NW Reunion

[Freud]

The troops are gathering. Nancy and Slim think it's a heat wave here and Dr. Jeannie Pflum is holding her "girl's talk" seminar in a room reserved for medical facts, wine and chocolate. Security told them to "hold down the giggling." It's disturbing the 14  year old basketball players that are sharing the hotel for a regional tournament.
Isn't that the way it should be........the women getting gigged?
Barrett, Opperman, Travis, Rochlitzers, Matt Williams, Marlo Treit, Tom Bryant, Jon Amo, Tami and Bill McDowell have arrived early.


Plan on attending with us next year. FEBRUARY 23, 2008.
THANKS, DOLAN.
FREUD

[Bob Drury]

This Just In...........The banquet was great.  Great to see the Amo's, meet Seldom Slim the comma cop in person-he is from way up north you know, meet and greet some of our LSR founders, and a great presentation by Jim Travis.  Once again, thanks to Freud and his right hand man Glen Barrett for all of their hard work.  We truely are one big family.  Lets do it again soon.............Bob

[landracing]

Yes another successfull event, fun filled, great to see all the racers before race season.... Thanks ALSO go to JackD and his wife for getting the "Flowers" here in time for the Banquet for the ladies... They were great...

I will have a DVD done here in next couple days of the action.. Nothing professional, amateur filming, but got the action caught on Digital Video and will compile a DVD for a small nominal fee... email me for info...

Also learned on this trip, don't park, where you are not sapposed too, IF no one else is parked in the lot, doesnt mean you found an unknown place, just means locals know better...

Mark you rcalendars for next year... Feb 23, 2008....

Jon

[smitty2]

 Thanks for the great time!I haven't had a birthday present like this in a long while
Freud, and Mr. Barrett you guys did a great job, and my wife loves the carnation! Thanks go to Mr Dolan The food was great (I Over did the dessert though.). Jim Travis's talk really gave me an insight as to how someone could get 4 engines to work as one.
 Most of all I would like give thanks for the new picture hanging in the den! It will be the center piece of all my other photos will center around, just to remind me of what a great bunch of people you all are.
 Last of all.... Slim. Now you know the story behind the hair on fire. Great talking to you, and Nancy... Hope you had a good flight home!

Thanks again... Hope I didn't leave anyone out...      Smitty

[Dave Haller]

The reunion is over and what a very good time was had by this family. Great seeing Glen Freud, Glen Barrett, Mr. Amo, the Danny Boy team, Marlo and crew along with many others. Food was great, drawings fun and fellowship worth the trip. I highly recommend each of you who can attend to do so in years to come. This is a very good way to meet fellow salt flat racers and hear some awesome history. Travis was a wealth of historical information and his presentation and pictures ended with a standing ovation from the group. He earned it and I will always look at him in a very different way when I see him out on the salt again in the Pumpkin Seed. I believe a good time was had by all,
Dave Haller #93
McCleary, WA

[Richard Thomason]

And a truely great time was had by all. Jack, we missed you. Hope things are going well for you with no attendant health problems.

[Freud]

One of the HIGHLITES of the banquet for me was meeting Victoria Haller. This young lady has fought a tough battle with medical challenges but she sparkles and is so vibrant. She did the drawing numbers for us and it was a pure joy to have her there.
Thanks Dave for bringing your family. I have every confidence that Jacob will stay in line with Big Sister there to monitor him.
I'm wasted tonight. I think I have a cold starting and I'm dragging. I'll soon add some more comments but some people will be recognized now. Tami and Bill McDowell for taking complete responsibility for the 50/50, Jason McVicar for bringing his scooter from Vancouver, BC, Canada to be on display in the lobby of the hotel, Tim Rochlitzer and Matt Williams for all the tips they lay on me as a result of putting on the highly successful Gas Up in Buellton, CA the last Saturday in September annually, the catering staff at the Shilo Inn for their immediate attention to every  request that I made, Dr. Jeannie Pflum and Tanis Hammond for "girl talk" Friday night that expanded the medical knowledge of everylady that attended,  Jim Travis for sharing 55 years of hot rodding and restoration, Bob Opperman for his contribution in several areas, Michael Lueders for his photographic skills and the 2 knock out pictures he brought to be auctioned off, Roger Puvogels brother for the 3 framed fotos that he donated for the drawings, Richard Thomason, my distant relative, for living up to a promise of 5 years ago and two fellows that are always there to bail me out: Glen Barrett, who knows everybody and has been around as long as dirt and my friend of 45 years, Marlo Treit. Both of them have the ability to"square me away" when I need it and support me so frequently. It's possible to have brothers that are not blood relatives.
The support that Jon and Keilani Amo provide with Landracing.com is beyond comprehension. The show of hands of people that log on to Landracing.com was tremendous. One post on that site gives world wide distribution. Nancy and Seldom Seen Slim would never have been on a snail mail list but they were the long distance travelers. That's quite an effort in the middle of the winter and I THANK them for attending. I attribute their attendance to Landracing.com.
ThIs scratched the surface of my comments with several exceptions. We missed Ed and Cris Shearer, the Lindsleys, the Mayor of El Mirage, Mary West and Jan Heap. Maybe some other time for them.
It's possible to have a family that has one thing in common. The love of the Salt and the racing that happens there. What a marvelous group of people you all are.

