Date: Wed, 5 Jul 1995 14:35:50 -0400 (EDT)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Gary Clayton <coyote@nando.net>
Subject: NC Gathering Report
Hi Ya'll
Well, we did it. We got our karma together. We met, we shared a meal,
we showed off our VWs.
Monday, July 3, 1995.
My SO Gianine and I got to the designated parking lot about 10 min.
before 6:00. In about 3 min. a grey '86 Vanagon whips in head-to-head
with me. Frank Terhaar-Yonkers and his son (damn, the only name I can't
remember) got out and said howdy. While Frank was showing me an inferior
H2O pump that had almolst killed his van, others began to arrive. Within
the next 25 min. the crowd had grown to:
Gary Clayton/Gianine Carbone '76 Camper (yellow)
Frank Terhaar-Yonkers/son '86 Vanagon (grey)
Richard Palmer '67 split (uh, rainbow?)
Jerry Huff '84 Vanagon (red & white)
Scott Hoover & sister Kim '76 Bus (light blue)
Everyone was very friendly doing the meet&greet thing and showing off
their busses.
Gary/'76 Camper: just that day turned 1000 miles on new GEX engine and
did 1st oil change, valve adjust., head tourqe. Showed off new pop-top
seal, sink faucet, & pointed out mystery silver socket.
Frank/'86 Vanagon: does much work himself, many repair tales. Showed off
nose bra and Class III hitch he got thanks to the mailing list.
Richard Palmer/'67 split window: OK, I don't know the "official" name for
this model. Hands down winner of "easiest to spot" - this bus has a
rainbow down each side and a big yellow smiley face on the nose. Richard
later announced he was soon to be getting a split-window single cab!
Jerry Huff/'84 Vanagon: Jerry told us how he had bought the van and put
some elbow grease and time into cleaning it up. It shows!! The paint
and interior on this 100,000+ miles van look fantastic. A real looker.
Scott Hoover/'76 Bus: Originally green, this bus is now a light turquoise
blue and looks nice. Since my Camper is a '76, Scott and I enjoyed
seeing another bus of the same year.
The pizza place were were to eat at was closed, so we picked a nearby
Mexican place, El Rodeo. The food was OK, but the conversation was
great. We traded tales of travels and repairs, dreams and visions. For
total strangers 30 min earlier, I was amazed how the group bonded so
quickly. I guess we all have that damaged chromosome VW thing. :)
After eating, we all wandered back out to the parking lot. An '85 all
white Westy Vanagon with California plates pulled in nearby. 4 or 5 people
got out kind of looking at all of us. We all waved and someone went over
and said hi. They were on their way to dinner so did not hang out. I
wonder what they thought of us.
While we had been eating, a '64 21-window had shown up beside our vans.
It was a friend of Richards, who unable to find us had eaten at a
different Mexican place. We peeped in his van. Soon he returned and
said hi to the group.
As were were about to disperse, a car whipped up and a guy jumped out of
the passenger side, ran over to us and said "Hey, what's going on here?"
Turned out he was new in town and has a '64 bus. Even further, it turns
out several of us had seen it sitting at the shop where he is having some
work done. He had just moved up from SC and was elated to find fellow VW
people. We'll include him next time.
In summary, I think everyone had a great time making new friends and
getting to look around other models of busses. Richard is planning a
camping trip soon, so we should have a report from there.
We may even try to burn something.
PS- instead of flannel/prunes, our symbol will be a GRITS box impaled on
the radio antenna. :) :) ;)
coyote@nando.net Gary Clayton '76 Campmobile "Rocinante"
