A Year Ago....

Life as I knew it at the time would never be the same. A year ago yesterday was when I heard that the job I loved so much at the company that I thought I might retire from was potentially going to be letting me and others go within a month. Life as I knew it at the time would never be the same again and I was afraid...very very afraid.

At that time, I imagined that I had to maintain a standard of living that proved to be no longer in my list of capabilities. At that time, I was living well beyond my means, I just didn't realize it at the time.  The potential  "threat" to my job became a reality a month and a half later. But at the time, I just going into my Labor Day weekend and that news alone ruined the weekend for me because on top of wanting to chill and relax, I had a set of new worries to ruminate over.

It is often said by others that sometimes the lowest times of our lives are the best because the most personal growth seems to come out of them or things happen to us that change our lives for the better. During that weekend, I also made the decision to do something that definitely changed my life for the better. I decided on a whim to do something only to pick up my sagging spirits.

As a diversion and a cheap and free way to pick up my spirits, I decided to attend the St. Pete Beach VW Beach BASH. It was held at a park in St. Pete Beach. At the time, I thought old VWs were cool as hell. I had no clue that the simple act of doing this would help to change my life in ways that I never imagined. So off I trotted on a hot Sunday armed with my camera for the sole purpose of seeking the new and different.

I took a lot of photos and typed up a nice write-up for this blog. It was a great way to use a Sunday and it had done the required thing for me which was to give me something cool to smile about and for an afternoon, not have to think about how much everything sucked.

After attending the VW Beach BASH that hot sweaty Sunday, a new hobby and passion was born and soon I wanted to check out more of these events which led me to make the long journey from St. Pete to Dade City in early November to check out the mighty event known as Bug Jam. By then, I was in the midst of unemployment while at the same time applying for job after job. At this event, I took a crapload of VW photos.

From there, I planned to attend and be a vendor at the glorious weekend long event known as 'VWs Over The Skyway'. The fever had set in big time by then and there was no turning back. I try to make it to a lot of the larger VW events now with the sole intention of taking as many photos as I can. Who knew that the simple act of salvaging my ruined Labor Day weekend would set forth such a huge change in my life for the better?

All of the photos used in this article were taken that day by the way. Since then, I have become a bit more educated about older VWs and feel as though I love them even more.

I think it is amazing that a snap decision to help myself feel better could lead to something so amazing. Sometimes I am in awe of how life ends up working out for the greater good.

All The Rods-All VW today!

And the air was alive with the sound of air-cooled engines. So many cars, so many vans, so much to see, be inspired by, people to chat with...my, my. my. What an amazing day! The event was the 5th Annual VW Beach BASH held in Pass-A-Grille Beach which is part of St. Pete Beach. Yes, it was hotter than Hades out there today, probably a heat index of close to 100 degrees if not more. All The Rods was determined to stick it out for as long as we could. I was there for about 3 hours and it was long enough to get what I needed to and then some.

As you can see, there were a lot of really cool cars down there today. The majority of the vehicles were the VW Bugs, closely followed by the always personable VW Buses. There were old beaten up cars with a lot of character, long journeys and untold stories and there were some cars that were works of art in their beauty.

There seemed to be quite a lot of the VW van-to-truck conversions in attendance today.

Another Van Truck conversion

What an absolute beauty! Fully restored VW bus. 

The lone Herbie. I was really surprised to not see any full-sized Herbies. This one was a remote-control car.

All Van, All The Time!

How could you not love a face like this one?


In the three hours I spent at the event today, I took photos, some video and shook a few hands, while passing out business cards promoting All The Rods/All The Goods. I am also going to veer off for a moment to talk about some of the really cool people I met today.

First, I chatted with Johnny Jalopy. He does some of the best car drawings I have ever seen. The one below is case in point as to what he does-

You can find out more about Johnny Jalopy by going to his Facebook page. Just look for Johnny Jalopy and you'll find him. You can also contact him at Johnnyjalopyllc@gmail.com.

I also had the pleasure of chatting with Paula Crossley who owns Crackerhill Arts and Crafts. She does some of the most unique VW crafts I have ever seen. Below are some examples of her craft-

She makes stained glass VWs as well as needlepoint. But the thing that caught my eye were these adorable and very cool windchimes-

Such a cool idea! Whenever I see anything like this, the wheels begin to turn in my own mind as to what sort of things I could come up with. If you like these cool little VW items, you can get in touch with Paula here crackerhill1950@hotmail.com. 

