Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Playing with cars, trucks and airplanes....again!

Saturday October 9, 2010 and its SHOWTIME! It’s time for the 11th Annual AirFest at Culpeper Regional Airport in Brandy Station, VA. Dan and I have been planning this event since the day after last year’s event! The parking staff of Andrew on the road, Speedo Dan, Princess Whinesalot and me, started the parking process at 0630….in the morning! It began in the dark but the morning broke perfect and the blue sky, puffy clouds and light breeze would stay all day. The temperature even stayed out of the hateful range!

Our event is a display, not a show, and as such after the parking is complete the bulk of our work on show day should be done. But what we all agreed to do was to stay near our vehicles and be readily available to answer questions when the spectators ask them about our vehicles. Most of the participants stayed with their vehicles all day and answered any questions the spectators had about their rides. Some, like the Model T, had a steady stream of curious visitors ….whole families….not just the dad or mom. The visitors would generally stay in the vehicle compound going from one vehicle to the next for 15-20 minutes then proceed through the main gate to the Air Show. Dan & I only invited 22 vehicles because we didn’t want to overpower the air show. We just wanted to be one of the many displays….a complement to the air show not competition to it….I think it worked!

One of the vehicles we invited was Ray & Terry with their Wounded Warrior Project race car. This vehicle is privately sponsored so no money given to WWP goes to sponsor the race car. Ray & Terry bring the car to shows when their race schedule allows and accept donations to WWP. But most importantly they raise awareness about WWP and how that group assists our returning Heroes. Saturday they collected $400 in donations which was a good day for WWP. But since Ray & Terry were there representing WWP and since the Prince William Cruisers were present at our display because they sponsored us….it seemed like a great opportunity for PWC to give Ray & Terry the WWP donation checks that they had received from their last show. The checks totaled $2600!...a great day for WWP.

Those of you that know me, know when I get “focused” on a project I start suffering from tunnel vision….that happened Saturday and consequently I didn’t get any pictures of the airplanes and vendors. I was so intense in making sure everything went well for our display that I forgot to step back and see what else was around us. In fact I didn’t know when the show was over till people started coming back out the gate! I know there was some magnificent flying that I missed, especially by Dan McCue in his Corsair. Oh well maybe next year I’ll delegate more car stuff and watch the airplanes more….we’ll see.

P.S. Dan and Andrew DID take a bunch of pictures….whew, thanks guys….be sure to check them out.

http://rides.webshots.com/album/578757281MuAMna

http://rides.webshots.com/album/578759531gfhuRd


And my video is parked at;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4-NppwJ_d0


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