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Winchester Bay ‘Oregon Coast Rally’ 2015

OREGON COAST RALLY (PRE-RALLY)
June 19 – 22, 2015
Winchester Bay RV Resort
Winchester Bay, Oregon

Wagon Masters:  Al & Virginia Zimmerman

Attendees:
Northwest Trek Fun Club
Mike and Lynn Ashbridge, Portland, OR
Ed and Jeanette Block, Vashon Island, WA
Penny Braden and Ben Paschall, Issaquah, WA
David and Betty Burton, Sammamish, WA
Jack and Joann Lindhorst, Kirkland, WA
Dan and Debbie Maas, Fort Bragg, CA
Ken and Judy Schindler, Forks, WA
Steve Webber-Plank, Bellingham, WA
Tom and Pat Wilhelm, Brooks, OR
Al and Virginia Zimmerman, Coos Bay, OR
Other Trekkers
Bert and Audrey Ekstrom, Huntington Beach, CA
Ken Harmon and Cathy Haight, Albuquerque, NM
Oregon River Ramblers
Bill Gilmer and Sue Decena, Lake Oswego, OR
Jim and Rachel Schlepp, Medford, OR

14 coaches gathered at the Winchester Bay RV Resort.  The usual NWTFC folks were joined by a couple Trekkers from the southwest and two coaches from the Oregon River Ramblers, a club of southern Oregon RVers that the Zimmermans have joined.

Day 1
This rally was a pre-rally to the FMCA NW Rally at the Mill in North Bend.  Also at Winchester Bay were the NW Alpine Coaches Association and Oregon/Washington Coaches for Christ.  Friday evening started with a potluck of heavy hors d’oeuvres.  Following dinner Dick Wagner presented a program on Louis Simpson and North Bend history.  Louis Simpson was a lumber baron who was brought by his father Asa Simpson to manage the Simpson lumber mill and shipyard.  He founded the city of North Bend.  The gardens at Shore Acres State Park were part of the estate he built for his wife.

Day 2

Saturday began with a continental breakfast.  Many of the rally folks attended the Oregon Divisional Chainsaw Sculpting Championships in downtown Reedsport.  Wood chips were flying!  One event gave the sculptors 90 minutes to finish a carving.  The carvers had four days to complete their main sculpture for the contest. The evening meal was Coney Island chili hot dogs with ice cream bars for dessert.

Day 3

Pancakes and sausages were on the menu for breakfast.  There was lots of free time during the day to explore the area or revisit the chain saw carving contest.  The evening meal was an Asian buffet provided by Sumin’s restaurant from Coos Bay.  It was wonderful food and there was lots of it.  However, there few scraps remained  because the leftovers quickly disappeared to coaches for lunch the next day.  Steve Webber-Plank showed some of his pictures from his trip to Kenya and Tanzania with lots of wild animals.

Day 4

The final day began with a continental breakfast.  Richard from Gib’s RV Superstore of Coos Bay presented a workshop on motorhome maintenance.  With over 30 years of experience his presentation proved to be helpful and practical.  Ten rally coaches joined a caravan to the FMCA NW Rally at the Mill in North Bend.  There is one hill on highway 101 going south from Winchester Bay to Coos Bay.  Ken Harmon reported that his 1994 Isuzu on full throttle climbed this hill at 27 mph.  We arrived at the Mill in good order.