Oregon State Fairgrounds
February 10th & 11th, 2007

On a warm and sunny morning, we cruised up the I 5 stopping in Canyonville, Or. at the 7 Feathers Casino where we met Scott & Diane Ivers in their rig and went in for a light breakfast. There was little traffic on dry roads and we travelled all the way arriving on Salem at 1pm. The host hotel, the Red Lion is conveniently located just off the freeway with a large well lighted and secure parking lot out back for our trucks and trailers . After check-in and unpacking, we all walked next door to the Newport Bay restaurant and enjoyed a nice dinner and excellent service.

Friday morning early, we trucked on over to the show sight, about 3 miles away, where we met Bob Symons and Greg Roach who do the majority of arrangements for this event. After registering, we were able to drive right into our allotted spaces, Scotty was in the main hall while we were in a carpeted annex with a lower ceiling, good lighting and right next to the main entrance with about 10 other vehicles. We were all set up, waxed and done by 2pm, the advantage of arriving early. During the day, another 108 vehicles filled the arena. Other RVSR members who displayed their cars were John Marvel with his Center Door T, Ray & Katy Dalke with their ’41 Ford convert and Butch & Kathy Steele with their ’34 DeSoto sedan. Our trailers were parked in their fenced in secure parking lot and tucked away for the weekend.

On our way to the fairgrounds, we noticed an interesting cafe, “Rockin’ Roger’s ’50s Diner”. You can’t miss the real ’57 Pink Cadillac out front, mounted up 12′ atop a sturdy base, surrounded by pink neon. More lighting adorns the diner that was opened in 1987. We decided to try it for an early dinner and on entering, you can see all the food being prepared in the open and clean but crowded kitchen (don’t all the good short order cooks now weigh 300 pounds?). The 80 or so seating area is right out of the ’50s, the walls are plastered with posters and pictures of Elvis, Bogey, Edward G., Spencer Tracey and Katherine Hepburn to name a few. A couple of ceiling mounted TV sets continually run early movies and serials of Andy Griffiths, the Dead end Kids, I Love Lucy etc. with several old 78′s and 45′s filling up the nooks and crannies. The huge, (in number of items) menu would please any palate including ‘Workin’ Man Specials’ (gigantic portions) Legendary Burgers, kettle chips, salads, sandwiches, old fashioned shakes and sodas with pie ala mode, brownies and sundaes for the sweet tooth types! Since they also have a large breakfast selection (with large portions too) we ate most of our meals here to try as much of the menu as we could, I think we met all of the staff!!! We went back to the show to see how our friends were making out setting up to find our hosts were treating to free pizza and drinks, nice guys. The comfortable Queen bed and good TV ended our Friday.
Scotty and I went to the show early Saturday to dust the cars, then picked up the girls and tried our 1st breakfast at Rockin’ Rogers, huge omelets,very filling! By 11am, the show was packed with spectators, we met a few friends, made some new ones and wandered the arena viewing the cars and vendors. Guaranty RV was displaying a 30′ toy box trailer, nicely appointed for hauling a car, all the needs for RVing and reasonably priced. Salesman Clay, was very knowledgeable and invited us to the lot in Coburg, Or. to see more units. The show shirts were being offered by a vendor who would take a digital photo of your car and print it on a quality shirt along with the show logo. We arranged to have them do a couple.
Instead of a lot of trophies, Bob and Greg gave every entry a letterman’s jacket, red leather sleeves, black melton cloth, knit collar and cuffs with the show logo in white embroidered on the back and a sponsors name in red on the front. This quilted award is most comfortable and I glommed onto it right away! Their ‘Goody Bag’ was also tastefully done including a gourmet coffee sample, candy, a map, bottle of water and a dash plaque. Another neat feature was every vehicle received a 11″X17″ calendar with a photo of your car at the top, useful as well as a nice keepsake. ‘Rogers’ (notice we’re now on a 1st name basis) again for dinner where I enjoyed their ‘melt in your mouth’ Pot Roast feast. From walking and yakking all day, our quiet, top floor room provided another good night’s sleep.
Sunday, Scotty and I repeated our display chores, repeated our breakfast dining (guess where?) and drove the girls around to some of the stores and shopping centers. Salem is a long north to south city separated by the I 5 freeway, the Willamette River and dotted with many small lakes. It’s fairly flat but good signage allows you to easily get around. Back at the show, Bob and Greg wound it up at 5:30pm with the presentation of 2 awards, their choices, to a really nice ’56 Chevy hardtop, and an equally nice ’57 Chevy Nomad. We thanked our great hosts for a swell weekend and all their presents, promising to return again and were all loaded and parked at Rogers (naturally) by 7pm. We chowed down again, dessert too and relaxed in our rooms for the last time.
Monday we left Salem and travelled south to the Guaranty RV site to meet Clay and view toy boxes. A 38′ 5th wheel unit with lots of room in back, everything you’d need for camping in style and all the bells and whistles was a street-rodders dream. Scotty and Diane made an offer, we left it with Clay and drove over to the Country Cafe for lunch. It had warmed up, was nice and sunny, with little traffic again and hardly any construction as we cruised home after a swell show and many calorie intake weekend…but who’s counting. If you want to be treated well, thanked many times for attending and show your ride to an appreciative crowd, we highly recommend you put the “2nd Annual Salem Roadster Show” on your 2008 calendar to see what new ideas Bob & Greg have in store next year!!! Oh, Scotty and Diane bought the 5th wheel!