Annual NIRG Picnic

By Scott Gilday

On August 30th, Don and Elaine Braun once again hosted our annual picnic at Timmermann’s Ranch in Island Lake.  We had an absolutely beautiful day; the ranch, owned by the Braun’s friends Art and Carol Timmermann, provided a great setting for our V-8s.  All that was missing was Gene Autry, his horse Champion and his 47 Mercury Woodie. 

A few of us got there early to set the tent up.  This could have been a real challenge with all of us car guys trying to figure out how to do this, but fortunately my youngest daughter Ciena was there to supervise and ensure we got it right.  The tent did not fall down, so she must have done a good job.   Ron Blum got this whole experience on stop-action video which he shared with the group at our September meeting.  After we got the tent up, folks started to arrive; we had a decent turnout of members and their   V-8s.  Despite the fact that a few of our regular attendees were on vacation, we still had about 30 people and 10+ V-8s. 

We were happy to see Don Braun there with Elaine and his 56 Pickup as well as number of other members including Charlie Kaiser, Ron Dopke, Norm Collins and granddaughter Corinne - 41 Mercury, John Bauer – 49 Pickup, Ron and Colleen Steck – 40 Pickup, Ron Blum – 40 Fordor, John and Este Scheve, Joe and Delice Serritella and grandchildren Joey & Angie, Dan and Diane Pudelek, daughter Catherine and grandchildren Jack & Isabella – 56 Fordor, Larry Webb - 63 Studebaker, Gary & Dawn Osborne, Roger Obecny and Mary Partyka - 40 Tudor, Len and Irene Vinyard – 57 T-Bird, John and Barbara Slobodnik - 54 Fordor, Jody Reeme & Steve Albertson - 39 Tudor, and my wife Nicole and me and our daughters Reese and Ciena – 41 Convertible.  We had some initial concerns because our regular chefs Bob and Cathy Sochacki were not available, but Dan Pudelek and Joe Serritella stepped in and saved the day by cooking brats and burgers to go with all the wonderful sides and desserts that everyone brought.  Needless to say, nobody left hungry.

As for having a good time, it’s hard to say who had more fun, the members sitting back and enjoying the late summer day and inspecting the display of beautiful V-8s, or the children running around and enjoying the horses.  My daughters Reese and Ciena had a great time playing with Dan’s and Joe’s grandchildren and are asking how soon we can have the next picnic so they can all play together again. 

Lastly during our 50-50 raffle run by Dan (no, no Pudeleks won this year), my daughter Ciena drew the winning ticket for Len Vinyard.

A great time was had by all and our thanks go out to Don and Elaine Braun and Art and Carol Timmermann for hosting the event and to all the others who helped make everything so successful.