President’s Message

Increasingly brisk days have fallen upon us over the past couple of weeks, giving us a beautiful fall which is soon to bless us with magnificent colors in our trees and foliage. Cindy and I recently completed the Little Mountain Drive which has become a favorite of mine. I want to commend Rich Sawyer for his skillful execution of this now popular ride. Fall is kind of a sad note for me as it is a reminder that the dog days of Summer have left us and the change in season is taking place as we are on the path to that foreboding dark and wet Winter. I guess you can tell winter is not my favorite season! While our summer brought us a plethora of wonderful rides, the party continues with several great rides through the months of September and October. Yippee!

This past Friday, September 27th, we conducted our Quarterly PSMC Board Meeting. We covered our finances for the quarter, our membership stats and special member requests as passed onto board members. It gives me pleasure to announce that our year over year finances surpassed our last year’s number. Membership numbers also demonstrated growth and increased year over year. We get pretty of good play on social media which is essential for spreading the word about our club. The final portion of the meeting was focused on our 2025 Events Calendar which we started the process of filling in with events and rides. This is a process that will continue with our January PSMC Board Meeting.

At the tail end of June Bill Snowden launched his maiden voyage into ride creation with his Fun Run to Snoqualmie resulting in a wonderful new experience. Bill Bell, aka “Mr. Ride Creator Legend”, led his brand-new drive, Sky Rail Run, which brought us challenging twisty roads leading up to the charming little town of Skykomish.

I would like to mention that Bill Bell coordinates the summer parade events with our club. This is a great service to the parade planning folks and they are thankful for our participation and assistance.

I kicked off the month of July with my returning Summer Splendor ride which brought out a good crowd as we traversed the back roads of Snohomish and King Counties to reach our destination at Tuscanos Italian Restaurant in Monroe. Dee and Duncan once again led a trip to Oregon to meet up with the famous Explore Oregon mega drive. Ingvar Carlson concluded the month with his Miata Fly-in drive covers a large of swath of beautiful countryside ending at an airfield with great exhibits and marvelous vintage planes.

Our Pacific Northwest Gathering of Miata’s brought a good crowd of around 60 folks this year. This PSMC club favorite was held on the grounds of Griot’s in Tacoma. The weather was pristine this year as were all the beautiful cars that were on display. Once again, we enjoyed a nice lunch, an assembly of Miata beauties that made up our selection for trophies in the categories of all four car generations. A prize drawing delivered wonderful prizes for those lucky ones possessing winning tickets. It is important to mention that this event is totally supported by your club at no additional cost to members!

The month of August also brought us two rides hosted by Bill Bell, the Olympic Drive Northwest and his all-new Snoqualmie River Valley Run. I recast my Whatcom and Skagit Counties Select Tour, providing some lovely views along the Chuckanut road and Lake Whatcom ending with a hearty lunch in Edison.

In September, Bill Bell brought back his Olympic Peninsula Drive which drew good attendance despite some inclement weather at the end. Another well-executed drive by Bill Bell!

October will bring us two popular rides. Ross and Nancy Scott will host their ever-popular Leaves to Lunch (Note: this rides provides some different views that their Ride to Lunch Drive in early summer. Rich Sawyer will once again reprise his spooky Haunted Halloween Drive.

Our Holiday Party is on! Plan on attending our annual Holiday Party, back by popular demand, will once again be held at the River Rock Grill in Maple Valley. This is another one of Club’s premier events so do plan on being there!

It’s important to note that our two monthly recurring social events, 1st Tuesday Northend and 3rd Thursday Coastal socials, hosted by Tom Millar and Sean McGriff, will be starting up in September and continue through Fall, Winter and Spring months, providing a way to get together and enjoy each other’s company throughout the slower times.

We need folks to step up and host and assemble a ride of their choosing. We are always in need of new views and experiences that new rides deliver. Remember, we have many experienced folks in the club that would happily lend hand of assistance to you in this process. We also have tried and true older rides available to our membership to check out and replay again.

In closing, Cindy and I want to wish all our folks a wonderful Holiday season and a successful New Year! And remember also, “the best is yet to come”.

Keep on zoom-zooming!

Tom