Club trip to the Littlefield Museum

At WCM a group of members got talking about doing a Club trip to the Littlefield Museum (http://www.mvtf.org) up near Menlo Park. If you're not familiar with it, it's a large private collection of military vehicles (almost all fully functional.) They only do tours once on Friday and twice on Saturday. E.V. and I have been talking about doing this for a while, and a number of members have expressed an interest in making it some type of group effort.

Here's what I have in mind; those members who are going would meet at two or three collection points so we can carpool, probably mid-morning on a Friday, and drive up to Menlo Park. Allowing for lunch and dinner stops, we're thinking 6 to 7 hours to get up there. We can stay at a moderately priced hotel (booked in advance of course) near the museum, and hit the pre-arranged morning tour on Saturday. The tours last about 3 hours, and we can head out after lunch, arriving back in L.A. on Saturday evening.

The idea here is to 1) keep it simple 2) keep it short (one over-night only) and 3) keep it as cheap as possible. The museum asks for a $20 per person 'contribution' for the tour. I'm thinking we should be able to find a LaQuinta or similar hotel, say $80 – $90 per night (hopefully a lot less) rooms that the guys can split. I'm guessing $20 – $25 per guy for gas (again, hopefully less). The members' cost would be: 1) one day off from work 2) probably in the vicinity of $80 – $90 plus meals.

The logistics will take some time. I'd like to do it on a 4th Friday/Saturday so as to not otherwise conflict with the game days. Tentatively, I'm thinking May 21st – 22nd. Alternately, June 25th – 26th.

I am interested in knowing roughly how many among us might be interested. Ok, let me re-phrase that, how many would say with a beter-than-50% certainty they would go? No commitments yet; I have not contacted the museum. I’m just trying to get a general idea for planning purposes, are we talking 3 guys or 30?

No need to reply here if you've already responded to the e-group post. I just want to make sure we cover everyone.

-Jim