Tour of the Month
Hat Rock, Oregon State Park tour - October 18-19 , 2024
We had a great time on the Hat Rock, Oregon State Park tour. Driving Model A’s were Gary Swartz, Jerry Aliff with Warren riding shot gun & Roger Green. In a newer Ford were Jim & Marylyn Kelly. This was Jerry’s first tour with us, and I think the longest Model A drive he has done. We left Fred Meyers heading East on Highway 14, lunched at the Country Café in Lyle, gassed up in Murdock and drove on into the Oxford Inn in Hermiston. Dinner was at Nookie’s Restaurant where we were joined by Harry & Barbara Buckwalter. In the morning, we drove to Safeway to “prepare” food for the potluck picnic. The next stop was to Harry’s place for a visit to his Out builds, garage, shop, machine barn… …well you get the idea. What I know is an hour or two is not enough time to see it all. Thanks, Harry!
Then it was on to Hat Rock, Oregon State Park, just another 6 miles away. There we met up with the Columbia Basin A’s, Walla Walla Sweet A’s & the Blue Mountain A’s. I think there were about 15 Model A’s in attendance (maybe more). We had a good time and a fine meal; it was not like I was once told that a 7- course meal on the road was 6 beers and a hot dog!
After lunch I was asked to sit in on a planning meeting for the 2026 National MAFCA Meet in Pendleton titled “This Ain’t Our First Rodeo!” Present at the meeting were Jack Remillard-Chair, Don Gibbard-Co-Chair, Gary Sec./Tres., Jan Jackson-Advertising/Publicity and Roger Green-NW Regional President. Plans are well on the way, and it is shaping up to be a great week.
Two thing the Volcano A’s have been asked to do:
Organize the Hospitality Room
"Gentlemen Start Your Engines"
The thoughts about the Hospitality Room are for us to ask clubs in our region to take a day each to man the room, that way no one club will miss the whole meet. Jack’s take on “gentlemen start your engines”, was two clubs at a time, would compete against each other to sort out the problems and get their cars started.
Then it was on to Hat Rock, Oregon State Park, just another 6 miles away. There we met up with the Columbia Basin A’s, Walla Walla Sweet A’s & the Blue Mountain A’s. I think there were about 15 Model A’s in attendance (maybe more). We had a good time and a fine meal; it was not like I was once told that a 7- course meal on the road was 6 beers and a hot dog!
After lunch I was asked to sit in on a planning meeting for the 2026 National MAFCA Meet in Pendleton titled “This Ain’t Our First Rodeo!” Present at the meeting were Jack Remillard-Chair, Don Gibbard-Co-Chair, Gary Sec./Tres., Jan Jackson-Advertising/Publicity and Roger Green-NW Regional President. Plans are well on the way, and it is shaping up to be a great week.
Two thing the Volcano A’s have been asked to do:
Organize the Hospitality Room
"Gentlemen Start Your Engines"
The thoughts about the Hospitality Room are for us to ask clubs in our region to take a day each to man the room, that way no one club will miss the whole meet. Jack’s take on “gentlemen start your engines”, was two clubs at a time, would compete against each other to sort out the problems and get their cars started.
Beacon Rock, Roger's '30 Town sedan and Jerry Aliff's '31 Fordor
The Oaks at Timberline Rehab Center Tour - September 21, 2024
Mount Saint Helens Tour May 18, 2024
The Columbia River George Museum Tour April 20, 2024
Veterans Day Parade - 11/11/2023
Ridgefield July 4th Parade - 7/4/2023
The weather was fantastic again this year for the Ridgefield 4th of July Parade. Thank You to all that participated. A special Thank You to Bob Rusunen for the fantastic photos. The Cover photo was also provided by Bob, reimaged using Fotor software. (L to R) Roger Green 31 roadster, Jack Mattingley 29 tudor, Jim Kelly 30 tudor, Marlin Binder 29 coupe and John Earnest 29 woody.
Pearson Air Museum Tour - 3/26/2022
Saturday, March 26th, we gathered at the Wal-Mart parking lot near Mill Plain & I-205. Gary did a wonderful job of herding the Model A’s down Mill Plain, keeping us all together through all those traffic lights (I was never able to do that!). Soon we were at the wrong gate to get in, but that’s OK, because this year we got a great tour of the general aviation area and a couple of taxiways.
