West Coast Nats * Oct 5 -7, 2012 * King City CA. The Oldest Run at the Same Location !

The Dates have changed to Oct 5-7, 2012

Wish I could be there!

I'm sorry 66ThunderVan, but those two stickers/plaques are WAY cool. Something to be proud of.

I was there in 75, 76, 77, and 78. The other plaques are lost, but not the memories. I lived in the Phoenix area at that time and I made a lot of friends, in California, while I was in Az.
I was vice president of Canyon State Vans and the members of Nor-Cal would stop in and crash in my back yard when they were passing through. Those guys really had their stuff together. I attended the "Woodstock" of vanning at the run in Beech Bend Campground, Ky. and Nor-Cal Vans had 99 out of 100 vans in attendance. Van 100 broke down in the midwest, somewhere, and member 100 hitched a ride with a fellow member. I didn't get a plaque for that run because they only made 5000. We got there at 1:30 am saturday morning and were parked at the bottom of a field and when we got up that field was full. My guess is that there were somewhere between 6500 and 7500 vans there.

66ThunderVan wrote:
I attended the "Woodstock" of vanning at the run in Beech Bend Campground, Ky. and Nor-Cal Vans had 99 out of 100 vans in attendance. My guess is that there were somewhere between 6500 and 7500 vans there.

You are quite correct! What a party that was! I had never seen such a group as large as Beech Bend and never did after that! Been there...done that!!!! What memories!!!!!!!

That was the wildest weekend of my life. My friend and I left Phoenix at 8:10 Thursday night, from our club meeting, and arrived Saturday morning at 1:30 am. My partner had a 300 inline in his van and he had it firewalled all the way across country. We only stopped for gas and toilet. That trip was 2000 +/- miles.
BW, did you live in Ohio then? How long was your trip.

Yes, I lived in NE Ohio at the time and if my memory serves me correctly, it took us around 7 hours to get there? The GF at the time b*tched the whole time, as the Van was running HOT HOT HOT!!!! She started in doing the same, on the return trip! I pulled over to the side of the road, called on the CB to members of my club, Anyone need an extra rider & got rid of my headache!!!! lol
Needless to say, we were through at that time! Still got the same ride, by the way! I took 2nd place "Best Radical" that year!

Wow, great story! I miss CB radio. I miss the open road,cheap gas, polite drivers and caraVans. I need to take a ten-100.
The Bumble-Bee is Ten-Ten!

I'm going this year . . . leaving from San Diego on Thursday 10/4 any body interested in a caravan??

I'm most likely going. There will be a bunch f Wheels of Confusion guys going...I'd love to caravan.
I live in redondo beach, so I'm kinda on the way.

BTW....LOVE the stories about the old van runs. I'm 49, so I was too young to have been there the first time around, so us WOC guys van every chance we get.

I wish I still had my pictures of Canyon State Vans. I still stay in touch with some of the old members. I will see if they can dig up some good ones. One of my favorites was of a, nightime shot, of about 40 vans coming back from Cal. on the way to Phoenix. There were members of 3 AZ. clubs with us and we placed the vans with CB's throughout the caraVan for safety. Some of the best runs were King City, Disneyland and the Las Vegas run put on by Sin City Vans.
My favorite was, Van Go I, hosted by Orange County Vans where I won first place drag racing at OCIR! I returned the following year for Van Go II but got my @$$ handed to me by the local club that wasn't about to let me win again. I put up a good fight but was outclassed by a Chevy with a supercharger on it. That truck was way cool and had a section of the windshield cut away to clear the 4-71 blower.
There were a lot of one time events and I made lots of friends all over the southwest.

Wow...awesome story. I love it ! 40 Van caravan...that's amazing.We're lucky to get 20 on a local cruise. Born about 5 years too late.

This just in from KC central.

Raggity Vandy will be providing FREE Hot Dogs for lunch on Saturday.

Don't want to cook. Bring a dish and join in the potluck dinner Saturday Night.

stay tuned, more things still in the works.

There will be a "Shots" bar Friday Nite, featuring Apple Pie.

And Wine Tasting Saturday afternoon, so bring a bottle to share !

Time to pack up and get ready.

The Apple Pie is ready, are you?

The Deathstar showed up.

O.k., how was the Apple Pie?