*An Email from Jack Van

December 25, 2010

To GOV,
Thanks to ALL who turned out for the Greensboro Jaycee Holiday Parade! We had total of 15 cars and another Fine Time was had by all!

We had David in his newly finished Ghia, Boyd and Vonda in their white Ghia, Buddy had some really nice holiday decorations for his matte blue Bug. Bob Sterenberg had his snow skis and grandkids but left Elvis at home this year. Carl had the Lady Bug, Kevin was Transporting, Derrick had his Christmas beagle with him and his family. Otis had his driver and chaperon [Keith and Stephanie] in their black vintage, Jesse was sporting his green bug-sans-wiper blades, and Tyler looked like a Currier and Ives card in his '64 convert in the snow. Thank you to all the GOV who turned out and braved the snow to participate!

In spite of the SNOW, the parade went off without drama. Some GOV had a rolling snowball fight, and others scrambled to put their convertible tops up just as we started to roll. The snow was falling heavy for the entire parade route but slowed some for the trip to Golden Coral.

Thanks to all the GOV who joined in the Parade. From the reactions of the crowd and the parade announcers, the GOV are enjoyed as one of their Holiday favorites. We like to be in the parade and have fun too!

Merry Christmas!

Jack Van
Good Ole Volks
Greensboro NC

November 9, 2010

Hello Good Ole Volks,

I looks like a lot of people think that the last VW show of the season is the SEVWA Fast Times At Farmington, and I will have to admit, that was a big one in October. I do plan on writing my report on that later, so be on the lookout. But, the show I want to talk about this time is the AAF Tank Museum Annual Car and Bike Show! The 7th annual show was held this past Saturday on Novenber 6,2010, and it is an indoor show. It usually has in excess of 150 vehicle's.....almost 180 this year, and it does have a VW class! Our own GOV had a cruise to this place awhile back and everyone seemed to enjoy the experience.

I would also like to say that Facebook also offers a way for VW driver's to meet other VW driver's from various places. I met a new buddy from Lynchburg that just so happened to be on the Facebook page of one of the Martinsville Volks Club member's page. His name is Blake Bryant, and he drives a nice white 1966 Bug. I carried on some chats with him during the week about the Tank Museum carshow, and him, with his wife and kids....along with another one of his friends, Kevin Douglas and his wife, who have a Westy Bus, drove from Lynchburg to check out the show. Both of the guys are into the VW scene in a big way and I enjoyed meeting them and their families!

It started with a bunch of other's and myself heading to the museum on Friday night to take care of getting our vehicles ready for the show the following day. Then on Saturday morning, Susan and me packed our cooler, grabbed us some breakfast from Bisquitville, and headed for the 7th Annual AAF Tank Museum Car & Bike Show! The place sure had filled up since Friday night, and there was all kinds of nice vehicles in the place. There was a man from Chatham, VA that had his red Super Beetle there on Friday, Blake with his Bug, and myself with my Squareback in the VW class. I never got to meet the man with the red Super Beetle, but I did see him during the award presentation.

We did get to meet some other people to talk about their nice rides.....had a chance to meet Blake, Kevin and their families, and to talk VW's with them for awhile.....seen a BMX Bike show, and a tank crushing a car, which was cool! Susan left long enough to grab us some lunch, and brought her laptop back so we could pass some time watching a dvd! I would have to say that the best 2 car's in the place was a red 1955 Chevy Belair, and a red 1970 Chevy Camaro. These 2 car's were nothing short of outstanding! After the door prizes were given out, along with the 50/50 award, the trophies were handed out in all classes. In the VW class....1st Blake Bryant....2nd went to myself....and 3rd to the man with the red Super Beetle, who got his award and left. I swear that I never got the chance to talk with him! He just never was around for that opportunity

All & all....it was a great event that I think everyone would enjoy. Not only the car show, with all of those nice rides, but the tanks and all of the other memorabilia! If the GOV would like to check this out next year, I can't think of a better time to do so than during this annual show. The Farmington show is coming y'all, so be on the lookout for it! Till then......................................................................................

Have a VW day,
Bobby

October 21, 2010

Hello Good Ole Volks,

Like I said in my last story, October is a great month for taking a ride in your favorite VW! The weather is anywhere from cool, to nice, to perfect for a cruise. I always looked forward to our annual GOV Parkway Cruise's, but as fate would have it, for whatever reason, the Parkway Cruises stopped, and that was really disappointing to me as well as some other's I'm sure.

