39th National Truck-In hosted by Vans on the Run

The trip to Nats from GoodGuys in Columbus was an adventure as we were trying to beat a storm there. Ended up sitting under a overhang at the Best Western in Zanesville, OH riding it out once we heard the tornado siren going off while filling up gas tanks. Soon we arrived at the Nats. I guess it's true that pigs do fly! We heard that the pig balloon at the Nats flew over the interstate during the storm. I've searched YouTube for pics but I guess no one took video when it happened LOL. Glad the storm was over when we got there. It isn't fun putting up our camper in the rain.

SOVC Campsite

Having fun with Vantasia Vans

We parked with the Nats Board next to the area SOVC had roped off. Made for quite the entertainment as the party is always happening in that area. Here I was wondering who the crazy guys were in the pool during the thunder storm only to have Tommy Trucker climb out and to say hi LOL. The pool is made of rubber right...what could be wrong with being in the pool during a thunder storm? Glad to see some things never change. One of the other things we noticed when we first pulled in is a Corvair van with NotStock Photography painted on the side up by the Drop Jaw and Vannin.com booths. Yep, John decided to find out what vanning was all about! He planned to stay for a day or so but he must have had fun cuz he stayed for the whole event!

Vannin.com / Nats Board Meet & Greet

Slo Ride Game

Vanner's Nite In was a Soup Kitchen on Wednesday night. They also had the "Nutz Bus" to get you around. Parking with the Nats Board also meant parking with Mr. Bill. There were some very drunk people in his pool and an endless supply of blender drinks it seemed. 

Show n Shine was broke up into 2 days.  There were a lot of lineups for pics of all Econolines to celebrate 50 years of the Econoline and then the annual Early & VCVC lineups. Denny Smith did a nice job in the burnout contest.

 

 

Tom & Pam Chronister showed the updated Battlestar - now called DeathStar. Beautiful new paint job on it. It was nice to see Blastro & Headstone at the event as well as Karson's van. Congrats to Don & Becky Noone for taking Best of Show with Pirates of the Caravan!  Overall a good event. Last count there were about 614 vans in attendance.

Tammy Kenney

More pics will be posted on the HOAVC website.
You can also view pics on DropJaw Magazine's website.

GoodGuys - Columbus, OH

We don't usually get the opportunity to attend this event since it's usually the same weekend as Nats so this was the 1st time Rick & I went to this GoodGuys event & it was big with over 5,000 vehicles.  It was the weekend before Nats so we just made it part of our vacation. I know we didn't see all of this event. We had a hard enough time just finding our friends on the grounds. Ken Hopcraft & Tim Brogan & his wife met us there.

We had a perfect spot (we thought) for setting up camp right on the corner by registration so vehicles had to come buy our site before they headed into the fairgrounds. We failed to notice however the HUGE light over our camper. Needless to say you could get up at 2am and it was like daylight inside hehe. I can't say I cared for the grounds at this event as much as I enjoy the Des Moines grounds but I would go again. I think I just didn't like being right in the city and if I thought we did a lot of walking at the Des Moines event you did even more here. I did like the open sided barns that you could park in and there was quite a bit of shade and a few buildings with a/c but a lot of parking lot areas you had to walk if you wanted to see all the cars. Rick loved their trophy presentation on Sunday. It was a drive through presentation into a big building with a/c and lots of seating which came in handy after all this walking.

This event is also where we first ran into John Jackson of NotStock Photography. Apparently a LOT of vanners had been sending and putting flyers in his Corvair van to try to get him to the Nationals LOL. Saturday we parked in the Ya Gotta Drive 'Em special parking section and we ended up actually parking by John with Ken Hopcraft.  If you haven't checked out John's website and Facebook page you should really take the time. He does an awesome job!

Someone that works with my son also made this his 1st GoodGuys event with a 57 Nomad he'd been building. It took 2 days to find him but we finally caught up to him. Gorgeous car!
We also ran into several other vanners there including Headstone taking a run around the grounds - can't miss the sound of that van plus it's one of my favorites!! Overall a great time and a nice way to start our trip to the Van Nationals.

