General Information
London Cobra Show and Parking Lot parties….
Recently, Linda and I had a chance to go to London, Ohio to the Cobra show there with members from the club. The trip to London was long, filled with rain, and what seemed like a forever trip made longer. Seems it’s usually that way when you are excited about going somewhere. Three of our members chose to drive over and were greeted by heavy rains in Indy and again along the way in Ohio, but they traveled on and didn’t seem no worse for the wear when we arrived at our destination. Once we got parked, checked in and unloaded, it was time to unwind a bit from the trip. Our Entertainment Director, Mike Plunk & Family, put out a nice spread of snacks and music. Pizza was ordered and we had a great time getting to know each other better. Most everyone was tired as their day started at 6 a.m. or earlier, and we called it an early night.
Friday was cruise day and we enjoyed the drive to Clifton Mill, dodged most of the rain and arrived back at the hotel in plenty of time to dry out, clean cars and load them in the trailers or put covers on them. We gathered around to talk about the day, talk about the parade in to town the next day and just had some small talk to fill the time. And as Paul Harvey would say, Here’s…the rest of the story.
Gary and Laurie brought a Margarita machine, Mike and Nancy put out another great spread and we drank Margarita’s, Pina Colada’s, and some tasty beers. This is us enjoying a quiet night around the firepit:
We laughed about our fearless leader for the day making some wrong turns, a cop that could have busted us for doing 45 in a 35 flashing his lights and hitting his siren, and the little bit of time we spent driving in the rain and enjoying the sights at Clifton Mill (and the lunch too!). Gary kept making Margarita’s, and the next thing you know, a song broke out:
That’s a fantastic air guitar stance by me, our lead singer Rainmaker and backup singers Sailor and Brakeshoe having a great time entertaining the crowd. I don’t remember which song it was, but I’m sure it was a good one with lot’s of air guitar. The night was young as far as we knew, and we had a great time singing the likes of Journey, Sammy Hagar, Bon Jovi, Jimmy Buffet, and more much to the delight of the gathering parking lot crowd. Fools, maybe, but we had fun!
Later, it seemed like a good idea to pile on 10 people on a golf cart and go for a ride, sometimes on 2 wheels, but we survived. Again, just having fun
So, why are parking lots so much fun? I mean, we have millions of them right here in St Louis, why this particular parking lot? Well, for one, no one knew who we were (a key element to singing), we could walk to our beds, and we got to meet a bunch of people we otherwise wouldn’t have met. They say that laughter is the best medicine for a lot of things. I can tell you that this trip had a lot of laughter and something I haven’t done for a long time and it was much needed. I got to know Mike’s wife a little, which, by the way, can actually sing and has a sister from another Mother that she just learned about (honest….well, not really, but you know who you are…. )I got to know a ‘Sailor’ while there….she knows who she is and a woman who apparently is part Indian as she can make it rain wherever she goes (thus the name Rainmaker) Gary ‘Hagar’ made a brief appearance (and not selling his car now) and Paul ‘Bushman’ Proefrock had to show a tree a thing or two J Mark’s Dad was there and was a blast to hang out with (do you know he can sing a few syllables of Bon Jovi? It’s true!)
Saturday was the parade in to London, Oh and it was neat to see so many of these cars gathered up on one place. Over 500 charity rides were given on the day and the weather cooperated all day with it not getting real hot. We visited the booths and the Strawberry Festival where they had a live band (who couldn’t compete with our own live band btw) and lots of fair type food. We left early to get back to the hotel to get ready for the banquet that night. They had silent auction items, 50/50 raffles and guest speakers Alan Grant and Peter Brock on hand to talk about the good old days with Shelby. A check for $68,000 was presented to Cystic Fibrosis and the BBQ served was really good. All in all, a quiet day/evening ensued (except for the fire truck incident, which I won’t go in to here) as we got ready for the long trip home Sunday.
I guess what I’m trying to convey is these long distance trips are a lot more than driving cars around the countryside. They make new friendships, solidify existing one’s and provides an avenue for everyone to get to know each other better. We don’t have to have the cars to have a great time, nor alcohol really, we all have a like mind and I think we have one heck of a group of people. It really is all about the people. I know it’s a lot of commitment to attend one of these out of town trips, but they are worth it. If you didn’t make it to this one, you missed a great trip, so plan on making the next one. We have 2 that are coming up. One is in conjunction with the Texas Cobra Club in Eureka Springs, Ar in September and the other is our annual Supercruise in October. I realize that some of you have school age children and or jobs that won’t allow you to go that time of year, so I am planning a late Spring school is out trip, not sure where yet, but stay tuned. Come join us in the parking lot where a party is bound to break out
Recently, Linda and I had a chance to go to London, Ohio to the Cobra show there with members from the club. The trip to London was long, filled with rain, and what seemed like a forever trip made longer. Seems it’s usually that way when you are excited about going somewhere. Three of our members chose to drive over and were greeted by heavy rains in Indy and again along the way in Ohio, but they traveled on and didn’t seem no worse for the wear when we arrived at our destination. Once we got parked, checked in and unloaded, it was time to unwind a bit from the trip. Our Entertainment Director, Mike Plunk & Family, put out a nice spread of snacks and music. Pizza was ordered and we had a great time getting to know each other better. Most everyone was tired as their day started at 6 a.m. or earlier, and we called it an early night.
