Our Tour to the Central National Meet - “That was Quick”

By Ken Bounds

On Saturday, July 11, eight NIRG members and families headed north for the Great Northwoods Getaway – the 2015 Central National Meet.  We had no idea that it would be 2 days driving there, 2 days driving home, and 1 day at the “Meet”.  Leading the main group in his ’40 Mercury was Tom O’Donnell, accompanied by son Steve, daughter-in-law Ronnie and granddaughter McKenna; Ron Steck in his ’40 Pickup; Jeff Trilling in his ’52 Pickup (wife Mondira drove separately); and John & Este Scheve trailering their ’37 Tudor.  Ken & Carolyn Bounds drove ahead in their ’51 Mercury because they had to arrive a day early to work on judging teams.  Traveling separately were Sam & Nina Van Bruggen trailering their ’40 Coupe, and Marshal and Sue Adams from Peoria trailering their ’40 Pickup.

We drove straight through to Brainerd, checking the route the main group would take behind us.  We arrived at the meet site, Cragun’s Resort, about 3:30 in the afternoon, spent some time visiting and having dinner, then worked with John McBurney on the judging teams.  After breakfast Sunday morning, I helped out preparing for registration while Carolyn continued work on preparing documents for the judging teams.  Meanwhile, the group behind us had spent the night in St. Croix Falls, WI, and was making progress on the final leg of the trip to Brainerd.

Meet registration opened at 1:00 and we had a great time visiting with V-8ers from all over the country.  The rest of our group had arrived around noon.  One order of business was helping Marshal with an unexpectedly locked door on his Pickup.  John McBurney got the door open with minimal damage.  Several from our group assisted in getting the operational check open on a hot afternoon and checked several cars.

At 5:00 pm, when some participants were still getting checked into their rooms, the pre-welcome party was held on a deck, followed by the welcome party buffet in the dining room.  Soon after welcoming talks by co-chair Bruce Nelson and National President Steve Lemmons, the 125 or so in attendance were herded into a hallway because of a severe storm approaching.  You could hear the tornado siren over the announcement.  We soon moved into a large room so we could sit down, but then the lights went out.  The emergency lighting all failed.

Over the next hour or so, hotel staff made several announcements.  The power was out because of downed power lines.  Damage outside was severe due to downed trees and lines.  There was damage to vehicles.  When we were finally allowed to leave, we were admonished to avoid going outside because of the power lines and not to flush our toilets because the resort was unable to pump water.  In the dim light that remained, we could see that the damage was extensive.  We made our way back to our rooms by the light from cell phones.

Monday morning we could see how terrible the storm had been.  Trees were down everywhere, the ½-mile road into the resort was totally blocked with trees.  Crews were already at work trying to clear the downed trees from the road and the parking lots.  The resort appealed to their entire staff to come in to help the approximately 600 guests free their vehicles and prepare to leave as soon as the road was clear.  Bruce Nelson made the sad announcement that the Meet was cancelled as the hotel was not safe for anyone to be there.

Sadly, this was the Meet that never was.  Most of us were very lucky with limited damage to our vehicles.  Others were not so lucky.  Below are several photos to try to show you what we experienced.  Time to lick our wounds and get ready for Tulsa and Gettysburg!

Follow Up:  The National Weather Service reported that the Brainerd storm was a downburst 8 miles long and 3 miles wide with straight-line winds of up to 100 mph.  Cragun’s is a family-owned resort that has been in business for 75 years.  They have never been hit with as severe a storm as the one Sunday night, July 12, that resulted in the unprecedented cancellation of the 2015 Central National Meet.  Until that day, Cragun’s had never had to close because of storm damage.  Power came back up on Thursday and the resort reopened Friday, July 24.

Damage to NIRG vehicles was minor.  Pat Rooney and Jay Rounds reported that their trailers were fine (fortunately they had unloaded their cars) and that their trucks had minor damage.

Gary Nielson was not so fortunate.  His ‘50 Mercury (photo of the month) was a total loss.  He has already sold it to someone who intends to restore it!  The ‘41 Ford, ‘40 Coupe, and ‘37 Slantback above had only minor damage.  Gerry Herber, who drove his ‘51 Mercury over 1,500  miles from Bellvue, WA, sent us a follow up recently with several photos.  There was a lot of damage, the most serious being the buckled A-post.  He will have the car repaired for an estimated $15,000.

Here is the best news: no one was hurt.  The vehicles can be repaired.  Well, most of them.