The destination should not be my shop. I think that a tour through Port Townsends roads (lots of curves) and historic downtown/views of the bay & Whidbey Island should be the draw. My question is where is the group going to meet to head to the ferry? Downtown seattle on a friday is extreme for the Bainbridge ferry. The Edmonds/Kingston ferry at 11:30 is less crowded. This route will also lead the group through Port Gamble. This is a historic lumber mill town. The houses date back to the 1860s. There is a awesome candy shop here. From here the route will cross the Hood canal bridge. Then onto the Beaver Valley road (Mrs K are you reading?) We can hit some severe twisties enroute. If the speed limit says 35 in Port Townsend obey it I have the tickets to prove it Any question please call me at 360 265 1311 Iam still working through the split and spend my time in the shop.

Hi Larry,

This is exactly the kind of information we need. It sounds like a blast!

If we arrange the gathering to meet at the Edmonds/Kingston ferry early enough ( how early should we arrive ?) we should all be able to make the same ferry ride. I'm hoping you could meet us there and be our tour guide.

The return trip is a concern to me. Should we take the same ferry on the return trip. I know that things get busy on Friday night headed West but not sure about East? What is your experience with this? What time should we meet for return.
I hate the idea of someone getting stranded.

I think this is really going to be a highlight event for a lot of people, I'm already looking forward to it!

While you're at it can you arrange 80 degrees & blue skys?? Imagine the photo opps of this!

Thanks for getting involved and adding some real character to our event.

Curt

It would be good if we could arrive at the Edmonds ferry early. Iam not sure of a time. I know that if we are not back and through Seattle traffic will be a B*tch. Iam thinking of taking the group from the Kingston ferry to Port Gamble (historic logging village) over the Hood canal bridge, down the beaver valley road to Hadlock. Then turn onto Discovery bay road. Not much straight lane but beatuful views of the Olympics and Discovery bay before coming into Port Townsend. I have a question about lunch or a break. This can happen in Port Townsend or Fort Flagler (think of the movie Officer & Gentleman) or the shop. Give me an idea as to how many hours we have to work with. Also a car estimation would be good as my neighboooooors get upity. When this happens I usually take a clients McLaren CanAm out at O-dark thirtry to even the score In the next few days I will drive the routes and get a time estimation. Actually my daughter will do this in our 928 (be afraid) Larry

there is 0 reason to be in a big hurry to return to the eastside of the water. best to time it after 6pm anyway. the lemmings will all be headed westbound and after the boat ride traffic will be calmed down. hopefully. give everyone a gentle reminder to keep it slow in larry's neighborhood.

k

Curt,
I am running out of countdown numbers.

Go ahead and make the big announcement that Kevin will be doing lapdances in the hotel parking lot.

That will get me a chance to start over with a number that will end the day before the event.

Ummm... I don't know if I want to go if Kevin's going to be giving lap dances.

curt, time to attach the second locomotive to the "send in the registration fee" train. it will prob require bumping it to the top CONTINOUSLY. a fairly accurate headcount will help with finalization of plans. when it gets close to party time i'll look into getting ferry tickets in the 'bulk' format. the better part of $40 (summer rates) full fare, car/driver/pass, for a r/t won't go over well. bridge tolls for the floater too. exspensive drive.

k

YEah... I need to send in my monies soon so my wife doesn't stop me

Kevin is correct in that the fery ride will be around 36.00 round trip for car/driver passenger. There is no toll on the Hood can anal bridge (yet). There is a toll east bound on the Narrows bridge for those coming from the Tacoma area. $3.00. Ferries depart Edmonds at 10:10, 10:45, 11:30, after this it tends to have a longer ferrie line as the lemmings are headed home. There arre also earlier ferries at 8:40 and 9:20. It would be great to see a ferry full of teeners From the Kingston landing it will probably take 25 min to arrive at Port Gamble. This town was a operating mill town and the company provided the houses. The houses are still beautifully maintained. There is a good chocolate shop here and meuseum. Onward over the Hood canal bridge to Port Townsend via either Oak bay road or Beaver valley road. Port Townsend offers a brewery/ historic eateries/ the wooden boat school/ restored downtown section. We can gather at Fort Worden state park. Awesome views from the beach of Whidbey island and the cascade mts. Let me know if this will be financially feasable for the group. I will be out on the rails for the next 4 days with a new trainset Lary

