Our May drive was a bit of an unusual one. Organized by Mark & Viki McConnell and Bob & Suzi Townes, about 40 Porsches, 1 Smart car and 1 Tesla in 3 groups, headed for Erickson's Aircraft Collection via the back roads to Madras. The 3 groups left the usual starting spot at the North Starbucks in Bend and headed toward Tumalo on the country roads to the pit stop at the P.S. Ogden Overlook. We continued on the back roads to Lake Billy Chinook, along Mt. View Drive, along Lake Simtustus and back to the Madras Airport on Hwy 26.
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Steven & Michelle Foster were our hosts at the Erickson Aircraft Collection and arranged a group discount for us to view the Aircraft Collection. We were able to group our cars around a 1944 P-51D Mustang for some photos on the tarmac. The amazing thing about the Aircraft Collection was that all but 2 of the WWII aircraft were flown to Madras from Tillamook, Oregon. Our hosts flew from Tillamook in the bombardiers seat on the B-17 (one of the few still flying today). I'm sure many of us will be returning to Erickson's to spend a lot more time taking in the entire aircraft collection. Erickson's Aircraft tour was the end of our organized drive. We were then on our own back to Bend, though many of us had a nice group lunch at Geno's in Madras.
A special thanks to Tim & Sue Hagner for being a leader of one of our 3 groups and also thank you to the 3 group sweeps.
Mark McConnell
Bob Townes