Kinda.Howie wrote:Looks like a good Time! Was I there?
Kelleys 2009
Re: Kelleys 2009
Dan
not 'young dan'
'71 Westy
not 'young dan'
'71 Westy
Re: Kelleys 2009
Now I remember. I broke my clutch cable just as I went past Fort Firelands. After that stuff, it was a SWELL campout!
Howie
"...the ones in love with the night, they light up like a cigarette." -Jack Kerouac
"...the ones in love with the night, they light up like a cigarette." -Jack Kerouac
Re: Kelleys 2009
Well, many thanks to Bill Webner and Captain Kirk for getting this together. Also to Howie for doing a little "conversion". I didn't pick the pictures, but I guess we're now 'nationwide'. Here's a little story from the current issue of NEATO. Hope you can read it. Again, many thanks to Bill, Kirk and Howie. Without them, it would never have seen the light of day!
Howie must know how to enlage it! (I can only hope!)
Howie must know how to enlage it! (I can only hope!)
Re: Kelleys 2009
Nice job Sean, Bill, Kirk, Howie. Godd exposure for LEAKOIL.
1963 Single Cab
1964 Bowman & Sons Camper (Vegas Bus)
1966 Westy S0-42 Hardtop
1967 Westy SO-42 Pop Top
1968 Single Cab
1964 Bowman & Sons Camper (Vegas Bus)
1966 Westy S0-42 Hardtop
1967 Westy SO-42 Pop Top
1968 Single Cab
Re: Kelleys 2009
Thanks Ken, but you and others did an awful lot to insure this thing came off without a hitch. Here's the text version of the article as published. I tried to keep it short, (it could have been 30 pages!), and still give readers a general idea of the Kelley's experience. I hope they got it.
Kelley’s Island 2009
There’s an old saying in Northern Ohio. “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. It’ll change”. That saying proved prophetic over Columbus Day weekend as nearly 50 VW buses converged on Kelley’s Island in Lake Erie for the annual “Kombi’s on Kelley’s” bus gathering sponsored by LEAKOIL. (Lake Erie Area Kombi Owners Involvement League.)
What started out with a monsoon like rain on Friday slowly morphed into a beautiful warm and sunny Saturday afternoon. This was followed by near freezing temperatures on Saturday night. The weekend ended with more traditional fall like temperatures on Sunday as the event concluded. The hearty bus owners and their families embraced the changing weather and its unpredictable nature like they accept the occasional breakdown of their beloved bus. It’s all part of the experience.
“Kombi’s on Kelley’s” traces its origins back to the early 1990's when a core group of enterprising bus owners, led by Bill Webner, decided to take a chance and get away with family and friends to the island during the off-season. Columbus Day weekend was the perfect time as it was after the tourist season, but before the harsh realities of winter set in.
Kelley’s Island is a little over 4 square miles in size and has slightly more than 300 permanent residents. It's roughly halfway between Cleveland and Detroit. The island features plenty of charming Victorian styled B&B’s, shops, bars and restaurants that embrace an early 20th Century feel. Most people traverse the island in rented bikes, golf carts or scooters. Transport between the mainland and the island is handled by a ferryboat system handling both vehicles and passengers that completes a one way trek in roughly 20 minutes.
As the tradition of “Kombi’s on Kelley’s” grew, the event reached a regional audience. Bus owners from all over Ohio, Indiana and Michigan began to turn out in increasing numbers. In recent years, with the promise of nice weather in the forecast, as many as 70 VW buses have traversed the island on Columbus Day weekend creating a charming and unique island experience for bus afficionados. This year, the father of one LEAKOIL bus owner, drove his Eurovan over 1,400 miles from Wyoming to take in the island splendor for the second year in row!
The event itself is family oriented. In the early years, bus owners gathered and camped at the island State Park, but over time the gathering migrated to the privately owned 4-H Club grounds on the northern shore of the island. The 4-H grounds were perfect for the type of VW gatherings folks have come to enjoy. There’s plenty of room with a beautiful private beach on the shore and modern bathroom and shower facilities. Best of all, the facility has a lodge or dining hall that overlooks the grounds and enables the group to have a central gathering point for communal meals and a dry place to gather during inclement weather.
Everyone knows VW bus owners can be an eclectic group. Preparations for going to Kelley’s often start early in the year. Part of the adventure is just getting to the island and these often feature various groups of participants “caravaning” from various starting points to the ferry location. These will include elaborate breakfasts and “character building” backroad adventures. It’s all in good fun.
Upon arrival, there’s an attempt to immediately establish a “bus presence” on the island by those attending by “cruising the small downtown village area”, just to let the locals know the buses are back and to cause the few remaining tourists to ask: “what’s going on this weekend?” Again, It’s all in good fun.