Well.....again as fate would have it, thing's got better! There's a small but growing VW club about 30 minute's west on Danville called the Martinsville Volkswagen Club! I heard about their cruise in's and took a ride to visit them awhile back, and found out that they have a good bunch of VW minded people there too. They are regular participant's in our GOV Break The Record Night event's, and some of our GOV member's have started to join them on their parkway cruise's too. So when I heard that the Martinsville VW Club was having their "All VW Fall Leaf Peep Blue Ridge Parkway Cruise", and that some of our GOV member's were joining them again, I'll have to admit, I got excited! I tuned up my Squareback....even got me a new set of tire's....took Saturday off from work, and made plan's to join my first parkway cruise with a different VW club!

Now since Martinsville is so much closer to us, we just decided to meet the rest of our GOV member's there. We got us some breakfast at Bisquitville, filled the Squareback with gas, and headed to the meeting place at Subway in Stanleytown,VA. We arrived a little early, and met up with Mark Alley and the rest of the Martinsville VW Club. They had 11 member's already there and raring to go. Most of us went to the Subway to get us something to eat for our group lunch later, and one of their member's was selling doughnut's to help his church youth group! Only a short time later, here came our GOV member's. A line of 8 pretty VW's came pulling into the parking lot and were ready for the cruise to start. The GOV member's that I know were Jack & Deb, Bill & Linda, Chan & Kim, Boyd & Vonda, Phillip, Jimmy Jarrett and Phil and his wife. I'm not the best with names to start with, so let me just put it to you this way! There was 1 Bus, 1 Ghia, 1 Squareback, I Golf GTI, and 16 Bug's which made a total of 20 VW's in our cruise. This made for the largest number of VW's that we have ever been cruising with. That is quite a few VW's!

After getting situated, and our meet & great, we headed to our first destination, which was the Philpott Dam overlook, for our lunch, socializing and some sight seeing. I had never been here before, but the view of the coves behind the dam was great. Most of us were taking a lot of photo's during this cruise too. To our member's that have been on some of our previous GOV cruise's....you know how excited people get when they see a good size group of VW's going by....punch bug!

We then cruised on down Rt.57 toward Rt.8. Now....I have had the chance to be on Rt.8 a few times, and the one thing that I've always remembered is that it's got plenty of curve's, so that was nothing new to me, but this particular section was new to me. There was this one curve that we went into and the whole right side just opened up to some of the prettiest mountain scenery that I have ever seen. And then there were some more curve's too. We went on through Woolwine and into Floyd County before getting on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and everywhere we went......punch bug!

After getting on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we headed south, and stopped at an observation point to take some more group photo's and get the experience of some of those mountain breeze's! Man, that wind was whipping! Then we left there heading toward's Mabry Mill....we went by the place that we had our last GOV group picnic.....and the whole way to Mabry Mill was lined with people checking out the long line of pretty, shiny VW's.....punch bug, peace sign's, and thumb's up! I really liked that!

We pulled into the Mabry Mill overflow parking lot, and people were running up to the fences on both sides of the road to check us out and get some picture's of us.....punch bug! This is when we had to leave the group and head back home, due to having to be at my nephew's wedding at 5:30 PM. So...on down Hwy.58 we went, heading home, excited with being part of this cruise and looking forward to doing it again next year. To all of our GOV member's that have great memories of our previous parkway cruises......make plan's to join in this cruise next year. I guarantee you will enjoy yourselves!

The next VW event will be at Farmington on Sunday October 24,2010! I hope to see you there! Till then............................................................

Have a VW day!

Bobby

October 20, 2010

Hello Good Ole Volks,

We always take our yearly vacation in October for several reasons! One of the reasons is that it's great weather to be out driving our VW's, and another is there is so much to do. Fall festival's are everywhere! Our only problem was whether to go to the beach, where we haven't been in a couple of year's, or to the Circle Yer Wagens show in Tennessee. As you know....there's something relaxing about hearing those waves coming to shore, but, the water running over the rock's in the Little Pigeon River is just as relaxing....to me anyway. The trip to Tennessee is right much further than to the beach, but we had more friend's there, and there's just as much activity going on as well. So...the final decision was made by Susan! She knew that I was looking forward to going to Tennessee and said that's what we should do. I sure do love that girl!

