Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2006 00:14:29 -0500
Reply-To: Stephen Steele <steeles@HORIZONVIEW.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stephen Steele <steeles@HORIZONVIEW.NET>
Subject: Re: Vanagon List Meet/Campout Version 1.?
In-Reply-To: <203.1157cea3.31123ee7@aol.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
I think the major planning parameters for a List wide event are:
Lead Time.....
A "one-time for a whole List" get together would have to be planned at least
a year in advance in order to get the optimum attendance. The commitment in
time and resources to attend such an event dictates this.
Distance/Location.....
The geographic location of the event will be a most important detail. If it
is too far far most to drive it will be poorly attended. An unattractive
location (e.g., a non-traditional vacation destination) will also result in
poor attendance. It will be a lot easier to "sell", "Hey, Honey, lets go to
the Black Hills (or the Grand Canyon)" versus "Hey, there's going to be a
Vanagon campout in Centralia County Nebraska." A three or four day event
can be a great middle destination to a longer vacation for the typical
Vanagon family.
Season.....
Obviously, a Summer or early Fall event will bring more people. If the South
Dakota/epi-center prevails this becomes even more significant. And FWIW, I
WOULD drive the twenty hours each way for an event in the Black Hills. I
can't imagine many better sights than seeing a whole bunch of vanagons
winding their way through the gorgeous roads that lead to Mt. Rushmore,
Devil's Tower and the Bad Lands. We've camped there twice in August and
maybe we were lucky but we enjoyed sunny days and cool, crisp nights.
Beautiful camping and memories.
I find it interesting that there have been a quite a few responses from
Listees that don't camp and/or have never attended even regional get
togethers.
Since discovering this list 7 years ago we have made an effort to attend
several get togethers each camping season. Our camping group from Ohio
(COWs, Central Ohio Westies) has traveled each year to various
states/provinces for large and small campouts.
For us, the Full Moon Bus Club has done a wonderful job of organizing larger
campouts. The EveryBus campout in central NC is a great example. Each
April hundreds of Type IIs converge on a city park (outside of Greensboro)
for a great weekend that traditionally kicks off our camping season.
As I posted at the beginning of this thread, I think the best solution for
the time being is to establish Vanagon.Com List events inside larger
regional get togethers. With that in mind I will take on the task of
organizing a list event at EveryBus 06. I will post more info as EB06 gets
a little closer (it's April 20-23). I think an informal fireside cup will
suffice. Any Listees planning on attending EB can forward their ideas.
We love to get together with other VW people. There's nothing like the sound
of a whole lot of sliding doors in the morning... it just makes me grin :)
Stephen Steele
Chillicothe OH
'89 Westy unnamed
'90 Carat "Parts"
'91 Caravelle "Hans"... new engine's in
'74 MGB My first car...yep, I've kept it since '74
'93 Chevy S-10
'91 Jetta Diesel My daily driver
'02 Jetta Wagon VR6 Wife's car
Ex Vans/VWs:
'81 Vanagon from 1985-1990
'84 Westfalia "Fritz" 2000-2004 now with Son #1
'87 Westfalia "Franz" 2002-2005 now with Son #2
'88 Jetta GL 1990-1992
'92 Jetta GL 1992-1998
'90 Jetta 1999-2003
'81 Rabbit diesel 1999-2003
'82 Caddy VW Diesel P.U. 1999-2004
