Council of Council 2012 hosted by Florida Van Council

As seen through the eyes of Vanatics Van Club:
 

Well our trip started on Friday, Jan 27th with getting up at 2:30 a.m. so we could be on the road by 4:30a.m.  Jerry and Laura spent the night so we could get an early start. We met up with Rocco at the local travel center off I-55 and started our journey - first stop New Orleans! 

We arrived in the Big Easy just in time for the weekend traffic heading to the city. Didn’t take long to reach the hotel though and we settled in with a few cocktails and preparing to head out for the evening. We grabbed a cab (suburban) for the 5 of us to hit the city. We were dropped off right in the thick of it and we were ready to party. 

First stop was to grab a “Grenade” drink a local favorite and a few beers. We met up with some friend that live in Baton Rouge and the party was on! We went to Pat O’Brien’s to get a hurricane for Princess’s birthday (fact is she had 2 lol). Then we proceeded to make our way from bar to bar until about 2 am when we had enough and were tired from driving. 

After a good night’s sleep we were up and back at it down at the French Market getting a cocktail, some gumbo and a muffaletta to satisfy our appetites, after that we proceeded to walk through the various shops and have some more cocktails. We made our way back to hotel later to clean up and grab a cab back down to the fun. Well let’s just say the rest of the evening was a lot of fun going from bar to bar enjoying the entertainment and we wrapped up about 2:30 a.m. - do you see a trend here?? lol..lol.. 

Sunday we got up and back down to the city after seeing Rocco off. He was heading to Clearwater, Florida and would meet us at the Council’s hotel. We arrived downtown to have the first of a few issues with our minivan as the ignition/key got stuck in the lock position. After about 30 minutes Jerry and I managed to unlock it and get van started so we pulled the battery cable and locked the van up and made our way downtown. We made an early evening of it, had a nice dinner and off to bed as we were heading to Gulf Shores, Alabama the next morning. 

Got up Monday morning and left hotel around 8:30 and off to Gulf Shores. There we met up with Rita’s sister and mom and the Vantasia gang who were on their way to Florida. We grabbed a nice lunch with them at a place called Tacky Jacks. They came to our hotel and we finished off with drinks and a few apple pie shots and we finished ours at the famous LuLu Buffets restaurant (great food). 

Tuesday we got up and had a bite to eat then took in some beach time, some lunch and dinner with Rita’s family and Jerry and Laura. Then called it an evening so we could get up and make our way to Florida the next morning.

We awoke Wednesday to dolphins outside our hotel in the ocean and warm weather! We loaded up and off to Florida we went. Made great time going down until (insert drum roll) the van broke down. We had pulled off to use a gas station and it died. We called for a tow and Rocco came and picked up Jerry and the girls. I myself had the ride of my life in the tow truck with the driver towing my van coming inches from running into the rear of a stopped vehicle. Let’s just say I was pissed and needed a drink. Jerry and I trouble shot the issue and had suspected a bad fuel pump so with the help of Randy (Gnarly) from FVC (he set us up with some tools) and myself Jerry and Denny Smith Jr, we dropped fuel tank and installed new pump and filter.. guess what??? Didn’t fix it.. grrrrrr… so next we discovered no spark.. ok easy enough new coil pack, guess what?? Didn’t fix it… double GRRRRRRR.. and to top it off now were blowing ignition fuses now I’m mad.. so I get my laptop out. I found a website that someone had blogged the same issue I was having and behold we found issue the O/2 sensor wire fell against exhaust manifold and was shorting the ignition out so .50 cents of electrical tape we were back in action minus $200.00 fuel pump we could not return. Oh well no need to worry about those for a while..lol..lol.. We spent the rest of the day at the beach bar laughing it off and made our way back to hotel where we left to go pick up the other part of our crew at the airport - the Hyde’s and Raoul. After picking them up we partied for a while then off to bed. 

Thursday we spent the day near the beach bar hopping and souvenir shopping then back to the hotel to get ready for the nights activities. It was pajama night and I, Jerry and Rocco managed to pick up some cool shirts with Drunk 1, 2 & 3 on them so we suited up and made our way to the party. The shirts were a hit with the vanners,  the band was great and we partied until wee hours. 

Saturday we strolled around to look at all the vans in the show and shine. Rocco had his Caravan panel in the show and won a trophy for it as well - great job Rocco! After Cindy returned from the meeting we made our way to lunch and then back to the hotel for a cruise from 5-7 p.m. We had a great crowd with Mr.Bill, the Hopcraft’s and several others. We managed to drink a gallon of apple pie I had saved just for this occasion it was a great way to top off the trip. After returning we made our way to the band as well as all the raffles being drawn. Needless to say none of us won..lol..lol.. all in all a great trip took 15 hours to get home but worth every bit of it to spend time with my family and close friends and all the vanner family as well.

Darrin Bentley
Vanatics Van Club

Three Trails Vans Christmas Party 2011

Three Trails Vans holds our Annual Christmas Party the 1st Saturday of December every year. This year was our 35th year for this event. It's held at the Community Center in Pleasant Valley, MO. The club provides the setups and food, the vanners make the fun! 