Once at the 4-H site members catch up with stories of family and old friends, the conversation then quickly turns to the buses. “What bus did you bring? What have you done to it lately?”. These are common refrains. This year we had nearly 10 split buses, 20 bay windows and approximately 16 Vanagons. We even had a ‘74 Thing that ended up serving as an island taxi for much of the weekend.
Specifically, from the split class, we had two doormobiles and two SO23 Westfalia’s that made it from the roughly eight or nine we have in the LEAKOIL group. At least one of the split transporters was towing a cool puck. Several other passenger splits made it including one with a “Jolly Green Giant” paint scheme. We also have at least two flips seat Westys in the group and a Devon camper that unfortunately did not make it. Bill Webner normally doesn’t wimp out, but we needed a command post so he left his SO23 at home and came in a Rialta.
The ‘Bay’ and ‘Vanagon’ buses featured several nice early bays and one “off-road” Vanagon that made an appearance on the beach. An artist even turned up and painted a beautiful scene facing the beach featuring a late bay with the pop top up.
The weekend is packed with unorganized fun. The kids have a craft table and are supervised as they drive motorized scooters and golf carts on the 4-H grounds. There's even a hot dog machine in continuous operation so the kids never go hungry. Someone’s clutch cable always breaks, so there’s always the “community led repair” seminar that seems to take place for everyone’s enjoyment if your present when something happens. It can be as simple as a tune up or carb adjustment or a jump or two to get to the ferry for some bus owners on Sunday. It’s all handled as it comes up with a real helpful community spirit. No one is ever left behind.
The island is explored fully including the “glacial groves” that are huge gashes in rock formations formed during the ice age. Someone commented that they look like a set of heads when heat, rather than ice, becomes part of the VW experience! There’s also an old working rock quarry on the island you can visit and many undeveloped areas that you can just walk and search in a carefree manor.
Best of all, you can visit the village on the south shore and enjoy the bar and restaurant scene. This year, the ladies had a bit of a pub crawl on Saturday afternoon. From the sounds of it, we’ll be talking about that adventure well into the future! There’s even a local brewery that sponsors a chilli cook-off you can take in for only $5.
The 4-H staff cooks a full breakfast for everyone in attendance on Saturday and Sunday morning. Saturday night then features a pot luck dinner where everyone brings a dish and we all dig in. The food is tremendous with some very elaborate recipes turning out some ‘five star’ meals. One item that caught more than one eye and one pallette was a fully smoked ham cooked on the island just before the event. That ham didn’t stand a chance with a group of hungry bus owners!
We conclude the event on Sunday with a $1 raffle that featured over fifty items as well as a silent auction of unique VW items and accessories. The items were very impressive. With donations from Wolfsburg West, Go Westy, Westcoast Metric and Air Head Parts, we ended up with some great prizes. One member scored a vintage “old school” Vernor’s ginger ale cooler for $40 to put on his SO23. He certainly went home happy!
For more information and pictures of the event go here: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=703
For information on LEAKOIL go here: http://www.leakoil.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
For information on Kelleys Island go here: http://www.kelleysislandchamber.com/about/about.htm
Kelley’s Island 2009
There’s an old saying in Northern Ohio. “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. It’ll change”. That saying proved prophetic over Columbus Day weekend as nearly 50 VW buses converged on Kelley’s Island in Lake Erie for the annual “Kombi’s on Kelley’s” bus gathering sponsored by LEAKOIL. (Lake Erie Area Kombi Owners Involvement League.)
What started out with a monsoon like rain on Friday slowly morphed into a beautiful warm and sunny Saturday afternoon. This was followed by near freezing temperatures on Saturday night. The weekend ended with more traditional fall like temperatures on Sunday as the event concluded. The hearty bus owners and their families embraced the changing weather and its unpredictable nature like they accept the occasional breakdown of their beloved bus. It’s all part of the experience.
“Kombi’s on Kelley’s” traces its origins back to the early 1990's when a core group of enterprising bus owners, led by Bill Webner, decided to take a chance and get away with family and friends to the island during the off-season. Columbus Day weekend was the perfect time as it was after the tourist season, but before the harsh realities of winter set in.
Kelley’s Island is a little over 4 square miles in size and has slightly more than 300 permanent residents. It's roughly halfway between Cleveland and Detroit. The island features plenty of charming Victorian styled B&B’s, shops, bars and restaurants that embrace an early 20th Century feel. Most people traverse the island in rented bikes, golf carts or scooters. Transport between the mainland and the island is handled by a ferryboat system handling both vehicles and passengers that completes a one way trek in roughly 20 minutes.
