Hardly Strictly VW's

The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival is a free music festival in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, every first weekend of October. It brings headliners, small groups, up and coming artists, and several annual acts. (I watch Emmylou Harris every year.) The story is that the festival started out small and was "strictly Bluegrass", but the sponsor wated bigger, so the festival was expanded to "Hardly Strictly". With that in mind, I bring you the Hardly Strictly VW's camping on the street. Much thanks to the SFPD who apparently look the other way as long as you are not obnoxious.

Since I live a block away, it's never a problem for me to go, but for others, travel is a must. So inspite of this sign:

They park along Fulton and make due with the accommodations they drove.

The VW's:

And the hardly-strictly VWs.

VW's of Austin

I have a crush on Austin, Tx. The music, the food, the people, the bats, the music, the music. There are stages in the Airport. And freaking amazing Tex mex and barbcue that you could binge on for weeks at a time.

Being a college town with lots of open minded people, and a thriving art scene, there are of course, lots of VW buses. I didn't get too many pictures - my hands were full of food - but I did get these.

This beauty was being driven out of a school for the deaf - the two people in the photo are signing to each other.

But this monster was my winner of the trip:

I didn't get to try the Freebird Burrito, I was still too stuffed on the Al Pastor taco from Guerros. Next time.

Buses, Beaches, and Bovines

I live in San Francisco in what is known as the "fog belt". The fog will stay here and won't burn off when the rest of the bay area is sunny and gorgeous. Though I miss the sun, I still enjoy the sound of distant fog horns, and when it is painfully hot elsewhere, the weather is perfect in my neighborhood.

This summer has been particularly hot in the valley, so it wasn't a surprise when some of my favorite camping people suggested that they camp "on the coast" in the fog belt.

About an hour north of SF, along highway one, there are lots of surf towns without the surf. You CAN surf there, but the water is a little cold for anything less than 6mm neoprene body suits. It's excellent for abalone diving, it's not so good for wave riding.

We arrived Friday afternoon, and circled the wagons.

The big red tent went up in about 30 minutes - I'm getting better at putting that thing up - and we began the infamous 2am chili making. Click here for the recipe, click on the picture to make it large enough to read. Yeah, smells like touchdowns.

It got a little windy, we were prepared.

 Lawsons Landing is an odd little town(is it a town?), there are a number of vintage trailer homes that are lived in year round.

The people of the landing have a design aesthetic that I'll call "abalone shell chic".

Occasionally seals hang out to bask in the sun. Sometimes they like a little shelter.

The campsite is popular among the "big RV" crowd. Perhaps I'm unclear on the concept, but I don't see the point of taking it all with you when you are trying to get away from it all. Regardless, here is a picture that shows the scale between us and them. We never did figure out why the large RV wanted to park so close to us, but since he shared abalone with us, I'm not complaining.

These corn muffins were baked in an old coleman stove. The stoves fold and sit on top of the old style two burner stoves, they can get to about 400 degrees and apparently, they can bake some sweet stuff. Baked by SailorKH who has some mad camping skills.

Coleman also makes a foldable camp fire ring.

You could buy a very strange blanket/rug/covering if you wanted.

Some like the the tops down, I'm occasionally a fan of the tops being up.

I think the coast guard has a sense of humor.

 

And of course I took a panoramic photo.

Bus Fest 7 - Vallejo

Two years ago, I went to Bus Fest 5 in Vallejo. This guy was there with his family just beginning their trip across... across everything apparently. Read it, there are two years of wonderful stories and enviable experiences.

The bus fest is a smallish event, and has the usual crowd of familiar faces, but there is still nothing like being with like-minded bus nerds (yeah, I said it) and talking tech with them.

Occasionally, one of us does something neat with their vehicles. This guy has lots of fun playing around with leather details.

I'm happy to say that the Gnome Bus did not get sold, and the owners are still happily driving it:

What is it about Bus owners and vintage bikes? (and for that matter, vintage lanterns, and campstoves, and coolers, and... oh, never mind, I think I just answered my own question...)

And as I was packing up and leaving, I heard my name being called out on the Mic. Apparently, my bus won Best Camper. Awesome!

Concord Treffen

I like the word "treffen". The dutch translation is a verb that means several things depending on context - to hit, to encounter, or find by chance, to achieve or accomplish, or to feel. VW gathering organzers probably use it in the way that it was meant in German - as a noun. Treffen (n) A meeting.

Concord is a town in the greater bay area that once was separated by boundaries and tree groves. It was a cute little place, but as with all things in high-density population areas, land is scarce, and town borders blur into each other as they expand.

Part of Concords charm is that it has a lot of older homes, older trees, older town members. Many of them have been collecting cars and other things (like all those oil lanterns that I have been gathering). Sometimes they bring them to little parks and show them off on warm summer Sundays. The Concord Treffen on August 8 was one such event.

The Messerschmidt. When I was a kid, I thought that the German company who made these took the cockpit of airplanes, and just added a set of wheels. I thought they were practice vehicles for German pilots, kind of like training wheels on a bicycle. It wasn't till mid-grade school that I was corrected on my improbable historical fiction. I like my story better.

The Hebmuller. Joseph HebMuller started out making coaches for horse-drawn carriages. They ended up making the Type 1 vehicle for Volkswagen, but went out of business in 1952. This one, as I understand it, was a military vehicle.

The Random. Some older Porsches, some strange displays, several people with works in progress (like all of us I suspect) and a couple of Things.

More Pics here. 

Up next. Vallejo Busfest.