James "Jim" Hunt Rule

He grew up in a small town in central kansas. He flew KC-135's for our country during Vietnam. He worked for American Airlines until recently retiring. With the help of a full-time housewife, he raised up three childrens that are yet to really shame his name. He now spends his days taking care of and improving his house, helping his children move, browsing Wall's Bargain Center, jogging only in the mid-day heat, and committing all kinds of time to helping out his church, the Elk City First United Methodist Church.

Truly, truly, I am realizing this to be a portrait of what I believe to be success. The following story does nothing for me but deepen my belief in this idea of success.

During my senior year in high school, I convinced my father that we should purchase a Volkswagen Westfalia (or 'westy') for my collegiate transportation. Both of us having a weakspot for older Volkswagens and bargain hunting, soon landed one on eBay. We, with discounted rates on account of my father's job, flew down to Houston, made the transaction, and began driving the van back to Oklahoma.

It was a nightmare. It broke down a couple of times. It took days. Not even two years later, we sold the westy. On the whole, it was a good riddance.

And so they say, "You can't keep a good dog down."

Lo and behold, I received a very interesting story in my inbox this past week.

[The following is extracted directly from an email written by my mother]

Dad has been searching the internet for a VW Thing since he sent
the bug to Norman. found one on Thursday, left yesterday morning at 3:00
a.m. and flew to Palm Springs, California and bought a yellow one.

It's well over a thousand miles, it was 101 degrees when he started home. drove
thru the dessert at 45 mph, to keep it from overheating. no AC, it
has a hard top but the windows are out of it so he wears earplugs because
traffic is roaring past him on the interstate. he would stop at places
with shade and put the hood up and take a break and call, because he can't hear
the phone while he's driving. one stop, for a cooler, ice and pop, ]was at
a combination gas station antique store.

At one point he called to say he thought he'd head up north to flagstaff for some elevation and cooler air, but later said he'd decided to stay on course for phoenix since he didn't even have a flashlight or any tools if he had car trouble on the less traveled route at night.

He called me at one point to tell me he was driving by giant seguaro cacti in the moonlight in a perfect temperature, the full moon illuminating everything. says the dessert is only worth anythinkg by night. daytime there is nothing to hide the trash. he was having quite the experience.

He's been needing an adventure but it's too bad it is by himself.

The Thing needs a little body work. I kept asking him why all the many picutres the guy sent never had a photo of the left side, only the one left fender that had a "minor' glitch from where a tire fell off.

He's says "they're bonding" on this trip. he also said he thought he could get the 'minor' bodywork done for cheap in elk city and list it on ebay and make a thousand dollars. i said 'let's do."

Maybe he has finally something that will make him ebay savvy and have a new hobby of selling, not buying.

"Most excellent," I say. "Most excellent"