As the tradition of “Kombi’s on Kelley’s” grew, the event reached a regional audience. Bus owners from all over Ohio, Indiana and Michigan began to turn out in increasing numbers. In recent years, with the promise of nice weather in the forecast, as many as 70 VW buses have traversed the island on Columbus Day weekend creating a charming and unique island experience for bus afficionados. This year, the father of one LEAKOIL bus owner, drove his Eurovan over 1,400 miles from Wyoming to take in the island splendor for the second year in row!
The event itself is family oriented. In the early years, bus owners gathered and camped at the island State Park, but over time the gathering migrated to the privately owned 4-H Club grounds on the northern shore of the island. The 4-H grounds were perfect for the type of VW gatherings folks have come to enjoy. There’s plenty of room with a beautiful private beach on the shore and modern bathroom and shower facilities. Best of all, the facility has a lodge or dining hall that overlooks the grounds and enables the group to have a central gathering point for communal meals and a dry place to gather during inclement weather.
Everyone knows VW bus owners can be an eclectic group. Preparations for going to Kelley’s often start early in the year. Part of the adventure is just getting to the island and these often feature various groups of participants “caravaning” from various starting points to the ferry location. These will include elaborate breakfasts and “character building” backroad adventures. It’s all in good fun.
Upon arrival, there’s an attempt to immediately establish a “bus presence” on the island by those attending by “cruising the small downtown village area”, just to let the locals know the buses are back and to cause the few remaining tourists to ask: “what’s going on this weekend?” Again, It’s all in good fun.
Once at the 4-H site members catch up with stories of family and old friends, the conversation then quickly turns to the buses. “What bus did you bring? What have you done to it lately?”. These are common refrains. This year we had nearly 10 split buses, 20 bay windows and approximately 16 Vanagons. We even had a ‘74 Thing that ended up serving as an island taxi for much of the weekend.
Specifically, from the split class, we had two doormobiles and two SO23 Westfalia’s that made it from the roughly eight or nine we have in the LEAKOIL group. At least one of the split transporters was towing a cool puck. Several other passenger splits made it including one with a “Jolly Green Giant” paint scheme. We also have at least two flips seat Westys in the group and a Devon camper that unfortunately did not make it. Bill Webner normally doesn’t wimp out, but we needed a command post so he left his SO23 at home and came in a Rialta.
The ‘Bay’ and ‘Vanagon’ buses featured several nice early bays and one “off-road” Vanagon that made an appearance on the beach. An artist even turned up and painted a beautiful scene facing the beach featuring a late bay with the pop top up.
The weekend is packed with unorganized fun. The kids have a craft table and are supervised as they drive motorized scooters and golf carts on the 4-H grounds. There's even a hot dog machine in continuous operation so the kids never go hungry. Someone’s clutch cable always breaks, so there’s always the “community led repair” seminar that seems to take place for everyone’s enjoyment if your present when something happens. It can be as simple as a tune up or carb adjustment or a jump or two to get to the ferry for some bus owners on Sunday. It’s all handled as it comes up with a real helpful community spirit. No one is ever left behind.
The island is explored fully including the “glacial groves” that are huge gashes in rock formations formed during the ice age. Someone commented that they look like a set of heads when heat, rather than ice, becomes part of the VW experience! There’s also an old working rock quarry on the island you can visit and many undeveloped areas that you can just walk and search in a carefree manor.
Best of all, you can visit the village on the south shore and enjoy the bar and restaurant scene. This year, the ladies had a bit of a pub crawl on Saturday afternoon. From the sounds of it, we’ll be talking about that adventure well into the future! There’s even a local brewery that sponsors a chilli cook-off you can take in for only $5.
The 4-H staff cooks a full breakfast for everyone in attendance on Saturday and Sunday morning. Saturday night then features a pot luck dinner where everyone brings a dish and we all dig in. The food is tremendous with some very elaborate recipes turning out some ‘five star’ meals. One item that caught more than one eye and one pallette was a fully smoked ham cooked on the island just before the event. That ham didn’t stand a chance with a group of hungry bus owners!
We conclude the event on Sunday with a $1 raffle that featured over fifty items as well as a silent auction of unique VW items and accessories. The items were very impressive. With donations from Wolfsburg West, Go Westy, Westcoast Metric and Air Head Parts, we ended up with some great prizes. One member scored a vintage “old school” Vernor’s ginger ale cooler for $40 to put on his SO23. He certainly went home happy!
For more information and pictures of the event go here: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=703
For information on LEAKOIL go here: http://www.leakoil.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
For information on Kelleys Island go here: http://www.kelleysislandchamber.com/about/about.htm
Re: Kelleys 2009
Great job Sean. You're quite the writer!
Next year might be huge at KI as bus owners around the country read this.
Next year might be huge at KI as bus owners around the country read this.
Dan
not 'young dan'
'71 Westy
not 'young dan'
'71 Westy
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