Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2001 02:24:53 -0500
Reply-To: Stephen Steele <steeles@HORIZONVIEW.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stephen Steele <steeles@HORIZONVIEW.NET>
Subject: Central OH Westies Success
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First of all, my plans to be there early were foiled by Fritz' reluctance to
turn over this morning. After a 30 minute battery charge we were off and
running for the hour drive to Columbus' Goodale Park.
Already there were:
Bill D. in his red '69 pop top daily driver.. a special thanks to Bill
for inviting his Central Ohio Vintage VW friends.
Joe R. in his brown'86(?) GL...thanks to Joe for the pictures(to follow)
Todd G. in his yellow Tall '85 Westy...Where'd you get those Hellas?
We ,my wife Colleen and I, had already waved at, circled the park with, and
pulled in behind Jeff and Kim P. in their orange '82 Diesel Westy. Jeff
gets the "I drove the farthest" Award, coming from west of Cleveland just
for our gathering.
Following later were:
Jim and Melody S. (and kids) in their white '91 Adventurewagen Syncro
Greg S. in his "new" brown'86 Westy
Jeff W. '87 GL or was yours the yellow loaf Westy?...sorry.
Bob O' in his brown '85 GL (with SA Four Light Grill)
Tom and Kathy K.(and friend) in their NB....Westy at home
Tom H. in his burgundy '88 Westy (?)
I KNOW I'm missing someone, as there were a total of fourteen
vans...including one young lady in a mid '80s GL with three dogs who had
parked among us, ran her dogs and left without a word, as if multiple VW
vans appear in the park all the time.
Anyway, after about two hours of greeting, gaping and inspecting the various
permutations we walked to the North Market for lunch and further chatter.
For all who didn't make it or came by while we were at lunch, no camping
decision was made. EXCEPT the majority decided that I should pick a date,
site and notify all...which is fine with me for a first time. I will do the
first and then someone else can volunteer to do the next following that.
For all you skeptics out there; who, like Kim's mom, thought "you are going
to do WHAT with a bunch of people off the internet"...all attendees appeared
normal, seemed intelligent (despite their fanaticism about these vans) and
kept their clothes on in the park.
We drew more than a little attention from other park goers. In the attached
picture you can barely make out a white car behind the line of vans. This
guy pulled up in a late model 911 Carrera and parked to look. Seems he spent
a whole year in an early '60s Westy; doing fairs from Vancouver to Baja CA
and back, selling kites...he's into BBQ now.
On the way home we stopped at the Pace/High market (oddly enough at Pace and
High Streets) to pick up some Warsteiner for a neighbor who I'm trying to
teach about "other than Big beers". The owner of the market inherited/bought
a pristine '84 GL with the Wolfsburg interior.. parked out back...Gorgeous!
Well,I'll draw this to a close with a warning that you'll be hearing from me
soon with a campout notice...I'll try to get my pictures up and on soon,
too.
Thanks to all who made today a great experience. I look forward to seeing
you again and to meeting the rest of you...the Next Time.
Listees: Left out pics to prevent WOB...see Joe Romas for them.
--
Stephen Steele
Chillicothe OH
'91 Caravelle Hans
'84 Westfalia Fritz
'81 Diesel Rabbit "______"