TTV members get there early along with a few vanners that like to help us decorate the hall before the party starts. Then we had a short HOAVC meeting followed by the usual wine tasting. I didn't see anyone hugging toilets or falling asleep after the wine tasting this year. I think that's a good thing? ;-)

  Every year we choose a different Santa - usually the newest club member. This year it was Stephen, owner of an early Dodge. It looked like he enjoyed himself.

 We had another good turnout this year and were able to donate a lot of toys to Children's Mercy Hospital again. Thanks to Hy-Rollin for sending a cash donation to help buy additional toys. Thanks all for your donations!

Don Noone was the DJ and for the first time in a long time, Becky was able to be there too. Usually they have to split their night due to DJ demands. It was nice that they were both able to make it. We always judge the vehicles and give Best Van & Best Ride. This year we added a Holiday Sweater contest too. We'll have to do that again. There was a lot of competition in this contest LOL. Bea Spears won the best Christmas sweater & Israel Perez won the worst - each got a $15 Subway gift card.

 

From the looks of the pics I took I think everyone had fun and most if not all of the food was gone by the end of the night. It was good to see Wick & Karen at the party. He's recovering nicely from his surgery.

Hope you all can join us again next year on Saturday, December 1st!

Additional pics can be found at www.hoavc.org or www.3trailsvans.com or our Facebook pages. 

 

HOAVC Meeting at TTV Christmas Party

CLUB EVENT INSURANCE (Club Liability Program) - APPROVED
This has been approved and paid for. Keith will work with Patti and will be contacting all clubs to let them know how much they owe to retain membership & voting rights. All clubs must pay for the insurance and give out at least one trophy for a vehicle at each event. 

Patti Weber gave us a Treasury Report. The Council lost $58.89 after all expenses. 

Discussed that with the # of participants shrinking we can't afford to continue to use the fairgrounds at a flat fee of $1,000. The fairgrounds is raising their price in 2013. 2012 will be the last year at this grounds. We will look further into getting a rate/vehicle/night to rent Shoemaker RV in Bevier, MO.

Tammy Kenney

Three Trails Vans

HOAVC's HAVOC 2011

HOAVC's HAVOC is the final camping event of the season for our council. It was held at the Jasper County Fairgrounds in Colfax, IA. The attendance has shrunk some over the years but it's just as much fun as ever!

 We got there late Friday night and after we set up camp we headed up to the building for the party.   The party was in full swing when we arrived so we had some catching up to do! Face First was rockin' and everyone was dancing. HIVE ran the shot bar Friday night until the drinks ran out.

Saturday a lot of us slept in recuperating from Friday night's fun. Kids games & Adult games started. Big Dogs was serving food all weekend long for those of us with the munchies or who just didn't feel like cooking. I think everyone at the truck-in played at least one of the games. Every club that is a member of the council usually runs one adult and one kids game. There is also a phantom show n shine so you never know what you might win an award for. We held our HOAVC meeting and officers were voted on as well as 2011 Vanner & Vannerette (I'll post minutes from the meeting at the end) after the games. Later that afternoon the kids hit the campground in their costumes to do some trick or treating and have their costumes judged.

Trophy presentation and pumpkin carving judging followed dinner.  Once again - some very inventive costumes. Congrats to Dale & Bonnie of CIV for being voted Vanner & Vannerette for 2011! CIV did a hayride through town again for everyone. Cold out but a lot of fun going past all the homes and having people check out the crazy people on the hay wagon LOL.

Vanner & Vannerette 2011

Waving so long to the hayride

 2012 will be the last year we have HOAVC at this fairgrounds on October 19-21. Not sure where we'll be yet in 2013 but we'll keep you updated! Hope to see you there!

E-Z Life Vanners

3 Trails Vans - Totally Trashed Vanners

Best Couples Costume - Dale & Bonnie Ritz

 For more pics check out our website and Facebook page. The 2012 flyer should be posted soon.

Minutes from the October Meeting:

October 15, 2011

• Discussed HOAVC location and dates for 2012
  • Approved to have a week between Hy-Rollin & HOAVC. Hopefully it will allow more vanners to attend the event by having a break between the two events.
  • Next year’s dates will be October 19, 20, 21, 2012
  • Would still like to move the event back to a campground. Paying a set price for the fairgrounds rather than a per van price is making HOAVC lose money. The campground would allow vanners to socialize more. The buildings while warmer and keeping us out of bad weather don’t allow us to socialize as much.
  • Keith to look into Shoemaker’s again. He hasn’t been able to contact the owner but it was voted that we would still like to try to move the event there.
    

