Date:         Tue, 03 Sep 1996 14:10:29 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Tom Forhan <tforhan@usa.pipeline.com>
Subject:      Yet Another BBTA Report

We really enjoyed  BBTA, especially putting faces to all the names
of listmembers, and I did find Dan (indeed, his Elvis Lounge was
convienently located directly behind our campsite) and received
my free gin gimlet. 

As mentioned, 93 buses were registered. Best splittie was an original
'66 SO42 Westfalia, velvet green with all the original paperwork: window
sticker, receipts ($2995), salesmans business card, etc. Best breadloaf
went to an orange '74 Westie -license plates: TANG 74, that was part
of Dan's contingent. An immaculate local Vanagon and an EV Weekender
owned by Peter Sellars, formerly of the list, finished out the best-ofs.

In my mind, three splitties of note made the case that "completely
original" is not necessarily the only way to go. One was a '63 Sundial
Camper finished in white over fire engine red, with the camper interior
completely upholstered in some groovy grey fabric: very plush. Bill
Bowman -NEATO President- brought his '67 Westie, painted with a metallic
silver over a much darker metallic grey with red-purple undertones.
Red-purple curtains picked up the lower body color, pulling it all
together: a very luxurious looking bus. Finally, John Lago's well known
-I don't know the year- splittie showed up, with significant upgrades
from last year. Besides the woodstove and the pullstart engine, he has
reenginnered  the famous lawn chair seats, which now include articulated
headrests and are actually installed in tracks. Most notable, though was
the undercarriage work. No Das Bulli Haus for him, he rebuilt the entire
undersides with wood! Very clean job, too...

The enormous caravan -54 vehicles- lasted too long. Five hours from
start to finish, and vehicles got scattered over the countryside.
Prior to departure, Bill Bowman offered a shorter, ferry-less route, or
proposed cutting the group in two for managability. The group would have
none of it though, and off we went on a hazy day for the traditional
trip, into Illinois, crossing the Mississippi and Illinois rivers on
ferry boats.

A slightly sour note was the facilities, which  as one listmember said,
"were the pits". This was a topic of discussion among many attendees. A
little background here. The event is held off on one corner of a large
property which is more of an RV park and with many families, couples and
individuals living in travel trailers and the like on site,
semi-permanently. So all the real plumbing is quite a hike, back where
the trailers and RVs live.

Admittedly, things were better than last year, with a new dishwashing
station and a sun tempered shower put up amongst the BBTA campsites, but
the homemade outhouses were not well designed or serviced, which led
many people into the bushes or on the long hike to the front lot. The
swimming pool water was green, and though the management assured us that
the water "tested fine", most parents would not let their kids in it. 
While I really enjoy the event, when you have 250 people in one place, I
feel there are public health issues that need to be seriously dealt
with. I am going to write a letter to the organizer regarding this, and
IMHO if other attendees had similar concerns they should do the same.

We left BBTA at 700 AM Sunday, and drove the 853 miles back in one shot,
arriving at home in Washington at 1130PM.

Tom F.