5/20/08 & 6/18/08

May

We have a bit of an unusual situation this month as when I sent my article I just missed our Editor as they left for an extended vacation. As a result I am going to add a bit to my May article and cover some of the items that came up in June, sending a duel letter.

We have had an excellent month in May with two great trips, one to the coast lead by Mel and Patty Schram and the other to Julian headed by Mindy and Louis Champagne. Our run up the coast started at about Newport then up thru Santa Barbara. On the way up to Santa Barbara we stopped at spot along the coast with a beautiful view of the ocean and Mel and Patty surprised us with a very nice lunch. The sandwich portion of the lunch was so large many of us couldn’t eat it all. We stayed at a very nice Best Western where we all gathered by the pool after dinner and told stories until it was time to hit the sack. There were lots of laughs and many stories told that evening. One of the more interesting hand outs that we got at the start of the trip was a very entertaining biography written by Mel that told us how he had grown up along the coast and spent a lot of time in many of the beach towns along the coast surfing. I guess he was the inspiration for the Beach Boys group writing songs about the surfer boys.

Mindy and Louis had their first experience leading the group on a run last Saturday when we went to Julian. He did a great job as our lead car (good speed and no U turns), Joyce didn’t complain once about how fast we were going until we left the group and I started driving at my pace in the mountains coming home. Many of us had Buffalo burgers at Buffalo Bob’s in Julian, that was the third time I have had buffalo meat, guess I wouldn‘t have made much of a plainsman hunting buffalo for food, the burgers were good but not quite as tasty as a good lean hamburger.

Thanks to both the Schrams and the Champagnes for well planned trips and a lot of fun this past month.

Carmel Carbone with the help of Weez and Shawn Hyman arranged for a very good dinner at pasta night in the Indian Palms CC club house. We all ordered the pasta with just what we wanted in it and if you didn’t like it shame on us. There were about 45 members in attendance and everyone had a very nice evening. Thanks to you all for a great night.

We had a board meeting several days prior to the regular meeting this month. My thoughts were to discuss the progress of the club and how we might be able to make it an even more enjoyable experience for our members. One of the suggestions that came out of the meeting was to hold our own Corvette night where we could show our members cars, tell a few stories and enjoy each others company for a couple of hours each month. Recognizing that there would still be some members who will want to attend both the Crusin Association car show in Palm Springs on the fist Saturday of each month and our event we decided on the third Saturday of each month for our show. The next issue became where could we meet and enjoy a few hours together showing our cars and we decided that I would speak with Dan Jessup and see if he might like us to meet at his agency along Hywy 111. He was in favor of the event and willing to provide space and a tag ad along with his normal ads to get some of the public to stop by. In the past we have held car shows at the retirement home on Bob Hope, attended by about 35 members, and created a lot of interest with people just driving down the street. We also held a Corvette show in Palm Springs in front of the now closed shopping plaza on 111 where we had a lot of street activity and many people stopping to look at the cars.

Our idea is to show the cars for a couple hours 5 PM to 7 PM and those for those who are interested we could go and get a hamburger some where together. The main idea is to gather as a club with our cars and have some good fellowship and a nice evening. We are also hoping that the byproduct of having our own activity will help us establish a stronger presence here in the valley over the coming years. We have a very large club and have enjoyed participating in the Cruisin Association show each month for many years. When we participate at their event we then become part of what they are doing and have done nothing to establish our own identity here in the valley. We are going to try and build a stronger public image so when we go out into the communities here in the desert for support for our charitable events we will have Corvette Club visibility and get a better reception. We will be holding our first Corvette Night on October 18^th of this year. Please mark your calendars so we will have a big turnout each month. Our hope is to draw 30 to 40 of the cars in the club to the event each month. This should be very attainable as there have been many times in the past that we have had at least that many cars at Cruise night.

We held our first meeting Jessup Chevrolet this past month and it worked out very well. It was great not to have to try and compete with the air conditioning unit to be heard. The seating was very comfortable and the meeting room is a little bigger than the one we had at Mac Magruder but with air conditioning that works so we were all quite comfortable. Be sure and put the meeting on your schedule. Jessup has not yet done the reconfiguration of the showroom so there are still a number of changes to take place downstairs but our meeting room is in good shape for us.

We are looking at some new timing equipment for the autocross that is going to cost us about $3,600 to $5,500 to purchase. In the long run it willpay for itself with more runs and much less frustration both on the part of the committee and our public as we should have far fewer delays and track shut downs with the new equipment.

The timing equipment along with the increased costs of operating the club has necessitated an increase in dues for next year to $115.00. While the board did not want to increase the dues it was necessary to help pay for the additional cost of almost everything we buy to run the club..

We will be heading to the Nethercutt Car Museum on June 21^st. If you want to signup contact Carol and Sonny Perez and get on the list. I hope you consider the trip to Selmar as this is quite an experience. They have many beautiful old luxury cars to see in the general exhibit and we will go on a private tour of the cars in the basement of the building across the street to see the cars over there along with a tour through the private collection of the family in watches, clocks and hopefully we will be able to hear the mighty Wherlitser (sp?) organ they have or at least had on display. There used to be many of these organs in many of the large more ornate movie theaters around the county but as the theaters disappeared so did the organs. I heard the one at this location played the last time I was there and it was worth the trip. Sign up now and watch for further details in your e-mails from the club.

On a personal note I had a chance to both see and drive the special 427 Corvette the other day at Jessup. What a beautiful car and with only 427 being made it should be a great collector car in the future. I decided that while I really liked the car I guess I am getting to old to drive a stick shift. Over the years I had a 6 speed Delorean and a Datsun 280Z and really enjoyed the shifting but alas I was a bit younger then and more willing to work at driving. If you are in the market for a new Vette it is quite a car.

June

I just sent out a memo on the 4^th of July parade in Idyllwild for this year. Please look for it and sign up right away if you are interested. It should be another great parade and day up there for the club again this year.

We have purchased two new banners for the club and that will incorporate our club name and Jessup on it to be used at our different events.

I am going to thank Carol and Sonny Perez for stepping up to arrange the details for our trip to Nethercutt car museum this month. I am sure it will have been a super day as they have really done the job in getting everything set up for us.

Carmel Carbone and Joan Lake have planned dinner night out at PF Chang’s at the River and I am sure it will be another successful night. We were there several years ago and we had great food and a very good time. Thanks to you both for your hard work.

You will have the pleasure of having Shawn Hyman run the meetings in July, August and September as I will be out of town on vacation for the next two to three months, not sure of the exact timing yet on when we will return. Our plans are to go to Lake Almanor for about 3 weeks, then on to Reno for Hot August Nights, Lake Tahoe, back to Almanor then on to Oregon to a resort to play some golf. If we are still standing, we will then be going the back route over the Cascade mountains to Seattle, then down through Portland, over to the coast and the Rogue River to stay with friends and then back through the Bay Area to visit our relatives. We may stop in Monterey for a week on the way home, if we are still able to unpack our car again after all the driving and visiting with friends along the way, before returning to the desert.

I would like to wish you all a great summer and look forward to seeing you in October at the club meeting.

Paul Aragon