Susan had to work on Friday, so that put us leaving after 3:00 PM, but we had everything loaded into our pickup, and set out by 4:00 PM. A stop at Cracker Barrell in Greensboro for our supper is always welcome, and a couple more for some gas and bathroom break's, had us arriving at the Riverview Inn in Sevierville,TN around 11:00 PM. Now we had stayed at this motel on several occasion's, and we always enjoyed the place for it's scenery, and the closeness to the Sevierville Fairgrounds, where the show is held. This time, however, we found out that the owner's had changed, and it wasn't quite as we remembered. We did stay the first night at this motel since it was so late, but I can tell you right now that we will not be going back to it again. We got up early the next morning....repacked the pickup and headed to the Mountain Aire Motel. which was about a mile away. We had stayed here before....we liked it then, and liked it a lot better this time. After a filling breakfast at Flapjack's, right next door to our motel, we headed to the Circle Yer Wagens #32 on October 2-3,2010!

The first thing that I noticed was there was a larger than normal crowd. And not just the spectator's, but the carshow participant's, the dealer's, and even the swap meet had expanded. This event was huge this year, and you couldn't have asked for better weather either. Now....our first thing to do was to go see our friend's. Stick and Pete was camped out where Alan, Jimbo, and Carl had set their Bus Camper's up at....right on the bank of the Little Pigeon River. The smell of bacon & egg's filled the air when we got there, as they were about to have their breakfast, and we enjoyed a good visit with them for awhile. Then, we took a walk around the faiground to see what we could see.

We did get each of us an event t-shirt....me another t-shirt and a decal....and then checked out the showcar's! There was an orange metallic 1969 Squareback that was nothing short of outstanding, and it did make me a little jealous. Then there was the red 1972 Bug with 1967 fender's and all kinds of detail. I talked to the owner of this fine ride, and he did admit that this was a "trailer queen", but this was one beautiful Bug! Then, as we were walking around, we seen Bill and Chan, who had already filled up Bill's trailer with swap meet goodies, and was ready to start filling up our pickup with the rest of their treasure's! Tommy & Debbie Fletcher of West Coast Sandrails, were there with their trailer, and after having a talk with them, found out that they had had so much business that day, that they didn't even have the time for a break until the end of the day.

We had us another visit with Stick and friend's, then left to get us a bite to eat, went to the pottery for a few thing's, went to the outlet store's so Susan could pick her up some new shoe's, and then were back to the show to finish the day with our friend's. Around 8:00PM we left the show, went to Olive Garden for a great meal, and then on to our motel for some rest.

We were up early the next morning......loaded up the pickup......filled up with gas......and went back to the show for the final day of the event! All of our friend's had already left for home, so we went to the snack area where the Boy Scout's have their annual breakfast setup going on for some great pancake's and sausage, and then made one more trip around the fairground to see if we had missed anything. With that out of the way....we climbed in the pickup and headed towards home for some well deserved rest for the start of my vacation week!

Look forward to my upcoming story for the "2010 All VW Leaf Peep" Blue Ridge Parkway Cruise! Till then...........................................................

Have a VW day,
Bobby

August 16, 2010

Hello Good Ole Volks,

We have been going to Greensboro quite a bit this week, and have had really good result's with both trip's. We were at Guilford Urologic Ctr.on Monday, where Susan got a good progress report (thank all of you for the prayer's), and then there was our GOV Break The Record Night on Thursday!

There were several thing's that had to be done before August 12,2010, and one of those was getting my Squareback ready for our annual event. I had put the battery charger on my battery to charge it up for a small run, and it turned over a few times till all of its juice was drained and I knew that I needed a new battery. So, off to Advance Auto I went to get me a new battery. I noticed that when the last battery was installed a few year's ago, the battery hold down bracket wasn't even bolted onto the battery, so I made sure that it was done this time and took my Squareback to the service station for some gas, to check the air in the tire's and the oil level. Then I was off for a little personal cruise of my own! The only thing that remained to be done was to wash it, and I took care of that Thursday morning before it got so hot, and went ahead and put 2 folding chair's in the back.....just in case we needed to sit down while there.

