AHCO Tour Procedures
Over the years with the club I have noticed a few unfortunate things that seem to happen on club tours. I feel sorry for the poor car or cars that end up being last in the tour group. ”Tail-end Charlie” is in an unfortunate position. It is likely that He or she is going to get caught behind a slow truck or get stopped by a yellow traffic light as it turns to vibrant, “Ahh crap!!!” red while the rest of the tour disappears over the horizon. I saw it happen last weekend.
As we left the Battle Ground Safeway, most of the group got out, through the light, around the corner and down the road. However, two of us did not. I wasn’t worried. I had listened to the driver’s meeting instructions, had been to Yacolt before and sort of knew the way. When the light finally turned green and we could make the turn, the BJ8 behind me fire-walled the throttle as soon as he completed the turn, blew by me, his exhaust pipes yowling as he tried desperatly to catch the tour group. Seven miles later he missed the turn on Rock Creek Road to Yacolt. Fortunately, he did make it to the train by some route, partly by luck but not because he was part of a tour.
Another thing I have observed is that the lead cars often drive faster than necessary. Even if they are driving no faster than the speed limit, the guys at the end of the tour group are forced to drive faster than the speed limit to keep up. I know this sounds nuts but it is true. But if you get slowed or stopped by a traffic condition you then have to drive faster to make up for the time you lost. There are a couple of steps that we could take to relieve the poor guys at the back of the tour pack.
First, I think there should always be a map of the tour route. If the last car gets split off from the tour at least they can get to the meeting. Second, if the tour leaders notice the group has become split, they could pull over and wait for the tail-enders to catch up. Certainly, some tour leaders have done this but sometimes the split happens without being detected. To deal with this we could use 2-way radios, one in the lead car and one in the tail-end car. If a split occurs the tail-end car could call the lead car and ask him to wait. I know we used to rely on CB radios for tour communications but this practice seems to have waned. I have a pair of inexpensive handi-talkies I have used in family multi-car travels that work fine. Perhaps we could start using these or something similar.
Just a few thoughts.
Mark Schneider