Monthly Visitors
 

It was an unusual day for us, first off we were on the road in the AM, it would have to be a special event and it was. We started off going to a wedding in our "Home Town". It was raining, the weatherman even promised that it was going to rain all day. It sure was a beautiful day anyway. When a community comes together for an event like this, it makes it just so special. When we arrived Dave and Gary were registering the Cruisers that arrived for the wedding. Old Town was quite busy even in the rain. Lot's of people headed for the wedding. See Linda's article in the newsletter for details on that.

With the rain in the forecast, the car numbers were not what they should have been in the early part of the day, traditionally the summer months will also keep many Cruisers away because of the heat. It doesn't stop the "Die Hard" faction. The sense of community that is heralded by those that make their way to this "Home Town". Even when some of the regulars can't make it because of work commitments, some of their family will make it out like in the case of Mike, N4HHA who wasn't able to make it out until after 5:00 with his '63 Corvair convertible. Kristen, KJ4BST his daughter and Annette, N4HHI his wife made it out early for the wedding. Some of the "Redline Rodders" that can not take the heat of the afternoons will make it out for at least a few hours and others will come after it cools down. There are others like James in his '67 Firebird, that come early like we do in our '60 Ranchero and spend the whole day regardless of the weather. Bob & Marge were out in their '40 Buick, rarely miss a Saturday. Bill & Doris who are actually Friday night cruisers always make it out for a while even when their Cruising schedule has them at another event once a month on Saturdays. Emil will even come over from Clearwater with his "High School Flame" in the rain. The "3 Amigos" can almost always be seen in their spots in Block 1. Those 3 Guys from Winter Haven Bill with his "Show Time" pickup the other Bill with his '54 Merc pickup and Leon would have his '57 Chevy pickup. I think I even spotted Leonard who was in town with out his Chevy. Roberta the "Beer Lady" looks forward to seeing all of her friends and Winston is always on the streets visiting when he can get away for a few minutes from his duties at the General Store. Roger & Sue can always be seen in their favorite spot with one of their many Cruisers. Nick who we will usually see in his  '32 Ford will still come out even when his car is not just quite right, Mark who comes over every week from Parrish, Florida even when he is between cars and takes a Saturday that he could be building on his latest project to spend the day with his Cruiser friends. John who is a relatively new Cruiser will be seen in his '57 Chevy. Rich who is still trying to get his car ready will come out and spend the day. Shane, who is one of our youngest cruisers with his  '57 Chevy just doesn't miss a Saturday. "Big John" who will bring one of his many cars out to play is always in his spot unless he is out of the state. Dave Dean will even go home and get a requested car if it isn't the one he brought out. Tony & Donna will always be out with one of the Mustangs or both. Doug & Trish have cruised many vehicles but they are back in the Bronco that it all started with. John B will bring his 66 'Vette almost every week. The "Looney Bin" will always have one of the regulars in it like Cris & Larry, the cars change but the people don't. The Cruisers will eat at one of the 18 restaurants, the kids or grandkids will enjoy the 75 rides that are on ether end of the Brick Streets. Our group usually heads towards "Flippers"  to see Jane and have a meal.

There are hundreds of regular spectators that make this Cruise every weekend like Coy, Charlie and the many familiar faces that I don't have names for. The Amateur Radio community has also come out in force as spectators or Cruisers, like "Red Racer Ted, KE4TTE", who is a Friday Nite Cruiser and Ed, WB8BHL who has been a Cruiser before and is building a Mustang so that he can join us on the Bricks. I know it seems funny to say that we have a responsibility to the thousands of people that make their way to the streets of Old Town but we really do, most of us have made the commitment to come out and have fun and show off our cars to these folks, without them it just wouldn't be the same, so far I don't think we have disappointed them yet.

The rain stayed away in the later part of the day and the cars started to roll in. I know that all that did make it out had a good time and the large crowd of people in the streets sure enjoyed seeing "Trophy Row" on another Saturday night. Ian, G3ZPZ, Sue, 2E1SUE from Manchester, England came out just about Cruise time along with Wayne, VE3CEZ and his wife Donna. Ian and Wayne rode in the Cruise with Mike and Kristen.