There were 5 Model A’s and several newer cars. Bob & Sherry Rusunen, Jim & Marylan Kelly, Gary & Joyce Swartz, Leonard & Linda Willey, Pete Hazard & Jann Jones, Deon & Pat Schroeder, Corley & Nancy Wooldridge, Austin Alling, Jesse Baker & Sandra Guyot, Eirik, Karen & Carma Huset, John Earnest and Roger Green were all in attendance.
The Museum has changed through the years, but the Park Service pulled it together to tell an interesting and important history of the spruce production for the war effort in this area. After the museum it was off to lunch at McGrath’s. They pulled tables together so we all fit in. Lisa, our waitress did a wonderful job and we had plenty of time to chat. Gary and Joyce led us through a game of ‘guess how many gum balls were in a jar’ and Carma was the closest. Gary presented her with a Might-T-Fine award, a gift certificate to Fred Meyers.
I would like to thank everyone who turned out and Gary for putting on a great tour.
Random ROG
There were 5 Model A’s and several newer cars. Bob & Sherry Rusunen, Jim & Marylan Kelly, Gary & Joyce Swartz, Leonard & Linda Willey, Pete Hazard & Jann Jones, Deon & Pat Schroeder, Corley & Nancy Wooldridge, Austin Alling, Jesse Baker & Sandra Guyot, Eirik, Karen & Carma Huset, John Earnest and Roger Green were all in attendance.
The Museum has changed through the years, but the Park Service pulled it together to tell an interesting and important history of the spruce production for the war effort in this area. After the museum it was off to lunch at McGrath’s. They pulled tables together so we all fit in. Lisa, our waitress did a wonderful job and we had plenty of time to chat. Gary and Joyce led us through a game of ‘guess how many gum balls were in a jar’ and Carma was the closest. Gary presented her with a Might-T-Fine award, a gift certificate to Fred Meyers.
I would like to thank everyone who turned out and Gary for putting on a great tour.
Random ROG
Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge Tour - 2/26/2022
We just completed our first tour of the year and what a great turnout. We had 24 participants, 13 cars and Dian Lane won the drawing for a free lunch. We already have more tours planned for 2022 and we hope that even more participants will be able to join in on the fun. Remember if you need some help getting your Model A back on the road, simply let us know and we can help. Helping each other is a nice benefit to joining our club.
Gary Swartz
Gary Swartz
Sternwheeler Tour Pictures – 9/9/2021
Tri-Cities, WA Tour, 6/7-10/2021
What is better than a 600-mile drive in a Model A?
It turns out that there are several things that come to mind, home-made ice cream is one of them, but what if you could have both a model A trip and home-made ice cream? That would almost be nirvana, right? Well, that is what we had on the Tri-Cities tour! A beautiful drive to a gorgeous place, with home-made ice cream to boot. PLUS, what great fellowship with friends and new acquaintances!
Mike and Becky Blick (probably mostly Becky), worked hard to set up a fantastic tour for us. They arranged for a great motel right on the Columbia River, and many wonderful eateries for us to feast, and feast we did! But that’s not all, they also arranged for several interesting places to tour through, around, and over, that kept us busy with gawking and observing. I did not see any rattle snakes on Rattle Snake Mountain, but perhaps I was napping (again). Without going into all the details, we can say with certainty that everyplace they took us was more interesting than the last, until our minds were filled with new experiences and knowledge. One highlight I will mention was a luncheon at a working 1000-acre farm, (home of Paul and Leah Miller, good friends of 3 of our party), with a home cooked meal prepared especially for us, that included the afore mentioned HOME MADE ICE CREAM! Yummy!!!
Woe is me, the tour was not without incidence, however, with Mattingly’s car having a hang nail before even leaving the driveway, and another car on its knees when we were only halfway to the Tri-Cities. But wait, the good news was that hero Roger Green volunteered to bring his van and trailer, so this breakdown only slowed us for about 15 minutes for loading up, and we were on our way again. This breakdown was a major engine failure with Lenard and Linda Willy’s coupe, but being a ‘major’ fatal event, was deemed to be too severe an incident to qualify for adding insult in injury by breaking out Bruno, the break down Brute. But rest assured, Bruno saw the bright beautiful sun later in the event, when Mike’s car lock mysteriously locked him out of the car. This took a broken window, and some lost blood for Mike to break in and get going, but superior intelligence and cunning won the day as Mike broke a window and only lost about 30 minutes of time and a pint of blood. Just enough so that he got to sport a new friend (Bruno) on his back bumper for the remainder of the trip. (I love it when we can kick someone who is already down and bleeding!) Mike was a good sport, and only cried for a few hours after being awarded Bruno.
