8^th Annual NIRG Poker Rally – September 25-27

By Ken Bounds

Autumn arrived early in the morning of September 23 and two days later members gathered in their Early V-8s and other classics for our first tour of the fall.  Meeting in Arlington Heights were Ron Blum – ’40 Fordor, Ken & Carolyn Bounds – ’50 Convertible (top down), Joe Novek & Millie Olds – ’53 Mercury, Dan & Diane Pudelek – ’56 Fordor, Joe & Delice Serritella, ’50 Oldsmobile, John & Barb Slobodnik, ‘54 Fordor, Stan Stack – ’53 Tudor, Ron & Colleen Steck – ’41 Station Wagon, and Larry Webb – ’63 Studebaker.  It was a real treat that Larry was able to join us after the loss of his wife Jerry in April; she had been a regular participant in the event for many years.  It was also nice that Ron & Colleen brought out their Station Wagon on its first road trip with the Club.

We had a gorgeous, warm morning for our leisurely drive up secondary roads to our lunch stop, the Red Barn at Twin Lakes Country Club in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin.  There we met Tom & Judy Buscaglia – ’51 Tudor and John & Robin Emmering – ’51 Fordor.  While enjoying a delicious lunch in a beautiful setting, we went over our plans for the weekend and drew the 1st card for our poker run. 

After lunch we continued over a scenic route to the Comfort Suites in Delavan.  This was our 10^th consecutive year staying at this hotel and we were pleased with the comprehensive renovation that had just been completed.  Soon after checking in we gathered in the hotel’s back parking lot for our traditional car games and people games.  We normally have to drive a couple of blocks to a strip mall to play, but luckily the hotel parking lot was available.  There were a lot of laughs as 14 different drivers took a chance at “plumb bob” and 11 driver/passenger combinations braved the “blind toll booth” game.  Fortunately there were no injuries and even fewer deaths.  Colleen had to be goaded into playing because she was apprehensive about driving the Woodie.  So what did she do?  She jumped in and nailed the closest distance in plumb bob.

Next, 17 players thrilled the crowd with lively games of ball toss and washer toss.  Because of ties, we had a three-round playoff in ball toss.  We also drew our 2^nd poker card.  After the games, Ron Blum and Stan Stack said goodbye and returned home.

Friday evening we all drove to nearby Delbrook Golf Course for dinner at Greenie’s Clubhouse.  On an ominous note, the engine started misfiring on our Convertible.  We barely made it.  We had a great dinner with lots of lively conversation and drew our 3^rd poker card.  Then it was back to the parking lot to see if the Convertible had cured itself.  It had not.  But, after a quick change of the condenser we were on our way.  The evening was still warm enough for some tire kicking in the parking lot.  It seems like these sessions end with all of us going to bed earlier than we used to.

Saturday brought another amazing sunny morning.  We got off to an early start, heading over back roads to Janesville.  If you like corn fields and farms, you loved this drive.  We arrived at our first stop, the Wisconsin Wagon Company, for a fantastic tour of a company that started hand-crafting wooden coaster wagons 100 years ago.  Although the company had shut down for many years, its revival over 35 years ago brought back the same techniques used by dedicated craftsmen to produce family heirlooms.  We were thrilled that one of these craftsmen, Kirk, had given up his Saturday morning to give us a tour.  At the end of the tour we presented him a 99-year old postcard featuring the Janesville Coaster Wagon.

Next it was on to the nearby Lincoln-Tallman House where we were able to park several of our cars on the curved driveway in front of the house.  This historic house was built by William Tallman from 1855 to 1857.  He and his family lived there from 1857 to 1915.  When Abraham Lincoln was making a speech in nearby Beloit in October of 1859, Tallman convinced Lincoln to travel to Janesville and spend two nights at his house; this is the only recorded time that Lincoln spent the night in a Wisconsin home.  Our group was broken in half and two able tour guides gave us an interesting tour of the house.  It is amazing that more than 75% of the furnishings are original to the house, which was technologically advanced for the day.

From here, we drove to O’Riley & Conway’s, a nearby Irish restaurant/pub for another delicious meal and the drawing of our 4^th card.  As we were leaving, our convertible let us know that the gremlins were back.  The car seemed to run OK, though, to our third tour of the day, the Rotary Botanical Gardens.

What a gem this place is!  We had a wonderful time wandering through the immaculate gardens.  The weather was perfect and there was even a wedding going on.  The gardens contain many walking paths are different themed gardens.  Also lots of benches to relax as you enjoy the setting.  Alas, after 90 minutes it was time to head back to Delavan.  The fun was about to begin.

Our convertible again was acting up.  We had to push start it, but it seemed to run OK.  After a few miles, though, it began to run rough.  Then the words came over the CB radio – John Emmering’s car had died.  The fix to John’s car that seemed to work was a replacement coil.  But by the time he was running, the Convertible was worse and it was apparent we would not make it far.  While most of the group headed back to Delavan, Joey & Millie and Larry stayed with us to work on the car.  After a change of condenser, coil, and carburetor, the engine was running again.

Back at the hotel, we learned that John & Robin had made it back, but the car would not restart.  More troubleshooting would have to wait until morning because it was almost time to leave for dinner.

Again this year we wrapped up our poker run with a wonderful meal at Sweet Aroma.  After drawing our final card, we learned that Joe Serritella was the big winner with three jacks and Delice was the winner of the low hand with 2-4-5-6-7.  Joe took home the grand prize of $100 and the Dick Alfini winning hand award.  Winning Culver’s gift cards were Joey Novak, overall winner of the car games and Ron Steck, overall winner of the people games.

We had one last, very special, award to hand out.  This was our first year without Jerry Webb on the tour.  Jerry was a trouper and even with failing health, she never missed the poker rally.  Instead of going on the Saturday tour, for the past several years Larry took Jerry to dialysis.  Yet she still wanted to come.  This year we presented the inaugural “Jerry Webb Memorial Stop and Smell the Roses” award to Larry Webb to commemorate the great attitude and spirit that Jerry brought to the event.

Sunday morning arrived and it was time to get back to the diagnosis of John Emmering’s ignition problem.  Joe Serritella quickly identified a short in the distributor and was able to remedy it in short order.  John’s car was now running fine, but John Slobodnik was not.  He did not feel well, so Larry drove him to a nearby hospital to get checked out.  Ultimately, all tests came back negative and John was released with a diagnosis of vertigo.  Our group split up with some going to the wood boat show in Fontana and others heading home.  John did not feel like driving, so I drove Barb and him in his car while Carolyn drove the Convertible with Dan & Diane following in case of car trouble.  We all made it home fine.

Overall, it was a terrific weekend with great friends, great food, interesting tours, outstanding weather and a lot of fun.  The vote was unanimous to meet again in one year for our 9^th Annual Rally.  See you there!