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Port Townsend 2016

NORTHWEST TREK FUN CLUB
Port Townsend Rally Report
August 11 thru August 15, 2016

Attending Members:

Ron Mahugh & Mary Burchett (Wagonmasters), Ken and Helen Anderson, Bob & Peggy Beers, Dean and Sue Bjornson, Wayne and Cheryl Burchett, David Burton, Harry & Mary Carlson, Doug & Judy Gremmel, Jack and Joann Lindhorst, Dick and Lizz Obannon, newlyweds Ben and Penny Paschall, Harry Salit and Fran Zaft, Ken and Judy Schindler, Stan and Barbara Shackell, Bill & Paula Shull, Wayne Vandergriff & Janna Caughron, Steve Ward and Sue Chidester, Steve Webber-Plank, Tom & Pat Wilhelm, Rodger & Colleen Wright.

The Port Townsend Rally 2016 is in the rear view mirror. We think we had a really great rally. The weather was fantastic. Cool in the morning with a touch of fog a couple of mornings. We even had an Air Craft Carrier slip in behind a fog bank. We could only see the CON tower. So so cool. Mid 70’s in the afternoons. And a little breeze in the evenings.

Port Hudson is located on the edge of Port Townsend. You can walk or ride your bike to almost any place around PT. There is so much to do right in PT you really don’t need a toad. You can see electric bikes all around town. We even had four in our group. Doug and Judy Gremmel brought two electric bikes and a double kayak just to be different.

Dahlias from David's Yard
David Burton brought Dahlias from his yard for the opening night. Thanks David!

The best part of the rally as usual was the people who attended the rally. What a great group. Fabulous is a word we could use here. We had new, past, old, traveling, non-member and even a couple of drop-ins. Keith & Laura Kovacs visited us from Richmond BC to check out the club (dues are now in the mail!). Also joining us again were guests Alan and Kathy Kempen. New members Steve Ward and Sue Chidester from Freeland, WA joined us for their first rally. Wayne and Cheryl Burchett are returning members. (Wayne is my brother-in-law and kicked my butt in golf Friday). New members Harry Salit & Fran Zaft were traveling up the coast from Arizona at the same time as our farthest from home traveler Henry Fusco. Henry is from San Diego. Also dropping in for the Potluck were members Laura and Bret Medbury, past members Winfield & Betty Tweedie and Gary and Rosie Wright. Past Southwest Trek Coordinators Lianne and Wayne Kinne also joined us for the pot luck. We even had a visit from some new trek owners on their maiden voyage around the Olympic Peninsula. (Nyle and Carla Swainston have since become members.)

In PT a lot of people are riding electric bikes and we fit right in. There was lots to do in town as you can see from all the pictures.

Sue's Lady Bug Appetizer - Big Hit
Sue’s lady bug appetizers were a big hit!

After a killer Pot Luck, President Steve Webber-Plank had a Business meeting. Boy is he prepared and organized. We covered all kinds of things, including honoring past NWTFC presidents.

If you didn’t make it to Port Townsend, you missed a great rally. For those that did thanks for coming and with a little luck maybe we can do this again.

The end to another great rally...

 

Wagon Masters
Ron & Mary


So Many Treks

Great Time to Visit with Everyone

Past President and Retiring Board Member Awards

President Steve Webber-Plank called the business meeting to order, and his first order of business was to thank past presidents for their service: founding president Bob Beers, Ed Block (by proxy), Stan Shackell, Penny Braden, John Turner (by proxy), and Al Zimmerman (by proxy). Steve also thanked those Board members whose terms will be ending in January for their service to the club. In addition to a certificate, he also included a Latin saying that Steve had picked to go along with each person – perfectly accented by Ken Schindler! He also presented each a bottle of fine French wine! (which, as far as I know they did not share!)

Afterwards Steve and the board members and coordinators gave their reports.

Members checked out the town of Port Townsend – the farmer’s market, ship watching, downtown shopping, the docks, the breweries, golfing and the marina.

One of our guests, Alan Kempen, sent in the following story and pictures of a cool sight he and others saw during the rally:

Aircraft Carrier in Straight
USS John C. Stennis

“Just after noon on Sunday when the fog over Admiralty Inlet was going away, I looked across from “The point” to Whidbey and saw something strange moving above the fog.  After looking at it for a while, I remembered the Bremerton paper a couple of days before the rally reporting that the USS John C. Stennis had just docked in San Diego to offload its air crew after a 7 month deployment to the Western Pacific and would soon be returning to its home port in Bremerton.  I went in the coach to get my camera.  When asked by someone else there what we were looking at, I said my best guess was that it was the Stennis returning to Bremerton.  A lady nearby confirmed my answer.  Her daughter is a crewmember aboard the ship.  Her husband was also aboard the ship as the Navy invites family members on these “Tiger Cruises”.  She and her daughter’s fiancée were stopping at several vantage points along the route to take pictures.  I told everyone that the ship looked that way because the Stennis was in “stealth mode”.   I know a ship 1100+ ft long with a 4.5 acre flight deck cannot be stealthy.

Aircraft Carrier in Straight
USS John C. Stennis

My camera has a 26X zoom and it was all the way out when I took the pictures.  I chose picture 835 because I liked the shape of the mountains in the background better than the others,  837 is added to show the ship when it was farther South  when the flight deck was just appearing and the ship number “74” can be read.  The flight deck is about 60 feet above the waterline.”

 

One night, some members stayed up for a very important event – deciding which was the best brand Irish cream – the perfect campfire drink. Bailey’s, O’mara, or Costco’s Kirkland brand. Apparently the testing will continue during the Wallowa rally.