Be Prepared....

Friday the Princess & I took our hot rod and cruised to Culpeper, VA.  We had some loose ends to tie up at the Culpeper Regional Airport for our event in October and we met Lou & Arlene near the airport.  Lou & I do most of the grunt work for this event since he lives in Culpeper and I like airplanes….that we both are retired helps too!  The meeting went well with Tanya & Tony and I do believe this year’s event will be the best yet! 

The Commemorative Air Force is flying a restored B-17G around the Country; it’s called “Sentimental Journey”.  It is a beautiful representation of the type of bomber that took the war to Germany & Japan in WWII.  The love and attention they lavish on it is just mind boggling.  The airplane was at the Culpeper airport all week!  When we concluded our meeting with Tanya, the airport manager, she asked if we wanted to take our classic cars out on the ramp and take some pictures with the B-17 before we left?  Well….uh….Lou & I looked at each other and blabbered in unison “oh yeah, that would be a once in a lifetime opportunity to do something like that”….YUP!  We carefully motored out on the ramp and over by the glistening old bomber being careful not to run over any people admiring the airplane too.  We parked and took some of the most memorable pictures with our hot rods we may ever get.  What a deal….  After that photo shoot nothing could go wrong the rest of the day!

We floated away from the airport and headed to our next stop, Battlefield Ford and our meeting with the owner Gary.  We needed to tie down more loose ends with our AirFest sponsor. We met with Gary and had the fastest meeting I have ever had but also one of the most productive in memory.  We are set with the sponsor….on to the award company. 

Ed’s Trophy & Engraving has been making our awards for this event since we began six years ago.  Our event is not a competitive event, no trophies thank you very much.  But we do appreciate everyone that takes their time to come spend the day with us at the airport, sharing their vehicle and talking to the thousands of spectators that roam through our vehicle display on the way into the airshow.  So we present everyone that participates with a token of our appreciation….something to help them remember the day.  Our group, Cruisin For Heroes, puts on the event to raise awareness that hopefully will translate into donations for our charity, Fisher House Foundation.

After our meeting with Ed we cruised to Glory Days and an early dinner out on their patio….  The afternoon was pleasantly comfortable but we really wanted to be able to watch our hot rods while we ate….those of you that drive your hot rod will know what I mean.

After eating too many fish & chips we wobbled over to the weekly cruise at Arby’s.  This is a casual gathering of local hot rodders that just enjoy each other’s company and want to get together every week, even in the winter!  It’s in a very nice venue and will support about 25-30 cars, which makes it very cozy and friendly.  The food is good and indoor restrooms are always a plus.  There were less than 10 cars Friday, no doubt due to the Holiday weekend.  We may help promote this cruise next year, I really like it and it takes about the same amount of time to cruise 40 miles to Culpeper as it does the 18 miles to Fredericksburg!  Yes, traffic around here near I-95 or Rt. 1 is horrific on Friday evening….all year around.  And with the current construction it won’t get any better for a couple years!

 

The only drawback about this cruise is the close proximity of shopping for the ladies.  The Princess and Arlene should not be allowed to go shopping together….and when Benda goes with them the shopping bag count can go way up!  I think it must be like a competition….to see how much stuff they can buy….it’s a sickness I think?  Its times like these I’m sorry we drive a truck….like the Post Office, ‘If it fits, it ships’.  I may be able to keep the Princess near the truck if I hang up a chrome wind chime or something else shinny but Lou & Bob are on their own with their ladies!

We said our goodbyes around 8:30 and cruised to Bruster’s Ice Cream in Culpeper.  I think Lou’s GPS is hard wired with the Bruster’s address….we can’t leave the area till we stop there!  After Ice cream we had an uneventful cruise home….in the cool of the evening….windows down….smelling the smells of late summer.

Saturday we decided to cruise to Manassas, VA and the weekly cruise at the BK near the airport.  We met Dan & Ramona on the way out of Stafford and made the rest of the 30 mile cruise without incident.  When we arrived in the lot Dan found two parking spaces near the ice cream stand….coincidence?  I think not!  Dan’s most favorite food in the world is ice cream….never get between him and ice cream….it could get ugly!  The attendance was a little down; no doubt from the holiday weekend, but some fat tire cars came out anyway.  I always like to see/hear/feel those rides….it really is a visceral thing with those cars.  About 8AM we decided to call it a day and almost had another uneventful cruise home.  That is until Dan blew his deer whistle!  I think there is something on his ’55 that makes a noise that deer like, it attracts them.  This time he was able to stop before hitting one even though one was standing in the road….looking at Dan….like he was saying “come on big boy, is that all ya got?.  The Princess and I were laughing so hard I was having trouble seeing because of the tears….too much fun I guess.  You had to be there….maybe next time you will?