New Business:

• Don & Becky Noon have been checking into Event Insurance for HOAVC members to use for all member events. Would have to raise club dues for all clubs. Are we interested? Becky is getting a rate.
• HOAVC is losing money. Cost of fairgrounds is $1000 flat fee and only 40 vans in attendance this year. Do we want to consider doing 50/50 drawings to raise money.
• Dairyland Vanners (Nationals Hosts 2012) is selling can coolers. 2/$5 or $3 each.
• Voted for Vanner / Vannerette
• 2012 HOAVC Dues are due: $35/club, $25/individual. (Club price could rise if we approve event insurance.
• Upcoming Events:
  • Three Trails Vans Christmas Party: Party is in same location in Pleasant Valley, MO. Looking into a shuttle to/from hotels in area.
  • EZ Life: looking at a new campground in Lamar, IA
  • Donnie went to Wyandotte County Fairgrounds meeting. Still a possibility to move Spring Fever and hold a Nationals at the new grounds if they put in a campground. Nothing much on the new grounds yet.
    Vantasia Vans is looking at bands on October 28th at Argosy Casino if anyone would like to go with.
    Vantasia Vans has all lady officers. They will be having another dog parade at Spring Fever
  • MASVA: Has taken over Fast Lane Vans weekend. They have a new campground for 2012.
  • CIV: Looking into a tour of the NASCAR Track in Newton for their Caravan in 2012.
• Elections:
  President: Keith Wiese
  Vice President: Gary Sholders
  Secretary: Becky Roth
  Treasurer: Patti Weber
  Webmaster: Tammy Kenney
  
• No schnapps bar on Saturday night – no one volunteered
  
• Dues paid at meeting: Vantasia $35, Fast Lane $35, Keith & Joyce Wiese $25, Pikes Peak Vans $35, Hy-Rollin Vans $35
  
• Meeting adjourned

Tammy Kenney

HOAVC Webmaster

Howling Van-Pir-Te hosted by Hy-Rollin Vans

Hy-Rollin Vans holds their event at the same grounds that the Nationals will be held at in 2012 in Elkhorn, WI.  In October we're never sure what the weather will be like but this year the weather was great - warm ... no snow!! On a good note, our event has a heated building we use for the party and run a kitchen out of it, serving breakfast, lunch, dinner & late night munchies to make ends meet.

Every year more & more vanners show up on Thursday night to camp and help decorate the building with us. Thursday night & Friday morning is spent decorating, making jello shots & setting up our kitchen. Once the clubs start arriving they start decorating their sites & carving pumpkins.

Friday night's band was Bounty Hunter, a band we've had play before and everyone seems to like. Adult games on Friday nights are always a challenge. Rick & Keith spend quite awhile every year before this event trying to figure out how to make the game cheat proof ... never happens LOL. Someone always figures out how to get the edge but it makes for a fun time!

Saturday morning we're up early and in the kitchen getting ready to serve breakfast. The activities are non-stop all day between kids games, show n shine, adult games, trick or treating and the hayride for kids. Hy-Rollin did get a break in the afternoon. A big THANK YOU to the Ace of Spade Van Club for inviting us to share dinner with them in their campsite. If you're coming to Nats this year, I recommend making sure you don't miss Vanner's Nite In hosted by them. The food they made was delish and something you won't want to miss!!!

Jill's dad made the trophies again this year. I hope he knows how much we appreciate what he does for us. They looked awesome as usual. As soon as trophy presentation was over the party started. There were some pretty creative costumes this year making it hard to choose the winners once again. Hope everyone had fun!!  The dates for 2012 are October 5-7 - hope you can make it!

Look for more pics from our events on HOAVC.org and hyrollinvans.com 

Tammy Kenney

Hy-Rollin Vans

Last Verse hosted by Fast Lane Vans

Rick & I left early for Fast Lane and got there via Wakarusa, IN. We started in Kansas City and made it to Indiana in time to get our camper repaired. Spent a couple days sightseeing which included a car show, the RV Museum in Elkhart, Standard Oil Gas Station museum in Lafayette and the Battle of Tippecanoe. From there it was off the the truck-in.

2011 was the last year for Fast Lane Vans to hold their annual truck-in. It was held in memory of Rick Duvall at Rolling Hills Campground in Penfield, IL and Fast Lane made sure it was memorable.

Don Noone was the DJ for Friday night and from the looks of the picture below everyone had fun! Blue Jay and Sandy were there serving food for those of us that didn't feel like cooking.

Saturday was a day filled with fun & trying to recover from Friday night LOL. Show n Shine, Vanner Bingo and other adult and kids games took place during the day. There were also a couple of vanners celebrating birthdays with drinks like "Birthday Cake" & Vanatics now famous lemonade bar along with real birthday cake.

What would a truck-in be without a few glitches and vanners coming through for their friends and helping out?? Not sure what happened but the band was a no-show on Saturday night. A big thank you to Don Noone for offering to DJ again on Saturday night!

It was another great event put on by Fast Lane Vans and we're sorry it had to end. Thank you Fast Lane Vans for another great event!! Always a fun time!!

You can check out more pics on our Facebook page and website.

In 2012 MASVA will be taking over this weekend and hosting an event on August 24-26 at Lazy Day Campground, Montgomery City, MO.

Hope you can make it!

Tammy & Rick Kenney
Three Trails Vans of Kansas City