Thanks Joel and all for a great weekend!

Here is a video of some of the track fun;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOqd6-rmpSs

Cheers,
Dave

--- On Tue, 10/26/10, Joel Cort <JOEL_CORT@YAHOO.COM> wrote:

From: Joel Cort <JOEL_CORT@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: [Syncro] Thank you and (long) write-up on Westies at Watkins 2010 event
To: ohiovalleytribe@yahoogroups.com, type2@type2.com, vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com, "Syncro List" <syncro@yahoogroups.com>, "Eurovan Group" <ev_update@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: Emp_VW_Camping_Club@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tuesday, October 26, 2010, 2:49 PM

 

  

    
      
      
      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

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

    
     

    
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