Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:38:11 -0400
Reply-To: Doug Alcock <doug.alcock@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Doug Alcock <doug.alcock@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Thank you and (long) write-up on Westies at Watkins 2010 event
In-Reply-To: <237784.77338.qm@web37302.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
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Hi Joel -- thanks for everything -- all the work and organisation that this
kind of event takes.
Cheers.
Doug
On Tue, Oct 26, 2010 at 2:49 PM, Joel Cort <joel_cort@yahoo.com> wrote:
> LONG WRITE-UP ....
>
> Thank you to all who participated and made the 9th annual Westies at
> Watkins
> campout a great success! This was a record breaking event with 100 VW
> enthusiast coming to this camping event.
>
> Where does the time go? It has been two weeks already since we had a
> fabulous
> camping event once again at Watkins Glen NY. It was one of the most
> perfect
> weekends that I can recall for this campout. No rain, no wind, no
> hurricane
> blow-by just warm sunny days and comfortable nights. The event officially
> kicks
> off on Friday but by Thursday night there were already 25 vans settled in
> at our
> camping loop. The campground loop is reserved for our bunch and we quickly
> filled all available spots with sometimes as many as 3 and 4 vans loosely
> camping somewhere near a picnic bench. The rangers were pretty cool and so
> was
> our group.
>
>
> By Saturday night I counted 100 VW Vehicles participating in this premier
> campout. Numerous Vanagons, EuroVans, Bays and Splitties, a few Bugs and
> even
> two Rialtas and one Vista. Some tear-drop trailers were also in tow. We
> even
> had 7 Vanagon Syncro models this year and many Subaru and Ford
> Zetec-powered
> vans participating in the event.
>
> Saturday morning the entire group was treated to the Empire VW Camping
> Club’s
> version of “breakfast burritos”. Thanks to Dave & Mary for initiating and
> coordinating the cooking efforts. Thanks to all others who volunteered and
> pitched in with the cooking or donated something to share. We all had a
> fabulous
> meal that couldn’t be beat.
>
>
> With all of the activities and options offered in the area with museums,
> antiquing, wine tasting, car racing etc. it is always difficult to
> determine
> which activity to do because you want to do them all. Saturday was also a
> beautiful sunny day making all activities enjoyable. Three activity groups
> got
> quickly established: 1) stick around the campground and hike the Glen 2)
> caravan to the Curtis Museum (www.glennhcurtissmuseum.org) in nearby
> Hammondsport on Keuka Lake. 3) caravan visit the MacKenzie-Childs
> (www.mackenzie-childs.com) factory and artisan’s studio in Aurora NY
> around
> Cayuga Lake.
>
> Some decided to hike the glen to view the water falls and enjoy the beauty
> of
> the Watkins Glen. Others weary campers, kicked back at camp and enjoyed
> the
> warm autumn day. Thanks Frank, for leading the group to the Curtis Museum
> in
> search of antique motorcycles and wineries. Thank you Rita, for leading the
> ladies auxiliary to visit MacKenzie-Childs show room. The afternoon also
> allowed
> the remaining campers to visit to local town while others relaxed at camp.
>
>
> Before the pot-luck dinner events at the pavilion, Rick the Juggler once
> again
> entertained the children and pleasing the crowd with his juggling acts,
> tricks
> and playing with fire. Thanks again Rick for a fine display of your
> talents.
>
>
> The crowd was at capacity in the pavilion to enjoy the pot-luck meal.
> Everyone
> had plenty to eat with some pretty decent camping food to bat. We concluded
> the
> evening with some excellent door prizes to give away as raffle gifts. A
> huge
> thanks to all door prizes contributors including the following:
>
>
> · The Bus Depot
> · GoWesty
> · Van-Café
> · Condelli and Associates
> · Wolfsbürg-West,
> · Wolfgang International
> · The Samba
> · Mid-America Motorworks
> · Sewfine
> · Griots Garage
> · Bostig
> · LiMBO
> · VW Club of Central NY
> · Empire VW Camping Club
>
> Special note and thanks goes out the original art work commemorating the
> 9th
> event done by Mark Lund and the T-shirt design. I still have a few T
> shirts
> available if anyone is interested and can print additional ones upon
> request.
>
> On Sunday about 50 vans caravanned to go onto the racetrack on the
> Thunder Road Tours (www.theglen.com). We were led onto the track behind
> the
> pace vehicle. The strategy for the Zetec and Suby powered vans was to hang
> at
> the end of the line and be able to zoom at any desired speed. Well that
> was an
> open invitation to go full throttle and race the new Bostig 2010 version.
> There
> was nothing better than three Zetec-powered Vanagons screeching around the
> turns
> while passing the slow pokes. One of the Zetec-powered van even had a
> video cam
> at ground level filming the road so be on the lookout on YouTube for that.
>
> Some of the pictures are available for viewing at the following link:
>
> http://www.limbobus.org/phpBB4/album_cat.php?cat_id=140
>
> It was really nice to see old friends again and to make new friends at this
> event. Some were missed and remembered. Recently, Andrew Grebneff passed
> away.
> Andrew was an enthusiast and strong supporter of SVX-powered Vanagon,
> active on
> the Subaru conversion forum. I have decided to donate the 50/50 money
> raised at
> this event to the Andrew Grebneff Memorial fund to help his widow. Thank
> you
> Doug Alcock for also donating your half of the 50/50 winnings for the
> cause.
>
> A big thank you for Phil the web master, who relentlessly maintains the web
> site
> content and gets the photographers to post their pictures. Without Phil we
> would not have such a great LiMBO site www.limbobus.org/ and our own
> www.westies-at-watkins.org websites.
>
> In closing this long report, I want to personally thank all of the members
> of
> the Empire VW Camping Club (www.empirevwcamping.org) who contributed and
> donated
> their time, effort and planning to keep making this event a success. The
> success
> is represented by the 100 VW campers present for the campout.
>
> Everyone was accommodated, no engine fires, no speeding tickets, no
> breakdowns
> getting there,… Wait, wait. There were several issues that I know of for
> some
> folks heading home. Gord got towed to Rochester and waited for a new oil
> pump
> to get installed in his Vanagon. Sue and Andy also had a minor roadside
> issue
> heading back to Syracuse. Karl also had fan belt issues heading back to
> Ottawa.
> Luckily Markus was not too far behind to come to the rescue. Overall a
> perfect
> campout for the 9th year of the Westies at Watkins event.
>
>
> Joel Cort – jcort@rochester.rr.com
> Camp counselor
> Rochester NY.
>
> 89 Syncro Westy
> 87 Syncro Transporter (Stella)
> 73 Westy Campmobile (agent orange)
>
> Founding Member of the Empire VW Camping Club & Westies at Watkins
> Western New York LiMBO Respresentative www.limbobus.org
>
>
>
>
--
http://www.dougalcock.com
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