Crazy Crazy Weekend

Friday evening and the Princess and I cruised to VA BBQ in Fredericksburg, VA to attend the weekly cruise. Some people we rarely see came out like Dan & Ramona with their black ’55 Chevy and Tony & Janice and their grey ’71 Super Bee and Wesley brought out his black & white ’56 Chevy panel, nice. I liked the little yellow English Ford with the small block and tube frame….the yellow ’35 Chevy sedan was new to us as was the red ’57 Chevy drop top. There were about 60 cars through the course of the evening and the event was special because they were raising money for one of our wounded warriors, Sgt. Lyon. I can tell fall is here because the Princess started whining about the cold before the event was over so we left early.

Saturday morning we met at Bob Evans for breakfast then cruised 25 miles to the ninth annual Christ Episcopal Church show in Spotsylvania, VA. The show had many crafty vendors and a Chinese auction….why is it called a Chinese auction, why not a Canadian auction or Australian auction….I worry about that. They had a quilt auction and good food cooking most of the day. The restrooms were inside the church and kept tidy by the church staff. The venue for this show is varied; you can park on level grass under trees or on a grassy hill in the sun or in a parking lot next to grass where you can erect your canopy. We chose to park on the grass right off the parking lot….it was a great spot.

There was a good variety of the 80 cars I saw and many of them were very nicely done cars. We had seen most of them at the various shows and cruises we attend, that is the down side of attending so many local shows. But we always see something new and this show was no exception. The yellow & black suede ’68 Chevelle was very different….and the little red MG-Jeepster-thingy was too far out for me. I did like the purple ’40 Ford coupe and Arnold’s purple ’57 Chevy convertible the best….but there were many other very nice cars too. The only negative thing about this show is the cannon! Yes a cannon that is fired from the back of the parking lot at various times during the day….the loudness is near paralyzing….I think it would be like getting tazzed….every so often….for no apparent reason….you are just having a conversation with an old friend and wham, it scrambled my senses like I just took 45 million volts through my ear lobes….I think some people were getting ready to pay the cannoneer an unfriendly visit! But fortunately the show ended before that happened….that should be deleted from the entertainment committee’s choices next year.

We left the show and followed Steve and some other friends to the cruise in Locust Grove. We had heard rumors of a cruise on Rt. 20 that was getting 50+ cars on the first Saturday of the month. The cruise started this year in June/July and seemed like it was a hit! We arrived a little early and the isolation/caution tape had not been put us so we parked where we thought would be allowed….then Mike decided to move where there were no lines on the pavement and be closer to the shade….so we all moved too, like lemmings! Mike is a very independent guy….he has a V-6 in his red ’29 2 door so he is going against the grain a little just by showing up! We decided to check out one of the local eateries and hid inside Mama’s Pizza restaurant for an hour or so. There are three food choices and the next time we will check out one of the others. Mama’s Pizza was great….the Princess says that the Lasagna was done just right for a Princess? I guess that means we lowly bottom dwellers should be happy with the food too! It was good, fairly priced and the service was fun.

As with any cruise they take on their own personality and this one was definitely a local country cruise. The live Gospel singing and bluegrass music set the tone for the evening and I kinda liked it. There were about 55 cars by the end of the evening but I like the yellow ’49 Jeepster….you never see these cars around and the one at the cruise was flawless. The only negative thing about the cruise was where the cars came into and left the cruise compound. They should have a person at the end of the lot lifting up the caution tape to allow ingress and egress, not through the canopies with the musicians and all the people gathered around listening. The kids were running around and after dark it was dangerous to drive in that area. We stayed till it got cold then cruised on home….I actually had to roll up both windows because of the cool weather….I love it!

Sunday since we were going to work in the show that got rained out last week so we took our mule, ’07 Sport Trac, up the road so we could haul more stuff for Wounded Warrior Project. The show is put on for Wounded Warrior Project and Jill’s House, two worthy causes. Last week we had 34 cars show up in the rain and we were hoping for many more this week. The weather guesser’s forcasted rain for the afternoon, they just didn’t agree when it would be here. So we pressed on with the show. Steve and the rest of the Prince William Cruisers had set up everything. The Princess and Ramona were going to be selling the event T shirts, Dan was going to help take the money and I was going to help Jo with the registration.

As I have said before the venue is great but we had received almost 6” of rain during the last week….so the grassed area was a little soft, not muddy, just soft. We got there before 8AM and the cars started coming in shortly after that. One of the main drawbacks of this show is the food. The park had permanent food facilities which should be good….but the food is subpar and the service is minimal to laughable. I shudder to think that those young people are the future of our Country….they can’t even make change for a hamburger! And the bathrooms were really bad this year….they were dirty and not adequately stocked.

But on the good side it didn’t rain till after the show, the band was kickin out awesome music and the event ran like a Rolex. The success of the event was due in part to the generous contributions of Mr. Devine, Mr. Morissette, Mr. Phillips and Mr. Brown. Those contributions allowed the Prince William Cruisers to raise $5200 for the two charities….a real good day by any measure! All of the Prince William Cruisers that came out to make the day successful should be thanked for their dedication and unselfish volunteering.

100 cars were registered but the field was flooded by Camaros, 15 of them entered the event before it was over! The “rest” of the field was varied and included some very nice cars. The one I liked the best was the blue “65 Buick Special, with the V-6. Between the one barrel carburetor, the V-6 crank throws, the convertible top and standard transmission those evil little cars would never idle nice like the V-8 would….I worked on a few of them when I was a mechanic in Riverside, CA and tried to make the car run like a “Buick” but usually failed. It was very interesting to see one again. To say I’m glad I was not asked to help with the judging is an understatement….the cars were very nice and the judges job was tedious at best.

The award ceremony was completed a little early and the Prince William Cruisers struck the camp quickly….by 4PM you couldn’t tell anything had happened at the park! WOW The rain started about 5PM!