Syncrofest 2015
This year we made it a priority to attend Syncrofest 2015 in Hollister, CA. It was an amazing event for VW Van enthusiasts, both 4×4 Syncros, and 2×2 Vanagons/Westfalias to gather and play and show off their rigs.
We bought our tickets, along with our friends Nateon and Pam (owners of ‘Vanhana’ the Van) way in advance, just in case they sold out. We were all very excited to finally meet all our Instagram friends who we have been following for years and have never met in person.
The trip was about 255 miles round trip, door to door, and that included some 4 wheeln on the trails Sunday with our 2 wheel drive vans.
We arrived in the evening on Friday, which we found was a mistake, as all the camping areas were full, so we ended up camping on the 4×4 course. This meant we had great views of the course the next day, but we missed out on all the socializing that went on within the other camp areas. I would have liked to have connected with more of my “Instagram” friends who I knew where there, but didn’t get the chance to meet them in person. We brought our 2 kids, our dog, and a baby hen and turkey. Pam and Nateon brought their little baby Fran, who was an awesome little camper and loved walking her stuffed toy dog around on a leash all day.
The kids loved the GoWesty Bouncing Van House, I loved checking out the vans, and Kyan loved hanging around and getting free rides in the Syncros that were taking off in the Hollister OHV Park. We watched the 4×4 course, which was a ton of fun and technical as well. I didn’t get up the nerve to borrow the GoWesty Syncro loaner to try the course, maybe next year.
They had an amazing raffle, with tons of prizes, everything from Syncro Springs to sweatshirts, to windshield wipers to black GoWesty 16″ rims. I totally wanted those rims, and put in all my tickets for those bad boys. I didn’t win, but it sure was fun trying. Saturday night was when they had the announcement for the winners of the contest, the drawing for the raffle, and an awesome potluck! The food was incredible.
Sunday morning we all got up, had our coffee, walked around and chatted with more people, and then started packing up camp. After seeing some of those 2×2 vans going up on the trails, I was inspired to try it myself. So after getting all packed up, we headed into the mountains to try our hand at some 4×4 off roading with our 2×2 vans. It was so much fun, I can’t say enough good things about it. We saw some rock crawlers doing their thing, which was totally crazy, and we drove to the top of this crazy ass course. On the way down, we did do a little more technical driving, which I was glad I had the more aggressive wheels and the extra lift kit, however Nateon didn’t have any of that and he did just fine. It was amazing how well those vans do off roading.
All in all it was a great time had by everyone, and next year we are getting there earlier!
Thanks to all the sponsors of this great event and all the volunteers who made it happen.