FREUD   going for another handkerchief.

[Freud]

Now that the kudos have expired how about your suggestions on how I can improve this event.

Call a Spade a Spade. You can't insult me so tell me what you would like changed or somthing that you feel would be an improvement. Six banquets do not make me an expert. Better yet, if your lady was there let her tell me.

I'm not like One Run Bob, I may even listen to you. But then again I may be like One Run and shout at you for your stupidity.
FREUD

[Seldom Seen Slim]

The three choices of salad dressings were not the traditional Italian, French, and Thousand Island.  I'd rather use one of them than "house" (always an unknown, by definition), Blue Cheese, and I forget what #3 was, but it was - - unusual.  Maybe substitute at least one of the more common ones - or offer four or five?

Pies for dessert.  Cake is fine, but pies are better!

Auctioning off the two fine photos by Lueders -- to benefit whom?  Either I missed the announcement of who benefitted -- or you didn't tell us.  If it was to defray the costs, fine and dandy.  If for "Save the Salt", great.  If to pay Glen and Glenn's bar tab, cool.  But don't keep it a secret.

We had a fine time and sure hope to/plan on return(ing).  Jim's talk was just what I had hoped I'd hear -- real, and really interesting.

Oh, yeah -- we didn't realise that we could have arrived in the banquet room earlier than 6 for the socialising.  What time will the doors open next year -- so we can spend more time with the assembled multitude?

Not bitching -- just responding with some things that'd move the dinner to a higher-still plane.  Thanks, Freud.  We are glad we were there.

[Glen]

It never an easy task to put together a banquet and have everything flow on schedule. Freud and I have discussed each banquet after the fact. Trying each year to improve over the last. Freud was catching a cold and feeling pretty lousy Saturday night but stuck with it. I had a long talk with him yesterday and he is still under the weather at this time. Lasy year we put out a sheet for comments and only got a few back.

We need your input to help us continue with this each year. What would you like to see different, Different menu, served at the table instead of getting in line. How about any changes in the program, door prizes, more auctions or any other ideas. We really do need your feed back. Also Saturday day trips, any ideas of what you would like to see or do.

It's always great to see each one and meet the new ones each year. There we a few that can't make it every year and they are missed. More people are coming from greater distances like Slim and Nancy, a bunch came down from Canada as well. This is good as they work hard to make Speedweek as well and just crossing the border is a pain in the butt.

Anyway if you have ideas please let us know.
Glen

[Dave Haller]

Glen and Glen,
I have to say a big thank you to both of you for your kindness and compassion for my Victoria. For those of you who are curious, she was born with a bad heart, four major things wrong. She was leaving us at 3 months and we spent a month at Childrens Hospital in Seattle with her after her first open heart surgery. Those folks up there are dedicated professionals that know how to take care of children and their families. She made it through without a pulmonary valve and lived without that until she was twelve. Her heart was working way to hard as she grew and she became at very high risk again. Two more proceedures helped delay another open heart surgery but couldn't hold of the eventual need for that valve. They put the very first gortex pulmonary valve up her in the Pacific Northwest in her July of 2005. It seems to have solved things as you at the banquet could see in person. She is a wonderful kid and a joy to this family. She is still at risk due to arrithmia from the surgery's but we only take it one day at a time and cherish the moments we have with her and her brother. She has been to the salt with me several times and hopes some day dad will set some kind of high speed record.
Thanks again for a very nice time fellowshiping with you and the group,
Dave Haller #93

[Freud]

I had no idea about the salad dressings. I'll look into that for next year. This is the first mention in that area.