Another person I spent a few moments talking to was Aaron Joslin, who is a photographer. He runs a site called VDub Prints/Photography and his specialty here is Vintage Automobile Photography. Or as I love to say...'Awesome!' Below shows a display he had today-

I always have an admiration for those who can take amazing photos of cars. You can find out more about this artist by visiting these places-www.vdubprints.com and Facebook.com/Vdubprints. You can also check out Aaron's other work by going here-www.aaronjoslinphotography.com and facebook.com/aaronjoslinphotos

All in all, this is an event that I would attend again without a doubt. I am proud to promote such a great event. 

If you're interested in seeing the rest of my photo album, feel free to go to www.facebook.com/AllTheGoods?ref=hl

All The Rods will be visiting the VW Beach BASH tomorrow

Hoping to see at least a few of these bad boys tomorrow at the 5th Annual VW Beach BASH in Pass-A-Grille, FL. Camera battery is fired up and ready to go. Kinda looking forward to it, fingers crossed that the weather is okay.

All The Rods...this time it's VWs, my friends!

All The Rods is excited about attending the VW Beach Bash which will be held Sunday Sept 1st in Pass-A-Grille Beach, FL. I will be taking tons of photos and hope to speak to some of the folks that will be showing their cars. I think that this is going to be a great way to spend a Sunday. 

I adore the old-style VWs, especially the VW Bug or VW Beetle. My mom had a 1974 yellow Super Beetle and I believe that car is the one that got my interest started in them. My cousins also had a blue one and my grandfather got on the bandwagon and also bought a tan VW Beetle. They are just so cute and you can always tell when one's nearby. The older Bugs/Beetles have a ringing sound to their engines that sets them apart from other cars of that era. I once had someone from a VW Club tell me that it's because the engines are water-cooled. The engines of that era were always in the rear with a generous trunk in the front of the car. Whenever I saw a hood up on a VW Bug back then, it always reminded me of a giant mouth being opened. 

I am always thrilled to see a vintage VW driving on the roads around here. I ponder how old that particular car might be. They are usually in very good condition. I also tend to see some vintage VW buses around here as well. I see one on the way to work, that makes me turn my head to watch it pass every time. That one is a turquoise green and tan color. It's beautiful. I hope that whomever owns it shows up at the upcoming VW Beach Bash. I am dying to get a picture of it. 

VW Bugs and Beetles prominently figured into my childhood for many reasons. It seemed that everyone in the world had one or knew someone that did. When taking long trips by car with my parents and brother, I would count the amount of Beetles we saw enroute to wherever we were heading. One time I counted 100 for an hour's trip. This is also the car that was used for me to learn how to drive 'shift' or 'manual' as it's sometimes known as. The appeal of this great little car crossed over into the film industry with the 'Herbie-The Love Bug' franchise. ( Yes, I have the box set). In 2005, a newer Herbie movie came out, 'Herbie-Fully Loaded' which starred Lindsay Lohan. I was probably one of the few that actually thought this was a great movie. One can find many Herbies at various carshows. I'm sure that I will see plenty of them at the upcoming VW Beach Bash.

Another thing that was great about the old 70's versions of the Bug/Beetle was that space between the back window and back seat, which my family dubbed 'The Well'. The Well was made more for storage than anything else. But one fine summer day when I was a teen, my friends and I settled the age old 'How many people can you fit into a VW?' question. The answer was seven. We did lap-sitting and the smaller of the kids fit nicely into The Well. We were in a parking lot and we did not take to the road. If I recall correctly, I don't think we even tried to drive the car. Too bad that camera phones, Facebook and Twitter didn't exist back then, we would have had a field day!

Whenever I see a great looking VW in a parking lot somewhere, if I can, I try to get a picture of it.

The above group photo was taken at Daytona's Spring Fling 2005.

^^^ This little sexy was spotted at a local mall parking lot. I love the eyelids over the headlights; it gives this car a lot of personality.

The above photo isn't mine. I found this on The Road to ME Facebook page. The lady who runs that blog (Teresa) uses a lot of VW Bug/Beetle imagery in her posts. It was one of the things that drew me to her site. 

As you can see, the VW is one of the All The Rods favorite cars of all time.