Welcome to the blog for the 2019 Oil Leak, during which we will explore the Cascade range in Washington State. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Norman and Deirdre Black who's familiarity with Washington State has enabled what we hope will be a memorable and enjoyable road trip for everyone. Norman and Deirdre prepared all the daily drive routes, as well as suggesting hotels for our overnight stops, and restaurants for our evening group dinners which have become a key features of our annual trips. This year, I took the role of "Joe Lucas" to pull the plan together and communicate it to the participants. In this role I relied heavily on the advice of Geo Hahn who took the role on the 2018 GCOL, who also maintained and enhanced the on line spreadsheet that documented all the details on this year's trip.

As always, Debbie and I will be accompanied by one of the family bears. This year, Victoria made the best case for inclusion, particularly because her small stature allows her to share the cockpit of our 1969 E-Type OTS.

Victoria relaxing at the end of a day's drive. She may be a little overdressed...

This year's trip will start from Hood River in Oregon, on the border with Washington. Participants arrived on Sunday 8th September from Arizona, California, Idaho, Texas, Nevada, Montana, British Columbia, as well as Oregon and Washington. We have 18 Jaguars (16 E-Types, 2 XK8s) and 34 participants. Our pre-leak dinner was help at the Riverside Restaurant at the Best Western Hood River. Many of are staying at the hotel, which backs onto the Columbia River is the border between Oregon and Washington.

View across the Columbia River from our room at the Best Western, Hood River

Another view showing the bridge we will cross tomorrow at the start of our drive into Washington

At this point I should mention that two of our regular participants, Michael and Denise Jenkins lost the water pump of their 1969 E-Type 2+2 on the drive today, so they have not been able to join the group. They do hope to join us later tomorrow though, if they can get the replacement fitted. It sounds like a tough task, but it's become a tradition of the Oil Leaks that such setbacks are overcome. Drew Scherz has already replaced an alternator this trip, and Rick Kushel replaced a wheel/tire. Hopefully it will be plain sailing from here forward.

The group was split among several tables for this evening's kickoff dinner, so a single group photo wasn't possible, so here are three!

L to R: Sharon, Steve, Glenn, Georgia, Christine, Rick, Kjell and Glen

L to R: Debbie, Geo, Kathleen, Lloyd, Jim, Sue, Norman, Greg, Dianne, Lynn and Jan

Tom, Phil, Milton and Carolee

Somehow I failed to get photos of Drew and Glenn. In addition, Cam and Carolyn, Terry and Dorothy, and Mark and Rhonda are scheduled to join us tomorrow for the start of the drive. We leave the hotel promptly at 7:30am. The weather forecast is not encouraging, with rain projected for much of the day. I hope that, as today, we had less than expected, and we will be able to experience the Cascades without too much cloud cover.