Weather guessers=0 Wiper salesmen=500

Friday night and we finally get to go to VA BBQ, we have missed the cruise for the last two weeks. Once because of rain once because of going to another cruise.. ..Tonight we would try again.. ..We got about 5 miles from Stafford and it started to rain.. ..So we make it 3 weeks missing VA BBQ.. ..Maybe next week!

So the weather guessers say we will have a sunny but hot day for the cruise to Purcellville, VA and their 7th Annual Summer Thunder Cruise In at Franklin Park. Last year they had 750 cars, not bad for a “cruise”! We left Stafford around noon with Dan & Ramona, Ron, the Princess and I and we arrived at the cruise at 2PM. The trip was nice through the back roads of Virginia except for some minor construction near Gilbert’s Corner. We got into a little traffic on Rt. 7 outside Leesburg when a Trooper was assisting a motorist with a flat tire, they were causing a traffic jam and the RedRat was heating up.. ..it doesn’t like slow driving in hot weather! There were also a couple Cobra boys from Maryland and one was trying to get me to run him in the traffic I guess.. ..Silly boy, Mustangs are for Chicks!

We arrived and the parking staff asked me if we wanted to park on asphalt or grass? I guess it’s about choices; spicy or bland, hot or cold, paper or plastic, fast or slow, asphalt or grass! I chose grass and we were directed to a perfect place to park, on a little knoll. The venue is perfect with the rolling grass parking please check out the pictures.
We set up camp and I first noticed Mr. & Mrs. Scottie and their powerful, pretty, purple, pickup.. ..we see them a lot at shows and cruises.. ..if you haven’t yet checked out their truck you need to do that, the attention to detail is impeccable. The blue ’58 Chevy Series 6o truck was very nice and there were a lot of late model Corvettes and Mustangs! I knew there were going to be a lot of cars in attendance so I took more “group” pictures than usual. There were a couple of neat cars with straight 6 cyl motors! The blue ’34 Chevy sedan and the white ’60 Chevy post with scallops. The cruise had a very diverse attendance with race cars, pro streets, stock new & old, antiques.. ..everything! I liked the blacked out ’60-61 Vette, just the right amount of shinny parts. I liked the ‘60’s Chassis Research digger. I’m told it was like a company mule and never raced but just used for display of the company’s products. It is a time warp deal for me! And a black ’32 Chrysler Imperial that was very presumptuous . The yellow Locomobile was a surprise too! And a bug eye Sprite, how many times do you see one of those? Dave brought the Culpeper Cruisers to the cruise and right before we left the Custom Cruisers of NOVA showed up. Scottie found out that there were about 500 registered cruisers.. ..not bad but way short of 750! The restrooms were great and the food was too. There was a live band playing most of the day and they were good too. We will come back next year and hope it doesn’t rain!

So we started to see lightning and hear thunder and many people were leaving.. ..So about 6:30 we packed up and left. It started to rain as we were leaving.. ..so much for sunny and hot! We had a drenching last week and I really didn’t want to get wet again..oh well! The rain started out like a shower but within 15 min it was a full blown storm.. ..with wind stripping leaves off the trees and water blowing horizontal..it was like being in a blizzard. And of course I haven’t fixed the windshield wiper yet! I think it moved up to the top of my "to do" list for next week. As long as it was a little light it was ok but the longer we drove in it the darker it got.. ..my arms were starting to ache because of the death grip I had on the steering wheel. About an hour and a half later we arrived in Stafford and the rain stopped. But as we turned into our driveway it started again and while I was waiting for the Princess to open my side of the garage the rain started to come down like a show drift sliding off the roof onto the RedRat! I couldn’t see into the garage, which was about 2’ from the front of the car! Little flowers from the Crape Myrtles were blowing everywhere, what a mess! I finally got the RedRat up on the Quick Lift and when the Princess chocked the tires I shut down and just sat there.. ..Whew, I survived another one of Mr. Toad’s wild rides! If this keeps up I may have to get a car with two windshield wipers! Let the cleaning begin..