Cosmic Charlie Weekend Report
Fredericksburg, VAFriday, June 26, 2015
Photos by: Charles Shotwell
Friday the rain clouds looks bad most of the day. The weatherguessers were forecasting the rain to stop in the afternoon….yeah right. The Princess & I decided to make a run for Fredericksburg, VA and shake our fist at the rain clouds…..YEAH BUDDY! It worked! We arrived at the weekly cruise managed by Fredericksburg Classic and Muscle Car Club at the VA BBQ restaurant and it was still cloudy but it WAS clearing….and getting cooler. Anything would be cooler from the thermo nuclear temps we have had for that last couple weeks. Over the next four hours, the evening unfolded very comfortably with about 30 cars attending the Q Cruise.
Most of the rides were the usual suspects but a purple ’57 Chevy Nomad rumbled in and took up temporary residence a couple spots away from our farm truck. It was a very nice example of the popular long roof. Don brought out his beautiful red ’51 F1 pickup….just to show us what a farm truck can be if you work real hard at it….his truck is flathead powered with period correct speed equipment. His buddy’s red/white 70’s Ford Bronco was nicely finished too. The Conrads cruised in with their red Mazda Miata convertible but the pearl white ’32 Ford highboy was the best hot rod of the night, love the roll bar!
The only shady spot in the lot is usually occupied by early cruisers….and one that almost always attends is the drop dead gorgeous black ’67 Chevelle owned by Butch and his wife….the couple always park their chairs under the shade of the tree. The tree….has been butchered by the power company over the years so it won’t interfere with the lines and cause power outages. So the tree’s tortured and grotesque shape tries to keep living but part of it has given up and died. A little group of cruisers had gathered behind our truck and we were about 10 spaces away from Butch’s Chevelle….and the tree. There was a rare lull in the group’s conversation and I heard a “whoop/thump” from the direction of the tree. When I looked I saw a dead tree branch that had dropped and was laying close to Butch! It was about 3” dia and about 6 foot long! I walked over to see if he was ok and to see how close the branch came to him, about 4’ away….and where it came from…..and if there were going to be more falling soon. I feel like a deer, I have stood under that tree many many times and never looked up! The branch that fell is part of a massive 12” branch that is mostly rotten….whew. If the deadwood isn’t trimmed out by the next time we attend the cruise, I need to remember to warn cruisers that choose that parking area to be wary of falling tree parts.
Don with his ’51 F1 and his Bronco buddy each won a famous “VA BBQ Pig Trophy”. The new trophies are….not like the old ones. The new ones are gender natural….ask Rick about that. Around 9PM or so we decided to break camp and had an uneventful cruise home…. I love this hobby….
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