A Note from the NLE (News Letter Editor) aka: El Jefe

Thanks to Rick for his take on his "Sierra Trek Virgin” run at Trek.
It was my sixth and I think the best yet. I may be prejudiced knowing our club did a lions share of the work but it was still a great Trek. Carrol and Dick did a amazing job under a lot of pressure. The trail was nasty, the food was great, and there were enough activities to keep everyone of all ages entertained. I suspect that once word gets out that “Sierra Trek is back” spots are going to fill up fast for next year. I can hardly wait.


Friday Night Dinner & Floor Show STH Style by Mz Medfly aka The Kitchen Queen

First and foremost, I want to borrow a line from one of my favorite movies, “Remember the Titans”, that goes something like “Attitude Reflects Leadership” and I want to thank Carrol & Linda, Dick & Dealua for their example this year. They stepped up at a tough time in our association and took on the challenge with such grace and dignity. An awesome example I think!!
For my part, after a lot of thought, talking to Kate & several Club Members I decided to stand up to head up Friday night dinner, I had no idea it would be such an adventure. I really thought that I had bitten off more than I could chew in more ways than one. I can honestly say that I had more fun that night than I had in a long time. I had been to a few Trek meetings and had seen a little of the dynamics between Don and Kate. But when you
think about taking over something that those 2 have been heading forever, it can be very intimidating. There is no mistaking that it is their kitchen and they both have their own opinions on how it needs to be done. I was told it was mine for Friday Night and to prepare the food as I saw fit. So after a rocky start (and the help of 2 Mike’s Hard Lemonades). I told Kate something along the lines of “I thought it was my kitchen tonight and to leave me the *%$$ alone” and after telling Don about the same thing I can honestly say that it went pretty darn well. All thanks to an AWESOME group of volunteers. All of you that helped out were just wonderful. Every time I turned to go get something somebody was there
taking care of it. It was so great. I had been having nightmares about frozen/cold, disgusting tasting food, and running short on food for about 2 weeks prior to Trek. I remember on work weekend while helping set up the kitchen thinking what in the heck am I thinking, I can’t oversee dinner for 500 people.
Friday afternoon everybody just jumped right in and off we went. And yes, Penny, I did really work on the word delegate. We even started serving 10 minutes early. I think there was only really one point that I really stressed out. About the time we had been serving for 90 min and the line was still back near the bathrooms and we found the additional Turkey stashed in the freezer frozen solid, for a minute I wasn’t sure who was more upset, me or
poor Carrol. In the true STH style of ingenuity we got it together and overcame the obstacle.
As for the floorshow I am not sure who started it all (my money is on Marcie or maybe it could have been Chris trying to get rid of the dance trophy) but all of the sudden the serving line started singing along with the music, and then it started dancing. Then when the Band started up we totally lost control. At one point I went back to the burners to get more green beans and when I got back they thought they were the Rockettes, dancing in a chorus line to New York, New York. We are a very diverse group. I remember Kimber swing dancing with me and then with Linda. Marcie and I were singing ACDC. Then Linda was leading a line dance. Even the guys all started to get into it, I seem to remember Rick Kerley getting a lap dance from an unlikely source but I think that falls under the 5,000 foot rule, right Carrol. I think that we made a pretty neat spectacle. I over-heard several
people saying that we were having entirely too much fun. At one point I know that the motto for this Trek was to be “Remember when it was fun, it is again!” at one point. I think we made that very evident this year. I know that we really shocked Don. We did the all the dishes as we went and cleaned more than most of the other crews did. We got a compliment from him as he accepted his Certificate of Thanks on Sunday morning. I'm told that it is a rare thing from Don. Again I want to Thank everyone that came out to help & to those who stayed at the showers so Steve & Geoff didn’t have to man them all on their own. It would not have been such a success with out all of our combined efforts. We make a GREAT TEAM. Any takers for next year?????


Cleaning Up At The Showers

The Shower Committee did their usual bang up job of creating clean and happy campers. Although construction went up with the usual confusion (even after all these years), the water was hot, explosions were kept to a minimum and almost $900.00 was earned for Cal 4Wheel. Better yet, we have three new shower committee “volunteers”. Kevin Kidwell and John Cuppy will be taking over as Shower Chairman and Co-Chair. And Matt Hoey has taken it upon himself to design a better and easier to assemble door system. The added hours seemed to work out well, especially for those coming off the trail. The new lights were also a big hit. Thanks to all who helped out even if Chairman Jefe did a pretty crappy job of assigning hours.


Raffle Committee Rakes It In!

The Raffle Committee kicked some serious booty with the booty this year. Attendance may have been down but raffle ticket sales were definitely up. Based on early figures almost $9,000.00 was taken in this year. Rumor has it that that is almost three grand more than last year. Nice job. Special thanks go to Sharon Clements and Leona Kellogg for making it happen along with everyone else that worked the booth. Giving away stuff is easy, getting
it all together is not.

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