HeinkelFest 2023
September 6-10, 2023
Colorado Springs, CO
by Carole Teuwisse
In 2015 was the first time I heard about Heinkelfest on the Facebook page “Heinkel Tourist Scooter Group”. I was astounded that there would be a Heinkel “Treffen” in the USA! Werner, a FB friend of mine, which I later met a couple of times, went. I was so jealous! I could not afford it at that time, but I resolved that the next time there would be an Heinkelfest I would save up money and join. And so I did...
In 2022 I found there would be another Heinkelfest in 2023, so I planned my holiday and started saving money. I booked a room at the Buffalo Lodge and asked my travel agent to book a flight, a rental car and a hotel for the remaining days.
On September 4, on my birthday, my big adventure began! I had never been to the USA before and now I went by myself to Colorado Springs! Mike McW helped me a lot in advance, giving me the confidence everything would be okay.
Let me say: Heinkelfest did not disappoint at all! I’m used to bigger Treffens in The Netherlands and Germany which varies from 100 to 300 attendees. But this small Treffen was so good! All Facebook friends I never met in real life, are now friends! And I found more new friends.
September 6, official start of Heinkelfest: some of the technical guys start working on a Heinkel which did not run. I decided to be a tourist and went to Manitou Springs to look around and shop a little. In the afternoon a tour to Garden of the Gods was planned. First lunch at the Trading post and then riding around this beautiful park.
Back at the lodge we went to the “ Tech-Pavilion” to hang out (veg) and eat the birthday cake Gretchen made me. It was a good cake!
September 7. I wanted to go to the Garden of de Gods at sunrise and Shawn and Mike joined me. It was soooooooooooooo beautiful! The colors were so vibrant! Erin joined somewhat later on his BMW and was our dedicated photographer. The pictures are beautiful, but not as beautiful as it really was.
After we got back and had breakfast, we went to our tour to the Black Forest. We had lunch at a BBQ restaurant.
In the evening we had Mexican food.
September 8. Big day today!!! Pikes Peak, I was really looking forward to this!! In the morning the jets of the Heinkels were changed for the high altitude. We went up with 7 Heinkels and it was fantastic! We were not that fast, so there were a couple of drivers who were not that happy we were riding there. At the summit we had a great view and I was running around like crazy until I was out of breath and light-headed. Of course I bought some souvenirs and ate a cinnamon sugar donut. We took pictures of everyone with the Heinkel and a group picture, before going down again.
The weather was so great and only a couple of days later it snowed on Pikes Peak! We were so lucky!
I did see mountain goats and even a marmot!
September 9. Again an early rise, we had decided to “do” Garden of the Gods at sunrise again. And again it was so beautiful! And again we took the most beautiful pictures you can imagine.
Later on, we had some fun in the Tech Pavilion: a quiz which was so fun to do and a Tech session, Shawn explained how to convert a Heinkel into an electric vehicle. That was interesting!
Afterwards time to veg!
September 10, end of Heinkelfest. Erin rode away at 4 am and Bagel left before I arrived for breakfast. At 10 am almost everyone had left. I moved to another hotel and had some great days in Colorado Springs and Denver before I went home.
I loved every second of Heinkelfest 2023! I have made some new friends for life and had the best experience driving a Heinkel in Colorado. Mike, thank you so much for organizing this and we will see each other in 2 years!