John Bauer wrote --
> Seems to me that Vic would have as much trouble driving
> the dangerous roads going south as Californians would
> have coming north.

That is true. However, he lives up there, and moved his
huge event up there close to where he lives, which made
it much, much easier for him -- but is now much, much less
practical to attend for those of us who live in California who had
to have been 90% of those who attended Winterail until last year.

Winterail is now 560 miles north by road from its previous site in
Stockton, and I am sure that is why he sold only around 300 tickets
last year, and has sold only around 270 tickets so far for this year.
That is sad. It now takes us in California a lot more time and costs
a lot more money to attend Winterail than it did when it was in Stockton.

I want more than almost anything else for Winterail to be a huge
success that will keep going far into the future, produced by talented
and able people. I do not want Winterail to end just because too few
people can afford to attend to keep it going profitably. (Yes, I am all
too aware of how lousy our national economy is for almost everyone,
and I know this has everything to do with the much lower attendance at
Winterail in the recent past. All the more reason to hold a very important
event such as Winterail close to where most of its customers live.)

John Bauer wrote --
> Seems to me that now is the perfect time for somebody in
> Central California to step up and do a show there. Let Vic
> stay up here and nobody has to brave the dangerous roads.

That would be nice, but the best thing about Winterail -- IMO,
YMMV -- was that Winterail was the ONE place EVERYONE
came to each year. And very few people can afford the time
off and the expense of attending more than one Winterail-
like event each year. I would love to see other Winterail-like
events here in California, but, like it or not, Winterail is
no longer the one place everyone comes to eery year. It is
still very, very much worth attending. I miss it a lot, but
my personal circumstances prevent me from attending. Sigh...

Joyhn Bauer wrote --
> Seems to me that if you are coming up on #14 an extra day
> could be added to the front of the trip to provide a leisurely
> trip from Albany (OR) to Corvallis.

See above. Very few people can afford to take even one extra
day off of work to do what you suggest, wonderful as that is.
Bay Area residents who plan to attend the Railfan & Railroad
pizza party and slide show and who plan to take Amtrak up and
back will need to take 3 days off of work -- Thursday, Friday,
and Monday. Monday because #11 does not arrive at Emeryville
until 8:10 am, and does not arivce in San Jose until 9:55 am,
which would require people to take at least a half day or probably
the entire day off of work, and that is far more time off than
most people have to take off of work for something that is not
a family vacation.

John --
I hope this helps you understand why I said what I did.