Cosmic Charlie's Weekend Report
Various towns, VAFriday, October 14, 2016
10/14/16
Friday evening at the “Q” was just a little nippy; Fall is indeed finally here! The usual suspects attended, but we also had a visit from the “Bumble Bee." Kandy drives her yellow Bumble Bee Camaro and dresses up in a Bumble Bee transformer costume… she interacts with the kids, of all ages, and makes some special memories for some very lucky visitors to the “Q." We also had Joel G. visit with his very special Shriner’s parade truck… they do so much good for kids. We were also visited by Bill E. and Jo Ann in Bill’s brown ’57 Chevy that has been absent so long from the local events.
The cruise wound down about 8PM… it is getting cooler. It's interesting that after we left, a herd of cars came from the other cruise in town. They must have shut down about the same time!
10/15/16
We usually visit the Burger King cruise in Manassas, VA near the airport 4-5 times a year but hadn’t found the time so far this year. We would fix that on Saturday. The cruise is right off a major East/West highway in this area, Rt. 28. Ingress & egress is dicey at times, with the constant flow of traffic on Rt. 28, so one must be a little creative when planning to visit the cruise. The cruise can have over 100 vehicles attend, with some people staying for an hour or so then moving on to another local cruise. Some stay till night, but it’s a very transient cruise. There is some construction going on in the parking lot, which contributes to the very dusty environment - not a good thing for special rides. One of the things I don’t care for is the sun angle. The lines of vehicles are north/south, so as the sun begins to sink in the West it makes taking acceptable pictures a real chore. And if you wait till the sun is low enough to be able to capture the images, people begin leaving! So I usually only get about half the vehicles that are actually on the lot, and even then some of them are from the rear ¼ instead of head on.
I did get a fair capture of Nick’s purple Fairlane. Such a pretty car… and I hear it’s just a little quick too! Nick owns/runs the best and most used website to find out what is going on around our area with the hot rods. He has most of the shows and cruises listed on his website. He updates it daily; it’s the ‘go to’ site to help decide what to do on the weekend with your hot rod. http://www.capitalcruisin.com/shows.html
The cruise has just about every type of ride, from new to old, fast and slow, stock and near race car… even a Tuner or two will visit occasionally. This is a year round cruise, every Saturday afternoon/evening. When it gets too cold to sit outside then the folks go inside BK to fellowship. You need to check it out if you are in the area!
10/16/16
Sunday we attended a benefit show in Fredericksburg, VA, that was a benefit show for a local man who died in a motorcycle accident. He had been very active in the local car scene. His untimely death left a worrisome burden on his wife and family. The show would help with that a little.
The show was hosted at the Moose Lodge in Fredericksburg and managed by some old friends: Bruce W., Paul & Sharon K. The Fredericksburg Classic and Muscle Car Club supported the event by not only attending, but helping with DJ Chip and Kim & Crystal extorting $$ through the 50/50. After DJ Chip arrived the tunes got much better.
The event attracted over 70 vehicles: cars, trucks and motorcycles. They ranged from road vehicles to ones that should have come in a trailer. Please check the pictures to get a flavor for what came to visit.
The day was perfect, weather-wise - sunny, mild, with just a whisper of a breeze. It was a good day to get out with our hot rods and gather to do something good for a local family... I love this hobby.