Feb 19Th was the 3rd "Meet in the Middle" BBQ Picnic. Hosted by the Central Coast VW Club, a chapter of the Vintage Volkswagen Club of America. This event was started and named appropriately for it's location by Tom Reay 3 years ago. Tom again this year put forth his efforts to get the park area reserved for the VW gathering. Brian OKelly from the Central Coast VW club said  "This is going to be an annual event and really it's what VWing is all about".

    It poured rain all night allowing for some sunshine on Sunday. There was a caravan from the south that left out of Ventura. And one from the north from Paso Robles. Our destination was Nojoqui Falls Park outside of Solvang. About 75 miles in each direction hence the name "Meet in the Middle". Although there were folks from as far as Lemore to the north and Riverside to the south.

   The cruise up the coast was breathtaking, big blue sky filled with white puffy clouds, the ocean was blue and like glass. You could see all the islands off the coast. As we headed inland past Gaviota all the fields and hills were green, and the mountains all snow capped in the distance. Mother nature was amazing.

   The Central Coast VW Club supplied all the food. There was burgers, chicken, sausages and carne asada YUM !. Matt and Mandy Souza graciously cooked it up and served it, while the rest of the VW enthusiasts hung out in the large picnic area. We mingled, meeting new friends and catching up with old ones we hadn't seen in sometime. When we weren't cruising the parking lot to see all the nice cars. There was a vast assortment represented from all years of VW. There were lots of bugs, buses, and ghias, trucks including a split double cab, baja bug truck and a Vanagon double cab, notchback, fastback, and hatchback wagen. Some others as well included a Herbie car,  40 Ford (front end) convertible and Dave Grimmitt in his 40 Ford VW Woody. to complete the collection was a new beetle convertible and a Vanagon camper.I think we covered it all. Even with the unpredictable weather there were 60 cars in attendance.

   The festivities included an impromptu awards presentation, a 50/50 raffle that the winner took home a pot of 110.00 dollars, and a short hike to the falls which were flowing really good from all the rain.Fun was had by all. Brian was right this is what its all about. Very casual get together in a beautiful spot with great people, cars and food. The drive there and back is just icing on the cake. Some of the other VW clubs present were members from the SV2S, Coastal Customs and Westcoast Wolfpack. For more on this event or  info on the clubs next event the  " Show and Shine" first weekend of May go to their website: www.centralcoastvwclub.com