A wild and crazy weekend

Friday night and the cars cruised into VA BBQ in Fredericksburg, VA. The weather guessers said to expect rain, maybe! The first vehicle I looked at was Stuart’s blue ’63 PU, Tom and the guys at Pro Truck added some bling bling to the engine, looks nice! And the Willys Gasser PU was nice too as was the ’39 Rolls, the all aluminum one! The ’52 brown/cream MG TD was new to me and nicely done, I think it won ‘people’s choice’ later in the evening. The blue ’62 Pontiac Safari wagon was outstanding and unique. We kept checking the weather and it looked like it was going to the north AND south but not where we were. But about 8PM we saw some lightning in the distance and JV jumped in his T-Bucket and was history! We waited another ½ hour before the lightning started getting closer and then we decided to call it a night. About 9 miles into our 15 mile trip home a massive lightning strike lit up the road ahead of me for about ¼ of a mile. I could see the road ahead was covered with water and a “fog” was hanging on the road, it was rain! Not just a little sprinkle or shower. Not just your run of the mill thunderstorm but a hideous non-stop lightning strike, instantaneous thunder clap storm of Biblical strength! It was like driving with bombs going off all around us while we tried to pick our way home through the rain. And me with a non-working windshield wiper! Fun Fun Fun I picked out a large pickup truck and followed him in the rain, I was fixated on the red taillights and was hoping he stayed on the road! Near the end of our trip the truck turned left and I turned right, but I thought we would be ok because we were close to home, on a narrow country road, with new tires, and the interior of the windshield was fogging up and the Princess yelling at me over the walkie talkie that her windshield wiper worked ok but she was fogging up inside too (I wonder why she just didn’t turn on her A/C?) Then a fire truck started coming at us from the opposite direction with all the lights blinking and siren going and me not being able to tell where the edge of the road was because of all the glare from the lights from the fire truck I grabbed the steering wheel so tight I think the leather was oozing out between my fingers and I tried to remember where we were on the road and if I had enough room before the asphalt disappeared into the drainage ditch on the edge. But I puckered real good till the fire truck passed, Whew When we got home I opened the Princess’s side of the garage with a remote door opener but my side doesn’t have one so I waited for her to shut down her car and open my side. Meanwhile started to hear the tink tink tink of hail! Rain is not good for the coupes but hail is really bad! Up went my door and I drove up the ramps and out of the hail! No hail damage but I found out the windshield rubber has shrunk a little which allowed my left foot to get wet! Wow that was an intense 5 mile ride! We wiped down the exterior and took everything out of the inside and left the doors, trunks and hoods open with the shop fan running all night! And now I get to clean underneath both cars!

Since we had to do some “home work” on Saturday we decided that we would only go to a cruise close by in the evening. The Bruster’s Ice Cream cruise is about 2 miles away so we chose it for the night. We had been pestering our neighbor, Dwayne, to take his survivor ’75 Olds to a cruise with us but he always had an excuse..So the Princess embarrassed him in to going tonight! We hadn’t been to that cruise all year so we were looking forward to the experience and to see some old friends that don’t drive as much as we do. We got there about 4:30 and 15 cars were already there! Al brought out his precious dreamsicle ’55 Chevy that looks like the deer never hit him last year! And Richard’s beautiful blue/white ’60 is always nice to see. There were many cars that we see a lot but some that were new to us too, check out the pictures! I love the “Chevy Repair Tool” in the back seat of one of the cars. The Princess won a people’s choice plaque so she thought the cruise was very special too, that always helps, grin. That evening the cruise was raising money for a family that had a small child dealing with cancer and needed some help. Rick was giving people who donated to the cause, rides on his ’37 Chevy Fire truck, what a neat deal. Ron and Gary were minding the music and announcements all night and near the end Ron auctioned off some donations from 610 Pawn to help with the cause. There were about 80 cars that cruised in for the evening, a very nice turn out! This cruise is every Saturday from 4-9 and Ron and Gary usually have something “special” set up for each week, if you are near Stafford on Saturday evening check it out!

Sunday we met at Mike’s Diner for breakfast then cruised to Occoquan, VA and the Prince William Cruisers annual Good Ol’ Days Car Show at Occoquan Regional Park. We had attended last year and were determined that we would attend again this year. We were driving up I95 to Occoquan and I noticed a small blue dot in the mirror behind our last car. We were traveling the speed limit, 60mph, but the blue dot kept getting bigger! Finally I could make out what/who the blue dot was.. .. ..It was Pop’s from Fredericksburg Classic and Muscle Car Club in his little Baja Bug! And the RedRat was purring along and I couldn’t get the song about the Nash Rambler out of my head every time I looked back at Pop and his VW. chuckle

We arrived and 25 cars were already parked and more cars kept coming in. The venue is perfect for a car show, please check out the pictures. The variety of the cars was amazing from traditional hot rods, lowriders, 2009 cars, street rods, customs and everything in between! I was especially happy to see the Individuals Car Club and their lowriders. That is a car discipline we seldom see around here and it is refreshing. The PW Cruisers always attract a large percentage of hot rods/street rods of the below 1960 variety. The “muscle cars” were well represented too. The Prince William Cruisers run a show like a machine; they started judging as soon as you had your car set up! Everyone had their job to contribute to the whole deal and it worked like usual. They had some canopies set up for the participants to use which helped during the rain. The rain? Yes it rained during the show, not bad, just a little one hour shower. The Princess does not like to get wet, Dan gave her his umbrella so she would quit whining about the rain. She also made us eat more “good food” instead of junk food. But what was she eating in the rain? She says she is just looking out for Dan and me to make sure we don’t eat something we shouldn’t? After it quit raining we dried the cars and by the time the show was over the ground was dry, and now clean! There was a live band, Rt. 66, which sounded great, you couldn’t tell if the songs were tape or live! They were that good! There were more vendors than last year and the Wounded Warrior Project race car was present with Ray & Terry sharing the mission of WWP with anyone that would ask. Most of the established shows run well around here, the clubs have done many shows before and know what it takes to make the show run well and be easy for the participants. There were so many nice cars and I did not envy Steve’s job of judging over 200 cars! The award ceremony moves fast because they plan everything out. The Princess won a top 40 trophy so she will be happy till the next time. Arnold won best engine with his orange Camaro and the yellow flamed ’37 Ford with the blue top won best graphics. The Best of Show was won by Jerry and his black/green ’41 Willys, the car is drop dead gorgeous and perfect.. ..I cannot take pictures that do it justice; you just have to see it! This show just gets better every year and I’m sure next year will be no exception; you must attend this show if you are close to Woodbridge, VA in late June. You have a year to plan hehehe.