Southwest

The Southwest Section (SWS) of the National Corvette Caravan traces its ancestry back to the first National Caravan in 1994.

SWS draws Caravaners from Southern California, Southern Nevada, northwestern Arizona, southwestern Utah, and Hawaii. And, yes, we’ve had Hawaiian Corvetters ship their cars to L.A. harbor on a RO/RO ship, then fly in, pick up their cars, and join the event. The number of Corvettes that have run with the Southwest Section has varied from about 150 or to as many as 250.

The “Southwest Caravan Organizing Team,” in existence since late 2002, is responsible for planning, organizing, and leading 200-250 cars on the Southwest Section’s fifth trip to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Southwest Section Caravaners come from portions of four states in the southwestern U.S., southern California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, and Hawaii. Two of America’s largest Corvette markets are served by the Southwest Section.

The Team

The 2024 Southwest Caravan Organizing Team is headed by Section Captain Bill Herold who was a participant in and a sponsor of the 2019 Caravan. Bill and his wife, Viola, reside in Thousand Oaks, California. They own a 2014 Stingray Premiere Edition Convertible and are members of Red Line Corvettes in “T.O.” Capt. Herold works as the Corvette Products Specialist for premium luggage manufacturer and 2019 and 2024 Southwest Caravan Sponsor, Club Glove USA.

August 21, 2019: Section Captain Bill Herold and his wife, Viola, at the 2019 Southwest Caravan “Departure Day” event.” Image: Southwest eNews staff.

Working with Captain Herold are:

Commander Hib Halverson, Section XO (three-time former Section Captain)

Commander Tony Megowan, Route Book Project Director, (former Section Captain)

Commander Paula Megowan, Section CFO

Commander Doug Campbell

Commander Loretta Campbell

Commander Lawrence Pitman

Lieutenant Janet Cherry, Orange County Local Leader

Discussing plans for 2024 at a recent southern California Cars and Coffee, left-to-right, are: Capt. Herold, Cmdr. Megowan and Cmdr. Halverson. Image: Carl Sheffer.

The Route

For 2024 the Southwest Caravan Organizing Team will modify the route used in 2019.

August 22, 2019: The Southwest Corvette Caravan on Angeles Crest Highway. Image: Sandy Halverson.

Day 1: After departure from Pasadena we’ll take a longer drive on CA State Route 2. In ’19 we ran a short section of famed “Angeles Crest Highway” through the scenic Angeles National Forest north of L.A. In ’24 the Caravan will drive all of Route 2, from its junction with I-210 in La Cañada to its terminus southwest of Victorville. From there, Southwest will drive to the “The M Resort, Casino and Spa” south of the Vegas Strip, at the junction of I-15 and NV State Route 164 in Henderson for its first overnight.

 

Day 2: Tentative plans are a visit to the Ron Fellows Performance Driving School at the Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch. After that, the Caravan will continue north on I-15 and its second overnight stop in Cedar City, Utah. The city of 35,000 is located at 5800-ft. on the western edge of the Markagunt Plateau. Its cooler climate will be a welcome change after two days in the desert.

 

Day 3: The Southwest Section will continue north on I-15, then turn east on I-70. Its third overnight will be at Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The town is famous for its hot springs and is the gateway to spectacular Glenwood Canyon.

 

Day 4: Caravaners will see spectacular scenery as Southwest drives I-70 in Glenwood Canyon then crosses the Rocky Mountains. We’ll drive over 10,662-ft Vail Pass and, 25-miles later, through the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel. It runs under the Continental Divide and is the longest mountain tunnel (1.7-miles) and the highest point (11,158 feet) on the Interstate Highway System. Caravaners will continue on I-70, down the slopes of the Front Range, through Denver to an overnight split between the towns of Goodland and Colby, Kansas.

 

Day 5: Will use the same route as 2019, from Goodland/Colby to Kansas City Missouri. Tentative plans are a visit to Kansas Speedway, one of NASCAR’s “mile-and-a-half” tracks and home of a  Cup Series’ 400-mi race.

