As it turned out, I arrived in Bismarck just before sundown on Friday
evening. Got three different sets of directions to the rally site, and as a
consequence spent nearly two and a half hours not locating it. Finally
stopped at a firestation, and got turn by turn directions... found it, and
returned to my hotel. Woke bright and early, drove out to the rally site,
and promptly found myself chatting with Bill Scott. Got the scoop on the
events at the exhibition hall, and directions thereto.
Bill introduced me to VAC Prez Tom Reed, who took time away from preparing
his notes for the VAC meetings that afternoon to show me his Clipper
restoration photos...
Drove over to take a look at the WilsonArt tricked-out Airstream... and
spoke to the charming people - Jim Huff and Grace Jeffers - who masterminded
this
attempt to provoke first Airstream, now Thor, into incorporating some
updated design concepts into their proposed 2001 16-footer... they've done a
wonderful job.
Drove over to the exhibition hall just as everyone was breaking for lunch,
shot back to the hotel to get my paperwork, and copy of Burkhart and Hunt's
book, and went up to the PR office and handled my WBCCI membership (Sierra
Nevada Unit, despite Bill S's attempts to get me to join their DC cult...)
Just as soon as I'd handed over my check, who should walk into the office
but WBCCI Prez Ed Elmer... we chatted for a bit, and I headed downstairs to
check out some of the exhibits... and then headed upstairs for the VAC
general meeting -
It was pretty terrific... and after the general meeting, I handled my VAC
membership with Membership Chairman Dick Mumma personally... made a date
with Bud Cooper for happy hour to go over his '48 restoration and frame-job
(I'm planning a similar effort on my '49 Clipper) and hooked up with Bryan
Burkhart.... had him autograph my copy of his book... and then we headed
over to the rally site where Bryan connected with British television's (ITV)
Matt Bennett, who was attending the rally and taping interviews with
Airstreamers for a segment for an ITV series on 'caravanners around the
world'...
Met a passel of fantastic people, and was thoroughly exhausted and
satisfied... that one day was well worth driving 1500+ miles in two days...
as evening fell, heavy thunderstorms rolled over Bismarck... so i headed
back to the hotel and fell into bed...
Sunday morning, woke up and headed out into the weather... driving east
toward Detroit (another pilgrimage) and just happened to follow Dr.
Holzman's '1935 Airstream' as i pulled onto the freeway...
Drove some 700 miles today (spending the night in Madison WI), and on to
Detroit in the morning... can hardly wait to get back to Reno, so I can tear
into the '49 Clipper....
Thanks guys, for pointing me in the right direction...
Tuna.
----- Original Message -----
From: terry tyler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2000 9:54 AM
Subject: Re: [VAC] Bismarck Rally
> Hi Cindy,
>
> You are correct, it is frustrating sometimes.
> The most frustrating will be in Tuna's case
> where he will be stopping there just as the
> convention is getting over and people are
> starting to pack up and leave.
>
> There is a always a registration chairman
> at every rally. The bigger the rally, the
> more likely there will be a registration
> table with someone there between 9am & 3pm.
> Because everyone is a volunteer, they
> are looking forward to joining in the
> convention activities just as soon as
> the last person who is preregistered
> has arrived.
>
> After that, visitors have to do as anyone
> would do who is looking for someone in a
> small town. Ask around. The most informed
> people are those in charge of traffic
> (the small town sheriff), those on motor
> scooters delivering messages (the village
> mailman), or those who are obviously part
> of the convention (village residents).
> These people can be identified by a ribbon
> on their name tag. The ribbon is the symbol
> of them having gone through the
> registration process.
>
> In Tuna's case, registration has long
> since closed down. For all practical
> purposes, he'll be a day visitor and
> on his own until he finds the vintage
> group. Once there, he may find you and
> you'll take him under our wing and
> you'll introduce him to the right
> person (if you were there).
>
> On the flip side, it's up to each of
> us at the convention to notice which
> people are not wearing name tags and
> to offer our assistance to them. Some
> may be convention goers who forgot to
> put on their name tag, but mostly
> they will be visitors.
>
> A fringe benefit of doing this is
> everyone who isn't wearing a name badge
> will quickly recognize they are being
> noticed, perhaps not by everyone, but
> enough to know a few people care about
> them. Hopefully, this will reduce
> some of their frustration and help
> them enjoy the event and the club.
>
> I'm glad you guys are back on line.
> We missed you. You bring up good ideas
> that need to be discussed more often.
>
> Terry
> =============
> >This is still frustrating to me - no official place to
> >send a wannabe to
> >join up while attending or passing by the International
> >WBCCI Rally!
> >Hope you have an easier time than we did at a big rally
> >in Florida. We
> >had people who wanted to join and it was VERY difficult
> >to find a
> >contact who had the papers to do just that.
> >
> >Cindy(whining), #7494 WBCCI & VAC
> >
>
>
