(Continued from page 5)   Jo Daviess Tour
Friday:
Choose an early arrival, and come up early on Friday afternoon for our regular, annual, pre-Tour OPEN HOUSE AND RECEPTION at our home on Lake Carroll, from about 2 p.m. on. After that, join us for the popular Friday FISH FRY at the nearby Yellow Creek Inn. From there, off to the hotels.
Saturday:
After winding around Jo Daviess County all day Saturday, we finally wind our way north into Wisconsin, stopping at the wind farm (for a little education on this energy source), the good old Potosi Brewery and the Beetown Cheese Store with their fabulous, not-to-bee-missed aged cheddar cheese. The day ends with dinner at the Firehouse, filled with firefighters' regalia, and lodging in Viroqua, Wisconsin.
Sunday:
Sunday we open with a winery visit over-looking the scenic vistas of Wisconsin hill country, through which we work toward the official end of the tour circuit in Monroe, Wisconsin, the home of Baumgartner's Tavern and Cheese Store. The plan is to arrive in Monroe around 3 p.m., so that everybody can rest, regroup, and retreat, to get to your respective homes by an early hour. (Editor's Note: Monroe is about 2 1/2 hours for us to down-town Chicago.)
Lodging:
The time is running short, but here are the hotel contacts. Although the blocks have expired by now ask for the MG Club block arrangement, and see if they will match the Club rate:
Friday night you have a choice of the Country Inn and Suites (start point) in Stockton, Illinois (phone 815 947 6060), or the Baymont Inn and Suites (about 20 miles away) in Freeport, Illinois (phone 815 599 8510). Again, Saturday's start point is at the Country Inn. The Baymont is located about 20 miles east of Stockton.
For Saturday night in Viroqua, the base hotel is the Vernon Inn and Suites (phone 800 501 0664), and the alternate hotel is the Hickory Hill Motel (phone 877 637 3104).
At the time of this writing all the hotels have rooms available, but if later you have difficulty finding a room contact me and I‘ll help with backup strategies.

We hope you join us on the Fifth Annual Secrets of Jo Daviess County Tour. It‘s a great MG driving experi-ence, a great tour of some beautiful country and scenic sights, and always a good time in the company of the great MG folks!

Dan and Nancy Herman
e-mail danherm@jcwifi.com
Phone: (815) 493-8417

A Memorandum from your Minister of Finance

In my never ending quest for higher financial accountability I have brought on the services of Sheik Raoul to act as financial mentor to me and the club resources.
At the April Club Meeting, I presented a brief PowerPoint (for those of you that have not yet attended a meeting, we do present full audio-visual technology) explaining my pursuit of financial excellence and a quarterly cash-flow review.
The financial report was overseen by the Sheik along with his personal business secretary, seen here in a recent photo.
On a more serious note, as I become acquainted with the re-sponsibilities of this assignment, I am finding the job to be a continuous behind-the-scenes work effort to ensure the bills are paid and that the incoming money is accurately accounted for.
Some interesting points of club discovery:
The officers (4 plus our last president i.e. 5 voting members) are supplemented by a sophisticated organization of staff members, each of which is just as important to the club as the officers themselves. Just look at the inside cover of "Driveline" to see for yourself. The fact that the Chicagloland MG Club has such a large and dedicated organization is what makes us better than the typical Chicago car club. Just looking at our Newsletter is enough to know we have a great organi-zation.
Driving Events – The Chicagoland MG Club has arguably the largest and most diverse driving program of any Midwest car club. See Reinout's Driveline column for more info!
Money - Did you know that:
The club rents a storage unit for $80/month that contains tools, car parts, records, banners, etc…. These are all for the use of our mem-bers!
Our meeting room (at Mack‘s) costs us $50/month to use. It is private, has its own bar and bar-tender and food service from the kitchen … not bad!
The 50/50 raffle held every month is done to help defray the cost of the meeting room?
The club‘s single-most money generating event is the Swap Meet (thank you, Mr. Evans) held in February at the Dupage County Fair-ground. PLEASE ATTEND in 2011!!
What a Club! Try attending a meeting or event sometime!!!