The Oregon Club hosted the 2009 NW Meet and selected McMinnville Oregon as the host city. If you were like me you said where the heck is McMinnville Oregon. Well it was a little south of Portland and it’s claim to fame would be it is home of the Spruce Goose – Howard Hughes’ goliath, all wood, 8 engine troop transport developed during WW2 and flown by him only once after the war.

We started out on Thursday September 24^th. Rick and Marty Bjorndahl, myself and Carole left Delta very early but not quite as early as Gordy and Billie McLachlan who left West Van a ½ hour earlier. We met up just across the border and headed south to Keystone Wash, where we caught the ferry over to Port Townsend. 

We met Earl Kagna and Ann West who had arrived the night before. From there, we all cavalcaded to McMinnville. The weather was cool at first but warmed up the further south we went. The roads were great and the traffic was light. We essentially went down Hwy 101 to Seaside Oregon where we turned east to McMinnville, arriving about 7:00pm. The cars ran great and without incident.

The Red Lion Hotel was our destination and was set up to handle the event. The entire rear parking lot was ours and was both parking lot and social centre of the meet.

The weather was nothing short of fabulous, cloudless and in the high 70’s and early 80’s.

A trip to the Evergreen Museum was first on the agenda Friday morning. The Spruce Goose was unbelievably huge! To think that it flew is very hard to visualize. The museum also has many beautiful examples of aircraft from the past, jet and propeller, as well as a space centre.

The evening was the first official event which was the meet and greet put on by the Oregon club and was very well done with excellent food..

Saturday morning saw a tour around the area, a stop in the restored town of Carleton and a visit to a winery for lunch and some sampling. The afternoon saw slot car racing in the parking lot along with other activities. One of the activities was a unique test of a Healeys ability to retain it’s oil after a morning run. As the cars returned to the parking lot a sheet of paper was inserted under the forward part of the car. Later this paper was retrieved and the winner and loser was announced at the after dinner awards function. Michael De Wilde’s oil leak free car was 1st place and yours truly won 5 qts of Valvoline race oil for a unique heart shaped single drop. 

An excellent BBQ was held at a nearby facility and everyone got as much barbequed beef, pork and chicken as they could eat as well as all the trimmings.

Following this, everyone returned to the hotel for the awards and a large number of draws forsome very good prizes. Then it was party time in various individuals rooms.

Sunday was goodbye day. We left quite early. We’d already decided to take two days for the return trip. The first portion of the trip was led by Phil and Becky Daniels from McMinnville to Chehalis. He chose an excellent route over newly paved mountain roads with little traffic and absolutely gorgeous scenery. The one down side was Phil underestimated the distance to the first Gas station with the result that yours truly ran out of gas at just about the summit of a very high bridge going over the Columbia River. Very embarrassing!!

Fortunately Rick Bjorndahl was behind me and, after some pondering while stranded on the one lane in each direction bridge, was able to push me to the crest after which I rolled down off the bridge. Moral of the story: NEVER let your tank get below ¼.

After we left Phil we crossed over to Hwy 101 and drove up to Port Townsend where we overnighted at the Palace Hotel, a 118 year old establishment. Our room was on the third floor. I didn’t think that was big deal until I saw the first staircase. By the time I got to the second floor I was gasping for air - then I saw the staircase to the third floor. I swear you needed a beacon on your bed to prevent aircraft from hitting it.

The gals visited all of the antique stores in town (and there are quite a few) and we topped of the evening with a nice dinner. Port Townsend is a very trendy old town and is a delight to visit.

Monday morning also dawned sunny but a little cooler. We caught the ferry for home and made it after a few shopping stops without running in to any rain - which did come about an hour after our arrival home and after our car was safely put away in the garage.

 

Over all, the entire event was wonderful, the Oregon people were very friendly, had all their ducks in a row and put on an outstanding show, and very importantly - the weather was great. As usual the comradeship was what made the entire event memorable.

 

 

 

Brian Drab