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What's that? Oh NO, Not already; It's the Alarm; 4:30 A.M. You've got to be kidding! I'm too OLD for this...Getting up this early to leave at 5:30 A.M. for a 2 & 1/2 hour ride to the Adirondack Nationals @ Lake George, N.Y., then walk around all day and then drive back home for 2 & 1/2 hours. I must be Polish! Oh yeah, I am!!! I must be getting senile! Charlie will be here, probably early as usual; Gotta take the dog out, etc. Gotta get ready, promised to finally meet up with another of the HotRodHotLine photographers; Tried to meet Tom Poremba for a couple of years now and never connected - Told him I'd buy him a beer if we met up this year. There's Charlie - Grab my little Kodak camera and off we go.
What's with this fog? All the weather reports said it was going to be a beautiful day; Carl is going to the Orange DragStrip Reunion in his "T" - He's going to get wet. An hour and a half goes by - Out of the fog - The Weather Man was right (for a change). Won't be long now - an hour goes by and we're here. Look at the line of cars going into the grounds of the Fort William Henry Motor Lodge - It's going to be a great day! Boy, I'm glad I came... The weather is perfect.
Parked the car and off to the show; What a deal, $10 bucks and if you stayed @ Lake George or the surrounding areas you could go to the show all three days - The Albany Rods & Kustoms know how to treat everyone right. The 1500 spots on the grounds were sold out in 5 days of the opening of registration in February - everyone knows it's a great show. The streets were lined with cars that couldn't get on the grounds and cars are cruising everywhere. It doesn't get any better than this.
Taking pictures and pictures and pictures - So much to see. Seeing old friends - Look at that, Bill Yorker found and bought that Pro-Street Vespa! Knew he would!!! Meeting lots of new people - Neat how wearing my HotRodHotLine shirt gets people talking; "Oh, which photographer are you?" "I'm, Walt, from Massachusetts." "Oh, I've seen your pictures! Really nice pictures!" "Thanks! I enjoy showing everyone what’s happening out here, and I enjoy seeing pictures from all of the shows all over the country!" And off we go...
Supposed to meet up with Tom at the A&W at Noon; Been e-mailing back and forth for a couple of years now, exchanging jokes, talking cars, politics and everything else. It's 11:00 A.M., gotta get more pictures. "Hey, are you Walt?" "Yes, I am and you're Tom Poremba..." He found me early - Gonna be buying a beer after lunch! After the introductions there's NO Shortage of Polacks walking around the grounds. Time for lunch - Gotta walk up hill about a half mile - at least there's lots of cars to check out on the way. Tom picks up the tab; Now it's time to walk down the strip to that little shop with the beer. I go in to pick up 3 Sam Adams - What, No singles - all sold out, can't break up a six pack - But I promised the guys a beer; Out I come with a six pack; With my heart meds I'm not supposed to have any - Oh well, I've broken the rules before; We clunk the bottles together, sit back; It feels good to be sitting after all the walking and the beer is hitting the spot. All done, "Here, have another!" Charlie's limit is two, don't know what Tom's is, but there's one left; What's an old Polack to do, can't play favorites, SOOOooo, I join in to finish off the six-pack. Good weather, good cars, good people and good conversation - What a great way to spend the day. Tom spends the rest of the day with Charlie and me till it's time for us to hit the highway. New Friends Forever! Before we leave Tom introduces me to Joann & Glenn Dura, another pair of HotRodHotLine photographers. The Dura’s are now Willys Less - Their coupe, sold thru HotRodHotLine, and now resides in a new Nevada home.
We talk with Tom about staying at the motel he's staying at - Day trips with this much activity are getting tougher to deal with; After all, we're getting OLD!!! Back home with lots of new memories (if I can remember them - Luckily I've got a few pictures to remind me)!!!
Hope you all enjoy them! Walt
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