Cruisin 2....rain 0

Friday evening we cruised to our “home” cruise, the Q in Fredericksburg, VA.  The evening’s weather was the most comfortable this year.  Over 70 cars came out and enjoyed the evening with us.  The music playing, the friends stopping by and talking, and the cars were rumbling through the lot for 5 hours….sounds like a fun way to spend the evening to me.  I liked the double green ’55 Dodge Coronet and the rusty rat rod PU….they both looked like a lot of fun.  We kept Ron busy with his new job….delivery guy for Subway….ask the Princess….  We had an unexpected visit from Sylvia who arrived in her red MB….she said she didn’t want to bring the blue ’34 Chevy because it needed gas….and the Benz was full!  Yes she is a friend of the Princess….they think alike….you have no idea.  We stayed till the lot began thinning out then cruised home to Stafford, VA.  Do you know the Chebby truck fits in the drive through at Popeye’s?  Yup….chicken dinner for two at 9PM….yum! 

Saturday the Princess and I launched from the WAWA in Stafford and cruised 85 miles to Charlottesville, VA and the Wood Grille Buffet restaurant.  We drove out the back way from Stafford and hooked up with Rt. 29 near Bealeton, VA.  We stayed on that road till we arrived at the restaurant….no traffic all the way!  The food was a cut above typical for “buffet” food.  I lost track of how many plates of shrimp the Princess made disappear.  The crab cakes were great….and it’s a buffet!  grin!  Our waitress kept bringing us clean plates….like it was a challenge….it’s a buffet you know! hehehehe!  When she took our forks away I think she was trying to tell us that we had consumed enough buffet for the time being.  We waddled out to the truck to begin the next leg of our cruise.

We were going to end this leg of the cruise in Orange, VA and we wanted to run through Gordonsville, VA to check out a restaurant Bill recommended for a cruise in the future.  It’s called the Barbeque Exchange?  It’s a strange name but the place looked inviting.  Parking might be tight depending on how many people go with us….we’ll find out next week!  Gordonsville has one of those Highway Engineer pranks that they play on the motoring public….a traffic circle of death.  I hate traffic circles.  You have to be so aggressive when you jump in with the traffic.  You have to choose if you want to challenge a gravel truck going around the circle like he was at Daytona practicing for the 500 or a confused escapee from the local senior center driving a Family Truckster.  If you don’t decide quickly the traffic stacks up behind you like pouring coke into a glass that has crushed ice in it.  It fills up so quickly, and then runs over…it’s a mess.  I see that in the rear view mirror while I try to choose how to end my life as I enter the feeding frenzy of vehicles in the circle!  And….after you enter the melee you have to read the signs quickly, while turning & merging so you don’t end up going to Miami or Chattanooga by taking the wrong exit.  After I made 26 laps around the circle I thought I saw the exit I should take.  Those people standing on the side, holding up signs with lap numbers on them should go home and prune their pyracantha’s….they really don’t help at all.  The GPS started smoking so I knew I had to do something quickly, that’s when I pointed the truck at the next exit sign….it said Rt. 15 N.  As soon as we were going straight again I saw a road sign that confirmed we were indeed on Rt. 15 N and that Orange was just 9 miles away.  The GPS started saying nice things to us again….I need to bring a paper map next time.

We arrived early for the Orange County Cruisers, monthly cruise at the Burger King in Orange, VA.  I thought arriving early would work out well because the Princess would then have a larger number of choices where she might like to park.  So after moving to her 4^th choice she was finally happy with the location….it’s like moving furniture at home.  The area started filling up and by 5PM there were about 60 cars.  About 95 cars came to the cruise by the time we left.  The OCC club kept the cruise moving along with their music and trivia door prizes as well as the club members mingling with the participants to chat and welcome them to the cruise.

This cruise always attracts cars we don’t see up north….like the little original Mini delivery.  The yellow 72 Ford Maverick that was done very nice and the big black Hudson Super Wasp was especially intimidating.  The open wheeled VW was updated with a 380 HP motor….let that sink in.  A car that probably weighs 1200-1300 pounds with 380 HP.  I do believe that has fast written all over it!  There were many cars present that we have seen before too so you need to check out the pictures to get a flavor for who attends this cruise.  About 6:30 the weather turned bad, it began to sprinkle.  So the club ended the evening’s festivities a little early….a great idea.  The Princess won a ‘Best Truck’ trophy so she was all giggly and had something shiny to look at all the way home…..you have no idea!  Someone said the rain was coming from the southeast so we left on Rt. 15 towards Culpeper, which ran northwest.  As soon as we were about ½ mile away from the cruise it stopped raining on us….and we didn’t get anymore till we pulled into our subdivision 58 miles later!  So the truck will be easy to get ready for next weekend, the Princess will like that.  You might want to put this third Saturday of each month cruise on you to do list.  It is a very comfortable cruise location and the trip getting there is through some scenic rural Virginia countryside.  But the best reason to visit is that the club wants you to come on down and sit a spell….sip a little tea….and talk about your ride while you both make some new friends.