Saturday afternoon, the Caravan:
The Saturday caravan members gather at the new Krispy Kreme in Boynton Beach and
conclude the big donut machine is just a radical customization of an air cooled
VW. Frenchie & Klaus, Gary & Jacque, Tim & Kathy, Pete, Steve, and Mike head
out about 12:30 in a tight formation. Serpentining thru the Palm Beach County
perpetual landmarks, better known as I-95 construction zones, all enjoy the
local vista of orange & white barrels and the flashing amber lights of Bob’s Barricades. Cruising at a
leisurely pace the 6 VW caravan reaches the planned pit stop at St Lucie West
about an hour later. After gourmet treats served up at the Aluminum Room of the
MD Lounge the caravan welcomes Jeanne & her Golf as planned, and the 7 VW group
heads north. Two exits later all witness the perfect execution of the old
“rolling merge intercept” with Dawn (78
VW transporter)
& Mike (cream
colored Westy) that rivaled the precision
maneuvers of the Blue Angels. The caravan grows to 9. Clear sailing to
Melbourne where 4 campers peel off at the first exit and 5 VWs continuing to the
hotel.
Saturday evening, the pre-event
Party at Space Coast Imports:
Wow, what a crowd of party animals with many of our old friends and soon to be
new friends. Our SFVWC campers were all set-up and already eating. After
parking and following the BBQ aroma to the biggest smoker/grill many of us had
ever seen, it was concluded the grill was a radical customization of an
air-cooled VW. And it was cooking up some of the best burgers & dogs
imaginable. After a few trips thru the line, consumption of the aforementioned
burgers, dogs, and sides, the SFVWC contingent grew by the weight difference
between a Beetle and a Super Beetle (and if you know what that is, you should
have been there for the trivia contest). The food was only dwarfed by the
wonderful hospitality of our Hosts who made all feel so at home and comfortable,
we really weren’t prepared for what came next, the trivia contest. After last
year’s SFVWC’s slam dunk, GAVWC kicked up the degree of difficulty of the
questions a few notches. Harder, more detailed questions caught SFVWC resting
on their laurels, and when Susan wanted the exact day, she wouldn't take
Wednesday for an answer. Thanx Space Coast!
Sunday, the “Volkstoberfest V” Big Show:
Waking to find heavy dew on their cars, many took advantage of the free clean water to spiff up & detail our cars before going to the event. Shiny and in all our glory we easily find the BCC campus and entrance to the new venue. And what a great venue! A large area of grass, trees, well marked parking, and easy access to indoor plumbing, and facilities. Bruce was already set up in the vendor area, hawking all the VW parts he found on the highway after following us up I-95 to the original owners. Before most had even removed their coolers from their cars, Steve called the mandatory club meeting near Jim’s Westy. Something important was probably discussed. Your webmaster arrived late, choosing to remove his cooler from the car first, and took a picture or two. Ooh, so many great VWs to see (there must have been over 100, err, well at least over 98 ), so little time. (note to self, find some time to put some pix on the website). The day was perfect, spent leisurely examining VWs of all types, meeting and shooting the breeze with old friends, and meeting a new bunch of VW enthusiasts. GAVWC ran the event like a clock, we were judged, and the awards, Olympic style medals (a very radical customization of an air cooled VW?) started flowing before 4, and flow to SFVWC they did. Here's some pix to accompany the text (mouse-over provides caption).
Sunday late afternoon-evening,
the trip home:
The same basic caravan headed home with the day’s debriefing held at the same
Aluminum Room we used on the way up. Always wanting to learn from others, the
mandatory discussion of judging followed with the GAVWC show getting very high
marks. The idea of separate judges in their areas of expertise was noted as a
very interesting twist. Separate judge(s) evaluated paint & body & obviously had
a background in auto body work. Using additional judges with prominent VW
experience in their curriculum vitae was lauded. As Tony would say, gee, judges
with experience and knowledge of what they're judging, what a novel idea. Of
course this led to the obvious conclusion – REDEMPTION- from last years
cloud of uncertainty about participant judging and the effect of our club’s
large contingent leading to so many awards. So much for that cloud, we achieved
more awards this year than last. Everyone arrived home safely with the
only apparent losses being one headlamp and a fan belt.
In summary, we all thought this was one of the best shows ever and thank all our GAVWC friends, Susan, Cindy, Steve, Tony, Mike, the whole bunch, for hosting such a fun weekend. Can’t wait til next year.
