Friday afternoon the Princess and I cruised to
Fredericksburg, VA and the weekly cruise at VA BBQ. Even though it is becoming more difficult to
make the 16 mile trip to this cruise we like to attend because of the friendly
inclusive atmosphere that the host club, Fredericksburg Classic & Muscle
Car Club, works very hard to provide all the cruisers. We have found a “back” way to drive to the
cruise that eliminates driving on the main roads that are clogged up with
Friday night commuter traffic. We
complain about the traffic here but I’m sure it is no different than any large metropolitan
area nowadays.
When we arrived at 4PM, Ron was already parked and the club
members were setting up. Soon after we
parked the “crowd” started cruising in.
Most of the 35 cruisers that would show up for the evening were”regulars”. We set
up a circle of chairs behind the truck and visited with friends till it got
dark! As I usually do, I began taking my
pictures right before the sun went down….the best time of the day for me to
take pictures. Someone trailered in a
vehicle he had for sale. It looked like
a white Triumph Spitfire that had served time as a bumper car then taken out of
that service. Then the owner grafted the
tail fins from a 1960 Plymouth and a Continental Kit from something else onto
the rear end. It is way too strange for
me but I’m sure someone out there will fall in love with it. About 9PM the event was over for us and we
cruised back to Stafford….and Popeye’s for chicken, yum!
Saturday morning at 7AM we left the WAWA in N. Stafford with
Dan & Ramona and cruised 20 miles to Fredericksburg, VA. We were going to attend the 24th
Annual Mother’s Day Rod Run put on by the Fredericksburg Street Rods car club. It is held at the Walker Grant MS and it benefits
the Special Needs programs at the school and is one of the few shows around
that still charge a $15 entry fee, $13 if you pre-register! The restrooms are inside the school and
maintained during the event day by the custodial staff of the school. Music to Go by Lyn Grayson provides the music
and announcements to keep the event running smoothly. One of the vendors is “Tar Heel Pig Pickers
BBQ”….a superb food source, much more than ‘car show’ food! And it’s “Princess Approved”! We have attended this event most years since
2005 when we drove the ’34 Nash and it has been a hoot every year. One aside is that since the early years of
this event some of the club members have moved away…a long way away! But they still come together to put on this
one event a year….I think that is so cool and one of the reasons we support
it/them. It’s one of the ‘must attend’
events for us!
Although this is a ‘local’ show it attracts participants
from as far away as Lynchburg, VA….in fact the award for the longest distance
this year was 177 miles away! This show
also attracts club participation more than any other show we attend. There were three clubs that had a maximum
push to win the trophy this year, Virginia Stockers, Fredericksburg Classic
& Muscle Car Club and Karb Kings.
About 150 vehicles attended….which is not too shabby for a show held on
Mother’s Day! Of all the cars attending,
I liked the little tan, slammed traditional hot rod with the lace paint
job. It was NOT a rat rod…it was done
very nice but still with an attitude. If
I was 30 years younger….maybe I could fit in it….not so much now!
Since we had arrived early, 7:30AM, we chose a parking area
that had shade trees and was large enough to support a bunch of people seeking
shelter from the sun. This event lends
itself to that kind of planning. We
segregated the ladies from the men….so the ladies could engage in their nonstop
communication. How do they do that? They all talk at the same time. One or two talking is almost understandable
but more than three sounds like the buzz on the NYSE. It’s like they have multiple sound receptors
that can differentiate the separate conversations into a meaningful flow if cogent
ideas! If men tried to do that it wouldn’t
work. It would be blah blah blah blah
and we would look at each other like deer in the headlights and think, what the
heck just happened. The ladies have
their own code words that men don’t understand anyway. Like shopping shopping? Huh? WHATEVER
and FINE are the most dangerous of their words.
Anything men utter after they say them will be wrong. I have found that the best response to those
are to smile and nod my head like one of those bobble head dolls and wait to
see where she will take the rest of
the conversation. The conversation
usually goes something like ‘we will be eating out for the foreseeable future’ or
‘you need to call that cleaning lady back if you ever expect to see out of the
windows again’ or ‘you know that new washer you were going to buy?....make sure
you understand how to operate it’. And you
know it’s going to be very bad when they hand you a copy of ‘Eunuchs for
Dummies’. So….it is much better to allow
the ladies their own area to engage in their otherworldly dialogue about shoes,
colors, hairdos and what someone is wearing.….thankfully we were able to accommodate
them at this show!
The club began the award ceremony promptly at 3:30 during
which they instruct all the ‘winners’ to bring their ride up to the front and
receive their award in front of everyone with their vehicle in the background,
kinda cool. We broke camp and cruised
back to N. Stafford for dinner at Carlos O’Kelly’s….then home and rest! I don’t know why a show takes so much energy out
of us but it does! Maybe it’s an ‘age’
thing, I’m not sure…. Anyway a great day
with cars and friends….I love this hobby!
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