Friday, June 19, we cruised to Fredericksburg, VA and the
weekly cruise at VA BBQ hosted by the Fredericksburg Classic & Muscle Car
Club. We had two of our granddaughters
visit us for the week and we were ready to do some “car” stuff! We arrived around 4:30 and it was not cooling
down yet and the weatherguessers were forecasting rain later in the
evening….which would bring cooler weather….yaaaa. I think the temps went from 164 degrees to
156 degrees, brrrrrrrrr. Some cars were
already parked on the lot and soon others began cruising in. Kandy brought her cool yellow Bumble Bee
Camaro….and was in Bumble Bee Transformer costume for the kids….wow! You have to check the pictures…. A very kool SG rose ’35 Ford 2dr sedan joined us with his
friend in a yellow C cab replica with a SBF sporting tractor pulling exhaust
stacks! It was a very different sound. The rest of the 40 or so attendees were the
regular crowd…. We stayed till about 8PM
when the clouds started rolling in from the NE….really black clouds! They were rolling like the “Nothing” from the
movie “The Never Ending Story” We would
have to drive straight toward them to get home….but we were hopeful we would
beat the deluge that was approaching. We
were cruising down the road near our subdivision when it let loose….rain in Biblical
proportions….a real trash floater! We
only had about another ¼ mile to go and with no one in front of us to throw up
road spray it was going to be OK. After
we garaged the farm truck we cleaned/dried it down and were ready for tomorrow. Whew….
Saturday we left the N. Stafford WAWA promptly at 6:40 and
began our 67 mile cruise to Tappahannock, VA and the 13th Annual
Antique Car & Hot-Rod Show. Bill
& Jo-Ann (’57 Chevy), Dan & Romana (’55 Chevy) and the Princess & I
with our Chevy farm truck left the WAWA.
When we went through Massaponax we picked up Fred & Debie (’57 Dodge)
then a few miles further we picked up Bill (23 Model T Speedster)….Denny would
join us later at the event with his Gatsby.
The car display is part of the annual RivahFest event. It’s a community deal with vendors and crafters
of all kinds set up on the main street through Tappahannock. The food vendors usually keep us busy and if
you get bored you must be in a coma….there are so many other things to do. The “car” part of the event is free….the
organizers feel that our rides add to the experience of the spectators at the
event and they don’t feel right about charging us a fee to help them with their
event! What a concept! Actually it’s what we do at our annual
AirFest in October in Culpeper….stay tuned.
That concept is part of the reason they always attract over 100 special
vehicles. They do have the local chapter
of the AACA “judge” the cars and give the winners a special dash plaque and
certificate! The Princess got 2nd
place in the “Antique car over 25 years old”….with her side of our farm truck….my
side had bird droppings on it from the trees.
I should bring my Model 12 next time maybe….hehehehe I think Bill Bell got an award for best Model
T, decorated with an old guy dressed up like he stepped out of the 20’s. Or maybe he got it for the best use of a
Model T wheel….you have to check the pictures!
One of the neat things about traveling away from home is that
you sometimes get to re-acquaint with friends. Social media keeps us connected….but
electronically. These chance meetings
with friends we have on social media rekindles friendships….such was the case
at this event. We met our friend,
Nadine, at a show in Montross, VA a few years ago and have been keeping in
touch on Facebook almost daily but haven’t had any face time since that first meeting. Nadine brought her very cool VW,
Bubblelicious, to the event and we had a nice time catching up. I get to actually ‘see’ Robbie about two or
three times a year even though we “talk” on Facebook almost daily….he stopped
by to chat a while too. I like these
kinds of interaction when they happen….part of our great hobby. Our lives may be very diverse but our hobby
brings us together….just too cool. There
were many other friends we stopped and visited with during our adventures of the
day….
One of the perks of arriving early at this event is that you
pretty much get to pick you parking spot.
So all the grumbling about the early start the week before (and actually
the morning of the event too) was quelled when we set up under the row of trees
on the large grass field. In my opinion
it is the best spot in the event….everyone else commented about how nice it was
later in the day when the temp went over ½ million degrees! Maybe not so much grumbling next year about
the start time…..grinning When we left
Stafford the weatherguessers were pontificating about when the slow moving
massive storm would reach our area. It
had lightning, hail, massive rain and tornados with it….we really didn’t want
to be dealing with it so far from home.
The best guess….yes guess….was that it would arrive somewhere between
3PM and 8PM. With this in mind we left
the event at 1PM and cruised home. It
was an uneventful, although stressful, hour and a half on the road….always
searching the sky for a tell tale boiling cloud formation. The much anticipated storm arrived in
Stafford about 8PM….whew. We had tornado
warnings in Stafford which is a rarity….so I did exactly what the warnings said
to do….run outside and look for the tornado!
Yup, that’s what I did….good thing we don’t live in Oklahoma….hehehehee In the end we had a lot of rain, some wind….pretty
much a ‘normal’ thunderstorm around here.
It was a very hot and long day for us, I don’t know how many more days
like that we have left in us….we’ll see.
