The meeting was graciously hosted by Sandy Cordoza at her house in Woodland.
The treasurer's report is available to members of the chapter upon request.
Leon Schegg talked about this year's national convention, which was held in Rochelle, Illinois. He passed around a lot of material that he picked up at the conference while he talked about it.
The conference lasted from Wednesday, June 16 to Saturday, June 19. It consisted of 1 1/2 days of talks and 2 1/2 days of bus tours. About 110 people attended, which was a little less than the organizers had expected.
Lee described some of his personal highlights of the sessions:
The tours covered the width of the state and included many historical attractions and curiosities, including a mansion made of barbed wire, a bed and breakfast run by Barb Winandy, many parts of the old road, and concrete Lincoln Highway markers. Lee took lots of photos, 1/3 of them of the road itself.
Lee thought that the tours were poorly paced. They covered the entire state, which was too much. At each town in which they stopped, they sat through speeches by town officials and chambers of commerce and were bombarded by notepads, key chains, and so on.
The cost of attending the conference was $250 for the complete package: sessions, tours, banquets, and 2 or 3 lunches. Jim Powell, the treasurer of the national association, is a retired businessman and shrewdly negotiated with the hotel to get a good rate.
Mary Salazar, the president, read a letter from Jesse Petersen, the president of the national association. He said that "a whole lot of people would like to come to California," and that "a conference in California would be the best attended ever." The 2002 date is still open.
Leon Schegg, who helped the Nevada chapter host a successful conference a few years ago, outlined what it would take to run a national conference. Only a few people would have targeted assignments: hotel, transportation (should arrange buses 6 months beforehand), speakers, material, and working with national for PR. The state association should announce its intention to host the conference 1 1/2 to 2 years in advance.
Lee also said that each day of the bus tour should last from 8 to 5. The route of the tour should be previewed, with the mileage, speed, and timing recorded. 10 minutes should be added at each stop to account for embarking and disembarking.
Cleona Duncan wondered if the hotels in Auburn would be big enough to host such a conference. Sandy Cordoza noted that there are few motels in Woodland. Mary Salazar said that Roseville has "hometels."
Jack Duncan commented that Sacramento is the only town that has always been on every version of the Lincoln Highway, besides San Francisco. Also, Sacramento certainly has large enough hotels to host a conference. The hotel situation may determine where a national conference is hosted.
Leon Schegg stressed that the bus tour does not need to cover all of California. After all, the conference will eventually come back to the state.
The decision on whether to host the national conference was tabled to the next board meeting.
The next item that was discussed was the (then) upcoming classic car tour scheduled for September 4, during the Labor Day weekend. The tour would start from Auburn or Colfax and end at Big Bend or Donner. The tour would include a stop at Big Bend for a dedication of a Lincoln Highway marker by the Forest Service. It would like a 2 PM dedication but was flexible.
Sandy Cordoza noted that it would be difficult for the old cars to make it all the way up to Donner. Jack Duncan said that having it during the three-day weekend was not a good idea, since there were many other activities going on at that time, and people who would have liked to have participated in the tour already had other plans for the weekend. Also, Colfax was likely to be very crowded at the time.
A final decision on the time and endpoints of the tour was put off until the next board meeting.
Leon Schegg said that Placer County would be happy to mark the Lincoln Highway.
The last item of discussion was the 75th Anniversary of the Ten Millionth Model T Tour, led by LHA member Dr. Al Hathaway and Howard Stovall, which ran from June 6 to June 19. Jimmy Lin discussed how the tour went on its last day in San Francisco. Jimmy and Norman Root joined the group in Berkeley. After a late start, the entourage crossed the Bay Bridge into San Francisco, unloaded the Model T from a trailer, and drove it with the rest of the group around the Embarcadero and down California Street to the Palace of the Legion of Honor, where the Lincoln Highway ended. Unfortunately, there was no press to receive us. The director of the museum came to greet us, and we briefly talked about the tour and showed her some old photos. On the way back, Howard, Norm and I saw the concrete Lincoln Highway marker that John Riddle had talked about at the previous two meetings.
Jack Duncan described the tour in the Sierra area. The Model T was towed in the trailer from Ely to Truckee, driven to Big Bend, and then towed all the way to Berkeley. Along the way, the citizens of Auburn were disappointed that they could not see the Model T run on its own power. It was the worst running Model T that Jack had ever seen. The tour did follow the Lincoln Highway through the Sierras, although Jimmy noted that it took I-80 from Sacramento to Berkeley.
Cleona Duncan said that the tour stop in Truckee went long (in fact, the tour had a hard time keeping its schedule in general), so the people at Big Bend had to wait a while, but Phil Sexton, the head ranger of the national forest in that area, kept the visitors entertained with various stories.
The meeting then adjourned, with refreshments provided by Sandy Cordoza. We looked at the photos that Leon Schegg took at the national conference, and we watched the U.S. team win the Women's World Cup.
Respectfully submitted,
James Lin
Recording Secretary
Copyright © 1999-2000 by the Lincoln Highway Association. All rights reserved.
Maintained by James Lin <jlin@ugcs.caltech.edu>