 

Day 6: the Southwest Corvette Caravan will visit Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and the “Corvettes in Cape” event. Staged by the city’s Visitor’s Bureau and the Corvette Club of Southeastern Missouri, in 2014 and 2019, this Corvettes in Cape drew the SW Section, three over Sections and local Corvette enthusiasts from all our the surrounding area. In ’19 there was just under 800 Corvettes at “Cape G” and, in 2024, 1000 cars are expected.

The best part of Corvettes in Cape is the massive Corvette “Shine-and-Show”. The City of Cape Girardeau closes Main Street in its river-front downtown area. In 2019, nearly 800 Corvettes, parked on both sides of the street, were involved. Image: Sandy Halverson.

Day 7: Southwest will reach the end of the 2024 Caravan at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green.

Pre-Runs: Four so far

“PreRun” trips are a key part of how the Southeast Caravan Organizing Team ensures a safe and pleasing experience for all Caravaners. PreRuns for the 2024 Caravan began in February 2022 when Captain Bill Herold dispatched XO Halverson on a two-day recon into southern Nevada to inspect streets, parking structures, and outlying parking lots at The M Resort all of which is infrastructure will be used by Southwest Caravaners when they arrive at the end of the Caravan’s first day and depart on day two.

February 19, 2022. Four lanes and a 70-MPH limit mean a quicker trip to Spring Mountain. The 2012 ZO6 pictured is Cmd. Halverson’s famed “Blue Bullet” which was a pre-run car during 2104 planning and the Lead Car for the 2014 Caravan, as well as a pre-run car during the run up to the 2019 Caravan. Image: SWS eNews Staff.

Additionally, Halverson drove Nevada State Route 160 which runs between Las Vegas and Spring Mountain. “The last time I drove 160,” Halverson said, “it was under construction, being widened from two to four lanes. Speed limit was 25 in places and there were numerous delays due to 18-wheel dump trucks going uphill–all that would make caravanning unpleasant. Fortunately, I found the construction complete. SR160 is now four lanes and has a 70-mph limit.”

The three-day PreRun2 took place in early April 2022. Three cars left the departure staging site in Pasadena, CA and tested alternate routes for Caravaners who would rather not drive State Route 2 on Day One of the Caravan.

The next day, the PreRun2 group met with Ron Fellows Performance Driving School staff to discuss a tentative event. That afternoon, the group drove possible routes from Spring Mountain back to I-15. PreRun2 spent its second night in Cedar City.

On the morning of PreRun2’s last day, the Group met with the staff at Southern Utah University and discussed the use of one of the student parking lots on the SUU campus to stage the Caravan prior to departure on the third morning of the trip.

 

The group also surveyed Cedar City’s hotel properties.

PreRun3 was recon of Arches National Park. The Southwest Organizing Team’s original plan for Day Three of the ’24 Caravan was to end with a drive through the Park. Unfortunately, the National Park Service was unwilling to have a caravan of 200 cars touring the 36-mile loop through the Arches Park, so plans for the visit were scrapped. With the demise of an Arches Park side trip, the overnight originally set for Grand Junction CO was moved to Glenwood Springs CO.

August 11, 2022: on PreRun4, XO Halverson’s “Blue Bullet” sits in front of a Cal Trans maintenance facility at Dawson Saddle, the highest point on the 62-mile scenic drive through the Angeles National Forest on California State Route 2.  Image: SWS eNews Staff.

PreRun4 surveyed the full length of SR2 over the Angeles National Forest. There was some controversy among Organizing Team members over the amount of time it would take to run the full length of the Angeles Crest Highway at Caravan speed and whether or not the route has adequate restrooms. The Team once again sent out XO Halverson in the “Blue Bullet” to drive the entire length at the 40-mph average appropriate for Caravaning on a mountain highway. Halverson reported that the time required to drive the proposed route is not excessive and there are numerous restroom stops.

