For Westies-at-watkins.org check out Watkins 2019
For Empirevwcamping.org go to NY State news on the dashboard.

Author Topic: Buses by the Big Duck 2017  (Read 2743 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

obnoxiousblue

  • BUS DRIVER
  • ***
  • Posts: 64
    • View Profile
Buses by the Big Duck 2017
« on: June 06, 2017, 10:17:13 AM »
Quote from: EDNCAROL
Mike you must have done something right ! I didn't hear any complaints, about anything!

Thanks Ed! This was by far the best Buses by the Big Duck yet.
What a great weekend we had! The weather was phenomenal - even though we did have an hour of rain and thunder/lightening on Friday night. In true form, it didn't hamper anything and when it passed we had sun and nice early-summer weather.
We had a record number of people this year... Had 38 campers, plus a couple tents and a set of trailers, there and 65 people in all.
The camping "money" worked out just fine. My concerns were realized as the bill added up to a few hundred more than last year - but we also had significantly more people! The final bill (after including the deposits for the two group sites) was a hair under $2100! But it all balanced out by dividing the cost evenly among each site. I know it was a bit more expensive than years past, but I hope all our New England Contingent understands how hard I tried to keep the campground costs reasonable.
Thanks to Andy and Natasha for all the firewood!
I wasn't planning on running the raffle this year, because we had fewer items to raffle off. Andrea pushed me to do it and I'm glad we did as the raffles are always one of my favorite parts of these weekends.
We offset it with a 50/50 and Audrey was kind enough to return her winnings to be donated!
Special thanks to Nevin, Tom & Ronnie, Andrea & Brad and Go Westy for raffles! We've got a nice pot to hand over to and help out the John Thiessen Children's Foundation!
I've always been on the fence about breaking camp for the obligatory trip to the duck - but maintain the yearly adventure as it is the event's namesake... That said, this year's cruise was awesome! We had 19 Buses/Vans make the trip and got a great group photo! Unlike years past, where everyone high-tailed it out (making you question if breaking camp was worth the 5 minute photo) we hung around and talked shop. I had some great talks with people about plans for my bus, as well as got a few ideas that will now be added to my list.
Our Potluck dinner was perhaps the biggest it's been and so were our campfires! We had lots of Mac N Cheese - which went awesome with the Tropical Pulled Chicken that Jen and I made!
Thanks again to everyone who came out, I can't wait to do it again!

Here are some of the photos I found on Facebook - some are probably duplicates! Please share yours too as I didn't take many!













For Westies-at-watkins.org check out Watkins 2019
For Empirevwcamping.org go to NY State news on the dashboard.