2009 Texas State Vintage Rally

[azflycaster]

One slight correction, Dale is a resident of Dewey, AZ. He is a member of the Four corners Unit and I can guarantee you will enjoy the time you spend with him.

[GStephens]

That's what I get for writing something at midnight. Of course Dale is a resident of Dewey, AZ. My only excuse is that perhaps I had the extensive work Dale has posted on the Sierra Nevada website about early Airstream history in the back of my mind as I wrote this.

My understanding is that Dale is a lifetime member of both the WBCCI and the 4CU.

azflycaster, thanks for the correction. You fellows have one great unit primarily because you have such great members such as yourself and Pee Wee. I was a charter associate member of the 4CU and support your unit 100%.

GStephens

[monocoque]

Originally Posted by utee94

So let it be written, so let it be done!

Ummm... who's going to tell Todd that his deadline just became February 4th for the Texas State Vintage Rally?

-Marcus

Hey, I heard that!

February?! My shell is still missing a frame!

[utee94]

Originally Posted by monocoque

Hey, I heard that!

February?! My shell is still missing a frame!

Hmmm, well then, as my Grandpa always said, "Time's a wastin'."

[phoenix491]

I definitely have this marked on the calendar ... SAT is a pleasant drive through the Hill Country from our home in Fort Worth -- a route we take fairly often while visiting state parks. Time to get the old girl polished up and ready for visitors!

[Rick56Safari]

We have a 1956 Air Stream Safari and will be in the southwest this winter. When is the last possible date we can make reseverations with you for a spot at your Vintage Rally?? Right now our plans are sort of geared towards spending Feb in Arizona.

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by Distantdrummer

A few requests:
Could you post links to the threads that reviewed/summarized the last 3 TexVins please.

Do you know if there are cabins at that RV park?
Do you know of the nearest "acceptable" lodging, motel, Inn etc.

I will not be bringing my trailer, if I can come at all. But I have wondered if Vintage owners who do come with trailer are able to opt out of any open house. Is it rude or not PC to prefer to keep one's trailer private?

thanks

dd

There is a motel adjoining that is owned by the same folks as the RV park. For those staying offsite, just cross out the parking on the registration form.

Any vintage owner can opt out of the open house. Simply close the door. This is common for unrestored rigs and there are always one or more of them..

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by ArtStream

Hi John,

Non-wbcci members have asked me:

"Michael, how do I register for this most excellent rally"

There is a printable registration form on the Region 9 website wbregion9.org . Just click on the vintage rally ad on the home page to take you to the rally information. At the bottom of the vintage rally page, there is a link for the registration form.

[GStephens]

Rick56Safari, we'll try our best to accomodate you and anyone else right up until the very last day of the rally except for the meals. We plan on providing at least two catered meals, the cost of which we included in your rally fee. We'd probably need to know within 10 days prior to the beginning of the rally that you would be attending in order to guarantee you "for certain" that you'd be included in the catered meals. However, having said that, most caterers plan on a 10% overage, so even that might not be an issue if not too many other folks show up at the last minute. The caterering contracts have not yet been finalized so my comments are my best estimate, but as we negotiate the contracts, this will be something that we'll emphasize.

As stated earlier, we will also be only too happy to charge you parking fees for only the days you are actually parked, if that is any consideration. Come for one day or for all of them. Because we still believe we will have in excess of 100 units in the park for this rally, I am relatively certain you will find that the park will also honor this rate of $23 for a full service rally site for anyone in an Airsteam should you elect to come in a day or so early or stay a day or so late.

GStephens

[Pahaska]

SA is one of the country's major cities and there are more places to see and things to do in SA than I can list here. It is well worth coming to the rally early or staying over to enjoy this great city. This is a very partial list and I can personally vouch for every item on it:

• The Alamo - 300 Alamo Plaza Admission is free.
• Institute of Texan Cultures - 801 Bowie St., HemisFair Park. All about early Texas.
• La Villita - Bounded by South Alamo, E. Nueva, S. Presa, and the River Walk. My favorite SA area with myriad small shops and artisans.
• Market Square (El Mercado) Shop and eat at Mi Tierra (My land), open since 1941.
• River Walk - A 2.5-mile cobblestone path along the San Antonio River from the Municipal Auditorium to the King William Historic District. River-level shops, restaurants and nightclubs.
• San Antonio Botanical Garden - 555 Funston Place. Awesome.
• San Antonio Zoo - 3903 N. St. Mary's Street
• Sea World of Texas - Located 16 miles northwest of downtown San Antonio off State Highway 151.
• Six Flags Fiesta Texas Theme Park..NW SA
• Spanish Governor's Palace - 105 Plaza de Armas.
• Tower of The Americas - A 750-foot tower constructed for the 1968 HemisFair. Observation area and revolving restaurant. 600 HemisFair Park.
• Lunch at the Guenther House at Pioneer Mills in the historic King William District.

