Alpine Tour XXI a.k.a. The Ken Steele Memorial Alpine Tour

STORY BY Bob & Cheryl Woodwell AND PHOTOS BY Attendees

For those of you, who think Arizona in June is hot with expectations of more uncomfortable weather in July, August and September, think again. This year’s Alpine Tour was anything but hot. Rain, rain and more rain and temperatures in the 40s during the day and cooler at night made this tour one for the record books and reminded folks that Arizona is not just Maricopa County!

But first things first, this tour, again organized by Mark Manente, with I’m sure plenty of help from Angela, started on a more somber note when Mark and Rook Younger reminded us that this tour was originally started and organized by Ken Steele a couple of decades ago and of Ken’s many contributions to AZPCA. Personally, Cheryl and I remember Ken and his wife Fran for their easy going and friendly way of approaching life. Ken will be missed by those who knew him and by those who only learned of him on this trip.

The drive to Alpine and the Tal-Wi-Wi Lodge started shortly after 8 AM following the drivers’ meeting where Rook, the AZPCA Tour Chair, and Mark reminded everyone that a tour is not meant to be a Driver’s Education driving event on public roads. This was a necessary reminder when one looked around at the variety of fine Porsche automobiles gathered for the event. The drive to Alpine was split into two groups of about 13 cars each. Group one was led by Mark with Jim Bultema acting as the sweep. Group 2 was led by Rook with me, Bob Woodwell, acting as the sweep.

After finally loosing most of the traffic east of Gold Canyon, all the drivers and passengers enjoyed the beautiful, sweeping mountain views to Globe, a bio and gas stop and driving through the Salt River Canyon to our lunch stop at The Lion’s Den in Pinetop. Along the way there were multiple opportunities to drive on twists and turns at reasonable “Porsche” speeds as long as we did not run into trucks, campers and other vehicles also enjoying the Arizona countryside and looking to get out of the heat.

The selection of The Lion’s Den restaurant proved excellent as the weather was perfect, seating was outside, the food was good and there was plenty of parking. Also, Pinetop proved to be a great gas stop, as gas was at least $0.50/gallon cheaper than in the Phoenix area. Leaving Pinetop was the beginning of the end for nice weather. The weather deteriorated to heavy, intermittent rain showers with lighter rain in between. The temperature also dropped. Our car thermometer read a low of 49°F during this time. Both groups were forced to abandon plans to make a quick stop at Big Lake. Fortunately, both groups also were, purely by luck, able to miss some heavy, small hail. The hail accumulated to such an amount that it truly looked like you were driving on roads that recently had experienced some snow.

Finally after arriving at Tal-Wi-Wi, a couple of miles North of Alpine, most members found their rooms quickly. The key to one room; however, was missing forcing Jen Bartling to climb through an unlocked window to enter their room. The Tal-WiWi is an interesting place, receiving both positive and negative comments. It is what it is, a basic rustic mountain hotel which has the basics including a microwave, refrigerator and coffee maker. It is definitely not the Ritz-Carleton! But two attributes are especially important and nice: (1) there are no other hotels in such a nice quiet area that can accommodate our group and (2) we have the run of the place when we are there. Not even a manager was around most of the time (which was also a little frustrating at times).

After some rest, socializing and meeting new friends the evening pot-luck supper started on the Tal-Wi-Wi restaurant deck and into the restaurant, which, despite it being very nice is currently not open. There was an abundance of food, including freshly grilled corn by Mark, drinks provided by each member for themselves