Friday
evening Fred and the Princess & I raced south from the WAWA in N. Stafford,
VA to beat the rain to Fredericksburg and the weekly cruise at VA BBQ. This event is hosted by Fredericksburg
Classic and Muscle Car Club and is a real fixture around these parts. We have been trying to get there for 3 weeks
but the rain has had other ideas….this week we would fool Mother Nature…..grin. The forecasted rain doubtless kept a lot of
people away but about 30 brave rodders came out anyway. There was no shortage of unique vehicles
joining in either. The white ’17 Model T
center door is a very unique piece; I saw it once about 4 years ago in
Manassas, VA but have been keeping a vigilant look out for it since. And the yellow traditional hot rod pickup was
special too….a little noisy (did I say that?) but must be what fun is all
about. The most curious and cool car was
the red/black late 60’s Austin Mini….with a late model Honda VTEC motor and
front clip! This is hot rodding
personified! I bet this car owner knows
how to have fun!? We cruised on home around
8:30 and cleaned off the truck to be ready for Saturday.
Saturday Jim
& Linda, Ron & Jean, Fred & Debie, Dan & Ramona and the Princess
and I left the Stafford WAWA and cruised 70 miles south to Mechanicsville, VA
and Burnettis Italian Restaurant. This
is another weekly cruise that we like to attend a couple times a year, the last
time we rolled south for the cruise, the restaurant was closed for
renovations! This time the heat must
have been a deterrent for a lot of people because only about 35-40 people
showed up! There were some nice cars
rumbling through but most only stayed a couple hours then drove away looking
for a cool spot. I didn’t take any
pictures of the cruise….I was trying to stay cool too! The crowd was thinning out around 8:30 so we all
packed up to cruise home.
The cruise
home is usually uneventful as the road is in great shape and the cooler air
helps the cars and the people.
But….mother nature has a way of spoiling things….either rain, lightning,
earthquake, volcano eruption or some other distraction. But tonight something paid us a visit that is always on the
mind of a hot rodder driving in Virginia at dusk. We were in a normal group formation traveling with about
8-10 car length spacing between cars at about 50-55 MPH. I usually have to lead and at night the
headlights of vehicles in back of me hurt my eyes so I don’t scan the rear view
as much as I should. The first thing I
noticed was the mirror got dark….the rest of the group had disappeared? Had the mother ship missed me? Then the walkie talkie started to chatter then
the Princess started to chatter….then one of our phones rang in the truck! Someone had a deer run into them. We turned around and raced back to the scene
to find that Dan & Ramona’s gorgeous black ’55 Chevy had a messed up right
front fender….and door….and hood. Ramona
was shaken up but no visible injury….Dan was just upset! This is particularly upsetting to them….they
bought a new Chrysler Town & Country land yacht a couple months ago and got
hit by a deer 3 days after they picked it up from the dealer!
Their other minivan got hit by a deer last year. Deer are not welcome around the Cranes. We cruised the remaining 30 miles home….we
were all just a little more focused on what was on the side of the road the
rest of the night. It really sucks to have your hot rod messed up by a deer....or anything....but at least everyone walked away from the incident with all their body parts in the same place and working like they did when they left home....we are thankful for that!
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