i think the 10:10 would be the one to aim for if this is the plan for travel. traffic should be calmed down, and folks will be rolling against the commute flow of traffic. lining up a bit early is the safest bet. so thru lake forrest park, up 405 and back down I-5 to 205th or just down 196th. if traffic is nice we might have enough time to get to edmonds via perrineville and down the old snake rd (or whatever it's called now). my old stompin' grounds when i was a pup.

k

k

The roads through there aren't very nice Kevin. I don't think they have been redone since you were there Traffic wise the best way would be the 205th exit down to the ferry. 196th has way too many lights that are poorly timed.

I would not set a deadline for registration and money... People tend to sign up all the way to the last minute and you want them all!!! Perhaps a deadline for certain number sensitive events within the event.

heck, I am one of them as its April (tax time) and short of cash...I'll register right after now that I know how much money is coming and going this month..

if folks can send in their registration and fees as soon as possible it will help with the portions that will require an upfront payment to make them happen. ie the deal on the waterfront. if the date needs to be secured, i should think the payment will be needed. reflect back on the hassles mark had last year. i'd hate to see curt go out on a limb on his visa to make things happen. geez, it's only $75 a head. make your individual payment and if an additional payment is required later i'm sure that would be acceptable.

k

I can arrange to use the Amtrak parking lot to stage the cars prior to the ferry loading so that we can get as many as possible on the ferry. It is just around the corner from the Edmonds terminal. How many hours are being allocated from the time of arrival at Edmonds to return to Edmonds? Any possible car count? Lots of other Qs coming Larry

OK, I have not seen any real intrest in a toyr to Port Townsend, I will leave it up to you guys. Take care, Larry

Hi Larry,

I sent you a PM on this.

I think we have a lot of interest, just a slow moving operation.

Curt

This is normal. Every WCC and WCR has had registration right up to the last day. I know it is ideal to have a cut off but historically that has not happened.

The way it has been handled in the past is to have a cut off and then extend it. That gets you the motivated ones so you have money for deposits.

I am down to about a week on the countdown so I will need to start my own new thread unless you are ready for an announcement Curt...

Rob

Hi Rob,

I just exchanged some goodies with McMark, we are copying the announcement so the links will still be active and will start a new thread in the next day or two.

I will post the current sign-up list ( about 25 ) to date.

Please tell me you are going to be able to make it? You're not on the list.

All your enthusiasm will be rewarded if you can make it. If not we will probably name a beer keg in your honor!

I've changed the date on the announcement twice, 4/1/08 to 4/15/08 & last week to 5/1-08. I agree that we don't want to have a hard cut-off date with the personalities ( procrastintators myself included) among us.

The real cut-off date is determined by the Holiday Inn. It is coming soon.

I'm going to need to get rolling on the T-shirts etc so I will need a fairly accurate headcount within the next few weeks.

Your countdown could start once we make the new posting?

I've had a very tough series of events in my life this winter, your enthusiasm has really kepted this event going.

Thank you!

Curt

I actually just got off the phone with Mark and he reminded me of how it has sometimes been handled.

Go ahead and set a cut off. Then raise the sign up by $20 after that date. It is beautacious... I love it...

I still do not know if I can come or not. I have institutional review board approval for my research but a couple important pieces are not yet in place... Time will tell. I may be the last one registered!!!

I registered but keep forgetting to put the check in the mail. Sorry. I'll do that first thing next week. Hope everything is going better for you Curt.

