Lake Chelan WA 5/04

Thanks to Cody for providing some of the high quality pics

The '04 Lake Chelan run (1st run of the '04 season) was once again a well attended and fun affair.  There were 9 Vipers including one from the Washington chapter.  Ron brought his new Saleen S7, John brought his new RAM SRT-10 truck and a Corvette was allowed to join in to cover the rear flank.

The run is about a 600 mile round trip, not including any side runs that some of the members took.  The trip covers a lot of fairly open country, so Memorial Day traffic was not a major problem.  VCA Prez and caravan leader Rob did a fine job of obeying most applicable laws.

The day started out pretty dreary as the group gathered at the Troutdale Truck stop off I-84..



We had rain on and off for the first 50 miles of the trip or so and then fortunately the sun came out.  Having cleared the rain showers, the group took a short break at the nearest rest stop.  Ron entertained the crowd with the remote controlled doors on the S7.   Shelby hung around like a groupie waiting for an invite to sit in the car.

...... and is still waiting.


Once relieved of the excess truck stop coffee and having tired of playing with the S7 doors, the group once again hit the road.



Lunch on the trip over was at the Selah Heights Winery where we had it last year.  They opened up the facility just for us. They immediately directed us to park on the lawn for a photo shoot.  Apparently the group made an impact on the owners last year and they were happy to have us back again this year. Thanks to Jon and www.PartsRack.com for providing the lunch again this year.

Cody's roof mounted camera captured some of the excitement along the way.  Who knew you can actually buy red and white duct tape?  Good looking group.  Hard to believe that this shine was after driving through the rain.

Ron's S7 looked like it could mow grass with the low front air dam on that thing.  580hp and a 2750lb carbon fiber body make this one serious road car, even if it is missing two cylinders.  http://www.saleen.com/auto/S7/S7GeneralInfo.htm#Beast&Beauty

John's SRT-10 Ram and Cody's FE

The remainder of the 300 mile trip over to Lake Chelan was mostly uneventful, though the SRT-10 RAM did get stopped by the law.  Once the officer confirmed it was one of the new Viper powered trucks just trying to catch up with the pack of Vipers ahead after leaving a rest stop, it was cleared for takeoff.

We stayed at the Campbell's resort in Lake Chelan.  Once again the club provided security for the Vipers in the parking lot of the hotel.  This year, the college spring break crowd was only a fraction of last years, so things were a little less hectic, especially for the security guards.   The plan to bring the S7 along to take the unwanted crowd attention away from the Vipers also worked very well, though very few actually knew what they were looking at.

Cody & Jenesa in front of their Viper.  Either they are posing for the picture, or just trying to cover the odd prints on their window which seemed to mysteriously materialize.


After staying up until the wee hours Friday night imbibing, Cody and Dick managed to drag themselves out of bed around 5AM for a grudge match of golf.  It was unclear whether young Cody's plan to keep the more mature Dick up past his bedtime would tip the balance in his favor.  Conflicting stories upon their return make a clear winner difficult to determine.  Did youth actually triumph over experience or did Dick actually teach the young whipper snapper a thing or two?  A rematch (and quite possibly some witnesses) will probably be required to sort this one out.

Part of the group decided to go check out the Grand Coulee Dam which is about a 150 mile round trip.  Rumor has it that the S7 and some of the others may have exceeded the speed limit slightly during the run.  Showing some common sense, the rest of the group decided to hang out around the hotel pool to ensure the college crowd didn't get out of hand.   Showing no sense at all, Shelby decided to take a swim in the cold lake.



Nice shot of Rob, Dick and Cody's Vipers by the lake.


Sunday, the group headed back in several subgroups based primarily on how early people wanted to get started.  The only excitement on the way back occurred when Rob exited into a dirt turnout at a high rate of speed to make an emergency pit stop.   Thankfully a Porsche stopped to ensure everyone was OK.