Laughlin Report

Posted by thunder on May 13, 2008 in Banked Track, Events, History

More Fun than Disneyland!
Current mood: animated

Finally have a few minutes to post and say how much fun I had at
the “Has-Beens” reunion this past week in Laughlin! I arrived Sunday grabbed a rental car and reported to Loretta and Phil’s house for lunch and shuttle duty.
Was so happy to meet everyone there, and I started collecting hugs from
everyone who was game for one.

Loretta and Phil had quite the spread, platters of yummies and
sodas & drinks for all. It was so nice after traveling to be able to
visit, munch a little and catch a breather before everyone headed south to Laughlin.

It was my sincere pleasure to share the ride to Laughlin with
Gloria and Billy Gardner. I don’t think Gloria and I let Billy get more
than a couple of words in edge-wise during the trip. The 90 minutes flew
by as Gloria shared so many fun stories and had a lot of great
ideas and tidbits that will help me when I get my track set up.

From the moment I hit the hotel I was determined to get every bit
of fun I could squeeze out of the trip. If I missed speaking to
anyone, I can’t think of who it was! Loretta made sure I got to cross paths
with everyone and I can’t thank the skaters who were kind enough to
agree to sign my helmet for the OSDA.

Had a blast with Charlie Goodwin, Skip, Janet and Georgia when we
snuck back to Vegas on Monday to skate on Lali’s track. Man, it was
hot but couldn’t pass it up …yes, I fell a couple of times but Skip
(friend that he is) fell to make me feel better and even got a
little souvenir…his first rink rash in 25 (?) years!

Lali O and her husband Pat were kind enough to bring their pro
Karoke set-up and host a show for us. I sang La Bamba and Harper Valley
PTA for everyone at Karaoke night and topped the night singing The Rose
with none other than Mz. Georgia Hase! I think everyone had
waaaayyyy too much fun with the cucumbers…Dan Ferrari was a great sport and joined in (my team lost! Darn!) I’m still doctoring my nose from
getting stabbed with a toothpick passing the Lifesaver (haha) and I
ended up with coffee creamer in my bag when what I really wanted
was DJ’s green bath mitt! I can’t wait to see that picture!

I really clicked with my Paisanos Joe Canevari and Gootch Gautieri,
(they give great hugs!) and I’ll always remember Loretta’s dance
with Jackie Gleason…I couldn’t resist dancing with him too, but I wasn’t
quite as brazen as Little Iodine! All the camera’s came out as Billy Bogash Watusied with Lali O’s daughter…and Marc Stern had everyone
on the floor for the Electric Slide FOUR times…(you’re a great
teacher, Marc) Gloria swears she’s gonna have it down by next reunion! (No,
really, Gloria SWEARS! hahahahaha)
The Banquet was WONDERFUL! My favorite has always been Turkey, and
they also had a delicious Pork Loin- with all the fixin’s…the food
was absolutely delicious! Everyone enjoyed their dinner and then we
had the distinct pleasure of being present as Gary presented Jean
Porter her Hall Of Fame plaque. There were a few tears as Dee
Morrissey accepted Bill’s Hall of Fame plaque. There were a lot of
tears as Bonnie Nelson presented a most heartfelt tribute to her
Captain and Mentor, Mary Youpell.

During my trip I FINALLY got to meet John Hall and his lovely wife
Debbie, Pastor Kirk, Loretta & Phil, Bonnie and so many other old
friends from online for the first time. To all the wonderful
skaters
and family who came to see their friends at this reunion and were
kind enough to extend their welcome to me; many thanks. It was
heartwarming and I truly feel blessed to have had the chance to get
to know you.

I have to say how sorry I was that Nellie Wilson, who put so much
time and effort into this event, spent the entire reunion extremely
ill and was even taken to the hospital. I hope she is feeling
better.

And I can’t say enough for her “assistants” who jumped right in and
ran the event for her and all of us. They manned the raffle table,
did all the check in, made sure everyone knew what was going on and
where to be when, had all the answers and kept everything running.
Dyno and the other ladies who sat at those tables all that time to
make this go, you have my undying gratitude!

Cookie, Julie, Whirly, Sue…y’all just plain crack me up!
So many other memories, but hopefully this is enough to share what
an unbelievable time it was!

Hope to see pictures soon…I was too busy having fun to even pull
out my camera!

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