PreRun5 to Glenwood Springs CO is scheduled for April 2023.

April 3, 2022: On PreRun2, at a turnout west of the junction of the SR2 and SR138, standing behind Cmd Campbell’s C8, Capt. Bill Herold views a distant part of the highway with binoculars while conferring with Campbell about a location for a possible Caravan reform. Image Southwest eNews Staff.

Another key task of PreRun2 was surveying hotels. Since there is no property in Cedar City with enough rooms to accommodate all Caravanners, Captain Herold visited several different hotels in the southern part of the city to inspect the properties and talk to their managers.

On the fourth day of PreRun2, the Group made the long trip back home to Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties in one long 10-hour drive

Sponsors

A Caravan section the size of Southwest depends on supportive sponsors to enable the Organizing Team to stage an event pleasing to its Caravaners. The first sponsor to step up for 2024 was Corvette parts and accessories vendor Zip Products. Club Glove USA, manufacturer of premium luggage for automotive road trip use, all of which is available with made-to-order, Corvette logo embroidery has also become a Southwest Section Sponsor.

Believe it or not, all these Corvette-specific Club Glove bags will fit in a C8’s frunk and trunk. Image: SWS eNews staff.

Also returning as an eNews sponsor is Club Glove USA. A well-known, U.S.-based manufacturer of premium golf luggage, in 2018, Club Glove introduced a line of premium luggage for automotive road trip use, all of which is available with made-to-order, Corvette logo embroidery. Club Glove luggage is incredibly durable, had a limited lifetime warranty, and is the last luggage most people will ever buy.

The Southwest Section offers a variety of sponsorship opportunities for Corvette-related businesses. The Southwest Caravan eNews is emailed to a list of over 500 Corvette owners in Southern California, Southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and Hawaii every two weeks. The Southwest Section is on Facebook at This Link.

In the Summer of 2024 prior to Caravan departure on August 21, the Southwest Section will publish it’s Route Book which is a four-color, 8 ½ X 11 book of route instructions, maps and feature articles. In the Route Book, the Southwest Section will offer advertising space from full-pages to business-card size. The Route Book is another outstanding marketing opportunity for Corvette related business because 500 Corvette Caravaners will continually read that book for the seven days they are on the Caravan.  For More Information on sponsorship opportunities contact Section Captain Bill Herold: swcaravancaptain@gmail.com  (805) 402-7490.

Individuals sponsor the Southwest Section, too by becoming a “Southwest Caravan Patron”. Each person who donates $100 or more to the Southwest Organizing Team will be a “Patron” and be listed on the Sponsor’s page of the Route Book as a “Patron”. Those interested in becoming a Caravan Patron should contact Section XO Halverson at the email address or phone number listed in the “Information” section below.

More Information

There are several ways to get additional information on the Southwest Section of the National Corvette Caravan.

Want to know more? We have the Southwest Caravan eNews, a tradition going back to 2002. If you want to be an eNews subscriber, send email to SWeNews@netmotive.net and simply type “subscribe” in the subject field and in the body of the email. Find us on  Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/919416625640194

Finally, you can email or call members of the Southwest Caravan Organizing Team for information.

Capt. Bill Herold: swcaravancaptain@gmail.com  Phone: 805 402 7490

Cmd. Tony Megowan: tmegowan@outlook.com  Phone: 805 659 5056

Cmd. Doug Campbell: zo6devilcar@gmail.com  Phone: 805 766 4606

Cmd. Hib Halverson: SWsectionXO@netmotive.net  Phone: 805 685 6865

For information on the Orange County Feeder Caravan:  Lt. Janet Cherry: wuwublu@gmail.com

eNews
2024 eNews Issue 1
2024 eNews Issue 2
2024 eNews Issue 3
2024 eNews Issue 4
2024 eNews Issue 5
2024 eNews Issue 6

2024 Southwest Caravan Registration Form