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The WPC Club,
Inc. 
Plymouth, Dodge, Fargo, DeSoto,
Chrysler, Imperial, Maxwell, Chalmers,
Jeep and Eagle & related
Automobiles. All Mopar / All Years /
All Models
2015 WPC Northwest Regional Meet
Hosted
by the WPC Club, Pacific Wonderland Region, July 23-25,
2015 The Dalles,
Oregon
My take on
the meet, by Ian Smale, president, WPC Vancouver Island Region
Shannon and I
left Victoria on the 6:10 AM Port Angeles Ferry, on Wed., Aug 22nd, and
from there took the highway down the east side of Puget Sound, then took
another ferry across Puget Sound to Edmonds. From there we took i-90 over
Snoqualmie Pass, and continued down to Oregon through Ellensburg to Yakima
and onwards. The route from Ellensburg south was a much more pleasant drive
than barreling down i-5 all the way. I must say however that i-90 has the
worst road surface of any freeway I’ve driven on. It’s a concrete surface,
and the surface has worn down to the point where it’s like you’re driving
over a cobblestone road at high speed. It literally vibrated the dashboard
in the Saratoga!. We arrived in The Dalles around 4:30 that afternoon and checked in at the
Shiloh Inn, after a lunch stop in Ellensburg and a gasoline stop in Yakima.
Since we were a day ahead of time for the meet we spent the next morning
(Thursday) at Fred Meyer picking up bargains! Our meet hosts – Chesnutts, Benedicts and the others arrived about noon
and we checked in with them for our registration package etc. A relaxing
afternoon was spent catching up on the news with old friends. That evening
after dinner in the hotel restaurant, was the “Slow Drags” and Ice Cream
Social, which was held near the local Chrysler Dealer’s downtown. After
several attempts myself I was able to come close to the stop point, but the
eventual winners were Jon Carson in his 1961 Chrysler T&C wagon along
with Harold Shew in his Valiant wagon. Friday
morning there was a choice of 2 tours – the “Fruit Loop” Tour or the Maryhill Museum of Art. We chose the scenic Fruit Loop
tour which took us on a leisurely drive up to a scenic ridge (Rowena Crest)
overlooking the Columbia Gorge, and then on to a Glass Blowing Artisan
factory and gallery with a lot of beautiful glass art and even gorgeous
bathroom sinks, and from there to a lunch stop at the “Gorge White House”
which also featured orchards and a wine-tasting venue. After a leisurely
lunch and chats with friends we headed back to the Shiloh Inn for the afternoon.
As to the other tour to the Maryhill Museum, I
heard that it was fantastic as well, and we would like to see it at some
point whenever we may be back in the area. The Maryhill
Museum was once a mansion constructed in concrete and steel around 100 years
ago by a man named Sam Hill, a Quaker. He eventually turned it into a
museum and it houses many priceless antiques and objet’s
d’art. A replica of Stonehenge that he had constructed sits on the grounds.
Friday evening was dinner on your own, but we managed
to get together with Jon and Patty Carson, Paul and Marja, and Paul and
Emmy Knight at a great place called “Cousins” in downtown Dalles. After that it was back to the hotel for an
evening of the guys - and some gals, tire kicking, chatting and washing
cars back at the hotel parking lot.
Weather through this time was
pleasant and not overly hot at all. Saturday morning dawned with cloudy
skies – but no forecast of rain- as we headed back west about a half hour
to the car show at the WAAM Air Museum. About 40 cars were arranged on the
field by 10 AM. Awards were given out around 2:30 and we managed to win
first in our class! (Chrysler). The WAAM Air Museum is a fantastic venue
and a must see with a large number of vintage air planes and cars on site. Our
lunch was catered there inside one of the hangers as well. At 6:00 PM
Saturday evening was the cocktail hour and 7:00 PM the banquet began. The
one award that was not given out at the show, “Best of Show” was presented
after the meal, and given out for a 1927 Chrysler Roadster. We were treated
after dinner to listen to Katherine Benedict and her sister (The Bumperettes!) performing Karaoke to the tune of
“Rolling up the River” with the words changed to reflect our regional meet,
much like what the PentaStars do. Speaking of the
PentaStars, we performed three songs after the Bumperettes, “”I’ll Make You Shine”, “How Much is that Mopar in the Window” and the ever iconic “Hemis and Fins” . That was one
song each, written by myself, Gene Kahn and Jon Carson. A fun time was had
by all. Sunday morning came , and some of us had breakfast together
in the hotel restaurant and then said farewells out in the parking lot as
people packed up to leave for home. We caravanned up again on i-97 along
with Gene and Donna Kahn, Rick and Laurel Berry, Kit Carson, and the Benjaminsons.
The weather on the east side of the Cascades is always
better than the west side, and it held out until we got close to the top of
the pass on i-90 when we ran into a few rain squalls, which came and went
through the afternoon as we drove down and turned over to and north on i-5.
We decided to take the Tsawassen ferry back home.
As we got close to the Blaine Border crossing, the sun was out again, but
not hot out, and then we spied the border sign that said “50 minute wait”.
Oh no, I thought that’s all we need – and it turned into a full one hour
wait. Sitting there with the car idling for an hour was not pleasant as the
old girl still has a generator, not an alternator, and generators do NOT charge
at idle. Adding to that was the fact that the engine temperature steadily
rose upwards – but not to overheat - as I had the A/C turned off and put
the heater on to take the heat away from the engine. After we finally got
through Customs and started driving again, the charging system was still on
discharge for about 8 minutes until the temperature under the hood went
down to normal, then it began to charge again. Apparently the voltage
regulator and/or the generator do not like to run in high temperatures! By
this time it was nearing 4:30 PM and we were hoping to get on the 6 PM
Ferry, but as we neared the terminal the signs said “Possible One Sailing
Wait”. And as you can guess, we didn’t get on until the 7 PM ferry, which
was late as well. We also had to sit idling and crawling forward outside
the ferry terminal in a long line as they loaded the ferry. At that point I
got out of the car and popped the hood open about a foot to try and keep it
cooler! We got home around 9:15 and unpacked the car after a long 12 hour
day. And that day didn’t even include a lunch stop, just snacks in the car.
I’ve had shorter days with further distances that didn’t include a long
border or ferry wait, the likes of which added over 2 hours to the
time! We wish to thank president David Duthie
and the members of the Pacific Wonderland Region who organized and hosted
another enjoyable Regional Northwest Meet.
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Driving to The Dalles - down 97 through Washington into Oregon
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Above,
right, and below Friday Morning Tour
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Lunch
Stop on Friday's Tour
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Below:
Saturday Car Show on the grounds of the WAAM Air Museum
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Three
Regional Presidents from left: David Duthie-
Pacific Wonderland WPC, Jon Carson- Puget Sound WPC, and Ian
Smale- Vancouver Island WPC
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Spectacular Scenery around the
Columbia River Gorge
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Below: Inside the WAAM
Air Museum where the show was hosted.
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Below: Saturday
Evening Banquet at the host hotel
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Below: The Evening culminated with the MoPar PentaStars performing a few spoof songs.
L-R Jon Carson, David Duthie, Ian
Smale, Gene Kahn
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