Ahoy! Tharwuz a feelin thaday was havin some difficulty perducin rain. Arrrr.. She was the mids of September, a time whence we were smellin the 15th century and it stunk of grog and the muck of Davy Joneses Lokar plus it waz as hot as haties it self. Me lady and I set sail for the raid on the local village. Tis the 3rd year that Cap’N has thunk the plundering and pillaging should take place in celebration of his Birth. Many of our mates were in place at the key points of entry. Others like Soft Beard was trolling in a dingy.

Woah, Talking like a pirate was hard enough but there were plenty of people trying it out. Many were even dressing like a pirate including Linda and me. I of course couldn’t have just your run of the fleet puffy sleeved shirt. Mine had to be of a Hawaiian print. Good thing that I have someone that can make me my shirt and hat, Linda of course, Thank You. I won’t try and finish this tale in the lingo of day, it was fun and the Cap’N had a good birthday. That’s the least we could do for him. He sure takes good care of us all.

Frank would have his El Camino in it’s place of honor when we approached the Cruise Office. There were an awful lot of Pirates there as well. Big John would have his Blue ‘66 Corvette in place already. Bob, the “head loon” was back in his ‘64 Comet. Larry would have his Buick at the end of Block 3 as usual and Emil, KJ4GNH would have his ‘48 Ford in a spot he likes to call his own. Tom & Bunny were parked next to him in her ‘68 Fairlane. I didn't see them but there were more pirates in their place. ARRRRRRRR. Wait a minute I said I wasn’t going to do that. Soft Beard would stop by as would the Cap’N hisself. T Rod, KT4ROD called in to say he wouldn’t make it out today but was off on a raid of his own. Graham, G4HFG from Oldham called in over the radio, he, Carole and Edith will be visiting with us next week. They are sorry they missed this weekend. Ian, K4ZPZ & Sue, KK4SUE were headed for a dinner engagement in Winter Park but they would join us later as would Ed, WB8BHL and Paul, KN2R. Bill & Doris would stop by for a visit and spin a yarn of the raid yesterday last, the nearly 200 strong was the fleet. When Linda and I would take our first walk to the top of “Trophy Row” we spotted some of the spectators that were in the sprit of the weekend. Dave D was in his spot with the ‘57 Chevy, Warren would have one of his great Caddies next to him. John would have his ‘57 Chevy out. Ray Ray would be in his ‘32 Ford. Several of the “Redline Rodders” were in place near the top of Block 2. Darrell was next to Bob M’s ‘65 Ambassador with his ‘66 LTD. Karen & the kids were behind the stairs as usual. Earl's pin striping truck was next to the stage. 2 out of the 3 amigos were in their spots. Larry & Danny were setting by his ‘65 Impala, Morris would have his ‘50 Ford next to Bob, another snowbird, in his Corvair. It was to hot for Jerri to come out but I am sure we’ll see her soon. Bill would have his “Showtime”” pick up by the fence. John & Angel would have their Sun Bug nearby. Once we were back at the car more of our Block 4 Regulars started to arrive. Along with a couple of Canadian Cars. Tom would be in his ‘68 Mustang just down from us. There were a few of the retired police cars that would start to make their way to the Bottom of Block 4. I guess we needed them to keep a balance with all of the Pirate Chaos a foot.

It was now time to head out for some food. “Flippers” we were headed. By no “Red Racer” Ted. KE4TTE was in town and joining us on our voyage to the Restaurant Corner of our little town. As we crossed Deac Hundley Avenue we spotted Bill, N2WFU in his little Miata. Hopefully he, Virginia, W2VEJ and the Boys will start coming back out in one of his Cruisers.

While we dinned alfresco, many of the other Early Birds were coming and going. Even Dana was over here! Not over there! When you see him ask if it’s before or after. While there we spotted Roger in his ‘56 Chevy and Larry in his ‘54 Vicky. Doc would bring his ‘68 Falcon down the bricks just after them. The car count was starting to build, the spectator crowd was very large. Many of them were now in full costume. I think some of them even went home and changed. I can imagine what next year will bring for the 4th Annual at Old Town.

On the walk back to the cars we would visit with the latest arrivals and the staff along with all of the Pirates that were in town. Ahoy! Maties! Yo Ho Ho and all that was heard all over town except for this one very serious Pirate he didn’t say much but he was either very friendly or he was trying to figure out how to kidnap as many as he could. I do know that he scare many a lad and Lass with his big Hook and his musket. Just ask Laverne on how scary he was. Anyway Nick & Francine were hanging around with him as was Bob and Marge. Mark’s “Beast” was in it’s usual place.

The Old Town Dancers were all around the stage awaiting the nights entertainment. I would stop up to the Blue Room and visit with Mike Singer, KJ4GNI for a while. The Old Town Amateur Radio Cruisers are very excited and working on getting all of the rest of the hardware for the antenna that is going up for the N4OTC repeater, 442.100 MHZ. This will be the gateway to the rest of the Amateur Radio world that comes to town, at least over the radio every week. Most of the RF visitors will eventually make their way in person to central Florida like many of our regulars do. Well, the fall is approaching rapidly. In fact we won’t be back out to Old Town until after Fall has arrived. We should be getting into the weather that most of the transplants, like Linda & I really enjoy. The nice warm days and just a bit of cooler weather in the nights. This will also bring more of the “Locals” along with the “Snowbirds” to our Old Town car events. Tonight I would actually get a little time to visit with more people and relax a bit. Bob & Bo would be down at the “Turn” by the roller coaster in the ‘36 Ford and the ‘64 Corvair. The cars would make their way all away around behind “Kids” Town”. What a great night.
 

Then just after 8:20 Esther stopped by with the "Flag Winners". The Cruise Staff would start by directing the September "Cruiser of the Month", Frank Bertone in his '70 El Camino on to the Cruise Route, followed by the rest of the Cruisers out of their parking spots into the line up, Mesha would bring them to Block 4 that becomes the staging area for Old Town's signature event. The rest of the cars from the top 3 Blocks would join in behind them. Did I mention the Pirates? Or their crafts? They were just everywhere. Mike Singer, KJ4GNI, who had been at the controls of the "Blue Room" all day, playing a mix of nostalgic music and radio "Jingles" would give the safety announcements, and play the National Anthem, "Wolfman Jack", then proclaimed, "It's the Saturday Nite Cruise", for tonight's running of this tradition. The Cruisers made their way to the "Bricks" of "Deac Hundley Avenue", Mike announced the Flag Winners as the rest of the 243 cars in parade formation cruised past, delighting a very large crowd of cheering spectators along both sides of the Avenue. "Rain or Shine" every Saturday night of the year, there is nothing quite like it for the "Cruisers" and it is always a treat for those watching it from the sidewalks and boulevards.

Thank you Old Town for letting us, the curators of this "Rolling Display of Automotive History", the cars that are the "Stars", to be their guests this evening. Thank you to the Old Town Merchants Association and the Sponsors of this event, "Valvoline", the "General Store", the "A&W", "Out of this World Embroidery", "Wound 'N Around", Pepsi, Roberts Brothers, the Pearl Factory, the Gold Hut, the "Tropical Breeze", Tex Mex Express & "Flippers" just to name a few. Thank you to Allan, Ron, Gary,  Lee, Dave, Esther, Vic, Nikki, CJ, Mesha, Chrisanne, Deputy Asa and the entire Cruise Staff and fellow Cruisers for making our Saturday in "Town" a fun and safe one.
 

Get well Joe Rodhouse we all miss you!

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See you all "Out There"