Another drive has come and gone with great success.

Before I get into the meat of the overview, I want to put a big Hoorah out to Larry for all his hard work getting this plan squared away. He puts so much effort into these events even when he isn't going to be able to attend! Thank you for everything, Larry

As everyone knows, this was our largest drive ever with 29 cars at the start. Anticipation must have been high because there were a number of members who were waiting before Doug and I arrived at 7:30! I told everyone at County Line park and I'll say it again: You all did a great job keeping the pace and sticking together even with such a long snake of cars through some really challenging traffic. I applaud the group for that.

We missed out on a few of you, but picked up a few new ones to fill the gaps. A big greet to the new guys:

Matthew
Geoff
Dylan
Hiep
Tim
Brien (I didn't get a shot of you)

and anyone else if I missed you.

With an early threat of rain at the start, we were able to keep our track record of depressing grey starts that turn into gorgeous days.

We left North Plains and took over the highway on our way to Jewell Meadows. We wound our way into the twisties and trees up Highway 47. We got to enjoy a few fun looks as we cut through Vernonia and showed up the Classic Car show there and some interested bystanders in Mist.





At Jewell Meadows, I think we were so obsessed with getting the cars all lined up for a great shot, no one paid any attention to the possibility of seeing any Elk.



We somehow managed to cram 29 cars into a parking area made for about 15. The caretaker of the grounds even got in on the act and took some shots.

"Whattya mean we have to fit MORE in?"



Splitting into three groups to keep the lines more manageable, we left Jewell Meadows with food on our minds (or maybe that was just me?). Some great and memorable roads were only occasionally marred by a slow minivan or SUV.





We managed to regroup on the road coming into Astoria as we navigated through town to lunch where we were greeted by a very friendly and helpful restaurant staff. They were able to help streamline the process and get us in, fed, and paid out in very good time.

Fun conversations and good food with great people is always a highlight of our events. Somehow I managed to get absolutely 0 pics of lunch too

Following lunch, it was a "short" hop across the 4 mile long Astoria-Megler bridge to Fort Columbia where Huy, Paul and Garret were waiting for us to take our pictures.





Thankfully we did not have many other tourists to deal with so we were free to take a little time to let our photographers get some good ones.


He's hiding waaaaay up in the hills

Onward from Fort Columbia to a pitstop at Dismal Nitch.



Making our way down the highway, We turned off onto the old loop where Huy guided us on the road less traveled to the covered bridge for our next photo op.







From there, it was back to the highway on our last leg before we stopped at County Line Park.












A quick break to awe the RVers there with kids - "There are, like, 3000 of them!" and parents "They've never seen this many of one car in a simgle place!" (Neither have most of us, ma'am )





where the group said their goodbyes and made their way home in smaller groups.




Great drive everybody! We are basically maxed out for Crater Lake with nowhere else to stay in the vicinity of the lodge. For those that signed up, we'll see you there. For everyone else, we have the summer drive/picnic in August HERE. Looking forward to it!

 

That's a first!

 

Looks fun

 

What a great day!

Zach & I both had a great time and very much enjoyed the country and the company.

 

I may be a while - I have 330 pictures to go through. And some of them are even in focus!

 

Same here. I wont be able to deal with them until I get home tomorrow night.

I'll probably do the writeup this evening and add the pics later.

Great drive everyone! Teresa and I had a blast as always!

 

Once again...great drive, great friends and even great weather. It was nice to see everyone again, and meet the new people (even some guy name Jeff from Seattle).

Thanks for making my friend Jody feel so welcome, she is thinking that she wants one now.

Can't wait to see you guys in August, I'll miss you all next month.

 

Dang; not first prize. At least I beat Amy

Edit:
Darn, I guess I didnt

 

She has to get a red one, otherwise she's not allowed in our group.

This was an awesome day. Sometimes I wish we just had the roads all to ourselves.

 

PICTURES!

If anyone has issue with any of them please let me know and I'll be more than happy to take it down for you.

Yay!

Also, if you want a high res version I've got the 10MP files on my computer. Just holla and I'll send it your way.