© Art by Tom Vaughan
Memorial Cruise
November 5, 2005

Hey Misfits,

Saturday morning started off with brisk temperatures and the promise of warmer conditions later in the day. We arrived at Pickle Park unusually early to find a good number of Misfits already ahead of us and several more arrivals concluding with Ed to total 16 cars for Wally and Jo¹s Misfit Memorial Cruise. After being confined by rain every weekend for the last month, cabin fever surely had set in as evidenced by the turn out.

After a bit of confusion over which direction we were headed, Paul and Ann, in the big blue Chrysler New Yorker, led the cruise towards the Vermont side to begin the drive to our destination of the P&H Truck Stop in Wells River followed by Bob and Ellie in her Chevy SSR pickup truck ³TUBBY.² Anxious to see the top-down procedure, I headed in their direction as they pulled into Pickle Park. Before I could take ten steps closer, the back flipped up and the curved roof separated into two sections and neatly slid out of sight behind the seat with the deck flopping back into position to complete the operation and conceal everything. I¹ve seen people take longer to lock their car door than it took for their roof to disappear. Bill was driving his brown Chattanooga Choo Choo El Camino sporting a new painted-to-match tonneau cover over the bed. This not only improves the looks and performance of the Chevy truck but also keeps the much-used and appreciated ³Snack Pack² warm and dry.

Skip chose his light turquoise and black 55 Dodge Royal sedan for the day. Rick and Elwin picked the red 67 Camaro and Carol opted for the bright yellow TWEETY Chevy truck, or as Bob noted, the original SSR. Wally and Joe, in the magenta 55 Chevy LORRIE took up their spot in line Misfit Memorial Cruise November 5, 2005 followed by Everett Archibald in the yellow 70STING Corvette convertible. Everett reported that Michelle has a heavy cold and chose to stay home for the day. Seems that even with the top up on their Corvette, there is a cold draft that goes straight down the back of their neck. Dave and Teresa were in their Chevy pick up. Teresa reported she¹d be reading the newest edition of The Readers Digest for the trip rather than her usual smutty paperback book. She also just completed a sweater she¹s been working on so there¹s no knitting until the upcoming Christmas crunch begins in earnest.

Don, in his red Cruisin 55 Chevy, now registered as WATA55, was driving solo as Karen had gone shopping. Could be trouble for the Koons budget. Everett Westney, with his RAT PWR red 57 Chevy, was accompanied by Bob Tenney, a Claremont product, Gear Shaper retiree and good friend of Benny. Bob moved to what he calls a hillbilly section of Tennessee (are there any other sections?) and has taken up landscaping as a second career. Theresa and Denny were in Teresa¹s award winning yellow angelic 32 Ford pick up. If you haven¹t seen it, check the new spare tire cover. The airbrush rendition of an angel on the cover is a top-notch job.

Ed was in his still-clean white Monte Carlo, Audrey and I were in the always top-down pewter TR-6 and Jim tail-gunned in the red convertible ³OOOOYAH² 66 Corvette convertible. That leaves just one more. Doug and Ginny arrived in the new COOL04 bright blue Corvette convertible. Doug scored the Corvette after Bob found it in Groton, Mass. Doug knew this was the one as soon as he saw it sitting in the environmentally controlled facility it was garaged in. With just over 1500 miles and sporting polished fender wells and wax on the inside of the deep alloy wheels, there was little doubt the search was over. A new Corvette wouldn¹t have been better. Nice ride Doug and Ginny.

The long line cruised through Windsor and White River without much interruption or difficulty. Jim stopped in Norwich and picked up his daughter, Michelle. She joined us for a top-down ride in the Corvette and the P&H dining experience. Our first comfort stop was in Fairlee along the railroad tracks. Coffee, soda and snack pack for all. This was also an opportunity for jackets to be stowed in the trunk as the weather was now becoming one of the nicest days of the fall season. There never was much color this year but the sun and warm temperatures of last week were a real treat. After all were comforted, the line started up again only to be separated by the only red light in Bradford. While we waited on the side of Rt. 5 for the green, what looked to be a reject from Paul¹s Shriner Clown unit auditions (see attachment) took a liking to Carol¹s truck. It might¹ve been the model, it might¹ve been the color or it could even have been Carol but the cycle-mounted character circled the big yellow truck as Carol kind of leaned away from the open window. Fortunately, the light turned green and the delayed cruise formation returned to the road and left the long coat-clad oddity straddling the centerline as we sped away.

We arrived at P&H and surprised the staff with a request for a table for 26. They cordially seated us around the dinning room in a variety of locations and arrangements. Our waitress, Colleen, was competent, patient and displayed a great sense of humor for having to deal with a raucous table of 6. When Ginny ordered a slice of blueberry pie for desert, we asked for 6 forks. Colleen brought them but held them at ransom for $1.00 each. Ginny pretty much ate her pie unimpeded. After a satisfying meal and some profiling outside, Wally and Jo gathered us together and thanked everyone for their participation in the memorial cruise. We all agreed that Sherri, Perry, Mac and Benny were watching over us and keeping us in the summer-like weather. Now it was time to fire up and make the return trip via Rt. 10 on the New Hampshire side. It has always been difficult to decide which is the better view, looking from Newbury across the Connecticut River to North Haverhill or the view from North Haverhill over to Newbury.

All was quiet until we entered Hanover through the new micro sized traffic-calming circle just north of the new middle school. To me it¹s an invitation to test the updated suspension and see how fast the TR can make it through the chicane. It¹s the image of being up on two wheels as we clip the inside curbing. Downtown Hanover was bustling with football fans as several lights and crosswalks increasingly fragmented the Misfit line. It became even more congested as we made our way through 12A in West Lebanon. Jim left us in Hanover to take Michelle back home in Norwich. We all should have gone that way as he beat us to the Home Depot parking lot for a scheduled regrouping.

Once everyone arrived and rested a bit and the cooks from the Koto Japanese Restaurant from across the street conducted a hands-on inspection of everyone¹s car, we fired up once again and headed out in the cooling temperatures and failing daylight. The first stop was Mac¹s gravesite in West Claremont and then on to Perry and Sherri¹s gravesites in Charlestown. After some contemplation and a few stories, we left in complete darkness and made our way home while it was still warm enough to ride without jackets.

Thanks to everyone for another great season of cruising. From all the leaders to all the tail gunners, all the planners and organizers and everyone who participated from Hildene to Merrimack and from Lake George to Manchester and every tribute cruise, mystery cruise, scenic cruise, cruise night and ice cream run in between. Despite the gas prices and both annoying and extreme weather events, we managed another 5000-mile season without earning penalty points or causing any harm and luckily experienced only a few broken parts. That could be well over 50,000 cruise miles with only a striped rear end, a broken clutch cylinder line and a loose brake caliper housing. Now we all have to endure the cold and snow and look forward to next season. See everybody on the first nice weekend in April.

Tom and Audrey

Green Light?
©Art by Tom Vaughan