We left the WAWA in N. Stafford around 2PM as the cruise was
from 3pm to 8:30pm and it would take us a little over an hour to cruise the 67
miles. We chose a route that is less
traveled as the more direct route of Interstates would be slammed with
traffic. Rt 2 & 301 is a great road
through the flat lands of rural Virginia….never much traffic and always in good
condition.
Since I make changes and upgrades every week to the Cruise
Missile it’s always an adventure when we drive it out of N. Stafford. Everything was going fine till we were about
40 miles from home. Then the Princess
started to whine….”How come it’s raining on my side of the windshield? The weatherguessers said it wouldn’t rain….AND
WHY DON’T YOU HAVE ANY RAIN ON YOUR SIDE OF THE WINDSHIELD?” Hmmmm?
It all happened so fast….she did in fact have liquid on her side of the
windshield….it was green coolant! I
pulled over at the first opportunity to see where the coolant was coming
from. After much blotting of coolant and
avoiding the running, engine mounted fan we discovered the leak was between the
thermostat housing and the intake manifold.
It is O ring sealed and the O ring must have a defect and the coolant
was spraying out toward the fan which was blowing it back on the passenger side
firewall and hood….the hood has louvers so the coolant was blowing through the
louvers onto the Princess side of the windshield….she is just so special. It was SO UNFAIR that it went on her side and
not mine….! It also went down the side
of the truck and Jim said it went on his Vette behind us! Last weekend we had driven many miles and
didn’t have any problems so I took my tool bag out for this trip….big mistake! But since we were traveling with friends as
soon as I said ‘does anyone have a 9/16 wrench or socket? I got two immediate responses from Tony &
Dan….so I tightened up the housing bolts just a little, the leak stopped and we
proceeded on to Brunetti’s. I also have
to check out the radiator cap pressure….it might be over pressuring the system….something
else to do this week.
We had dined at Brunetti’s a few times before after Chuck
& Cindy turned us on to the restaurant and cruise years ago. Brunetti’s food is as I have written before,
better than great! It’s worth the trip
just to eat there…. And Ramona always
tries to turn our cruises toward Brunetti’s or Capt. Georges whenever she
thinks she has enough power to sway our decision. Jim & Linda had not eaten at Brunetti’s
but were anxious to check it out after all the good things we had said about it…. Andrew likes Italian food and was likewise
anticipating the dinner at Brunetti’s.
Tony is an Italian food aficionado and had not eaten at Brunetti’s but
had heard us brag about it for years. It
was to be the high point of the week for all of us. The anticipation was thick as real Italian
pasta sauce.
We cruised into the parking lot and there were only 5-6
cars? Fay-Ray, the tune misters, was not
set up? The ‘primo’ parking spaces were
available? So we all parked, opened up
the cars and started to make our way to Brunetti’s for the much awaited dinner…. They were closed for renovations! They would be open in two days! I stood in disbelief….reading and re-reading
the closed sign. I thought if I read it
again it would change? WOW….it was like
a gut punch….almost took my breath away!
I was so disappointed on many levels.
Not the least was….we were all hungry!
We looked around to see where else we could eat. A local cruiser recommended a ‘nice’ restaurant
about a quarter mile away in the mall across the street. The street was Rt. 301….a six lane, extremely
busy, divided highway with a 45 mph speed limit….I think he wanted to lower the
population a little by sending us over there?
When he saw we weren’t going to fall for that he said there was a pizza
place the other direction. It was a Stevie
B’s pizza off in the distance across Atlee Rd.
Could an old person really walk that far? Some more of the local cruisers recommended it
so we trekked across Atlee Rd. and settled in for a pizza dinner in a kid
infested “happy” restaurant/kids game place….whoopee! I guess it was alright but I just ate enough
to fill the hungry hole and sat back while I waited for the others to be
done. It was kind of like ordering a new
Challenger SRT10….waiting months for it….going to the dealership to pick it up
and your salesman gives you the keys to a Prius….yeah it’s a car, kinda cool….but
not the same….
So back at the cruise the lot was filling up….evidently the ‘yellow’
memo got circulated in time….I never saw so many yellow cars at one
cruise! There were about 75 cars at the
event, most parked and stayed awhile but some just cruised through. I liked the yellow and white ’58 Chevy wagon
and the red and white ’55 Nomad was neat as a pin. The ’67 AMC Rebel SST is a seldom seen car….it
looks a little like the early Plymouth Road Runners from a distance. The yellow ’62 Corvair was a cool glimpse of
our go fast heritage.
We gathered up our stuff around 7:30 and cruised back
home. This is a popular well attended
cruise that you should check out when you are in Mechanicsville, VA on Saturday
night….just call ahead about your dinner plans!
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