Hey Guys,

So.. Larry is good to go with the Pt Townsend day trip for Friday.
We will work out the details on this event, the plan includes a picnic style lunch stop at Fort Worden.

The cost of the ferry approx. $40.00 will need to be covered by individuals. In the new post I will state this so there should be no question.

I was hoping to subsidize some of this with entry fees but the trend so far has been single sign-ups with very few ( two person) $150.00 collections.

After some discusion about the Saturday drive ( Mt Rainier vs Leavenworth trip)
I am leaning toward the Rainer drive..... the Leavenwoth trip may be a little on the long side & too much freeway.

I would like a volunteer ( hey Rhodyguy ?) to plan this drive.

It's been suggested ( no names used to protect the guilty ) to que up at the XXX Drive-in on Saturday morning, this may cause a little disruption to the PCA event scheduled for the same morning

Now for the evening banquet....

Curt

i've just been waiting for the green light re the sat drive. i've had the route planned for months. brief run down. avoiding 169 all together, crap road full of lights and traffic. issaquah/hobart to 276th ave se, down 276th and l on kent-kangley, r on retreat/kanasket, r on cumberland/veazie/farman to enumclaw, l on 410 and up the hill. traffic should be fairly light.

i'll burn some maps off my Thomas Guide. the same should be done for the drive to edmonds if that is the plan. someone needs figure out how you guys are going to get there. i'll drive up 16 and meet everyone at the floating bridge and take the boat over on the drive back. do you think we might consider a drive back over the narrows or just the boat? timing is everything. getting off the boat in edmonds @ 5pm could be problematic.

how is the lunch at ft warden giong to work? boxed lunches being aquired in issaquah and hauled over?

should we turn the sat drive into a poker run?

curt, give me a call when you have some time.

k

Hi Kevin,

I guess you just got the green light!

This drive is your event, the route, whether to turn it into a poker run is your decision. It's going to be a very interesting drive as is, if you want to add another element of fun it's up to you.

We can provide box lunches for this depending on your schedule.

As we discussed a while back if we coordinate the drive well we can have a little down time in the afternoon prior to the evenings festivities.

I'll work with Larry on the ferry logistics ( he's the expert ) & Fort Worden picnic. I'm thinking we transport chicken,pop etc from home base Issaquah in one of our support vehicles.

Thanks for the advance planning

I'll give you a call.

Curt

handing out some costco waters and what not should be fine for the mountain run. we could stop at the Naches Tav on the drive down the hill and there's that drive-in right next store. or just invade the XXX for some poppa bugers and tigertails. giving folks some time out of the cars before the trek to seattle is a good idea. i think a 9:14 (SHARP!) roll out from issaquah should get us back 2:30-3 at the very lastest. prob earlier if we don't dally. there's not much to do at the top of chinnook other than get bit by misquitos and take some pictures of the cars/people/mountain.

k

Make sure to check with the DOT on their construction schedule. They should know by now if they are planning any projects on the route.

i was planning on doing that in mid-late june which would leave time to adjust the plans. 410/chinook itself didn't suffer the damages that some of the other roadways around the mountain did.

k

Hey gang Iam back. For about 8 hours Iread the latest and the "box lunch" sounds great! Wow is my mind ever in the gutter. Anyway I will have maps shortly with times and turnouts. Just got another lecture from the sheriff about my interpritation of traffic laws Larry

So does he visit you often? Hopefully he just lectures you. A small box lunch woulld be nice... OH HEY... Let's keep it clean. See what you started Larry.

I try to stay out of his radar gun range, but sometimes ya just gotta punish the crotch rockets Seriously Iam saving it for Thunderhill......The ride to Port Townsend will be entertaining......

Hey Larry,

Something we need to think about...

McMark started a thread on the the caravan for the guys driving from CA. , there initial plan appears to be an overnight stop in Eugene.

