7th
Annual NIRG Poker Rally
By Ken Bounds
On the weekend of September 26-28, twenty-four NIRG members participated in our
7th
Annual Poker Rally. The only
problem was the weather. In the
approximately 30 years our regional group has been touring the Lake Geneva area
the last weekend in September, no one could remember three consecutive days of
sunshine with temperatures near 80 degrees.
And there is the problem: we may never again have a weekend for our rally
with such spectacular weather.
Meeting at the Town & Country Mall on Friday were Ken & Carolyn Bounds 51
Mercury, Joe & Marie Dispensa 50 Tudor, Joe & Nell Kozmic 53 Mercury, Joey
Novak & Millie Olds 53 Mercury, Dan & Diane Pudelek 53 Victoria, Jon &
Este Scheve 47 Coupe, Joe & Delice Serritella 41 Coupe, John & Barb
Slobodnik 54 Fordor, and Larry & Jerry Webb Modern.
Everyone received their tour folders and donned their rally buttons,
again generously donated by Joey Novak.
We had a leisurely drive up a scenic new route to our lunch destination, Mars
Resort on Lake Como. At lunch we
met Tom & Judy Buscaglia 51 Tudor and John & Robin Emmering 49 Fordor.
We went over the weekend itinerary, discussed the poker rally procedures,
and drew our first card of the weekend.
Several prizes were awarded: Delice Serritella, on her first rally, won a
bottle of wine from Primrose Winery in New Glarus for the first woman to draw a
queen. Joey Novak won a six-pack of
Spotted Cow beer as the first man to draw a king, and John Emmering won a jar of
Badger Breakfast maple syrup for drawing the high spade.
After lunch we continued on to our hotel for the weekend, the Delavan Comfort
Suites. After checking in, we
proceeded to a nearby parking lot to play car games and people games.
Here, we also drew our second card.
Diane Pudelek won a jar of blueberry salsa from a New Glarus shop for
drawing the high diamond.
We had a ball playing the games, and as usual they drew a number of onlookers
from the area. This year we
introduced two new car games and two new people games, along with some old
standards. Joey Novak was the
overall winner of the car games, winning a $20 Culvers gift card with Dan
Pudelek winning a $10 gift card for second.
Dan also took first in the people games, winning a $20 gift card while
Este Scheve took a $10 gift card for second place.
For dinner we drove to the nearby Pirates Cove to enjoy the fish fry.
This was our first time at this restaurant and everyone seemed to enjoy
it. Here we also drew our third
card with Este Scheve winning a wine glass from New Glarus for the high club.
Back at the hotel several participants sat in the parking lot, some of us
in shirtsleeves for the first time, and discusssed many of the worlds problems.
With our problem-solving abilities, it is hard to believe that we have to
worry about Ebola and fence jumpers.
Saturday morning we were joined by Stan Stack and Ron Blum who had driven up in
Stans 53 Tudor to join us. After
drawing our fourth card (Larry Webb won a jar of Wisconsin honey for the high
heart) we were off on our driving tour to New Glarus.
We took a scenic route over back roads, secondary roads, farm roads, and
one closed road before arriving at the rolling hills near New Glarus.
The route was interesting if you like corn, soy beans, farm houses and
agricultural aromas.
With Oktoberfest going on in New Glarus, the timing of our arrival was quite
fortunate. As we pulled into the
only parking lot in town that would accommodate all of our Early V-8s, everyone
else seemed to discover it. Before
we could get out of our cars, the parking lot was filled.
We drew our fifth card in the parking lot with Dan Pudelek winning a pair
of pint glasses from the Glarner Stube for the high spade.
In New Glarus everyone went their own way to enjoy the shops, the winery,
the beer tent, the Oktoberfest entertainment, and lunch.
Several of us ate at the old favorite Glarner Stube.
Some went to take a look at the Swiss United Church of Christ.
Carolyn and I even took a tour on a horse drawn wagon along with eight
people we had never met where we learned that the world is indeed a small place.
After everyone had their fill of fun downtown, we drove south to the New Glarus
Brewery. The place was a mob scene
because of the spectacular 80-degree weather.
Most of us had to park in a field a long way from the brewery, but we
still found a way to draw our sixth card.
Delice won a pair of glasses from the brewery for the high diamond.
We spent a little time at the brewery for sight-seeing, perhaps a brewery tour,
and maybe a glass or two of the local beverage.
Then we gathered again for the drive back to Delavan over a different
scenic route.
Our Saturday night dinner was at an old favorite that was closed for over 9
years, Sweet Aroma. It was
re-opened by the original owners earlier this year and was as good as we
remembered. We were able to squeeze
our group of 24 into a private room where we enjoyed a very nice dinner and
wrapped up our poker rally. We drew
our final card and once again, Delice was a winner.
She won a 2014 CNM wine stopper for the high club.
When all the cards were reviewed, Robin Emmering had won $20 for the low
hand of 3-4-6-7-8. Congratulations
to Ron Blum, our grand prize winner.
Ron was awarded the Richard Alfini trophy and $100 with the winning hand
of four deuces!
After breakfast Sunday morning we intended to play more people games, but the
lobby was taken over by a Porsche group that was launching a road rally from the
hotel. Some of the participants
began their drive home while others drove to Lake Geneva for shopping and lunch
at Popeyes. By early afternoon we
were on our way home and, as we understand it, everyone arrived without
incident.
Our thanks go out to all the participants for making this a wonderful weekend.
Special thanks to those participating for the first time Joe & Marie
Dispensa and Joe & Delice (Lucky) Serritella.
Thanks to Joey Novak for the rally buttons.
What a great way to wrap up the touring season with outstanding weather
all of us and for our Early V-8s.