What we had, folks, was 4 days of sunshine, daytime temps in the low 70s, nights in the high 50s, which could not have been any better! Beautiful scenery, new exposures, and massive radiation. Well, not really radiation, but we did set foot on the Hanford nuclear site, the Reach Museum, drives through the gorgeous countryside, making new friends, and oh wait, did I mention HOME MADE ICE CREAM?
Friends, it doesn’t get no better’n this! A HUGE thanks goes to Mike and Becky for all the hard work, planning, and sharing of their knowledge of the Tri-Cities area! If you missed this tour, you really missed out on something special! (Who knew the Tri-Cities area doesn’t suck? Put another way, we never knew that the Tri Cities area was so beautiful and interesting?)
Hang in there, we have more tours coming up this year that will knock your socks off with fun filled excitement and wonderful times with our Model A friends. You will have more chances to get together, now that we feel a bit safer spending time together, mask free (for those who are vaccinated). Try not to miss any of these events, each one is special in its own way! AND Bruno stands ready to assist as needed (if Mike will give Bruno up, seems like he has become attached and even tried to sleep with him, but Becky put her foot down on that. Of course, this is all rumor…).
It turns out that there are several things that come to mind, home-made ice cream is one of them, but what if you could have both a model A trip and home-made ice cream? That would almost be nirvana, right? Well, that is what we had on the Tri-Cities tour! A beautiful drive to a gorgeous place, with home-made ice cream to boot. PLUS, what great fellowship with friends and new acquaintances!
Mike and Becky Blick (probably mostly Becky), worked hard to set up a fantastic tour for us. They arranged for a great motel right on the Columbia River, and many wonderful eateries for us to feast, and feast we did! But that’s not all, they also arranged for several interesting places to tour through, around, and over, that kept us busy with gawking and observing. I did not see any rattle snakes on Rattle Snake Mountain, but perhaps I was napping (again). Without going into all the details, we can say with certainty that everyplace they took us was more interesting than the last, until our minds were filled with new experiences and knowledge. One highlight I will mention was a luncheon at a working 1000-acre farm, (home of Paul and Leah Miller, good friends of 3 of our party), with a home cooked meal prepared especially for us, that included the afore mentioned HOME MADE ICE CREAM! Yummy!!!
Woe is me, the tour was not without incidence, however, with Mattingly’s car having a hang nail before even leaving the driveway, and another car on its knees when we were only halfway to the Tri-Cities. But wait, the good news was that hero Roger Green volunteered to bring his van and trailer, so this breakdown only slowed us for about 15 minutes for loading up, and we were on our way again. This breakdown was a major engine failure with Lenard and Linda Willy’s coupe, but being a ‘major’ fatal event, was deemed to be too severe an incident to qualify for adding insult in injury by breaking out Bruno, the break down Brute. But rest assured, Bruno saw the bright beautiful sun later in the event, when Mike’s car lock mysteriously locked him out of the car. This took a broken window, and some lost blood for Mike to break in and get going, but superior intelligence and cunning won the day as Mike broke a window and only lost about 30 minutes of time and a pint of blood. Just enough so that he got to sport a new friend (Bruno) on his back bumper for the remainder of the trip. (I love it when we can kick someone who is already down and bleeding!) Mike was a good sport, and only cried for a few hours after being awarded Bruno.
What we had, folks, was 4 days of sunshine, daytime temps in the low 70s, nights in the high 50s, which could not have been any better! Beautiful scenery, new exposures, and massive radiation. Well, not really radiation, but we did set foot on the Hanford nuclear site, the Reach Museum, drives through the gorgeous countryside, making new friends, and oh wait, did I mention HOME MADE ICE CREAM?
Friends, it doesn’t get no better’n this! A HUGE thanks goes to Mike and Becky for all the hard work, planning, and sharing of their knowledge of the Tri-Cities area! If you missed this tour, you really missed out on something special! (Who knew the Tri-Cities area doesn’t suck? Put another way, we never knew that the Tri Cities area was so beautiful and interesting?)
Hang in there, we have more tours coming up this year that will knock your socks off with fun filled excitement and wonderful times with our Model A friends. You will have more chances to get together, now that we feel a bit safer spending time together, mask free (for those who are vaccinated). Try not to miss any of these events, each one is special in its own way! AND Bruno stands ready to assist as needed (if Mike will give Bruno up, seems like he has become attached and even tried to sleep with him, but Becky put her foot down on that. Of course, this is all rumor…).
Trout Lake Tour- July 18, 2020
We will start at the Nazarene church where we hold our monthly meetings, cruise through the hills to Washougal, then head on up the gorge. We will then head north to Trout Lake, where we will stop for lunch, and hold the July club meeting. Does "Wood Fired Pizza" sound good after a morning of cruising? After lunch, we will make a stop at "Studebaker Bob's" to view his projects, then head for home. To get back home, we will head cross country, traveling through Gifford Pinchot National Forest, on our way to Swift Dam, Cougar, Amboy, and home. We plan to put together a challenge for the navigators to compete along the way. This is a pretty long tour, and a full day for the model As, so come prepared for tons of fun!
Always, reminders about wearing face masks when in public and keeping socially distant are important if we are to do these tours. This threat to our health is not over, by any means. Masks are not a political statement; they are a health issue! Smart/thinking people will wear their masks when practical and social conditions indicate their use.
"Thank You" Tour , Vancouver, WA, 4/24/2020 & 5/14/2020
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Smooth Rider Tour (Walla Walla, Lewiston, Enterprise), 9/18-22/2019
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Annual Club Picnic Tour, La Center, WA - 8/11/2019
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Veteran's Day Parade, Ft. Vancouver, Vancouver, WA - 11/10/2018
Tour to Mt. St Helen's Overlook, WA - 9/29/2018
President's Tour, Leavenworth, WA - 9/12-15/2018
We arrived home late Saturday afternoon, after enjoying a fun filled 4-day event on our tour to Leavenworth, we drove I-5 to Hwy 12 stopping in Packwood for lunch. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery through White Pass and then onto Yakima where we spent the night at a very nice Comfort Suites. The next morning, we traveled North to Ellensburg and had to take a detour around Blewett Pass because of road construction. The detour added about sixty miles to our tour going through Vantage, Quincy, East Wenatchee, Cashmere then to Leavenworth. Seeing the Columbia River in a much different form than from home was interesting. Leavenworth was packed with tourists from all around the world having a great time enjoying the Bavarian town. As we drove into town with our Model A’s everyone was clapping and cheering as they were enjoying an unexpected parade. Our stay in town was very enjoyable, enjoying the shops, restaurants, people and great weather.
On our return trip Blewett Pass was open so we drove Hwy 97 to Ellensburg where Jim Kelly led us to an old Mobil gas station and diner that was restored very nicely, and the milk shakes were very good. From Ellensburg we drove back on Hwy 12 then took Hwy 410 to Chinook Pass which took us through the William O. Douglas Wilderness, very scenic. After a great day filled with memorable experiences we spent the night in Packwood.
When we left La Center on Wednesday; the beginning of our tour, I presented Bob Rusunen with Bruno, the sick chicken award because of a parking brake failure at our Club Picnic, rolling through an electric fence scratching Bob’s almost perfect car, so Bob thinking that event was a secret was very surprise. Bob was keen on passing Bruno on to another car as soon as possible, watching closely for someone’s misfortune. Wouldn’t you know it, the next morning as we were preparing to leave Packwood my car would not start, after checking fuel and spark we discovered the distributor had jumped timing as the locking bolt on the distributor had come loose. I haven’t been awarded Bruno yet, but I am sure there will be more discussion on this event.
See you on Roger’s Overlook Tour on September 29th for more fun and kibitzing.
Jerry
On our return trip Blewett Pass was open so we drove Hwy 97 to Ellensburg where Jim Kelly led us to an old Mobil gas station and diner that was restored very nicely, and the milk shakes were very good. From Ellensburg we drove back on Hwy 12 then took Hwy 410 to Chinook Pass which took us through the William O. Douglas Wilderness, very scenic. After a great day filled with memorable experiences we spent the night in Packwood.
When we left La Center on Wednesday; the beginning of our tour, I presented Bob Rusunen with Bruno, the sick chicken award because of a parking brake failure at our Club Picnic, rolling through an electric fence scratching Bob’s almost perfect car, so Bob thinking that event was a secret was very surprise. Bob was keen on passing Bruno on to another car as soon as possible, watching closely for someone’s misfortune. Wouldn’t you know it, the next morning as we were preparing to leave Packwood my car would not start, after checking fuel and spark we discovered the distributor had jumped timing as the locking bolt on the distributor had come loose. I haven’t been awarded Bruno yet, but I am sure there will be more discussion on this event.
See you on Roger’s Overlook Tour on September 29th for more fun and kibitzing.
Jerry
This page last updated 10/4/2024