Property of Gondwanaland Civil Defense Force

Before I had the Pinzgauer, I had the name for it.

I was sitting at the Fish Market in Santa Clara eating crab and oysters and planning the acquisition of a vehicle I had never seen in person. And the question of what to put on it — not just a license plate, but an identity — was already settled in my mind.

PROPERTY OF GONDWANALAND CIVIL DEFENSE FORCE.

Gondwanaland: the ancient supercontinent, before the tectonic plates drifted apart into the configurations we have now. A land that no longer exists, administrated by a defense force that protects it from threats equally nonexistent. The Pinzgauer, as the designated vehicle of this organization, would carry its markings accordingly.

I also considered “GDWNALD” as a vanity plate. Tested it out in my journal. Decided it worked.

I never actually put the sign on the Pinz. But every time I drove it somewhere unreasonable — up a fire road, across a dry lakebed, to Burning Man — I thought of it as on assignment.