Doheny Wood

Part of my responsibilities as your national Woodie Club Western Rep is to attend and network with other woodie enthusiast. This may seem like a large task, but it turns out it is just plain fun. Doheny Wood, in my humble opinion, is the second best event on the woodie calendar. (You know #1) This year’s trip started early Friday morning with my route taking me down scenic HWY 101. I needed to make a stop in Santa Barbara to see fellow member Dave Steele. Dave gave me a tour of his latest projects in metal art and a trip to his past, which included his VAN days with Bob Barbour and racing side hack motorcycles.

Next stop Dana Point. Getting together with the Southern California people, which support our event in Santa Cruz, is always a blast. Saturday morning saw overcast but mild weather. Getting to sleep in as a guest and not a worker was a real treat. Arriving at the gate at 8:15 put me at number 107 to enter the beach area. Overall nearly 130 wagons found their favorite spot to park with their rear bumpers hugging the sand. The final count was a great showing, considering the weather and the fact the Santa Barbara bunch was not able to attend. They recently lost a fellow member and his memorial was the same day. All day long the merchandise booth was busy, the raffles were going and the judges were making their rounds trying to pick winners from so many nice cars. Fast forward to the final raffle. All of a sudden the sky’s opened up, sending attendees running to their cars. Gary Clark had the microphone at this point and hustled to call out the awards. Unfortunately, a lot of the winning woodies were heading for cover. I’m sure the SoCal group will make sure those that scattered will get their awards. Despite that funny thing falling from the sky, I think they call it rain, and a pretty good head wind on the ride home, the trip was well worth it. If you can make one event that’s out of town next year, this is the one. You won’t be disappointed.