[s-cars] Confessions of an //S-Fest WEST Guest

[Steve Voit]

I returned last night after an awesome //S-Fest West weekend.  The event
attracted folks from Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton AB, Seattle, Portland,
and New Hampshire (huh?) in addition to the enthusiastic residents of the
Colville Indian Reservation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederated_Tribes_of_the_Colville_Reservation
community of Inchelium, WA.  For those that are not familiar with Inchelium,
its about 45 miles to the right of Nespelem.  It's where Carl Hatcher and
his wife Stephanie dished out incredible hospitality at their getaway home.


For me it began the night before, where at midnight I'm lookin' at the map
and realizing this place is REMOTE.  If you come from the south the road is
gravel.  If you come from the east, it requires a ferry across Lake
Roosevelt (part of the Coulee Dam project) - which runs daily and departs
when the skipper sees a car, and looks something like this
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Regions/Eastern/KellerFerry/ .  I came from the west
where one could come via the north cascades highway (open in summer only) or
via the Grand Coulee Dam and Electric City, turning east at said Nespelem
(pop. 212).  My wife saw me pour over maps (yes plural) at one time using a
magnifying glass that was a gag gift used to signify my middle-aged-ness;
when she skeptically asks why I would drive 300 miles, to a cabin in the
reservation, whose owner I do not know, on roads that are too small to make
the map, to meet a group of folks I met on the Internet, and sleep god knows
where.  Is it safe?  What is her name??? 

It was worth it.

First good omen was encountering fellow lister Nick Bode in his pearl
monster as we happened on the same slow car pullin' the grade up from the
Columbia river on hwy 2.  Sweet.  Nick's ride is awesome and I think we both
felt better navigating as a committee.  We had to deal with a triathlon
transition and a fire (a lot of smoke, a fire camp, and at one point a
repaired highway where the fire had burned the road) but these concerns were
left behind as we headed west.  The road to Inchelium is paved with 1000
turns, no stripes on the highway, and at least that day, no cops.  Had to
hit the brakes hard for a coyote and later a black bear, other than that we
let it run. We arrived around 12:30 to find the barbeque going and Carl in
the midst of tapping the keg - Spaten beer (Munich) - great timing!  Carl
has a good thing going:  Log home, nicely trimmed, with monstrous shop
building adjacent -- both fitted with the care that could only come from his
Audi loving wife.  OMG!

I'm gonna screw up too many names to get specific, so let me just say the
day flowed well:

.         New friends, cool cars, too much to talk about

.         Walk down the road to the lake for a swim (or ride in the boat,
which I hear Stephanie piloted like a pro)

.         Raffle with lots of prizes, not too much cheating (Javad at 034
Motorsport and Apikol deserve special mention for generosity)

.         Meeting local pals of Carl's (colorful)

.         Dinner: bratwurst, burgers, grilled sea bass

.         //SFestWest theater

.         Tequila tasting

.         Keg completion ceremony

Dave Forgie gets special mention because his role as librarian has led him
to collect Audi vids of all sorts - and he projected them onto a big wall
with some pretty loud speakers doing their job where the beer left off.  It
was fun.

I participated in the keg completion ceremony, which meant that my wake up
for a 6:30 departure came only a few hours after the fun ended.  Stunningly,
I did not have a splitting headache - that would come later.  I waited until
7:30 and then drove cautiously as I began the 300 mile journey back.  The
first 40 miles included stopping for 10 wild turkeys to walk across the road
(insert S-Fest east joke here), a full-on panic stop for the largest elk
known to mankind (I thought it was a moose), and no fewer than 5 Colville
Indian Reservation police 4x4's >> I'm thinking I'll avoid picking up any
hitchhikers this morning.

For those of us that have watched S-Fest with some envy it looks as if
//S-Fest West is a going thang; it seemed to be much like the first year or
three of that eastern venue from what I can tell, except we didn't get quite
as fussy about parking and all the cars had Audi rings on them.  Carl
deserves a huge round of applause and appreciation for opening up his home
and for his endless hospitality.  Kudos also to co-organizer Gabriel
Caldwell with support from Eric Phillips and contributions by Dave Forgie
and others I assume.

I'll leave others to describe the JNR test drives, the S-fest thong, Alex'
newly acquired S-car, the modern resort motel.

Let's hope it's annual.

Steve