Friday was cruise day and we enjoyed the drive to Clifton Mill, dodged most of the rain and arrived back at the hotel in plenty of time to dry out, clean cars and load them in the trailers or put covers on them. We gathered around to talk about the day, talk about the parade in to town the next day and just had some small talk to fill the time. And as Paul Harvey would say, Here’s…the rest of the story.
Gary and Laurie brought a Margarita machine, Mike and Nancy put out another great spread and we drank Margarita’s, Pina Colada’s, and some tasty beers. This is us enjoying a quiet night around the firepit:
We laughed about our fearless leader for the day making some wrong turns, a cop that could have busted us for doing 45 in a 35 flashing his lights and hitting his siren, and the little bit of time we spent driving in the rain and enjoying the sights at Clifton Mill (and the lunch too!). Gary kept making Margarita’s, and the next thing you know, a song broke out:
That’s a fantastic air guitar stance by me, our lead singer Rainmaker and backup singers Sailor and Brakeshoe having a great time entertaining the crowd. I don’t remember which song it was, but I’m sure it was a good one with lot’s of air guitar. The night was young as far as we knew, and we had a great time singing the likes of Journey, Sammy Hagar, Bon Jovi, Jimmy Buffet, and more much to the delight of the gathering parking lot crowd. Fools, maybe, but we had fun!
Later, it seemed like a good idea to pile on 10 people on a golf cart and go for a ride, sometimes on 2 wheels, but we survived. Again, just having fun
So, why are parking lots so much fun? I mean, we have millions of them right here in St Louis, why this particular parking lot? Well, for one, no one knew who we were (a key element to singing), we could walk to our beds, and we got to meet a bunch of people we otherwise wouldn’t have met. They say that laughter is the best medicine for a lot of things. I can tell you that this trip had a lot of laughter and something I haven’t done for a long time and it was much needed. I got to know Mike’s wife a little, which, by the way, can actually sing and has a sister from another Mother that she just learned about (honest….well, not really, but you know who you are…. )I got to know a ‘Sailor’ while there….she knows who she is and a woman who apparently is part Indian as she can make it rain wherever she goes (thus the name Rainmaker) Gary ‘Hagar’ made a brief appearance (and not selling his car now) and Paul ‘Bushman’ Proefrock had to show a tree a thing or two J Mark’s Dad was there and was a blast to hang out with (do you know he can sing a few syllables of Bon Jovi? It’s true!)
Saturday was the parade in to London, Oh and it was neat to see so many of these cars gathered up on one place. Over 500 charity rides were given on the day and the weather cooperated all day with it not getting real hot. We visited the booths and the Strawberry Festival where they had a live band (who couldn’t compete with our own live band btw) and lots of fair type food. We left early to get back to the hotel to get ready for the banquet that night. They had silent auction items, 50/50 raffles and guest speakers Alan Grant and Peter Brock on hand to talk about the good old days with Shelby. A check for $68,000 was presented to Cystic Fibrosis and the BBQ served was really good. All in all, a quiet day/evening ensued (except for the fire truck incident, which I won’t go in to here) as we got ready for the long trip home Sunday.
I guess what I’m trying to convey is these long distance trips are a lot more than driving cars around the countryside. They make new friendships, solidify existing one’s and provides an avenue for everyone to get to know each other better. We don’t have to have the cars to have a great time, nor alcohol really, we all have a like mind and I think we have one heck of a group of people. It really is all about the people. I know it’s a lot of commitment to attend one of these out of town trips, but they are worth it. If you didn’t make it to this one, you missed a great trip, so plan on making the next one. We have 2 that are coming up. One is in conjunction with the Texas Cobra Club in Eureka Springs, Ar in September and the other is our annual Supercruise in October. I realize that some of you have school age children and or jobs that won’t allow you to go that time of year, so I am planning a late Spring school is out trip, not sure where yet, but stay tuned. Come join us in the parking lot where a party is bound to break out
