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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 � 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 � 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!
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