How 'bout a ride, asked Fuzz on Friday. How 'bout Saturday said several others. Saturday it was for the Cold Nose and Popsicle Toes-- ride.

Thinking they were late, Doc & Tiny got there early, yours truly arriving shortly thereafter, but before Fuzz & Jewels & Snap & Blondie. Four bikes, all but one gray. It wasn't raining, but it was rather chilly. Good thing I went for thermal underwear.

The group set out from Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in SoDo, heading up 1st Avenue to the Pike Place Market, and the ride's first stop at Local Color. Click said he wasn't feeling well, but he'd be at Local Color if he was feeling better. Guess he wasn't, but we did meet up with Chewy and Ralph. Doc led the group to Tully's on Alki, where Hairy joined us for coffee and other warm beverages.

From Tully's it was off to Rudy the Rat and Mrs. Rat's house in Burien, via Three Tree Point and the newly-reopened Shorewood Drive. Lots of hills, lots of curves. The hills were steep, 2nd gear for me, maybe for Hairy as well... we had the only manual transmissions in the group.Rudy had to work, so he and the Missus couldn't join us on the next leg, through Burien to Des Moines (no, not Iowa), and the new Butler Bar & Grill. We stopped at the interior design shop next door prior to sitting down for dinner.

Hairy had bid adieu on the way to Des Moines (a place I'd never been), while the Fuzz girls had a sleepover to get ready for, leaving Doc, Tiny, Chewy, Ralph and me to sample the various kinds of burgers. I was able to give my presentation on the history of White Castle "sliders," the mini-burgers for which the eastern chain is famous, not once, but twice! :-)

Dinner finished, it was time to go home. The dark and the rain came about the same time.

—Nero 94

PRESS RELEASE------DATELINE: WEST SEATTLE-----JANUARY 15, 2008
WESTENDERS WIN TRIVIA

WEST SEATTLE (AP/UPI/REUTERS) - The Westenders Scooter Club, on their
first effort, have won the Wednesday Night Trivia Contest at
Talarico's Pizzeria in West Seattle. West Seattle is abuzz at this
sudden new talent exploding on the trivia scene, as experienced
trivia squads scramble to learn more about these mysterious unknowns.

The evening began at Luna Park, where RogerTango, Hairy, Nero94 and
Queenie met to warm up over steaming mugs of tea and to talk
strategy. After a short ride up to Alaska Junction, met Rudy the
Rat, Mrs. Rat, and Jett at Talaricos.

After fortifying themselves on pizza and beverages, the competition
began in earnest. With Nero94 as Team Captain, they ended the first
round tied with a veteran West Seattle trivia team. By the end of
the second round, the Westenders had eked out a slim lead over the
competition, and their encyclopaedic knowlege of pop music through
the ages in the third round increased their margin, giving them the
win.

The Westenders team's background was wide and varied, and all the
members made important contributions to the win.

All in all, it was an enjoyable, albeit chilly evening, and a grand
time was had by all.

I'm afraid I have no wonderful graphic or a lovely e-card to offer you,
just my fondest wishes for a happy and peaceful Holiday season for each
of you. This is a time a year when dreams can come true, and I hope
that happens for you.

It has been a real pleasure to watch the Westenders grow over the past
year. We have gone from what was little more than an idea between four
West Seattle scooterists, and has become one of the Puget Sound area's
largest and most active scooter groups, With members from North Seattle
to Tacoma! In the last year we have enjoyed several excellent ride
adventures of our own design. We had a significant role in the success
of the biggest Amerivespa ever, including hosting the longest and best-
attended (not to mention the crowd favorite) of the Friday and Saturday
rides. It can truly be said that if something good is happening in the
scooter community, there is probably a Westender involved. Does it
come as any suprise that of the 26 people in the VCOS Christmas Card,
17 are Westenders?

Once the holidays are behind us, and the dust has settled a bit, we'll
be back in touch with some fun events to start the new year off on the
right foot. And for 2008, who knows? A new website, bigger and even
better ride events, perhaps start to think of a Westenders rally.

