Left last Sunday for the GoF West in Park City, Utah. It was a small event
only 109 registered, but the host club did a great job. Got to meet up with
some old friends and add some new ones, fellow listers Terry Sanders, Skip
Kelsy, and Lawrie Alexander were also there. I navigated for Terry on the
rally, we made only one small scenic detour that a few other also made.
After riding in the TA I probably will skip any MG's before a TD. There
were a few other prewar cars this year, Bob Rich had an L1 special, Jack
had a nice M type, Willie Williams had his new J2, and the black P type
from the Seattle was present. It was a little scarry see the M type trying
to make it up this one hill on the way to the car show. I left Thursday
afternoon before the awards dinner so I don't know who got any of the
awards. The TF covered about 1750 miles on the trip, thankfully the water
pump didn't give up until I hit Portland.
Saturday was the annual TSD rally for the Columbia Gorge MGA club. I was
dead tired after the drive back from Park City, so I skipped replacing the
water pump and took the B. The starting point turned out to be in the
middle of a running event, including baracades at one section of the
route. Other then that minor problem it was a great day. We ended up coming
in 16th of 49, not great but respectable considering how serious some
people were taking it.
On a sad note I just got back from Dick's memorial service. There were 23
local MG people there along with a TC, 2 TD's, 2 TF's, MGA, and 4 MGB's.
During the service they refrenced some stuff from the internet postings and
read the Enthusiest poem. They had copies of all the posting there along
with many personal letters, they also had several pictures from his trip to
Alaska. Most of the MG crowd went down to a local pub to hold a private
service for Dick. Goodbye my friend!
I'm also sad to here of the passing of Ray Gibbons. His ability to inject
humor into the list when it sorely needs it will be missed.
The GoF west also marked the passing of long time T type owner Jim Bigler.
A couple of years ago when I was looking at the pictures of the GoF in
Venture I noticed all I had was pictures of the cars, and almost none of
the people. The more I think about it, the cars are what bring us together,
but it's the people that keep bringing us back. Try not to overlook the
friends that you make in this hobby, they are so much more important than
any car.
Cheers, Lane
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