<VV> Convention "Deep Thoughts" :-)

[Bill]

A bit long, so delete now if you get bored easily  :-)
My wife Dana and I had a great time at the convention and previously, at the Yenko Reunion; Tried to tow dolly my mid-engine to the reunion to try and sell it, but at a gas stop I noticed the left rear wheel smoking alot...darn center cap even melted off; flatbedded it back home, then took off for the reunion again...Great Stingers and other Corvairs...loved that Sunoco car of Rick Norris. Then drove to our vacation spot at Geneva-On-The-Lake Ohio, then went to Nelson Ledges the next day; what a beautiful track.
Got to the convention on Wednesday in our big, red Chevy conversion van with no problems. Hopefully we'll be driving the 65 Corsa next year. Checked out the car display at the beautiful lakeside setting; If seeing all of those beautiful Corvairs doesn't motivate and inspire you to finish your Corvair or get it on the road, or take yours out and drive it, nothing will. The concours cars are of course great to see, but we especially love looking at the daily drivers, beaters and cars of the "average joe". I especially liked Norm Witte's cars and Mike Dobie's stunning white LM with silver interior...awesome ~ and he drove it from Texas ! Went to dinner at the Pearl St. Grill with friends our first night there...good beer, good food, good conversation ~ all in a 130 year old building.
Thursday we walked around Buffalo a bit having fun walking in the rain with a big old umbrella my wife made me carry. Had a hotdog from a sidewalk vendor, (gotta' do that when in New York, right ?) checked out the farmers market along the sidewalks and bought homemade cookies. Then rode the subway to the Anchor Bar where Buffalo Wings originated. We tried to make it back to see some of the autocross, but skipped it when it started to rain. Thursday night went to dinner with fellow members in the Western Pa. Corvair Club. Had a lot of fun and good conversation at an old Italian eatery called "Chef's"~ highly recommended. Topped the night off with some more beers and conversation back at the hotel.
Prepared to leave Friday, but couldn't drag myself away from the vendors and my wife loved meandering around the hospitality room. By the way, GREAT coffee in the hospitality room and it was always great to have snacks, cold drinks and a table full of icewater readily available. I don't even want to try and count how many raffle tickets I bought for a chance at winning that awesome lighted Corvair sign, but I hope it went to a good home. Anybody know who won it ?
Our hats are off to the four clubs and all who helped plan and work the event. I am not sure of the names of the married couple (McCLive ? they owned the red vert and blue Lakewood out front) who seemed to ALWAYS be at the table in the hospitality room selling tickets and answering questions, but THANK YOU. Thanks to the Canadians also...we were honary Canucks for a day and wore our Canadian flag pins they gave us proudly.Hope all you convention folks got to enjoy some of the convention....
I bought some great parts; some I needed some I didn't, but all made me smile. Parts, decals, books, t-shirts-...got a bit of everything. My wife won a door prize and you would have thought she won the lottery...She's pretty easy to please and is a "car gal", so we travel well together and she keeps up with me at the various Corvair and other car events we go to. Bless her heart; she goes with me to Spring and Fall Carlisle and can identify Corvair parts before I do.
Spent a couple hours in the garage taking even more photos and looking and researching what tire sizes would look good on my car. 215/60/14 may be the winner. I was blown away by a unique green color early model in the garage...sporty wheels, spoilers, 140 engine..just totally cool.
After searching for keys I thought I lost(later found in the back of the van) we left around 8:20 pm. Drove up to Niagra Falls and had dinner at the revolving "SKYLON TOWER". Great romantis dinner that set me back for much more than our room cost, but we got to watch fireworks over the falls from several hundred feet above ! Everyone sitting near the window passed my honesty test; I laid a penny on the window sill which revolves 360 degrees.....by golly it was still there  when it revolved back to us an hour later. ~ yeah, I know, it would have been gone if it was silver or paper. We then walked around the edge of the falls, stood and contemplated life for awhile, then turned toward Pittsburgh at around 1:30 am. What a great time. Met some really nice people, saw awesome cars, ate good food and didn't have any problems. There may have been some some glitches, but ya' know what ? We didn't notice or at least didn't put too much thought into it because we had such a great time. Life is way, way , way, way, way too short to sweat the small stuff. (sometimes I do and it sucks) As someone posted a few posts back....a child will be injured or worse, someone you know or love will be diagnosed with cancer, you or someone you love may have to deal with other serious illness, etc....etc.....your Corvair may break down. (That counts as serious, right ?)
Enjoy the road trips, enjoy the Corvair people, take a lot of pictures you'll never post or look at much, spend too much money buying parts you don't need, be with the one you love and eat some good food. What else is there? (I'll leave religion and politics out as that ain't my bag)
CORVAIRS RULE ~ Bill Young