Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2003 10:12:09 EDT
Reply-To: RAlanen@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Frank Condelli <RAlanen@AOL.COM>
Subject: Madeleine Island Event Report
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We're back and recuperating from the <A HREF="http://www.westfalia.qc.ca/">Club international de
camping-car Westfalia</A> {http://www.westfalia.qc.ca/} Madeleine Island Event. What a
trip, 3242 km and no Vanagon problems ! Madeleine Islands in one word - PARADISE
! What a beautiful place. Everywhere is a photo op and I got around 100 I've
uploaded to Ofoto.com so go have a look. Look under my Fkc43@aol.com e-mail
address. There are a bunch also on the Quebec Clubs site, see above address.
I'm sure there will plenty more to come.
We made the front page story of two newspapers that I know of. The
"Guardian" from Charlottetown, PEI, Tuesday August 12 edition,
{www.theguardian.pe.ca}, nice pic of the 120 Westys waiting to board the Official Club ferry.
And, Le Radar, L'Hebdoadaire Des Iles, Semaine du 15 aout au 21 aout 2003,
{www.leradar.qc.ca}, pics of the arrival. After all was said and done there were
approximately 400 Westys out there and it was hard counting as some stayed
with the big gang at the main camp, Camping Gros-Cap, and others stayed at
various other locations for who knows what reason. Telebec, the local phone
company, laid in a high speed Internet connection and a live webcam broadcast was
done as well as uploading pics as they were taken to the Clubs website. Many of
you may have seen the webcast and I hope it was good. We were far too busy
having fun in the sun to go see it !
The Official Club ferry, which we were on, left Souris, PEI at around
2:30 in the afternoon, about 1/2 hour late as there was some confusion as four
Westys that had reservations did not fit on as some of the 120 already on had
miscalculated the length of their vehicles by not counting the bikes and
racks ! So, four disappointed Westy owners had to sit on the pier for 12 hours
waiting for the next ferry at 2 am. It also had another 100 or so Westys on
board. The arrival of the Official Cub Ferry was met firstly by some enthusiasts
in a Zodiac sporting a large banner on a pole saying "Bienvenue Westfalians".
They circled the ferry from about 5 km out of port right to landing ! As the
giant nose cone of the ferry opened it was quite evident this was a really
big event as most all of the population of the Islands had turned up to greet
us. All along the 15 km route to the camp ground people where packed in on both
sides waving and holding up welcome signs. Horns a honking from everywhere
and I finally lost mine all together. It was an awesome sight and an
unforgettable moment.
The camp was on a high point of land called a cap up that way. Red
rock/sand cliffs down to the ocean on all sides with the huge "Capiteau" in the
centre visible from all around. Tuesday we spent most of the day getting
organised and learning the ropes of what was going on. By Wednesday Westys were
parked in every configuration around the large tent with most everyone getting
an ocean view. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday evening the tent was
filled to capacity, about 1500, dining together and listening to speeches from
the mayor and various other public and club officials, music and dancing
followed every night. Hundreds of door prizes were given out and I ended up with
really nice hand engraved metal plate depicting the Madeleine Islands and the
first year BusFusion logo at the bottom. Some very thoughtful person was
responsible for that and I thank them a lot, much appreciated for sure, as it will
become a treasured souvenir. The Friday evening festivities were kinda special
in that it was the Fete Acadian sort of like 4th of July for you Americans.
Great traditional music to dance to and everyone was up dancing and drinking,
concluding in a huge and I mean huge like 15 ft tall bonfire on the beach and a
midnight swim. I went running into the cold waters, didn't feel a thing as I
dove in the water amongst hundreds of others and promptly lost my glasses.
Popping back up, trying to hold my position against the crashing waves, I kept
trying to find them with my feet all the while trying to explain my exotic
manoeuvres to everyone around. Low and behold to the graces of the Madeleine
Island Gods, I found them, wo-hoo !
So, where were most of the Westys from, why Quebec of course. No
Americans, Joel Court from Rochester area was supposed to show up but we heard he
had mechanical problems with his Syncro en route. A few from Ontario
including us, some from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and one couple, Keith & Elizabeth
Pike from Newfoundland. They had the longest journey taking a 15 hour ferry
ride just to get off Newfoundland to Nova Scotia Where they had left their Westy
following attendance at BusFusion.
Well, Volksies you shoulda been there that's all I can say. I doubt
very much something like that will ever happen again. The logistical nightmare
of putting this one together will surely keep others from attempting a
duplicate Westy adventure. But, you never know what'll crop up next with VW Camper
types !
Cheers
Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm">BusFusion</A> a VW Camper camping event, Almonte, ON, June 10 ~ 13, 2004
'87 Westy & Lionel Trains
Member: <A HREF="http://www.vanagon.com/">Vanagon List</A>, <A HREF="http://www.bcn.net/~limbo/">LiMBO</A>, <A HREF="http://www.westfalia.qc.ca/">IWCCC</A> & <A HREF="http://www.ccvwc.ca/">CCVWC</A>
Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm">STEBRO/Vanagon Stainless Steel Mufflers</A>
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html">Frank Condelli & Associates</A> or http://frankcondelli.com
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