Vail, Colorado Report By Curt Johnson
On a cold and snowy Saturday morn, groups of bleary-eyed travelers were making their way to airports strewn about the country. Each had their own story. Norm Jennings and Tom Kaskubar were coming from far-off points in California trying to meet up with the main groups coming from Bloomington and Peoria. John Wegman was coming on his own conveyance from Champaign. Mike McNett was taking a leisurely 10 minute trip from home to meet us in Chicago. How things changed. Our plane left only 20 minutes late and deposited us safely in Chicago. The contingent from Peoria didn’t even see snow till they landed in Chicago. Then the winds came, shutting down Bloomington soon after we left. John was stuck in Champaign till the next day. The snow picked up in Chicago till we approached the 500-foot visibility limit. We escaped an hour late just before O’Hare closed. Sometimes it helps to be lucky.
	We all arrived safely in Denver, well except for John, whose flight was cancelled. Bill Harris learned the hazards of baggage claims, when a foot came through the roof over his head. A piece of the ceiling fell, but no injuries. Next time, wear a ski helmet! We have pictures. But to the real story – 1 week in the wonderful Vail resort. Who could forget the beautiful bluesky skiing that we had! Ken and Sandy Baurer would not as they tried to take a picture of John doing a jump. It turned into a 7-10 pickup, down goes Sandy, then down goes Ken. But the only injury was to Ken’s pole, rendered useless. Then there’s Steve Parke’s face plant, apparently searching for elusive snow fish, in a manner similar to the antics of the arctic fox. He re-emerged w/o any fish, but w/ the "Got Milk" look. Brad DeBolt spent the days perfecting his racing form while his new bride Jill visited the various shopping emporiums. Marshall Bohbrink followed the group with his “I’ll tackle anything till I get tired” attitude. Then there was Curt Johnson, the wannabe photographer, waiting for yellow-head Ed Eickenberger and Dave Rademacher to ski through the trees for a photo op. Quick shutter action caught both of them just before they did their Bode Miller impressions and crashed at the same spot.
Scott Voorhees was our token snowboarder. He takes that with a wry smile as he floats down the mountain with ease. The rest of the big entourage of Roger Gingrich, Lee Templeton, Paul Carr, Mark Kacmar, and Bill Vahary, enjoyed running Simba and Dealers Choice all out.
Brad Nuppenau joined us for a few days of skiing and showed Tim the meaning of really hitting it. And then there’s our newest club member Greg Mckinley. Never skiing outside of the mid-west he tackled the steeps and not so steep steeps like he was born on them. Welcome Greg. Has anyone asked you why you are called “Wild Turkey”?
Then there was the après ski, the entertaining wine (& beer) and cheese party, MC’d by Here’s Dave Rademacher. He took change and got us together for the group photos and the presentation of a Spyder coat to Mr. Vahary. Who could forget Bart and Yeti’s or eating at Mezzaluna’s and Paul’s translation of waitress Stefanie’s English accent at the Red Lion. And the short “150 yards” to the lift from the Landmark Townhouse or the hot tubs after, especially Mike.
On the way back Tim Marcum, who had supervised part of the airport construction, took Barb and Charlie Luthy on a "private" tour of some of the not often seen treasures, the art work, airport memorabilia, the glass walkway with planes moving underneath, etc. and then to Wolfgang Puck's for lunch.
It was an outstanding week at a great resort with fun people, Please join us next time!