The future is limited only by our imaginations. Thank you all for
making 2007 s real pleasure for me. Have a happy and safe Holiday, and
I'll see you in the new year.

Westenders are go!

RogerTango
pm

Hi All!

For those of you who couldn't make it, I just wanted to share with
you the Cliff's Notes version of the meeting. Besides enjoying some
really good food and beverages, here's what we covered:

Beall shared with us an upcoming event in Italy in June of '08. He's
going over to see a vintage motorcycle and scooter rally that is
quite an event. Visitors will have a chance to view cool vintage
bikes and rub elbows with some of Europe's greatest motorcycle and
scooter racers from the past 40 years! Beall, I don't know who ended
up with the information flyer, so if you could post the info and/or
some useful links, that'd really be great. Anyway, Beall says there
is room for 1 or two folks travel along (you're still paying your own
way, of course). So if you have an opportunity to go on this, you'll
enjoy a time machine trip back to the golden age of European
motorcycle/scooter rallying!

We discussed the website project. We have formed a Special
Technology Committee (Katt, Nero94, TacomaBob) who will work together
and put together a prototype Westenders Website that can do
everything our Yahoo group and MySpace pages are currently doing,
sort of 'one stop shopping', as it were. And all this will be
accessed by going to our own URL: www.westenders.org (thanks again
TacomaBob!). Our intrepid tech wizards plan to have a prototype
available to play with by the end of January. This is a very
exciting prospect! Please join me in thanking the members of the STC
for taking this project on, wish them good luck, and please let us
know if you need any more help!

Rudy the Rat proposed an excellent project to be carried out in
conjunction with R2DQ3! We will create a Westenders/scootering time
capsule to be buried in Rudy & Mrs. Rat's backyard during R2DQ3, to
be openend by some future generation. Think of the wonder they'll
experience as they see the artifacts dating back to the founding of
the Westenders. You can help by setting aside things you might want
to contribute to the time capsule (pix, patches, buttons, Click's GL
[haw!]). More on this as R2DQ3 draws nigh.

The plan is 'all systems go' for the Holiday ride this weekend!
Please review previously sent info, and get ready for a great ride
Nero94's planned for us! See you there!

Future rides were also discussed, as well as possible non-scooting
entertainment (midnight glow-bowling at West Seattle Bowl, a indoor
go-karting party) for this winter when the weather is just too dicey
for scooting.

To take some of the driving load off our members in the North, the
next meeting is planned for Sunday, February 9, at Victrola Coffee on
Capitol Hill at 5pm, with a run to somewhere fun (Beppos, Spaghetti
Factory or ?) for dinner afterward.

Anyway, that's the news. If I overlooked anything, or was not
accurate in my reporting, I do apologize. Please feel free to post
corrections.

And I wish you all the very best this Holiday Season!

Westenders are go!

RogerTango
pm

Save the date! Saturday, Dec. 8, the Westenders SC invite all scooterists in Seattle to spread Christmas cheer throughout the Emerald City, then go look at holiday lights.

11:00 a Meetup @ Krispy Kreme
1900 1st Ave. S, @ Holgate

12:00 n Leave on the 1st leg of the ride.

12:30 p Arrive at Grocery Outlet off MLK (buy food to donate)
2901 27th Ave S @ S Winthrop St, behind the light rail station

1:00 p Leave on 2nd leg of the ride

2:00 p Arrive at Northwest Harvest
Port of Seattle, Terminal 91 (Interbay)

2:30 p Leave on 3rd leg of the ride

3:00 p Arrive at Ballard Fred Meyer
915 NW 45th St.

3:30 p Leave on 4th leg of the ride

4:00 p Arrive at Children's Hospital
4800 Sand Point Way N.E.

5:00 p Arrive at Green Lake

~2 hours Green Lake luminaria/Dinner

Afterward: Candy Cane Lane

After that: Hawaiian-themed Xmas party @ Safety Ed's

You can see the route here.

Questions? Leave a comment or send e-mail to info@westenders.org

Itinerary:



10:00 am: Meet up at C&P Coffee, 5612 California Ave SW in West Seattle



10:30 am: Leave for Cafe Racer



11:00 am or so: West Seattle group arrives at Cafe Racer, 5828 Roosevelt Way NE, near Ravenna Blvd.