I got off early from work, went to pick up Susan and my Squareback, filled up the tank with gas, and headed to Greensboro and Herbie's Place for our annual GOV Break The Record Night. Now.....due to the heat AND humidity, I kept my speed around 60 MPH......no need in trying to overheat my VW, and the car done great! When we got to Herbie's Place, the place was already wide open and buzzing with activity. We met Sheari as we pulled into the lot, and she placed my "green dot" on my Squareback to let me know that we were counted, and then had to find us a parking spot among the horde of VW's already in the lot. There was Billy & Jonathan Dye with a booth selling "new" Good Ole Volks t-shirt's, and I had to have me one of those. Jimmy Jarrett brought his small trailer to the event with plenty of VW goodies that some of us could use, and I got me a new pair of headlight ring's while there, and then there were all of the people. We got to see so many of our friend's that night, as well as standing outside with the sweat running off our forehead's and down our back's. Did anyone notice how hot it was? Whew! We had quite a few of us that had to get something to eat, and Herbie's Place was packed all night long with our member's and other's taking advantage of the good food, and the air conditioning. Then it was back outside to mingle with the crowd, check out all of the VW's, and catch up with our friend's!

Around 8:00PM...Sheari made it official! We had broken our previous record of 119 VW's! We had a new total of 153 VW's to join us on our annual event. Now....I have been to VW show's that didn't have nowhere near that amount of vehicle's, so we have a reason to be proud of our accomplishment....don't you think? This is one of our annual event's that has endured the year's, and meant so much to our member's. My first Break The Record Night.....back in 2004......brought just 61 VW's! It has only got larger over the year's, and I can only guess what next year's event will bring. Now, I did notice that our event was posted in the "coming events" in the latest issue of Dune Buggies & Hot VW's magazine as well, so that made us nationwide folk's! Our Good Ole Volks VW Club! I did notice that some of our member's were missing this year, and can only hope that they will make it to next year's event to break the record again, but this year's event was huge and we were there to see history made again!

OK...the next VW show is the SEVWA's Nothern Challenge #5 in Radford,VA at the Motormile Dragway this coming Sunday August 22, 2010! Till later...........................

Have a VW day,
Bobby

June 16, 2010

Hello Good Ole Volks,

I hope that everyone is doing great and enjoying this early summer! It's about time that I got you a story on our recent GOV Cruise to BUGOUT #67 in Manassas,VA during the Memorial Day weekend. Sooooooo........

Susan and me have been wanting to take us a trip lately and when we got the memo about the GOV BUGOUT Cruise, we knew what we wanted to do. It's been 4 year's since we last went to a BUGOUT show, and we always enjoyed taking the trip with our GOV friend's. The only thing that changed with us this time is that I wasn't driving my Squareback. Susan had to be back for work the following Monday so our time was limited to start with, but we were still looking forward to joining the caravan up to Manassas with our GOV.

The caravan started at the intersection of Hwy#150 & Hwy#29 at Browns Summit at 7:00AM on Saturday, May 29,2010, and headed north. They hooked up with us at the Kangaroo Station in Blairs,VA, and off we went. It was Jack & Deb in their white 69 Bug, Bill in his black 69 Bug, Steve in his orange 83 Thing, Chan, Kim, & Caley were in Caley's blue new Beetle Convertible, Daniel was in his orange "horned" Bug, Billy was driving his van and trailering his orange 71 Squareback, Jonathan, Lauren, & boy's were driving their pickup and trailering his rail buggy, Jim & Courtney was in a Mustang, and Susan and me in our pickup!

We stopped at the Golden Corral in Lynchburg,VA for some breakfast, and to meet up with 3 guy's with the Bugs in the Burg VW club. Jimmy in his yellow Bug Convertible, with 2 other member's, both in blue Bug's. While we were there, here came the water cooled group with Jordan, Stephanie,Matt, Steve, Jess, Kevin......who ate and then left on their own ahead of us. Daniel took his Bug to April's place, and Jonathan unloaded his rail buggy while in Lynchburg as well. So, we were off once again with our group. This is where the trip gets really neat, as we head on into the mountains, with all of that great scenery, and the tree's canopying over the highway, which was always one of my favorite places on the trip, and then we stopped at another one of the GOV favorite spots....the Crossroad Store. Everyone got to stretch their leg's well, get some gas, etc....and we met up with Betty there, and added her black 74 Super Beetle to our caravan. Next stop........Quality Inn in Manassas,VA! And....one other note, before I forget again! When we met the group at the Kangaroo Station, the weather was cool, slightly overcast, with low cloud's hanging around in the air. The sun popped out by the time we got to Charlottesville,VA, and by the time we got to Manassas,VA, it was flat out HOT!

