Veterans Cruise today

[bham-rick]

Had a great day on the water with the Hero's today ! Great weather and good water. Thanks to all involved who put this together. Thanks especially to the commodore for his patience as always ! Had more boats than Vets but that was better than the other way around. Darius the soldier that Clint and I had was from Maryland and had never been on a boat. He seemed a bit nervous at first but lit right up when he took the wheel. Got a chance to Thank each one personally for coming down and cruising with us it was a real honor.

Now for the negative - I don't know how you South Sound boys deal with all that traffic. That Ramp coming out was a nightmare, Traffic is amazing and having to take all those back streets just to get to the backed up Freeway ?? No wash down station - just killed me having to drive home with all that Salt and seaweed on my boat - Told Clint " I can just feel my trailer rusting " :nono1::nono1: I was fit to be tied by the time we got out of there.

Back to the positive :
Great day , great fun and good to see everybody that attended !! Highlight of the day was Chuck with the Dust buster cleaning his dash after a rough day at sea ! My soxs did get dry on the engine room clothesline F.Y.I. Did not get alot of pictures today

Good to see all those classics tied up together with Rainier in the background! Wish I could have been there but spent the day working on my cabin top. When I get this tub presentable, I plan to meet with you all someday!

Woohoo! Great weather!

[Tim McCrain]

Awesome day!

What a great event! A big thanks to Richard for all his work putting this together, he put a lot of effort into this and it really showed, everything went very smoothly and everyone had a great time.

We really lucked out with the weather, it was sunny all day and just the right temperature on the water. And Mount Rainier was gorgeous, the photos don't do it justice. It was really something seeing all the boats tied up at the dock with the mountain capping the scene off. I started a photo gallery in the Events catagory and uploaded some photos, mostly taken by my First Class First Mate Brendan (McSon) McCrain.

I had a chance to speak with the soldiers just before they departed for JBLM and they wanted to make sure that you all knew how much fun they had and how much they appreciated you making the effort to take them cruising. Mention was made of doing it again next year, which I think is a fine idea.

Everyone enjoyed the new exhibits at the Seaport Museum, there is much more there than last year, including a completely revamped vintage outboard display which I didn't have enough time to thoroughly examine. I'm thinking that next year we should organize a club meeting and guided tour of the museum, even if we just drive there like landlubbers. Great organization that is very worthwhile to support.

Thanks to the Museum for hosting us, they went beyond what we expected and took care of setting up the dining room, serving pizza, etc. Their hospitality was very much appreciated! Thanks also to Marshall Collins and his crew from the Coast Guard Auxiliary for volunteering their time to insure that we had a safe event, they even helped us dispose of some excess pizza which is for sure not in their job description. Tough duty, but they tackled it like true pros and sucessfully completed the mission. And speaking of pizza, a really big thanks to Domino's of Tacoma for donating the pizza! If you live in the Tacoma area and need pizza, be sure to send some business their way.

And last but not least, thanks so much to everyone who particpated in this event. It was a long way for most of you to travel and traffic getting home for all of us was less than enjoyable. But it was worth it!

Tim

[Skagitguy]

As others have said, it was truly a great day to get out on the water. Thanks to everyone that help put this event on. Rick i know how you felt with all of the seaweed and salt on the way home. Got under the trailer when home to pull the seaweed off and then a wash job along with the dust buster vac on the rug ! Going to have to get one of those clothesline's for the cabin. Chuck

[bham-rick]

As others have said, it was truly a great day to get out on the water. Thanks to everyone that help put this event on. Rick i know how you felt with all of the seaweed and salt on the way home. Got under the trailer when home to pull the seaweed off and then a wash job along with the dust buster vac on the rug ! Going to have to get one of those clothesline's for the cabin. Chuck

I pulled off at the first Car wash as you come into B-ham and paid for the $5.00 bonus wash - THEN went home and washed the boat . I couldn't get off that boat ramp fast enough !! :shocked4: