Click on any photo to see the full-size image.
To see more pictures from LOG, Lotus in Dairyland, click here to go to LOG pics 2.
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Lotus Corps and turboesprit list member Chris Urban and his wife welcomed weary LOG travelers (especially the ones who had followed 'Wrong Way Metz') into their home for a nice lunch. Poor Chris was working pretty hard... A big thank you to both of you! |
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Although the weather could have been better on Friday, it could also have been worse. The Abbey is a lovely place! |
"Lotus alley" in the parking lot. |
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We were allowed to hand push these classic Lotuses into the lobby. The red one belongs to Lotus Corps member Paul Q. A lot of hard work in restoration there.... I remember a couple of years ago, it was some ugly looking frame on the wall of his garage. Nice work Paul! |
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Lotus Corps member volunteers staffing the registration table on
Friday. Here we see Sue Bonk, Mark Plechaty, and Phil Miller having no
trouble keeping busy. There had been somebody else at the end of the
table, but she ran away before I could get her picture! |
Here we see another Lotus Corps member Sanj (the one behind the table, but to
the left). Not sure if he is talking on his cell, or conversing with
another turboesprit list member, Mark P. who came up from St. Louis to attend
LOG. |
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Local Lotus dealer Fox Valley Motorcars brought lots of Lotus goodies for us to buy! Thanks Ben. |
Steve and Keegan Bonk were there to help people with questions on Revolution wheels for their Lotuses. |
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Photos of the beautiful, and impressive Yerkes Observatory Yerkes Observatory is a research branch of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the University of Chicago The observatory was bankrolled in 1897 by Charles Tyson Yerkes, a Chicago transportation tycoon. The plan itself was masterminded by George Ellery Hale. The showpiece of the observatory was then, and still is, the 40-in refractor, in 1897 the world's largest telescope and even today the largest refracting telescope. When this event was first planned and attempted (before being torpedoed in 2001), I was eager to visit this place. Little did I know just how impressive it would be. I fully encourage anybody who happens to be in the area to visit it, and take the tour... it is entertaining and educational too. The movie "Chain Reaction", had parts filmed here, using research employees as well! |
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Jim Gee was kind enough to give us Lotus owners a special tour of the Engineering Department that other more normal humans would never see. They actually build items here for scientific research. The picture of the item to the left that they built, now declassified, was originally built for Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative or Star Wars program, long ago cancelled. It has been adapted to work with the one of the smaller telescopes. Light comes down a tube that you can barely see in the top of the picture, bounces around through some mirrors, and ends up going into the device, which basically removes the 'twinkle' effect the atmosphere adds to star light. The photo on the right is a device that will be used in research for NASA and infra red photography they do while flying high in the dark Pacific sky. Temperatures created and held by this device are right around 450 degrees below zero! I would certainly like to thank Jim, and the staff at Yerkes for the consideration and special treatment of us. I actually think that my IQ went up during the tour! |
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Jim invited 3 of us onto the roof for a special photo vantage point. Colin P., Paul Q. and I. |
or go to LOG pics 2.
