Got tired of standing in the rain so went to the little Italian restaurant next
door to Tony Lukes full service restaurant (Venuchies?)
Anyway, the entire experience was fun (despite the crappy driving conditions)
See for yourself:
The longest journey (259 miles round trip) begins with that
!
Although the weather forecast, all week long, called for an
80% chance of showers, by late in the week the chance had
been reduced to 20% but, Saturday found it raining quite
steadily. There were several times when the thought of just
bagging the entire thing crossed my mind but...
Pre-flight for
TERCEL1 included installing items which have no use
whatsoever on a drag strip,
WINDSHIELD WIPERS!
Next on the check list was to top off the gas tank.
This trip would be a good opportunity to check
TERCEL1's
highway milage (as it turned out, 259 miles @ 8 gallons of gas
for 31+ MPG)
...having taken care of my car's fueling needs, it was time next,
to take care of
MINE!
Arriving at the starting point for this "run" (the Ikea parking lot
in College Park, MD), I'm greeted by many other early morning
participants...
I had talked with Denys (
boostjunkie) earlier this morning
when I arrived home from work (around 2:15 AM and he told
me he'd be making the drive up. I reminded him of the
departure time (11 AM) and that with or without him, I'd be
rolling at that time... he assured me he'd be there!
As it turned out, the departure time was hastened a bit by the
arrival of College Park's "finest" so with one final look in my
rear view mirror, for Denys, I was under way...
Greg (
Malibuguy) and Austin (
1991tercelasdf) where going to
be joing the caravan at the second Maryland meeting point,
the Ikea parking lot off I-95 just north of Baltimore at White
Marsh Mall.
Driving in the rain was for crap! Not so much the rain but, the
mist kicked up by the cars in front of you which limited visibility
to only 3 of 4 cars so, the ride from Ikea to Ikea took a bit
longer than usual but, upon arriving, I searched and quickly
found Greg, Austin and their friend Jake (
weaponhead)
I also received a bit of good news from Greg, Denys was on
his way and several miles behind us.
Denys hadn't arrived by the time everyone started rolling out
from this second staging point...
Despite the weather, we all arrived safely in South Philly at
Tony Lukes right around 2:30 PM... Hot on the heels of
everyone's arrival was Denys, followed by Mike (
Dero908) and
another Tercel, this one driven by Ken (
4EFTE-Tercel)
A quick head count revealed
TO.COM well represented:
#1: Denys, #2: Greg, #3: Austin, #4: Jake, #5: Mike, #6: Ken
and last, but certainly not least, #7: Me
For those of you who've never been to Tony Luke's, there are
2 of them (right across the street from each other) One is a
full service bar & restauran (waiting time for a table we were
told was anywhere from 1 to 1.5 hours and the other place
(across the street) was take-out only and while quicker
service, the line was quite long and standing in the rain
quickly got very old so, being the voice of reason I suggested
to the Tercel guys, that perhaps we should go across the
street to a little Italian restaurant (Varuciis?) which would
afford us, if nothing else, WARMTH and shelter from the rain!
The reason for the overflow business at both Tony Lukes was
that (according to estimates I've read on a local site) there
were 200 cars by the time we arrived from various parts of
the North East. I personally don't think there were quite
THAT MANY??? Lots of Mustangs though...
Greg (
Malibuguy) probably has some more photos and videos
(especially of all of us in the restaurant) but, after we finished
eating, we all adjourned back to the very packed Tony Lukes
parking lot (thank goodness the lot was situated under the
overpass which carries I-95 traffic...? and did the old,
"you show me yours and I'll show you mine" ritual...
Before departing and heading our seperate ways, we
arranged the 5 available Tercels for a group shot...
(There would have been 6 Tercels BUT, the previous night, the
cold air intake on Austin's car "took a drink" of water and
then a rod started knockin' and... Austin changes motors in
his car more frequently than I change underwear)
On my way outta the city, I found myself at a very familiar intersection...
An intersection which is the home to a place that held many
fond memories from the mid 70s when I worked in Philly at
WMMR-FM... I spent many a night at this place watching
Bernie Parent and the Flyers defeating many of the NHL's
elite...
Ironically, directly across from the Spectrum was another
photo opportunity so, not being one to miss a photo
opportunity...
CLICK!!!!
The drive back down to Maryland was uneventful and when I
arrived back in Laurel (exited off the Baltimore/Washington
Parkway onto Rt 198) I was stopped at a traffic light and
something caught my eye that made me think of Austin...
1/16/10
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