Finally, the INOA Rally!

This post is almost three years late because I wasn't aware that there was wifi available at the main hall in the Gray's County Fairgrounds in Elma, WA until the evening of the last day of the rally and then life intruded. However, I have finally managed to have the spirit move me to write something about the rally.

Sunday was a travelling day. After spending the night at my daughter, Rachel's place in Victoria, I was in the lineup for the 10:45 a.m. Black Ball ferry, Coho, to Port Angeles, WA. The day was warm and calm and the ferry ride to Port Angeles was uneventful, except for an 850  Norton Commando Interstate ridden by a guy from Comox. When he tried to kick start his motorcycle, the bolt for the side stand broke and the loaded bike went down on its left side. With help, Alan was able to right his machine and ride it onto the ferry..

From Port Angeles, it was a two and a half hour drive to my friends Steve & Bette's house near Olympia. I brought Steve two growlers of fine Canadian beers, Driftwood Fat Tug IPA and Phillips Citricity IPA. Both are very tasty brews. I was greeted by Steve with iced beer and we enjoyed a couple of them before going for dinner.

Next morning, opening day of the International Norton Owners' Association rally I was up at 6:00 a.m.and after breakfast headed to Elma which was about 35 kilometres from Olympia. I arrived at the fairgrounds before 8:30, registered, picked a camping spot, then set up my tent. My friend Clint arrived before 9:00 a.m. and set up as well before we unloaded our Norton Commandos.

Three more guys pulled in to our area and set up as well. Ron from north of Bend, OR, Dennis, from LaPine south of Bend, and Rich from Chehailis, WA. Ron brought his bike on his 1971 Volkswagen with a flatbed. It was one of the hits of the rally with people dropping by to talk to him about it every day.

Dennis had a Kenny Dreer 880 Commando that was immaculate. It is a one of a kind bike that was a Cycle World project several years ago. Rich, an engineer from Chehailis, WA, had a 1972 750 Combat Roadster. 

After setting up, the first order of business was to lay in refreshments for the next several days. I bought a dozen Budweisers, Clint bought a fifth of Jack Daniel's, while Dennis picked up some Stella Artois. 

The weather was mixed at Elma. Because it is not too far from the coast each morning we experienced marine fog for several hours with it often being cool and damp until around 11 a.m. One day the fog never cleared although it lifted somewhat so we experienced a rather cool day for the middle of June.

Because I am writing this from memory, I am rolling as many experiences as I can recall into one blog entry. On one of the days Clint and I did a ride around the Elma vicinity. The roads were great for riding a Commando and Clint, on his 1968 Commando fastback led the way through the countryside. As we crested one rise we saw an unexpected and amazing site - two cooling towers, one completed vessel containment building and one partially completed vessel containment building. 

I was a student at the University of Washington in the early 1980s and remember when the Washington State governor at the time, Dixie Rae pulled the plug on the project because the project, run by WPPS (Washington Public Power System) was about $5 billion over budget. In any case, this ties in with another news story from around the early 2010s when Volkswagen submitted false data to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) about emissions from their popular diesel engines. When that was discovered, Volkswagen was fined a great deal of money and was forced to offer replacement vehicles to anyone who wished to take the offer. thousands did, and Volkswagen was left with thousands of cars that they couldn't sell so they had to store them. Several thousand cars were stored at the waterfront in Auburn while thousands more were stored in the open fields around the cancelled reactor. Because they had been sitting in open fields for several years they had mold in them and no doubt mice had invaded the cars making nests in them and eating the soy-based coverings for the wiring.

One evening Clint drove Dennis, Rich and me to a bar in Elma. They had great wings, but the cook was not working that night so our second order of wings took more than two hours. On another night we drove to a barbecue place where I had brisket. Never had it before, but it was tasty.

I entered my green 1974 Commando Interstate in the Concours. I placed third. Clint entered his fastback in the original category. It was clearly the best bike in the class, but a there was guy who had entered his heavily modified bike in the same category. He was wealthy lawyer who had spent a great deal of money on his machine and was also a member of the Northwest Norton Owners' Association. Not surprisingly, his Commando was awarded first place, even though, in the minds of many, the bike was entered in the wrong category where there would not be as much competition. Politics once again raised its ugly head.

We wrapped up the event on Friday morning so I headed back to Steve and Bette's place for the day. After a great visit, I headed north to catch the Port Angeles ferry, the Coho, to Victoria. While I was waiting I met the son of one of the SD72 V-Ps. He was a young guy who had made a whirlwind tour to northern California and was on his way home. 

The trip to Victoria was uneventful and I was able to spend the rest of the day with my daughter in Victoria before heading home on Sunday. All in all, it was a good rally although not up to the standard set at Howard Prairie, OR in 2014, or Quincy, CA in 2016.

The following two rallies were set for a racetrack in Michigan in 2019 and upstate New York in 2020. the 2020 rally was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The following rally scheduled for 2021 in Lumby, BC was also cancelled for the same reason. So, I have no idea when the next western INOA rally will be held, but I hope it will be soon because I am not getting any younger.