TO MY C of C PICTURES Ok, finally got all my Council pics downloaded and in order.
What a great time!
Landed in Tampa Wed afternoon and was picked up right away by Tom & Pam. Spent Wed night outside near the pool with friends from all over.
Got to meet Jim from the Econo forum and later on Friday Wookie.Been talking to both those guys for years online.
Security busted us for having beer in bottles! Damn, busted on the 1st day there,lol
Thursday a bunch of us went to Joe's Museum of Vanning. What an awesome collection of everything vanning related! Pictures do not do the place justice! Hung out there a while and then went back to the hotel for some food and partying into the wee hours of the night. Ken Hopcraft drove the rental van very good!
Heard a banging on my door later and it was Badgirl Suzie! Finally got to met her after all these years!
Friday I had the pleasure of pinstriping alongside Matchstick. I got Wookie to bring down some paint from Maryland for us since its not allowed on a plane.lol. Denny Jr. graciously lent us his Dodge van, with 1-week old paint on it for a canvas. Matchstick and I striped for hours until it was dark. Was truly a great time striping with him. He's got skills! Thanks Joe for bringing the 1-shot and thanks Denny for the van to paint on! this was the 1st vehicle I had ever painted on...yikes.lol
Dance and band Friday night was loud and fun.
Later that night I spent over 2 hours painting a wooden van name tag for the name tag contest on Sat. Somehow I won 1st place! Blows me away! Thanks all that voted.
Sat was the Council meeting. Was a good meeting,but turned sad at the end when we got word that Flame had passed away. We had a moment of silence for him. R.I.P. Flame.
The Vintage Chevy Van Club was voted into the council. Congrats to all of them.
The van show was next and what a great turnout of custom vans! There were late models,earlies,minis, and a couple vans that have been around forever. Really nice to see them in person. Toy van races were next and after Coop repaired the track, everyone got to give it a go. There was 100 feet of track. Of that, 50 feet were under the bar on the concrete. All vans that didn't make it past the 1st 50' went into the ocean. The winner was Denny Jr. He pulled out a coke van right out of the packaging and ran a killer 95'. Later he ran a 94.5'. Awesome run Denny!
That night was more music, dancing and an auction with all kinds of goodies. Stayed up talking with friends til the early hours. The same security guy that had busted us for bottles on Wed cruised up and told us what a pleasure it was to have us at the hotel. Said we were the best group they had ever had and we were welcome back anytime!
Monday was the Super Bowl party and the bar was packed with all the vanner's that had stayed the extra day. Great times! I was for the Patriots all day, but in the end, I won in the football pool because of the score. What a great way to end an awesome councils....having fun and getting some cash.
All in all a great time! Friends old and new and vans..doesn't get any better than that! Thanks Florida Van Council and everyone else that made the 2012 Councils a hit. See everyone in New England next year! Brad