9^th Annual NIRG Poker Rally – September 23-25

By Ken Bounds

On the morning of September 23, members gathered in their Early V-8s at the Town & Country Mall in Arlington Heights for our first tour of the fall.  Driving Early V-8s and other classic Fords were Ken & Carolyn Bounds - 1950 Convertible, Joe & Nell Kozmic - 1953 Mercury, Joey Novak & Millie Olds - 1953 Mercury, John & Este Scheve - 1947 Coupe, John & Barb Slobodnik - 1954 Fordor, and Len & Irene Vinyard - 1957 Thunderbird.  Dan & Diane Pudelek, who are still looking for a “new” V-8, drove modern iron.  First timers on the Poker Run, Gary & Dawn Osborne, drove their Mustang.  Everyone donned their traditional tour buttons, donated again by Joey Novak.

The first leg of our trip took us on a leisurely 67-mile trip over scenic secondary roads to Williams Bay, Wisconsin, where we had lunch at Harpoon Willie’s and drew our first poker card.  We were joined at lunch by Larry Webb and his friend Virgie Burnquist.  Larry had intended to join us at the start, but when his 1963 Studebaker showed charging problems, he returned home to get modern iron.  We were also joined by Tom & Judy Buscaglia who drove their 1951 Tudor up just for lunch.

After a delicious lunch, we continued our drive to our home for the weekend, the nicely renovated Comfort Suites in Delavan.  Shortly after checking in, we gathered in the hotel parking lot on a gorgeous fall afternoon for some lively and fun car games.  Everyone had a great time and we were able to get in four games: plumb bob, back-up parking, blind toll booth and blindfolded driving.  No one was injured (except for a few egos) and the laughs were as much from the drivers as the audience.  Our parking cone and toll bucket did take a little battering, however.  Este, who had to be goaded into driving, attempted to create a new “long-distance” category in the blindfolded driving.  We only had time left for two “people games”, ball toss and washer toss.  Almost everyone tried their hand, plus we drew our second poker card.

Our evening meal was at a new location for us, the nearby Lake Lawn Resort.  We had a nice meal (many enjoyed the fish fry) with some super service and drew our third card.  All agreed that this restaurant should be added to our rotation.

Bright and early Saturday morning we were joined by Ron & Colleen Steck who had driven up in their 1941 Station Wagon.  Then we were off on another scenic drive, this time about 61 miles to Monroe, Wisconsin.  We arrived just in tine for our 10:15 am tour of the National Historic Cheesemaking Center.  Two docents met us in the parking lot and split our group in half  It was interesting to learn of the incredible history of Green County, which once was the home to over 300 cheese factories (now 16).  The cheese production totals over the years are incredible.  By 1925, for example, cheese factories within a 40-mile radius of Monroe produced 84% of the Swiss, 92% of the Limburger, and 10% of the Brick cheese manufactured in the United States - the volume was in the millions of pounds.

At noon we parked our cars on the very popular historic square and had lunch at a wonderful Tex-Mex restaurant, Pancho & Lefty’s and drew our fourth card.  Everyone commented that the food was delicious and the wait staff took very good care of us.  After some of our group were able to do a little shopping around the square, we were off to our final desination, the Minhaus Distillery.  Unfortunately, tours were suspended because of the just-completed Cheese Days festival which brought over 100,000 visitors to Monroe!  Several of us sampled the products of the distillery, some went to the Minhaus Brewery across the street, while others did a little more shopping.

We were ready to leave for our trip back to Delavan when Joe Kozmic’s Mercury decided it did not want to go.  After a little work and a new coil, we were on our way, only to have more problems along the road after several miles.  Most of the group continued on the route to Delavan while a couple of us stayed behind and got the car going, but with more problems that we would work on in the morning.

Saturday evening brought the highlight of the tour, our banquet and awards presentation.  We were joined at yet another new restaurant destination for our group, the incredibly popular Duck Inn north of Delavan, by our Wisconsin members Doug & Gail Leicht.  What a fabulous meal and outstanding service.  We will definitely return.  See photos of our group below.

A lot of fun was had as the winners and runners-up in the car games and people games were presented with $10 Culver’s gift cards and trophies donated by Dawn & Gary Osborne.  First place in the car games went to Joey Novak with Ken Bounds taking second.  John Slobodnik took the honors and the hardware in the people games with Larry Webb finishing second.

Also at the dinner, everyone drew their fifth and final poker card.  Anticipation filled the room as the winning high hand and low hand were determined and announced.  Ron Steck took home the $20 prize for his low hand of  5-7-8-9-10.  The grand prize winner of the weekend was Larry Webb.  His three sevens won him the coveted Dick Alfini Memorial Winning Hand Award along with a $100 bill.

Back at the hotel, many of us engaged in our usual late evening activity of a nightcap and some lively conversation.  Several years ago these sessions used to last into the wee hours.  Don’t know why, but these days we don’t seem to last very long.

After breakfast in the morning, our planned shopping trip to downtown Lake Geneva took a back seat as we spent a little more time working on the balky Mercury.  Although several maintenance items were changed, the real culprit turned out to be a condenser. 

With all cars now running like new, our group broke up and everyone went their separate way, maybe for some shopping or maybe just heading home.  Several of us caravanned together and had an uneventful trip home, arriving early afternoon.  We had a great weekend and thank everyone for participating.