My experience is about 5 hrs Eugene to Seattle ( 285 Miles )

If they got on the road at 6:00 am that puts them in Seattle at 11:00.

Our mid morning ferry departure may need to be slid back a liitle.

We've got quite a few guys coming from Eastern WA & Oregon also, a ferry departure of 12:00 or so would give these folks time to travel Friday morning without the expense of the Thursday night hotel.

I'm sure we can find a volunteer to intercept the caravan & navigate them directly to Edmonds , no sense in going to Issaquah first.

Curt

Curt, I spoke with Ralph Meaney , he is interested in dropping by ,
Do you think there is a honory guest name tag or something ?

your thoughts ?

BTW checks in the mail today. jeff

Hi Jeff,

I think that Ralph probably has the credentials to get an "Honorary Guest Pass"

Then again... we might be overrun with past winners of the 24 hrs of Daytona.

I'm sure alot of us would be honored to meet him & hear a few stories.

Sounds like fun.

Curt

if those guys leave eugene @6 it'll still be rush hour when they hit portland. pretty much all the way to the 205/I-5 merge. they'd be better off not going to edmonds at all. over the narrows and hook up at this side of the hood floater. from I-5, 16/3 to the hcb will take less than 1 1/2 hours. all the way to edmonds will take at least that and everyone may not get on the boat. remember, fri/weekend travelers. for the unfamiliar, I-5 thru seattle, then off @205th and getting in line might not be fun. bad turn off I-5 and they'll wind up in kenmore. any kind of hiccup thru king county they will be seriously fuched. they will need to notify the hotel of a potencial late checkin so their room is saved.

Kevin is quite right. The camper traffic tends to build fast on the Hood canal bridge after 11:30 on a Friday. I would like to have the group gather at Port Gamble for the first stop off the Edmonds ferry. Its about 12 minutes as the 914 flies The CaddyHauler will be available for use. Back in a few days, Larry

what's the schedule for the deal on sat night. where, when, what?

k

Hey Kevin & guys,

Here's the deal to date on Saturday night:

Plan A )The idea of parking on the Pier on the Seattle waterfront ( a great idea!)is not going to happen.

I drove the waterfront a couple of weeks back. Pier 62/63 was used for the "concerts on the pier events" and would have been perfect. After contacting the cities parks dept. I was told they have now closed it's usage for any vehicles, only pedestrian usage.

Normal parking sucks in this area, I could not locate another place close to the water where we can group and park the vehicles.

Plan I talked with some locals & scoped out a nice spot on Alki. We can gather and park at the boat launch just west of Saltys restaurant.
The view of Seattle from this location is unbelievable! We'll get some great photos.
About 100 yards east is a fish & chips restaurant that can prepare dinner for us,( someone needs to eat & test their food) or we bring food in from Spuds ( fish & chips etc.) a proven winner (dinner is included in registration fee) . There is a nice area outside we can use, picnic tables etc.

We will use this time to hand out awards for best .....?( any ideas)

My thoughts/concerns on the event....

After the Rainier drive I don't think people will want to travel far for dinner. From Issaquah we can be on the water in twenty minutes. I-90 over the floating bridge, south on I-5, over the West Seattle bridge , bingo we're there. It's very simple, no one will get lost.

It should be an early dinner. I'm thinking we should plan on leaving for at 5:00 or so. Getting back to the hotel by 7:00 to 8:00. There is a lot of concern (valid) that if we get to many guys drinking it's gonna be a big problem that none of us want. This gives us all plenty of time safely in the hotel lot.



Plan C) If it's raining I'll find a restaurant with inside seating to accomodate us.

A couple of other things.

Jim Hoyland is working on really cool lanyards & nametags for us.

I'll post an updated list of registration & who has paid.

I'll have the new WCR 2008 graphic completed in a couple of days.( hopefully)
& then I'll price the t-shirts & hat's. I hope we can do both. What I've seen so far is very few $150.00 registrations mainly just single $75.00. This is where the extra$$$ were going to come from.

