4th Van in, Last van out!
I was the last van to drive out of the parking lot last night and tears of joy, pride and sadness, ran down my cheek as I rolled away from the greatest van experience of my life. I hate to post about the show without pics but I'll update the post later. I didn't have a camera to bring ...I know I know.
I don't even know where to start.
7AM,
6 of us met up in route to the show and the vans all ran killer! We had one mission.
TO BEAT EVERYONE ELSE TO THE SHOW TO SECURE GOOD SPOTS!!!
We thought we needed to get there before Wheels of confusion (those dudes get up early), but there turned out to be plenty of parking up until around 11o'clock. Matt, Dave and Josh all rolled in around 10:30 making a solid 9 member turnout! I counted around 30-35 vans throughout the day but that feels like a small count. Most of them stayed for hours and the parking lot was packed to the hilt. They actually had a small contest and gave away goody bags to the winners. Thee Cormans were the most hilarious fucking band I've ever seen and had us all in stitches throughout there set. They got into it a little when they bagged on some drunk older chick. She officially banned them from ever playing another van event again.
Sorry, but were gonna have to side with the Cormans on this one. You'll hopefully be seeing them at EVERY van event the Vandoleros ever hold which according to Andrew will be this coming spring!
Jim Gagne's Chevy was the most fucking bad ass late model van I've ever seen. It was a cool surprise to finally meet Jim. He was the original owner of the Dice van and I've always wanted to talk to the dude.
We all met quite a few great people and saw a number of vans we'd never seen before. There were so many cool things that happened throughout the day, the best thing wound up being after everyone left.
Baja Charley got a call around 2pm saying that Damian and Lane from "No One Rides For Free" (see links) were in Baker and still on their way to the show. They ended up rolling in about 45 minutes after everyone left which was a bummer but was worth it in the end because we really wanted to hang out even if very briefly. Lanes van wasn't quite ready for such a long trip but Damian worked like a madman (with Lane) to get his van in killer condition for the show and rolled in with a beautiful 73 Black Dodge. Damian was still putting together the interior as Lane was driving it here. The interior was AMAZING and they did a super job. Two stand up dudes who I wish I had more time to chill with while they are here. Chase is doing an interview with them today so check the Van Creeps blog for that soon.
We ended up with some new members and I'll do posts about each of them soon.
Huge thanks to Chase and the Van Creeps for throwing the event. It's going to be remembered as THE premiere event that ushered in the new van craze. A few old timers told me they were going to sell their vans and had seen nothing but a decline in the seen since the mid Eighties. For them this show completely flipped the script and they were re-invigorated about the scene. Hearing that was one of my best memories of the show. It definitely was nothing short of amazing. I got home around 7 pm and was asleep by 9!
I'll be posting more about the show throughout the week. I have to get off the computer and focus on the family now.
