Quick update - The Bluesmobile will get her public "coming out" parties this month. This weekend, on Sunday 6/11, The Hey (a.k.a. Mighty Mack) & I will be bringing the car to the Xtreme Street car show in Raynham, MA. This will be our first time "dressing" for the part since I painted the car... I'll take pictures I'm sure.
Then the following weekend, we'll be in Westfield, MA driving in the "Westfield in Motion" parade, at 4pm on Sat.6/17. It starts just south of the Westfield Green from the parking lot of the First United Methodist Church (16 Court Street), runs down Broad Street and ends up at the Middle School where a vintage (1880's rules) base ball game will be played. (I may be more excited about the base ball game than the parade!) The Hey, "C" (a.k.a. Buster), & I (Elwood) will be there and fully dressed for the parade.
All in prep for her real "christening", the ride to Maryland next month for SHORE LEAVE!
...Be very afraid. It's only about a month until our annual Shore Leave convention trip. I'm especially anxious to be going this year after the debacle of last year, when I did end up going but only for a very abbreviated and hectic 24-hour trip.
Not to mention I haven't had a legit vacation since our Disney trip over a year ago. And not to mention that at Shore Leave this year we'll be celebrating the 20th anniversary of our Star Trek fan club, the USS Christa McAuliffe, and more to the point 20 years of friendships with an extended family.
And not to mention I've got the Bluesmobile ready to go, the trip to Baltimore to be her "christening".... And not to mention this trip will mark the reunion of the Blues Brothers, my partner and I, for the first time in 17 years!
So what's to be afraid of?
I hear they've changed my bar.
My bar... the Paddock Lounge at the Hunt Valley Inn, where I've been spending one weekend every summer for the past 25 years doing my best to relax and lose myself from the outside world. The place where the profile photo of me at the top of this page was taken. A quiet (well, at times), warm, cozy retreat with a hunting lodge feel.
Apparently, according to my friend the Little Guy, it's undergone some "major" changes: "They've made it more 'nouveau business' Crate & Barrel/Pier 1."
MY bar!!!
Well, how bad could it be, really? They'll still have beer, right?
We'll see. My fear is it will have lost its cozy charm and become just another soul-less (souless? soulless?) corporate watering hole for business travelers on the move.
Fortunately, there's Padonia Station just a couple of miles down the street... if the Paddock is now an alien place, I can spend a good chunk of the weekend there. And in the meantime, the locals need fear as well....
After all, the Blues Brothers - and the Traveling Beerbellies - will be tearin' up the joint!