I've found no one that want's to volunteer to solicit vendors, so I'll get started in earnest on this next week. I'm just going to ask them for token contributions.
Does anyone know Eric Shay? He contributed a caliper rebuild coupon last year, I thought this was very cool!


Feel free to comment on any and all...

Only eight weeks to go...


Curt

Just remember that Alki is one of the highest crime rate areas in Seattle. Not so good for our little open top cars It would be nice though. As long as we keep a watchful eye out

Really?

That pier at Alki is a good spot for a early dinner as it gets in shadow pretty early in the evening compared to Alki Beach...

Every avenue for the Seattle Waterfront park rental was a no I found out too but the West Seattle park is a great idea.

parking at alki on a sat evening in july is going to be non-existant. whether a sat morning, what ever night of the week it was when we got together to meet with perry, it's packed. if it's hot and sunny, it's going to be even worse. i can just vision 20+ 914s driving aimlessly around alki to snag parking spots that open up 1 at a time. not fun.

k

Seattle and Alki both have parking problems. I wonder how much it would cost to rent a Funmobile to take the attendees to the dinner site, and then back again.


Never mind... it's $600+ to rent a bus for the minimum of 5 hours.

i brought back some items that craig is donating from pland yest. to include, f&r trunk strut kits, seat adj handles x2, a euro f turn signal kit, a set of pilot driving lights w/ss mounting brackets, and a couple of porsche tuneup dvds. i have no idea of the content or models they apply to.

k

I can use most of that stuff Yey for door prizes.

Hi guys, sorry I have been out of the loop for most of the planning. I can see if I can have all of Friday off and since I am already in Kitsap, I could be waiting at the General Store in Port Gamble. I would suggest the drive along Discovery Bay for the route to Fort Warden...

IRC, didn't we mostly hang near the Venue in Portland? There is the XXX, drive up to Newcastle golf course, or even blaster freeway run to snoqualmie summit and invade the Family Pancake House (the have a bar)

Please feel free to tell me to buzz off as I havent even done my registration yet, I would like to help out if I can.

ah...i called you monday evening. still waiting.

yes, Kevin, Sorry about that. I worked late last night and have a tight deadline thru tonight. If it is a decent hour, I will call you tonight

Hey Dino,

Buzz offf !!! You said to feel free.

Are you going to make the event?

PM me if you are, I'll add you to the list pronto!

Just show up!

Greenie

Just so you guys know, I am not quite out of the picture. The dishwasher incident is real and quite a mess. Yopu is very upset and I don't see her going anywhere. She pointed out to me this morning that the sheetrock in her office which is under the kitchen is falling down. I just had that room remodeled and a friend did the rock and texture. He is coming over on Saturday AM to estimate the repair.

Here is what my options are. I talked with Mark this morning. We could fly up and A. Rent a car, or B. Get picked up and tag along with someone for all events. SeaTac I am sure for the airport. SW Airlines. Second option under discussion is to drive up in Mark's Rabbit following the same plan as outlined on the caravan discussion. Another possibility is my 911 but I really don't put a lot of miles on her as she is an '84 Carrera with 65k miles that thinks it is a new car...

Sorry for the "bitch slap" to the guy who said it was a "lame ass excuse" but some of us actually care when our wives are upset... If someone could start mending that fence for me I would appreciate it...

And Kevin, don't worry about my knuckles. I type about 70 WPM after doing a Masters and Doctoral Thesis... Not a problem

Curt, I would appreciate if you would let me just pay when I get there as this is going to be a day to day thing. Once I have Yopu's blessing it is GO TIME! I will know by Saturday at the latest. I will spring it on her right after I pay her $340 fine for parking in a handicapped spot. She will be pretty much trapped into a yes!

Rob,

I just sent you a PM

Curt

Glad you're still trying to come up Rob.