returned from a weekend camping excursion to Ginnie Springs, Florida, for Stephen LaFond's birthday. Also attending were Matt LaFond, Ryan Karish, Jason Caffey, Will Snyder, Spencer Achey and some girlfriends.
James had recently acquired a 1965 VW bus and wanted to take it on the road. We made it out going 55 and blew up the motor going 60+ on the way home.
We tubed down the Santa Fe River, although the current was slow and the wind blew us backward a few times. I tubed by myself at 11 pm Saturday night under a full moon. We ate and drank beer and told stories and stole some girls from a campsite near us. Their guys bowed up a couple of times, but things never got physical. Jason locked his keys in his truck soon after arriving Saturday am. An AAA locksmith came over from Gainesville and unlocked it.
We packed up Sunday afternoon and headed home. We broke down on I-10 about 10 miles east of Lake City. We called Auto Store Towing in Atlantic Beach and Jason towed us home to James house on 9th Avenue N. We got home around 11pm. In the 3 hours we were stuck on the highway, no one stopped, not the law, not VW lovers, not good samaritans, not even bad guys. Vehicles kept zipping by at 70+ mph. I wasn't happy being stuck on the highway.
Note: I blew up my brother George's VW bus in 1967 around Lake City on a skin diving trip. I borrowed Ken Hutchinson's big Buick sedan, shanghaied a lifeguard, and towed the bus back to the beach with a rope.

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