A weekend at the ZOO....pigs, rats, cows

Friday night finds us at, where else?, VA BBQ in Fredericksburg. I don't know if we got there late or others are beginning to arrive earlier to get better parking....anyway....Jim & Linda saved us some parking spaces so we got our regular spots. An old friend was already there, we hadn't seen him for a few years. We used to run with him when we rode Harleys....but that's another story. He is building a Chevy PU....he is a hands on guy and has the running gear done so he brought it out, see the video. There was a silver early 70s Olds....we see more Oldsmobiles at cruises and shows than ever before? I don't know why? Then our friend that normally drives a green 39 Chevy brought his red Caddy convertible....I think that car can be in two time zones at the same time! I also would rather take it on a long drive than most other cars! Stuart brought his blue Ford PU....this vehicle has a story, you need to talk to Stuart when you see him....he loves to talk about his cars. Then a bronze late 30s Buick came in, it is a real hot rod, a no excuses driver. Most of the Buicks you see are large ponderous vehicles, not this one. Then Paul was holding court telling us about his adventures with his 34 Lakester and the cruise was winding down. I heard some hollering but didn't think anything about it. The Princess evidently knew she wasn't going to win anything with her car, and she was getting desperate! When she found out Sue and company was giving out a trophy for pig oinking....she entered the contest! Pig oinking....oookaaay....I wonder if she really thinks these things through? Anyway since Dan wasn't there she decided to give it a try....I heard the hollering but just thought someone was getting run over by a car or something....NOT the Princess doing her pig oinking and calling! She said she just survived a sinus operation so she could 'oink' real good!....remember I have had to live with this for over 43 years!....feel very sorry for me....on the way home I reflected on my sobriety 43 years ago....

Saturday we left Bob Evans at 7AM to head to the Virginia Bizarre show in Ladysmith, VA Dan & Ramona, Andrew, Linda and the slacker took off in the fog....see pics. When we got to the show the fog was gone and the heat had started. The show was for the Caroline County Sheriff's DARE program. Cars continued coming in till about 11AM. The Sheriff's deputies did most of the car judging/picking. I had not seen most of the cars so we took time to study them....most were very nice. There was about 30 or so cars....not a very large turn out....it could have been the heat, It was very hot! It was so hot that the show was supposed to end around 4 but they ended it at 2PM! Thank you! The Bizarre's A/C offered some temporary relief from the heat but you always had to come back out in it and sweat some more!....

We packed up and headed for the BB&T in Stafford for the Circuit Cruise. We waited till about 4:05 and we left. There were 11 cars that left BB&T for Sonics. Somewhere we lost a red Camaro and then Andrew disappeared.... we knew they would catch up at Sonic so when we arrived there we waited a little while and picked up a Mustang and Ford PU. Then someone said they saw Andrew heading toward Fosters. We gathered up and headed for Foster's....a new way. When we arrived at Foster's Andrew was there but the red Camaro wasn't! The FC&MCC had their cruise in full swing with 20-25 cars coming in and out. There was a green Austin Healy that was real special, I need to find out more about this car. We started getting reports about the severe storms on the radio and TV that were in the area so we left for A1.

The Late Night Cruisers had their cruise in full swing at A1 and we parked to get ready for the evening's contest....

The Valve Cover Races!