[fischman]

Hoping to attend this rally as I have heard so many positive comments about the fellowship and down to earth people. My family and I look forward to seeing what is developed into yet another successful rally that brings all Airstream owners together, WBCCI members and Non -members. Yes there are wanna be Airstream owners that are welcome for the public open house and see what life is all about. Fischman

[fischman]

Looking forward to the 2009 Vintage Rally in San Antonio at Braunig Lake RV Resort. This will be the 4th one I have attended and this year appears to be the greatest of all. I am anticipating more than 100 Airstream units and expecting as many as 40 vintage . Come and see somethind different. Each year we try different things and this year is no exception.

[Pahaska]

The rally chairs met this morning here at the Buckhorn RV Resort in Kerrville to go over the plans for the rally. Tomorrow, four of us will move over to Braunig Lake so that all of us can make a final check on the rally site together and set up some details such as catering. Braunig Lake has made a number of improvements since anyone of us has stayed there.

Some news from the meeting today ... one of the catered meals will be Cajun food prepared by V. Saltafromaggio who was feeding everyone Cajun food at last year's Vintage Rally We will set up the other catered meal tomorrow or Monday morning, likely BBQ. As last year, the first night will be a pot luck with the rally supplying the meat, probably ham.

As posted before, Wally Byam's Cousin, Dale "PeeWee" Schwanborn, will be on hand to tell us all about the early days of WBCCI and the early caravans.

[Pahaska]

We spent several hours today with the Braunig Lake RV Resort rally coordinator.

We have a guaranteed 104 full hookup sites. We can possibly get a couple of last minute additions, but no guarantee on those. The vintage trailers will be grouped fairly tightly with trailers with limited facilities located very near rest rooms. Don't wait till the last minute to register because those are all the sites they can guarantee.

Thursday night, pot luck with the rally supplying ham. Friday night, Cajun fare (see above). Saturday night, catered BBQ.

We had a offer of a seminar by a professional on the care and feeding of diesel light trucks. I have never encountered this at a rally previously. Not sure yet what day ... we have to work it into his work schedule.

The park will be serving breakfasts for $3 plus $.50 for juice. Coffee free. Tell us at check in whether you want breakfasts. Breakfasts range from cereal to eggs and bacon/sausage to pancakes and bacon/sausage. I have had their breakfasts in the past and they are good. Terrific price!

We will probably have a cash bar during the Friday Cajun night. The big meeting room is a registered "bar" and no alcohol is allowed in that room or the adjoining patio except what they sell. Anywhere else on the grounds, alcohol is OK.

Our dealer will bring 3 rigs; probably 2 new and one vintage.

Catch and release fishing in the lake inside the park and no license is required in the park lake. Fishing at Braunig Lake, a city-owened lake a mile away, is reputed to be exellent. A license is required there.

For the ladies, espeecially, there are a number of tour busses that will pick up at the park for all-day or half-day tours of San Antonio. They have a wide variety of tours. An example is a tour of the famous San Antonio Missions which are in the National Park system.

[utee94]

Very thorough, sounds like you're setting up an excellent event. I'm really looking forward to it!

-Marcus

[fischman]

Enthusiasm is building in anticipation of the Texas Vintage Rally. The San Antonio location is going to be a big plus. The parking accomodations are superb and the hall is fantastic. Seminars are going to be different and exciting. We are in for a great time. Looking forward to 100 plus rigs. Bring all your Airstream friends.

[Pahaska]

There will be a flea market Saturday morning for 2 hours. Bring your excess bits and pieces and look for the bits and pieces you need.

[GStephens]

As part of the planning committee, I couldn’t be more excited about the upcoming Texas Vintage Rally. We will be having activities this year that we’ve never been able to offer before such as the cash bar, a number of seminars that as far as we can determine have never before been offered such as the diesel seminar, a ‘54 Flying Cloud in various stages of reassembly enabling the seminar presenters to show you in greater detail how floors are installed, electric and new plumbing updated, how to extend your hitch, how to effect frame and axle repairs/replacement, bus tours into San Antonio, fishing, kayaking, three scrumptious meals included in your modest rally fee plus coffee and cookies during each of the many seminars, a flea market (swap and sell) where hopefully you can find that part for which you’ve been looking, Dale “Pee Wee” Schwamborn, Wally’s cousin, bringing a wealth of Airstream history, pictures and mementos, vendors and new and unique awards for the judged categories. We’ve gone all out to make this the best, most affordable, rally we can possibly make it.

