Founders Day with BC Overlanders

[northerndefender]

Founders Day with BC Overlanders in Chillowak.

No designated contact person at this time:

[binch]

Hey gang,

I was thinking of heading down to Chilliwack for this event....anyone want to tag along from the alberta side????

Saturday April 13th 2019 once again held at the Heritage Park, Luckakuck Way, Chilliwack. Doors open at 11am until 7pm

I'll likely be heading out on Friday as it's a good days drive in my 110.    But it's a beautiful drive all the same :-)

Let me know if you're interested ;-)

;D

[binch]

Well, I've got my bags packed and I'm ready to go.....at least in my mind I am.    Dave might be coming along too....since he didn't get to make it a couple years back.  Looks like they will have on sight camping this year too, which would be handy for the out of towners.    The Chateau Defender is always a comfortable option ahahhahhahahha

[Matt H]

Hey Bill, I may be able to attend this year. I would likely tow the 110 down as it would be faster lol but camping is always fun.

[Matt H]

Are you going to be camping Bill? Do you know where the camp site is??

[binch]

That's good news Matt!!!    I was thinking of camping while I'm there too.   They are talking about camping right on the same grounds that the show will be at, so it's just a walk across the grass to the agricultural building where the show itself is at.

I'll used the local restaurants for my meals though... ;D

[Bargrip]

Well I guess I will see you over there as I'm heading out from Calgary Friday afternoon.. staying in Burnaby but will be there for the show...
not in the L/r but a car as I need to be at work early Monday morning..lol.. ;D

[Matt H]

Sadly it looks like work and life have conspired to scuttle my weekend in BC. Maybe next time.  :-\

[binch]

I'm still going....  I'll be driving down through Calgary in the morning and heading to Kelowna to pick up Craig.  Then we'll be heading to Chilliwack for Friday night and staying at the Travel Lodge.  If we arrive early enough maybe we'll head over and give Andy a hand setting up the off-road coarse and such.    I have some parts to drop off along the way (near Kamloops I believe) so it should be a long drive down....but a good drive...if the weather co-operates ;-)

Looking forward to meeting up with folks!! ;D

[Matt H]

Well? How was it??? What did I mis???????

[binch]

That was great run down there!!!   I took the long way down, to pick up Craig in Kelowna and drop off a roll bar near Princeton.   All in all the drive down there for me was 15.75 hours and I had the worse case of "truckers cramp" you could imagine LOL ;D     If I were to go straight down from Edmonton via Jasper it would take me closer to 10 hours.

But the weather was really nice all the way down there.   With the change from mid February to mid April the day light and weather were much more conducive to a good drive down.   We met up for breakfast with Andy Yung (owner of Molly the 90 2.5n/a that used to live in Ft Sask) and had a chance to catch up on stuff...it was great to catch up with him too.   Still got that ear to ear grin of his ;)

The show hours were pushed later in the day (use to be 9am to 4pm)  to 11am to 7pm so the public has a better chance to come through the site.   And another bonus was getting the opportunity to meet up with Henryk(sp?) aka Bargrip, from Calgary.   It's really great to have a chance to put a name and face to the folks I've been meeting on the forum.   We had a chance to chat and get to know a bit about each other.....another good egg!     Also met up with 1/2 dozen people I met on the first Alexander Mckenzie trip I did with John Barge and some folks from the Rover Landers.   Not a bad boot sale going on this year too!!!  Craig came away with a signal switch and a couple of aluminium cover plates for the taillight wiring for his S11.   He got them from Rob Mills (out Oliver way) who I've been working with for several years now.

They used two of the three halls this years as opposed to the single one a few years back.   Apparently it was chalk a block full last year but only about 70% this year.   There was quite a bit of rain over the day but because we were indoors in an agricultural complex we had a roof over our heads and dirt under our feet.   Friday night Andy and the team came in and build an obstacle course with a log bridge, off camber section, a tight turn through a bunch of cross axling mounds and a giant soccer ball to bush into a net.   Anyone was welcome to have a go.   

There was a pseudo winch challenge 100" tray back there.  Nice rig but far to clean and dent free.   Lots of camping rigs from a 130 wolf ambulance to roof top tents, to trailers, to pull out sleeping comparments in an 88".     A 101FC, all the series vehicles, Lots of 110CSW's, 130 hicaps td5's, a 1984 exmod with full canvas tilt and an LS conversion.   A really lovely old 107" pickup with the original patina finish.   Lots of vehicles........

There was a raffle held as well with welders, recovery gear, camping gear, tires, shirts, hats, mystery boxes and all kinds of stuff.  They had a raffle for kids only and dogs are welcome in the complex as long as you pickup after them.    If you had the time and wanted to stay another day they do a run up into the hills around the are on the sunday and I've heard nothing but good things about that!   

When you drive through BC the first thing you notice is the price of gas.....1.30 to 1.50 per litre and the highest was Kamloops/Kelowna/Vernon.   But diesel is less.   I planned it so I never paid more then a 1.22/liter so not too bad at all.    The drive home was much shorter as we went straight back to Calgary and I stayed the night there, returning to Edmonton on Monday morning.

I've done this trip 3 times so far and it's not as big as the Sodbury sort out but the folks are great and there was lots of opportunity to network with other folks that share the addiction we so fondly call Land Rovers!!!!

I'm really hoping we can get a few more of our gang out there some day..... 8)

[binch]

Andy took a bunch of pics from the event....here's the link:

http://roverlanders.bc.ca/gallery/index.php/2019/Founders-Day-2019/Andy-D---Founders-Day-2019-Photos

[Bargrip]

Good write up Bill,
Good bunch of people all passionate about landrovers in all shapes and forms..
A lot of work by the club to host that event and I think Andy and the club did a great job..👍