Be sure to check the HOAVC website & Facebook page for more pictures!

Rick & Tammy Kenney
Three Trails Vans/Hy-Rollin Vans

GoodGuys in Des Moines, IA

This is one of our favorite car shows to go to.  Rick & I have been going to this event since 2005. It's limited to vehicles 1972 & older and it's a lot of fun. It takes place in at the State Fair Park in Des Moines, IA over the 4th of July weekend. It's kind of like a mini truck-in with vanners from CIV & Three Trails Vans camping together every year at the campground attached to the fairgrounds.  The car enthusiasts at this event are very dedicated & it seems like they line up earlier every year trying to get in and grab a spot on main street. We hadn't even gone to bed Friday night and they already had a long line up to the gate. We prefer to stay up late enjoying the company of our friends but still manage to get a good spot when we head down for the show. Lots of shade, a building with a/c, fireworks show & plenty of vendors & good food.


It's a 3 day event and even then we don't usually see everything that is here with usually over 3,000 vehicles to check out, a swap meet and several buildings with vendors. We thought Keith surprised us and showed up after-all at the event (see orange panel truck above) but it was a look-alike.  The early Econo belongs to a guy out of Des Moines and we run into him every year at this event.  Haven't talked him into a van event...yet! Before this van he owned a very kewl VW bus with a tie-dyed interior.
Leaving the event on Sunday Rick and I took a detour to John Wayne's birthplace to check out the Legend and get some pics. It was donated to the museum when it went up for sale at the Barrett Jackson auction in Scottsdale, AZ. They have someone that comes over every week to maintain it and it's driven regularly in parades. Rick went in and talked to the ladies running the museum store and gave them some history on it. Turns out some Vans Am ladies were there earlier in the year also.  The ladies told Rick they were so excited to see it they practically hugged the van LOL

Tammy & Rick Kenney
Hy-Rollin Vans, Three Trails Vans

For more pictures check out the HOAVC Facebook page & HOAVC.org

Stayin' Alive hosted by CITA

Well thought I would do a brief right up of CITA truckin 35 and Stayin Alive, princess and I left around 2:30 Friday and met up with Rocco and we were on our way got there around 5:00 and the grounds were full already. I saw right off the bat Bluegrass, Hy Rollin, County Line and Fast Lane all the others were in the back. In our site we had Jerry, LaLa, "G"Roller, Carla, Rocco, Rolando's and Keith and Dawn from Vantasia we broke out camp and dug into a fresh batch of Apple Pie YUM!!! We quickly got caught up with the ones who had been there a while lol..lol.. we headed up to the the vendor (CITA) got some food and listened to the band which was great there was a female singer that just nailed every song from Michael Jackson to Sugarland and mixed up great, there were plenty of people dancing and enjoying the beautiful summer evening.

After a very late night we awoke around 8:30 and had some breakfast from vendor and proceeded to get the van ready for show and shine, once again we started our party with having beers around 10:30.. and enjoying the show, games started at 1:00 with the Vanatics hosting the first game lawn chair volleyball which was a hit and of course we had our traditional Lemonade Stand which managed to go thru 11 gallons!!

Following that was CITA games "Masterbate Open" and "Balloon Toss" after the games we had enough time to relax then dinner which is very good and free from our host. All that is required is everyone brings a covered dish. After dinner was trophy time with yours truly getting first place GMC and Lil Ed (Special Ed) getting Best of Show - Congrats!! The rest of the evening was spent talking to friends, more Apple Pie, the Brite and Shine and the band Shovel Head that played for Bluegrass they rocked it pretty good. We left around 8:30 Sunday morning but still smiling as we thought about the great weekend we had and looking forward to Fast Lane August 26th hope to see some of you there....

Darrin Bentley
Vanatics Van Club