Sunday, June 8, 2014

A quiet weekend close to home.....


Friday evening the Princess and I cruised to Fredericksburg, VA and the weekly cruise managed by the Fredericksburg Classic and Muscle Car Club and hosted by VA BBQ restaurant.  We arrived about 4:30 and there were only about 5 cars parked!  We set up and waited….about 5PM the cars started to arrive and by 6PM there were about 30 cars.  Ron and his friend, Donna, set up their chairs next to us then Fred came in, then Bill.  A little while later Bill & Jo-Ann parked near us and we had a little gab fest circle!  We tried some of the BBQ food while we ate and talked as the lot kept attracting more cars.  There is another cruise on Friday night a few miles away, a new one that is drawing people away from this established cruise.  Some people cruise to VA BBQ for a couple hours then cruise over to the other cruise….and some begin at the other cruise and end up at VA BBQ.  So the lot is always a little active and my plan to wait till the sun sets behind the trees to take my photographs just won’t work anymore.  A few cars of note escaped my camera lens when they left early, I’ll have to capture them another time.

A green ’35 Ford sedan with period correct speed equipment parked a few spaces from us.  I was able to take a few detail pics of the engine and interesting turn signal lights on top of the headlights.  I have never seen turn signals like that.  Parked in front of us was a white ‘63   Pontiac Catalina ragtop that looked like it just drove off the dealer lot!  Part of Bill’s display for his brown ’57 Chevy 2dr hardtop is a drive in movie theater speaker stand!  Very authentic and it gets a lot of questions from the younger crowd….I guess everyone is younger than us!  Grin

About 9PM we all gathered up our stuff and said our goodbyes….we all had a very good evening sharing some of our life stories, teasing and joking with one another in a good natured way….It’s what friends do!

Saturday the Princess and I cruised 29 miles to Manassas, VA and the BK cruise.  I don’t think it’s possible to get a good parking spot anymore so we have been parking up on the berm around the East side of the lot.  It’s grass which we like and it’s a little elevated and seems to get a little more breeze.  This cruise is very dynamic as cars are coming and going all the time.  And the afternoon sun is brutal for me to take pictures so I usually only photograph about 70% of the vehicles that attend.

This afternoon the neatest ride was the tan/green ’30 Plymouth roadster original.  To say it was immaculate was like saying the Grand Canyon is a hole in the ground….it was just perfect.  I’m glad people with original cars feel comfortable bringing their cars out to a cruise where they are in the extreme minority.  A black ’32 Ford 5 window, chopped/channeled with Hemi power growled to a stop in between a blue Chevelle and a red/white 60’s Chevy pickup!  It’s so neat to watch how the different disciplines mesh just fine and play nice with each other in the close confines of a parking lot.  Most of the time!  The Princess met a friend she had not seen for a few years….they caught up while walking around checking out the different rides.  About 8PM we decided it was time to pack it in….a nice and uneventful cruise home….on lesser traveled back roads….I love this hobby.

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