11:30 or so: Ride to Swanson's Nursery to hang out with the reindeer
http://www.swansonsnursery.com/EVENTS/ReinderFest_07.html



After that: ride to the Ballard Farmers Market to shop, sample, hang out
http://www.fremontmarket.com/ballard/



After that: ride to the Fremont Sunday Market to shop, sample, hang out
http://www.fremontmarket.com/fremont/



After that: ride to Buca di Beppo (or somewhere else if the group would prefer) for late lunch/early dinner



Questions? info@westenders.org


See the calendar for more info. Click here to see a map of the route.

For those who couldn't make it, here's a Cliff's Notes recap:

We had our first Westenders meeting over at C&P Coffee. The staff
was very gracious, and had a coffee drink special for us. We will
continue to use C&P as a meeting spot. Here's what we covered:

The topic of officers was raised. After a thoughtful discussion on
the subject, we decided that it would be a good idea to have one,
which we have decided to call the 'Prime Minister', in keeping with
our Mod/English/Parliment schtick. We defined the role of PM as more
of a moderator and facilitator as opposed to a traditional
hierarchal 'leader'. Remember, one of the strengths of the
Westenders is in it's egalitarianism, the idea that anyone can be a
leader and propose neat ideas. We entertained nominations and had an
election, and now yours truly, RogerTango, is your current Prime
Minister. Dear friends, make no mistake; I do not see my role as one
of telling anyone what to do. I see my role as being the least among
equals and the servant of all. Remember that with the Westenders,
the table shall always be round.

It was decided that from now 'til the end of the year will be a sort
of 'probationary period', and then we'll assign a six-month term to
our PMs, with elections in December and June. Unless you yank me
earlier, my term will end next June.

We also discussed when and how often to have our meetings. The
conclusion was to have a meeting every one or two months, and due to
the Holidays & such, our next meeting will be Wednesday, December 5.
It has been noted that weeknights are not good for everyone, so we
are not 'locked into' Wednesday nights. Some meetings will be on
weekend evenings as well, to maximize the opportunity for all members
to participate.

Now, on to rides! For November, Jewel is designing a fun
Thanksgiving-themed ride for us; we're planning to have it in mid-
November, and should have a plan out by early next month. Jewel will
design the ride, but she'd like someone else to actually lead the
ride group. We'll be asking for a volunteer, please.

On Saturday, December 8, we'll be having a ride to deliver toys and
gifts to a worthy cause (TBA), then go to Green Lake to see the
Luminaria Display, and ride to some other Christmas light displays
like Candy Cane Lane. Nero94 is project manager on this ride, and
will keep us posted on this excellent plan as it develops.

We also showed off our new logo. It was designed by Click this
summer and is a very clever take on the London 'Underground' logo.
It's very distinctive, and easier to read than the old 'MOD' logo.
We will be putting it up soon in the 'files' section of our Yahoo
group so you can download it to make stickers, t-shirt transfers,
patches, etc.

So that's pretty much it. Remember that anyone can, and is
encouraged to, propose ride and activity ideas at any time. I'm
going to play with MS Word and try to design a form members can
download to help with ride planning.

In closing, please let me thank all for making our little one-year-
old Club the success it has become, and that I am at your service.
If you have any ideas, thoughts, or concerns, please feel free to
share them here, or contact me directly at boatingbob@comcast.net .

I almost forgot; one of the more eloquent
descriptions of the new job of Westenders Prime Minister is that
of "Chief Cat Herder". I've never tried to herd cats, but I'll go over
to Next To Nature and get a whole bunch of catnip and treats. I hope
that helps :) .

Westenders are go!

RogerTango
Westenders PM

Over 20 scooters left C&P Coffee on the 2nd Annual Westenders Great Ghost & Grub Hunt. The group visited various sites in west and south Seattle reputed to be haunted.

Here's video taken at stops at Three Tree Point and the Georgetown Castle:





Look at this picture. Could this be a... ghost?