In spite of the current cost of fuel and economic crisis, we are receiving unprecedented interest in this year’s Vintage Rally and fully expect to fill the 104 sites we have reserved. At $23 per night for full service sites, you may want to consider registering early to insure you have a site.

GStephens

[GStephens]

I thought I’d update everyone interested in perhaps attending the Texas Vintage Rally with a little more information and insight into our plans for this year and how they are shaping up. I hope we've made progress toward a better and more enjoyable rally and I hope that such progress continues each year going forward. I really am looking forward to Pee Wee being there not only conducting his seminar, but staying on site in a vintage trailer such that he will be there amongst us and approachable for the duration of the rally. He has so much Airstream history to provide given that he inherited his mother's estate (she was the first and only WBCCI Secretary for years and years back when Airstream supported and controlled the WBCCI in its hey day). Pee Wee scouted many of the various caravans for Wally and participated in most of the them. I am very interested in Airstream's history from the '50s and '60s.

We'll definitely have more for the younger crowd and our spouses to do at this rally thanks in part to suggestions from past participants and in part just due to the location we chose for this rally. San Antonio has a lot to offer off site for our wives while we enjoy the seminars and we're going to do our best to have as much information available as possible on what those attractions are and how to get there. Some of the wives are already discussing informally organizing car pools into San Antonio for various activities. A lot of us have been working hard for a considerable amount of time (the past four and half months) to get this far. We still have a few more tasks to complete such as signing an actual contract for the Saturday evening catered meal and we have only verbal commitments from two of the seminar presenters, but we can definitely see light at the end of the tunnel.

One thing I have not mentioned on the forum before because we don't yet have a firm commitment is that we believe we have Camper Clinic II sending Les Dodgen, their service manager, over to the rally in a service truck. He will be repairing our Airstreams during the rally at no charge for labor with us paying only for the cost of parts. I'm sure these will be minor repairs like installing reverse switches in Fantastic Fans, installing new interior lights or bulbs, determining why the air conditioner isn't working, etc., but I feel it will be a nice touch to an already great value.

We are also working on obtaining corporate sponsorships in a way we've never tried before such as from HEB and other non Airstream related businesses to help us offset the cost of the rally and keep our fees so low for participants.

We've also discussed having a noon cookout or some sort of activity just for the vintage participants, but that hasn't been firmed up as I write this. I want to be careful of not insinuating anything until I am relatively certain it will happen.

We've also requested our Airstream sponsors to give us a few "really nice" door prizes rather than so many "lesser" prizes to give away. That will move things along faster as we plan on getting together only one time on Saturday night for the awards ceremony and door prizes. That will allow for much more "informal visiting" and should make for a more enjoyable experience for most of us.

One final thing I didn't mention is that the vintage trailers will parked in the middle of the three rows of sites we have reserved with the non-vintage parked on either end. That places the vintage trailers near one of the seminar rooms with its restrooms. We have several vintage trailers with no bathroom facilities and at least one vintage owner who is somewhat disabled. This will allow us to place them right next to the bathroom facilities. Having the vintage in the center rather than isolated might also provide for more interaction between the vintage and non-vintage participants. We’ve been promised that there will be no other trailers parked in amongst us on those three rows containing 104 sites.

The management of Braunig RV could not have been any more helpful and supportive than they've been in making certain that our amenities and arrangements will be as nice as they can make them. I’d like to also mention that we’ve thrown around the term “full service sites” and I’d like to confirm what that means as I‘ve had a few questions about the term. “Full service sites” include your basic water, 50/30 amp electric service and sewer along with cable TV. All this for only $23 per night.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone again who participated in our past rallies. If anyone has any suggestions that we stand a chance of getting done before the rally, please advise and we will see what we can do to make it happen. I hope you notice that we've incorporated a number of your past suggestions into this rally and I want to thank everyone for those suggestions. Until then,

GStephens

[utee94]

Sounds great, I'm very excited about this. It will be, by far, the most Airstreams I've ever seen in one place. And also, by far, the most vintage units.

I'm thinking I'll drag mine down even if the bathroom is still out-- how dangerous can it be driving down I35 with a 4' x 8' hole in the rear of the trailer???