We milled around trading pleasantries, smiling, shaking hands and then decided to get down to what we came for....racing. I have to tell you I was more than a little intimidated by Dave & Ben....after all they have a major sponsor, and it's a speed shop! And I'm just a retired slacker on a fixed income.... Plus we were racing on their track, nothing like home field advantage! So I got out the CaddyCow and then in what I thought was a real bait and switch deal these Ford guys brought out a Chevy racer!....Why did they bring out this weak sister to race me? Were they going to bring out a Mopar next? Were they trying to wear out the CaddyCow racing all these lesser racers then bring out a real racer, a Ford? Why was Ben not talking much? Why was Dave talking too much? Why were there little cow 'kill' markings on their racer? Who knows the mind of speed crazed hot rodders? With so much at stake I was getting a little worried. Finally the dust settled and the race was run and the CowCaddy spanked the Chevy thingy. THEN their racer disappeared and Dale brought out his VW racer....nice try but against the CowCaddy? Yeah right! No one else brought a racer? I guess if you aren't a player you can't loose? After a few more runs against Dale, Dave appears again with their weak sister, they modified it! Surprise? He kept putting stuff on his racer and I kept waving the scale I brought....Dave frowned....we raced again. This time when the CowCaddy was ahead almost half a length the Chevy broke hard right and spun the CowCaddy out, it crossed the finish line going backwards, but still won! Dave reluctantly conceded defeat....but vowed to be back next month....hopefully with a Ford....something worthy to race against. Then Dave said they would have to keep the CowCaddy to tear it down to make sure I wasn't using some sort of cosmic motive power? I think they just wanted to see how to make cars go faster! I saw Ben studying on the Internet getting secrets for next month, see pics....I gave them a clue how to be competitive.... the word is CD! So the Princess was unhappy because she didn't have a racer....so next month there might be a pink racer, who knows....I told Dave to remember that if your not a winner you are a loooooser! Dave was laughing but he then told me that my AN fittings were back ordered and wouldn't be in till....December?....I think he is a bad looser.....grin. I asked Dave what did I get for winning? He said something like....it's enough to know that you have earned the respect of your peers and you have the satisfaction of knowing you have bested your fellow competitors in a fair contest and that is better than money in the bank!? I bought it and thought that was nice....so I called Countrywide Mortgage today and told them that I would not be sending a payment to them this month because I know they will be satisfied with the knowledge of knowing they are respected by their peers and I told them how much I liked them and my friendship is better than money in the bank! I couldn't keep track of everything they said after that, they were talking real fast and way too loud....even though I'm not sure of everything they said I think the word 'attorney' was mentioned a lot....I thought I was being fair! It worked for Dave.... We left for Stafford and home, it was too late for Brusters and we had some bottles to open after winning the race....Geratiol & Pepto-Bismol.

Sunday we left Bob Evans for the Orange County Cruisers show in, where else, Orange, VA! We didn't go to this show last year because it conflicts with NSRA York. This year I wanted to go back, the show is so neat. It's on grass, which I like, and run very efficiently. They have built an addition on the stage that allows about 60 or so cars to be under roof! The restroom facilities are very pleasant and the distraction of sky divers landing behind the show is always interesting. There were about 80 cars, half of which were new to me. DJ Ron was MC-ing and DJ-ing....He is really good at this....if you need a DJ you need to consider him. He also drives a nice docile Camaro.... There was a Ford PU that had more money in the suspension and electronics than both of my cars are worth! It's pretty impressive. A very dark blue 60s Barracuda was a unique ride as was the orange Superbird. The....rat rod had a different parking brake! see pics We are seeing more of the 70-71 Ford Torino/Rancheros lately....I wonder why? There was a nice orange Torino next to a very pretty 57 Chevy PU. There was a 23 T bucket that is special, check out the engine height and short wheelbase....this has got to be a wild ride! It looks a little like an old Awful Awful! I was having trouble taking pictures in the under roof area because the sun was bright outside and inside it was so dark....I'll get over this next time. The orange (what's with orange cars lately?) 37 Chevy roadster PU was there, I've commented on it before, it's just a real nice car. Dan & Ramona, Linda & Chuck, Andrew, Henry, Jim and Marla all got top 40 awards. The awards are neat, something different. And Stafford Classics got the club participation award....we need a place to display the club participation awards....we need to work on that, we have 3 or 4 so far this year. The place could be an old garage that someone could donate to us for a clubhouse because we are such nice people....are you reading this Ed?....grin Orange County Cruisers president, Walt Barfield, thanked us all for coming out in the heat and admonished us to have a safe journey home. Marla's 55 Chevy PU cooked the electric system so we waited with her for the roll back to pick her Chevy up. Then I went to the burn out box and the RedRat made a few easy passes....that car is so sudden and quick, I must be too old and slow to keep up with it....we'll see. We took a route less traveled back to Stafford....a nice weekend that we drove for 274 miles....it was hot!