The 30^th annual TEXMOG gathering in Tyler, Texas has come and gone. And very well attended too, with registrants from California, Mississippi and Oklahoma, as well as Texas. 41 people in all, herding 14 Morgan automobiles.

The event was inaugurated with the opening of the hospitality room and registration late Friday afternoon. Soon after dawn on Saturday, the contingent took off on a Chuck Harris/Barbara Simmons inspired two hour rally tour through the East Texas countryside and ending at a park outside Chandler.

There, the competition challenge passed from driver and navigational skills to Welly Toss expertise. As usual, tossing the welly resulted in many diverse techniques and many diverse targets. But not as usual, Chris Connor managed to lodge the welly high in some tree branches. Since wellies come in pairs, it was suggested to continue the toss with the second one. However, in an attempt to dislodge the first treed welly, the second welly got stuck in an even higher bough. Now we have a dilemma. How to extricate the footwear? First stones, then poles, then ropes, until finally some combination of all brought the boots to the ground. Now the competition could proceed.

From there, the participants remounted their autos and headed to Edom for lunch. However, this town with a population of 322 artisans was overflowing as it was in the middle of the annual Edom Festival of Arts. Vehicles were lining the highway shoulders entering into town. Nevertheless, all the Morganeers managed to find parking spots reasonably close to the restaurant destination. It’s an advantage to be able to pry the tiny Morgan in among the hulking SUVs. After lunch, the troupe mingled among the stands at the Art Fair – an added bonus attraction to the usual Morgan tour.

And a second attraction still lay ahead. From Edom, the next target was the Kiepersol Estates Vineyards and Winery outside of Tyler. But rather than a casual afternoon wine tasting, the winery was in the midst of its annual Wine Stomp event, with massive crowds, live bands, the works – including a continuous shuttle service to get you back and forth from your cars.

And besides this, Tyler was in the last weekend of its Rose Festival celebration, with parades, parties and tours. In fact, some of the Morgan registrants attended the parade. The Morgan club sure picked a unique weekend and location to have its gathering.

On returning to the hotel, the hospitality room was re-opened and decked out with a myriad display of articles for the silent auction that was now underway. Bidding and drinking were interrupted briefly as everyone evacuated to an adjacent room for an evening buffet banquet, with a never-ending supply of food. This was followed by a presentation of awards. The men’s division of the Welly Toss event was won by Chris Connor, who not only had the highest throw (into the trees) but the longest throw. The women’s championship was captured by Linda McClain. The rally ended in a three way tie, but awards were delivered to Jeff and Yvonne Smith 1^st, Joe Speetjens and Joe Aid 2^nd and Mike and Chris Connor 3^rd, based on a penmanship tie breaker. The award for the car most people would wish to take home was captured by Joe Speetjens and his Corvette powered +8+, while the award for the least likely to get home was given to Bernard Siegal and his Renault Deux Chevaux.

All then returned to the hospitality and silent auction room for more drinks, snacks and spirited bidding. Soon the bidding was closed, money collected and the auction items distributed to the successful participants. This drew a close to the 30^th annual TEXMOG event.

Breakfast and goodbyes were the next morning, with the only Morgan hint of a glitch occurring when the Charlton’s +8 required a threatening brandishing (not actual hookup) of some “extra heavy duty” jumper cables to get it started.