Another wonderful wonderful weekend at Salisbury Beach. It is hard to imagine daytime temperatures well into the 70's in the middle of October but that is what we enjoyed. Those of us that sat around the campfire long after the sun went down found the temperature just low enough to make the fire feel good. That is three years in a row with weather no less than outstanding. We beat the odds. Not surprising in view of the weather forecast, we had 110 coaches sign in, a few more than last year. It was more than the weather, however, that made the weekend so much fun.

It began on Friday evening with the LaRose's famous soup. There had to have been close to 200 of us on hand to share this meal, most went back for seconds. That is one big pot. As we have come to expect from the team of Roger and Margaret, the soup and bread were excellent.

Of course, an endless supply (and seemingly endless variety) of desserts followed the soup. We do eat well.

The next thank you is for the organizational skills of Louise Parsons. She has consistently done a good job, not only for this meet but also in her capacity as the Granite Staters Wagon Master. Louise earned a new nickname this weekend; she is now to be called "Motorcycle Mom." She and her son Ron were not happy simply walking the beach; they got their fresh air on the open road with Mom hanging on for dear life. She smiled the whole time.

The great coffee that greeted us each morning and evening was the handiwork of Roger and Evelyn Merill. Nobody likes crawling out of bed while it is still cold and dark to plug in the pots; then to stand by just in case a breaker trips. It is a nasty job but somebody had to do it. I know how important that job is because yours truly was the Coffee Master two years ago at this meet when at 8:00 in the morning 20 people carrying empty cups greeted me with less than a smile. I had to explain that the breaker had tripped and that it would be another 30 minutes. It wasn't pretty.

Norm and Barbara Cote found a little bakery two years ago that does an extraordinary job with donuts and another whose specialty is bagels. His tailpipe must have been dragging coming into the campground on Sunday morning from the weight he was carrying. Surprisingly, they all vanished when the crowd got there.

Both clubs are planning to do this again next year. It is nice to be able decide only at the last minute if you want to go for the weekend and the ocean is always a great destination. In each of the last three years the weather has been such that nobody has wanted to put the coach away. God willing, we will be as fortunate next year.

Dave LeBlanc

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