Once upon a time I bought a Willys Jeep, a 1948 CJ2A. It was loads of fun when I lieved in the Mojave Desert, but of no use to me when I moved to L.A. I always missed that Jeep. After missing it for a decade or so, I bought a 1946 CJ2A. And now there was the Internet. I looked and looked, but found no site dedicated to the 1945-1949 CJ2A. There was a site dedicated to the CJ3B. So I decided to use that site as a pattern and make a CJ2A page. I called it The CJ2A Page.
I had fun driving my '46 Willys in L.A. A friend called it a ‘happy-car’, because she said it made people happy to see it. It did, you know. People were all smiles, and thumbs-up and waves. But the old Willys wasn’t up to modern driving. Too slow to go on the freeway (maximum speed 60 mph, but happiest around 45 mph), I couldn’t take it to work. It was my ‘weekend car’, which I would drive to the market or just drive around. And then there was tne MGB in restoration. The MGB would be just as much a ‘happy-car’, and it would be fast enough to go on the freeway. Given my driving style, it’s more fun to drive too. I’d have to sell the Willys to make room in the carport, or buy a house and move the Jeep to it.
I bought a house in Northern Washington. Then I lost my job. I had to move quickly, and the house doesn’t have a garage. (I was going to build one eventually. Still planning on it.) I moved the Jeep to my sister’s house in San Diego. Not doing me any good 1,400 miles away, but it was dry. I was laid off from the crappy job I found up here. I’d already been having financial difficulties, so I decided I’d better sell the old Jeep. A loyal reader of The CJ2A Page bought it. It’s in good hands, down there in the San Diego area. None of this chop-and-customise for the buyer. He’s keeping it original.
But here’s a problem. The owner of a site dedicated to CJ2A jeeps doesn’t have a CJ2A jeep! For the past couple of years I had struggled with lack of server space and lack of time to make the site better. Now I was jobless, my mother died, and my fiancée changed her mind about marrying me. Ouch. Then I hooked up with this cat who moved up from SoCal the same month I did. He has a video studio and wants a partner. And he wants to go back to SoCal so he can be near his five-year-old son. Having failed to meet the goals I’d set for myself when I moved up here, I decided to join the business and move back to L.A. So now I’m learning how to edit, and getting gigs shooting weddings and commercial videos. So much for free time.
It was time to separate myself from The CJ2A Page. The guys who visit the site really love it, and they deserve a webmaster who can devote the time needed to improve it. I made it known that I want out, and one of my loyal readers offered to take over. He said he would maintain the spirit of the page, and would institute some of the improvements I’ve wanted such as an SDMB-type message board. (The existing MB is a clunky one provided by the server host.) He says he’ll keep it free, too. He has his own server space, so there will be plenty of room for additions; and he’s a webpage designer, so he knows what he’s doing.
It’s hard to let go. I put something into cyberspace that didn’t exist before. (If it did, then I wouldn’t have made it!) I’ve put untold hours into it, and spent gobs of money acquiring content (old ads, paint chips) and small amounts of money paying for the space. And now I’m just giving it away.
But I have to give it up. It’s not fair to my readers to have a webmaster with other interests that are higher on the pyramid than old Jeeps. Giving up the page may be the best thing I can do for the CJ2A community next to starting the site in the first place.
Good luck to the new webmaster! 
