Car Show Weekend

Another summer weekend is history and it's not even officially summer yet!

I started off the weekend by getting out of work a half hour early so I could hopefully beat some of the 5 O'clock traffic home and back over the bridge and get to the Spring Lake Heritage Festival car show not too long after 5. I pulled in the parking lot at St. Mary's about 5:20 and planted myself in an open area towards the back of the lot. There was quite a turnout already there when I arrived and quite a few more showed up after my arrival. I went about setting up the showboard and scrapbook, put out a chair to sit in and then grabbed the camera and took a hike around the lot to see what I could see.

When I had made the rounds once I decided it was time for a bite to eat so I headed over to the boy scouts tent where they were selling mostly burned, fairly cold hamburgers (Yum!) with a handful of chips and a pop for 3 bucks. After I was done feasting I took another stroll around. Not long after that Wanda and Chris showed up for a visit with Belle in tow. Bonnie and Brian stopped by at the same time so we shot the breeze for a bit. About 8 or so the wife and kid headed for home. About 9 they started with the trophy presentation. Last year they'd had a 55/56/57 chevy class which I got a 2nd place trophy in, but this year that class was absent and in it's place a huge class...streetrods from 1900 to present. I had no dillusions about a trophy repeat this year. After the trophys were all handed out everyone headed for the cars and home. I took a small detour by the beach first and then came home.

Saturday was a "work" day. Slept in until I woke up and then after a quick breakfast got busy putting the bathroom cabinet and trim back together. Had to make a Home Depot run for a couple items and ended up rehanging the bathroom door too so that it worked right. It was 2 in the afternoon by the time I got all that done and was satisfied with the results. The rest of the day I just kinda wandered around the place, taking care of little things. Wanda took off with Ri to go to Bingo and Chris took off so it was just me and the furkids for the rest of the day. I spent some time waxing the hot rod for Sundays' show and played with the dogs, took a nap and before I knew it the day was over.

Sunday we (Me and Chris) got up at 6, got loaded up and by 6:20 we were on the road to Charlton park for the annual Fathers day car show. We didn't get there as early this year as last year so our spot by the river had already been taken by the time we arrived. So we kept on moving and ended up parking out on the edge of the main field behind the houses. I got registered, got the display stuff set out and then we grabbed the camera and took off to tour the grounds. It was a warm, (high 80's), and sunny day so most of the day was spent Hiking from shady area to shady area. We toured the swap meet grounds, but with no money for goodies it was kinda a waste of time.

One of the high points of the day was having the NSRA folks who sponsor the show come by and do their 23 point safety inspection on the car. It used to be they wouldn't touch a car newer than '49 and I still can't show my car in their big shows cuz it's too "new" but they've loosened up some of their rules and so after passing the inspection with flying colors I got a little NSRA sticker on my windshield.

The awards started promptly at 3 and not surprisingly we didn't win anything but the cars that did win were certainly worthy of their awards. I managed to shoot a couple of 'em during the course of the day without knowing they'd been picked for honors so I put their pics in here.

After the awards were done we headed right now, didn't hang around this year and were home just before 6:00. The rest of the day was spent doing my usual sunday night chores and before I knew it, it was past time for bed.

I've had the van up for sale the last couple weeks, parked out in front with a sign in it and ran an ad in the Tribune this past week to hopefully garner some interest but didn't get a single call. Guess it's time to spend the big bucks and put an ad out there in the trader publications. If I don't sell that thing there'll be no bike trip this year not to mention no catching up on bills. With the economy like it is in this state these days every 3rd house on the way to Charlton park seemed to have a wheeled vehicle for sale out in their front yard. It's definitely a buyers market right now. Keeping my fingers crossed for now though..I just need one buyer.

TC