We arrived at the motel, got past the confusion with the staff about smoking and non smoking room's, unloaded our vehicle's, and found something cold to drink, or cool to jump in.....or maybe even both! After some quality relaxation, our GOV got together in the rear parking lot for a great cookout of hamburger's with the works, and some great salad's. We had some good time's, good conversation, and some decent joke's as well. Then the margaritas arrived....oh boy! Well, after awhile we all retired!

We were up early on Sunday morning, but not as early as some. You've heard the saying....the early bird gets the worm! There are a couple of guy's that I know that will be in the gate as soon as they can get in to find those great part's at the swap meet. We joined Betty for a continental breakfast, then headed to Walmart for a few necessities before turning in the room key and heading to Old Dominion Speedway for BUGOUT #67. We paid our way into the speedway and parked beside Billy Dye at his spot, then Derrick & Yvonne parked their pickup beside us and joined the group. I will admit that I was glad that we decided to bring our EZ UP. As long as you were in the shade, and with a steady breeze blowing that day, you could stay right cool. But, as soon as you went into the sunshine.....whew! I had no sooner backed our pickup into our spot, when I found one of the swap meet guys with some great Type 3 part's that I needed. I do know that Betty and Deb showed their Bug's, but I'm not sure if they placed or not. After our GOV had went searching for that special part, numerous trips of course, and kind of settled in to relax and watch some quality drag racing, the grill was brought out again and we had us another great cookout. That was so much nicer that paying those high prices at the track, and the food was better too.Well....since Susan had to get up early on Monday morning to go to work, we had to leave ahead of the other's. So we said our good bye's, climbed into our pickup, and headed south. We didn't stop till we reached Lynchburg, and we stopped for a bite to eat, then it was off to Danville, and some rest.

Overall.....the GOV member's were all excited about heading to BUGOUT #67, and glad that they went when they arrived back home. I know this because we were there with them. I will still recommend that every GOV member should join us on one of our BUGOUT cruise's when they get the chance. It's how great memories and friendship's are made. OK, that's all for now. Till later.........................................

Have a VW day,
Bobby

April 11, 2010

Hello Good Ole Volks,

Has anyone noticed that Spring has sprung.....especially with all of the tree's and flower's blooming everywhere! And how about this beautiful weather that we've been having too. I have been riding my Squareback around quite a bit, but still not planning on showing it anytime soon. I will be attending some of those VW show's this year however, and the first one we've attended was this past Sunday, April11,2010, at SEVWA Fast Times at Farmington.

It started out with a chilly morning start......filling the cooler, loading the pick up truck with the essentials, stopping for breakfast at Bisquitville, and filling the gas tank at Sheetz. Then off to Farmington we went. The trip went smoothly, and I still enjoy looking at the redbud tree's that were blooming all up and down Interstate 40! We arrived at the Farmington Dragway to find it about packed with people and VW's galore. I cannot recall ever seeing as many dealer's as there were there. There was Bill, and Chan, and Tony & Susan with a setup there, trying to unload some of their extra part's and VW's too. We just pulled the pickup over behind Stick's Bug-B-Que grill and joined in the activities already in progress. There we were with a load of our GOV member's doing thing's that we love to do so much. Along with the GOV member's that I've already mentioned, were Beverly, Pete, Teresa, Wyley, Justin, Alan, & Jimbo. I seen Steve French there and was about to speak to Jack Vann when we seen him, but he was in the art of a deal with a dealer for a pedal assembly that he was trying to get, so I didn't want to disturb him. I seen Craig riding his Bug all over the place but didn't get a chance to speak to him. I also got the chance to speak with Elliott, who I haven't seen in quite awhile.

The weather couldn't have been any nicer than it was, with the sun and warm temp's. It made for a very nice event. We started out checking the dealer's out and I found me a nice new decal...then onto all of those shiney VW showcar's, and there were some new car's that I haven't seen before.....and we even risked some sunburn as we watched some of the drag car's try to set some new record times. And after all of that fun, what could be better than settling in at Stick's grill for some great food with friend's. Well....after a very filling meal, another walk around the event, and telling our friend's goodbye for the day, we came back to Danville thinking about how much we enjoyed our day.

To the member's that I missed seeing while there.....I hope that you enjoyed yourself as much as we did, and I hope to see more of y'all soon. Pay attention to our website because there are quite a few nice cruise's that have been scheduled this year, in addition to the VW show's that will be going on. We're looking forward to seeing you guy's soon! Till later..............................................................................................

Have a VW day,
Bobby