There were a few glitches, most notably the 2 hour border line-up on Saturday morning and the lack of working internet, even though we paid for it!, at the Motel 6 in Kelso but otherwise, the trip was a complete success.
My bumper sticker for the trip: 2 days, 928km, 84 cars = AWESOME
I did some vlogging thinking that it would be easier to upload video diaries than typing but the lack of internet caused a few glitches. I still, however, got the videos up. Here we go:
The first video from the trip is "Trip Intro" which is the 5th video down, everything newer is from the trip.
And we're not done yet! One of the forum members put together a little video, much like last years', except this time, there was a much larger convoy!
We were near the back of the pack this year at 4:09 (check out last year's video). Thanks again to aliens300c for the wicked vid:
The picture I took of the lot last year actually made it into the North West calendar but I'm not sure the same will be true this time around. There were simply too many cars and to boot, we had to park facing the helicopter rather than the observatory. Still, I managed a good shot:
On a good note, we did manage to see the mountain this year and it was fantastic!!
Yesterday D and I headed out for our first cruise with the car club down to Mt. St. Helen's. Met the small group (5 cars) out before the border, headed down and met up with another group. Along the way, before meeting up with the second biggest group at the base of the mountain, we had an envoy of 14 cars.
But that's nothing, when we pulled into the lot at St. Helen's there were a bunch more cars waiting. Didn't look like that many until we pulled in to the first overlook and started filling in the overflow parking lot
Yes, 38 [Edit: Apparently, the final count was 48 cars - and no, I didn't count them in the picture] cars take up a lot of space. Check it out:
Spot our beauty and get bonus points...
Apparently, we made the news too. I read on the forums that during the noon newscast it was mentioned that the station had received a call from state patrol that a "large group" of custom cars (I guess when you put us all together we all look custom), were making their way down the I-5 and causing all kinds of trouble! Not sure at "trouble" but we did get a lot of onlookers!
D and I actually went into the observatory at the top of the mountain and while in there, we lost the fellow Canucks so the drive home was much quieter (confession: who knew walkie talkies would come in so handy? Yes, there is a method to our madness) and D was exhausted so we had to stop a few times. Walked in the house at 10:30 and by 10:45 we were both snoring.
It was a fun filled day and a great way to meet some of the group members. Great bunch of people, everyone was super friendly and the organizers did a fantastic job. I can't wait for the next one!
I took some picture, which won't be posted until tomorrow but in the meantime, check out the pics of the event care of a fellow LXer Mr. Galloway.