Michael's fotos were to defray the expenses of the banquet but since they didn't bring in enough money to pay for the framing it benefited no one, especially Michael. He paid the bill for them. With todays security procedures in the airport the pictures required special shipping packaging. That was a killer. There was no intention of "keeping it a secret." I plain forgot to address that issue. Believe me, there are no slush funds connected to this event. There are no sponsors and no Sugar Daddys taking a cut for fronting it. It's all my responsibility and the first time that I go in the hole there won't be another one. Breaking even is the goal and so far I have.

The deserts were all gone when I looked so they must have satisfied some folks. That isn't to say a pie could not be included but you have NO IDEA regarding the battle with costs. I am more apt to have to reduce the number of items provided that to increase anything without pricing this affair out of reach.

Go back to the original post for the banquet. In red color it stated that the doors opened at 5 PM. I've had my posterior reamed in the past for not stating the opening time and I assure you I posted it this time. There was no one waiting at the doors at 5 PM. By 5:15 there weren't more than 10 people there. The doors will still open at 5 PM next time.

Thanks for coming and Thanks for asking.

Dave Haller..........I appreciate your explaination of the issues that Victoria has faced. She sparkles. She shows the courage that keeps her battling these problems. Thanks for bringing your family. I enjoyed them. My goal is to make this an event that is enjoyable for the ladies and when the children are included I hope we don't bore them. The day will come when some child takes over this event.
FREUD

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Freud, I sure hope you don't think I was taking shots at you -- or even hinting that I didn't think all the dollars were accounted for openly.  I tried to offer my observations in the spirit of responding to your request for feedback.

5PM doors open -- ooops, we missed that notice.  Our fault.  We were upstair, in the room, and I was performing a last-minute tattoo inspection.

Salad dressing, dessert, selection and number of main courses, etc -- I'm president of a club that has meetings that include dinners -- and I'm unfortunately well-versed in the ongoing battle to get maximum satisfaction for minimum bucks.  Keep up the good fight.

Auctioning off the photos -- damn, I didn't realise what you were doing.  Again -- if I missed what was said -- and you did tell us that the proceeds from the auction would help pay for the whole shebang -- Well, I missed it.  If I didn't miss it (because you didn't say it -- well, one could posit that the crowd would have been more receptive to ponying up for the photos if it had known that the proceeds would have gone to make sure there's another banquet next year.

[michael lueders]

In regard to the photo auction.

I plan on making this a an ongoing yearly contribution. In the future instead of the very nice frames perhaps just a mounted pic? I really like to "complete" the presentation of my photos with an appropriate frame and mounting..this is not cheap but makes a huge difference in the look of the photo! Price out museum glass..ouch! Thoughts anyone?

I would like to reiterate what Freud said and make it clear that this is in no way a money maker or even a break even deal for any artist to donate to the BNWR. In the past there have been photos and paintings and artist drawings etc. The hours and talent required to produce these works is donated to the BNWR and the proceeds derived from the auction is donated back to the BNWR.

If everyone would like a change to the auction process I came up with a thought and would like to propose a suggestion:

How about an auction for a art piece where the bidders get to not only bid on the piece but choose where the proceeds go..say donate to the BNWR, Save the Salt, Landracing.com or?

The idea is one would be bidding on a nice piece of art and helping the sport. Sort of a double bid..you want the art and want the money to go to the BNWR fund and the other guy wants the piece and wants it to go to Save the Salt..you would be in fact bidding on not only the art but where your donation goes.
Should make it more festive.

On the art for sale bit..I do have that as well 

On the salad dressing..what..no blue cheese? That's un-American!

On the desert..no room for pie of cake or pudding after seconds at the prime rib.

Michael Lueders
Fasterimages.net

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Michael, there was blue cheese dressing -- that's what I was "complaining" about!  And there's always room for a slice of good pie.