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SoCal Caravan 09 eNewsNo. 9 - 7/13/07>>>TOP STORY<<< >Route Book Manager, "Commander" Tony Megowan says: "The Route has been approved." (Irvine, CA 7/13/07) "Commander" Tony Megowan, who heads the SoCalCar's Route Book project, tells the SoCalCar eNews that the route from the starting point in Fontana, California to Adrian, Texas has been finalized. This will be the path the Caravan takes up until mid-morning on the third day. Tentatively, we'll start from the "Inland Empire" area of Southern California on Saturday morning, 29 August 2009. We'll take I-15, north to Barstow, then go east on I-40 to Needles CA and Kingman AZ. On that segment, 60-90 minutes will be written-in to the schedule for gas and food stops wherever Caravanners want to stop, but obviously, the towns of Needles CA or Kingman AZ will be the choice of most. We'll reform the Caravan north of Kingman on Arizona State Route 66 (which is also old or "Historic 66") then head for Seligman AZ. In Seligman, the tentative plan is to stop at the famed "Sno-Cap" drive-in for ice cream and cool drinks. From there we'll continue on AZ SR66, get back on to I-40 at exit 139. From there, it's a short run to Flagstaff AZ, our first overnight. The second day, we'll leave Flag, headed east on I-40. 60-90 min. will be written into the plan that day for gas and lunch in either Gallup or Albuquerque NM. We'll reform the Caravan in both Gallup NM and In Moriarty NM. Also, between Albuquerque NM and Moriarty we will run on some sections of Historic 66. We'll leave Moriarty NM and continue as a Group to Tucumcari New Mexico for our second overnight. The morning of the third day, we'll head east, out of Tucumcari. We'll meet with North Texas/Oklahoma Caravan in either Adrian or Amarillo Texas that morning. From there, the route and events will be planned by Captain Tuna Dobbins' N TX/OK Caravan and Captain Jan Marshall's AR Caravan. Megowan tells us that this route was discussed and approved at the SoCalCar "Commander's Council" meeting on July 14th. >>OTHER NEWS<< >Party Time!! If you were on the SoCalCar on 03, you'll remember we partied pretty hardy, especially the night before we left the Speedway and again two nights later in Tucumcari. While the "Route Book Guy" Tony Megowan told us all about the route, we weren't hearing too much about Caravan night life so we tracked down the SoCal Captain, Hib Halverson, and put the question to him. "Well...I'm just as much a party boy as the next guy," Halverson admitted to the eNews, "but, I'm not ready to release details on the plans for our social events, just yet. We're still two years out and we need time to plan things, but you can count on plenty of fun. One of our Team members, 'Commander' Brent Hicks will be organizing the "departure night" event along with the following night in Flagstaff AZ. I'm going to organize the event in Tucumcari, New Mexico, myself, along with a possible mid-morning event in Adrian Texas, about an hour east of Tucumcari. "We have only begun working on that part of the SoCal Caravan just recently and I think it's going to be 6-8 months before we're ready to announce any details beyond what we've already released." >San Diego Feeder Caravan Captain Hib Halverson announced that the SoCalCar Organizing Team has appointed Jim Estoch of Temecula as a "Caravan Lieutenant." Estoch was a participant in the 2003 SoCalCar and is a member of "Corvettes of Temecula Valley." He lives in Temecula and owns a pair of 2000 Convertibles, one of which has been rebodied as a "retro" '53 Commemorative Edition. Jim will organize the San Diego area "feeder caravan" which will start from San Diego on Friday morning 28 August 2009, then proceed through Oceanside and Temecula and on to the Inland Empire, arriving at approximately 4:00 PM. Those needing information about the San Diego Feeder should contact "Lieutenant" Jim Estoch at: jumbodistrib@yahoo.com or by calling 951-699-1789. >Southern Nevada Caravaners Participants in the 2009 National Corvette Caravan from Southern Nevada (areas such as Las Vegas, Henderson, Pahrump, Searchlight and Laughlin) should register for the SoCalCar. You will be part of a "Feeder Caravan" which will leave the Las Vegas/Henderson area on Saturday morning, 29 August and meet the main SoCalCar in either Needles California or Kingman Arizona about lunchtime that day. The SoCalCar Organizing Team is looking for a local leader from Southern Nevada to organize and lead that Feeder Caravan. This person must live in Southern Nevada, be well connected with the Corvette Clubs in the area and have experience organizing events and planning caravans. Anyone interested in this position on the SoCalCar Organizing Team should contact Hib Halverson at captain.socalcar@charter.net. >Recent Commander's Council Meeting The core leadership of the SoCalCar met in Irvine CA on Saturday the 14th of July. Some of the matters covered at the meeting are discussed above. Other issues were radios and radio frequencies--at this point, UHF-FM radios using GMRS frequencies continue to be the first choice. The SoCalCar's recently-concluded survey suggests the large majority of Caravanners are happy with that. The Special Start-Up Sponsorship program is working well. The program will end on 9/1/07. Anyone or any business wanting to become a Special Start-Up Sponsor of the Southern California Section of the 2009 National Corvette Caravan should contact Hib Halverson at captain.socalcar@charter.net. Plans for social events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights were discussed at length. The final Council meeting of 2007 will take place in mid-November. >Arizona and New Mexico going solo--what's up with that? We told you in eNews 7 that Captain Bob Kroener's Arizona/New Mexico Caravan is not going to join with the SoCal, N. TX/OK and Arkansas Caravans. A few eNews readers have asked why. Based on what we read on the National Caravan web site, Capt. Kroener is going to start in Phoenix and travel to Albuquerque NM and thence to Oklahoma City OK on his first day. For the first part of his trip, that puts his group farther south in Arizona and western New Mexico than our route. Also, Kroener plans to arrive in Bowling Green late on Thursday whereas we are arriving a day earlier. Capt. Kroener's announced plan is to depart Phoenix a day after we depart Flagstaff. In addition, we suspect Kroener's pace and route will be more aggressive (ie: he wants to cover more ground per day) than are the route and daily schedules of the Southern California Caravan. >Plant Tours We've been asked about Corvette assembly plant tours which are available on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Bowing Green during the '09 NCM Labor Day Event. We will post information about plant tour reservations as soon as we have it, however, we've been told that no reservations for plant tours during that weekend will be taken prior to 1/1/09. SoCalCar Captain Hib Halverson tells the eNews that a key element of the Organizing Team's route plan is to get Caravanners to Bowling Green on Wednesday night so they have best chance of getting a plant tour sometime in the following three days. Thanks for reading. Best regards,
SoCal Caravan 09 eNews |
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