This is it, the weather we all wait for, the time if the year that the humidity drops along with the temperatures. We dodged a bullet last week, Hurricane Ida that weakened as she made landfall in the panhandle crossed over Georgia and then went out into the Atlantic and became New England's first Nor'easter but that too is now settling down. Many of our early “Snowbirds” would also be coming to “Town” now. We would arrive a few minutes later than normal, Lee was at the gate and the Haunted house had it’s ghouls on the stoop. As we were to make the turn at the clock we had to stop and wait for Tom & Bunny to back into the Cruiser of the Month parking spots across from the office. Mike would have his yellow ‘65 GTO in Big John’s spot, John rode out with him today. The head Loon was already parked with his GMC pickup in the Looney Bin. Steve Mc, K4SKM had his Model T next to the carport. That left Emil, KJ4GNH to be the only one waiting in Block 4 for us to arrive. Graham, G4HFG would check in for the first time today, he came into the new OTARC repeater the 442.100 that is now on the air right here in Old Town.

It wasn’t long before Morris would bring his ‘50 Ford to Block 4 to join us. Michael would arrive in his Fairlane and took his favorite spot behind the General Store, Jeff would also take his favorite spot North of the Beer tent for his ‘59 Edsel. Ron S would join him with a pair of his cars, the ‘34 Driven by a Son. He was at the controls of the ‘37 Ford Ragtop. Dave & Nancy would come out later in the T-Bird. Tara would arrive in her ARR Cuda, she had come straight from a MoParty in Orlando. This would also bring a couple of dozen or so Mopars to Old Town. Don joined a little while later in his Camaro and parked next to her.

Linda and I would take our first walk to the top of “Trophy Row” to visit with the early arrivals. Jim R had joined the bunch in the “Looney Bin” as did Cris & Larry who were in the VW. Mark would have his ‘71 Nova next to Bob’ s ‘71 Z-28, it sure is funny not to see Nick’s ‘32. He hopes to have it back in the next few weeks. That still doesn’t stop him and Fran from coming out. Tony & Marianne would have their SS454 Monte Carlo in the bin too. Bill Z was next to the dumpster with his Pantera. The “Redline Rodders” were in place, Bert and Ernie would be north of the stage in their ’66 Mercury wagon, Lynn was next to them in her ’49 Ford. Pablo & Nilda were in the VW South of the stage. Dale was back in his regular spot by Wally. Mark was the only official Amigo out today. The place was filling up with MOPARS. It is always good to see them out. Sometimes our little dodge is the only one in town. We would head back to the car and relax a bit before heading to dinner.
T Rod, KT4ROD would show up just after 3:00 he would join us for dinner, on the walk up we had to remind Tom & Bunny as we passed them. That was a good thing, time had gotten away from them. So it was the 5 of us. John took good care of us as usual and the whole staff managed to say hi to us. Gina said Trish should be back next week. As we dinned the cars kept arriving, Joe & Kay gave us a hard time about not being under the overhang as they passed by on their way to the Tex-Mex Express.

On our way back to the car, T Rod took my spare camera and took some photos for us, they are on line. We would visit with the latest arrivals, spotted Ron H during his tour. The “Nay Day Kings” were setting up on stage and the crowd was growing. Bob M would have his ‘65 Ambassador in his decades spot. Dave dean had his “Mint Julep” ‘57 Chevy in it’s parking spot.
Bruce and Sandy were in their ‘63 Split Window Coupe by the maintenance shop. We wished Scotty a Happy Birthday, he didn't think we knew. Even more MOPARS were making their way into town. Bob in his Chevy powered ‘36 Ford Humpback was followed in by “Bo” in his ‘64 Corvair convertible. Across from us were Janice, John was back up North taking care of family business, rode out with the “Gang”, Gene in the ‘28 Studebaker, Don in his ‘39 Chevy and Gale in his ‘34 Ford. Mike & Linda arrived with Mike II and Mike III in their SS454 Malibu.

“Trophy Row” was now bending all the way around to the back of “Kids Town”. Rodger was out in his Austin Healey. He even brought his better half with him tonight. Tom B arrived in the ‘68 Camaro, Chris was helping Doug and Trish get a house ready. They would arrive just before Cruise time. Tom A was with them so he didn't have a car out tonight. Graham would check back in just as this little ‘62 Dodge Lancer GT rolled past me, this was the Dodge compact car that was introduced the same time the Valliant was in 1960. The Dart was still a Mid sized car in ‘62. I took a few extra walk abouts, behind the Roller Coaster I spotted a great ’36 Ford that was Corvette LS1 powered. It sure is funny to see that low profile fuel injected engine under the hood. I took several photos in the dark of the car, check them out on line. There was another Mercury Comet wagon out tonight, it had a New York Tag on it, I couldn’t find the owner of the ‘64 Comet Don Nicholson tow car clone when I walked by.

Lots of good friends and great cars were again the highlight of the evening. Exchanging stories, myths and legends of these old cars with complete strangers from all walks of life from almost any and every country you can think of. The rest of the night really flies by from about 6:30 on, just before it was time to Cruise Tim A would stop by, a lot of you should remember him as Old Town Timmy when he was part of the Cruise Staff.
 

The next thing I knew Esther and Cordell would stop by just after 8:20, with the Flag Winners, the Cruise Staff would direct the November "Cruiser of the Month", Bunny Jaggers in her '68 Ford Fairlane 500 on to the Cruise Route followed by Tom, her proud husband in his '66 Chevelle then the rest of the Cruisers out of their parking spots into the line up, Mesha & Dave 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. 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, played 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 238 cars in cruise formation cruised past, delighting an extremely 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.

Newsletter #267 is on sale, still only $2
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See you all "Out There"