All I can say is one day I will stop smiling... not one day soon, but some day.
It all started at the office when one of our other resident car guys asked if I wanted to go to the Mustang and Ford show in Ocala in January. Sounded like a good idea to me, but I was already heading out for a few weeks over the Holidays so I wasn't sure I'd be able to get away. During the Holidays I kept in touch with the planning efforts and decided... drive out Friday, back late Sunday.. sure, why not. I entered the show, convinced Tony that I had trailer towing qualifications... well I did tow a Whaler around when I was 17...... booked a hotel and was ready to go.
A few days prior to departure, I got a call from Tom Hnatiw of Dream Car Garage/Sports Car Revolution...
maybe you've heard of it???? (yep, I was a bit surprised too, but we had kept in touch since we met at McMichael a few months back). He wanted to get info on our Teen Driving School and we ended working out having him be our on-air 'champion', but there was a problem.....
Filming for 2005 was wrapping up and he needed to interview someone soon to get it on the air and he wasn't going to be in Atlanta,
.... but he would be in FLORIDA... no sh_t!!! Daytona, FL, the monday after the show in Ocala no less!
HMMMMMM
Ocala to Daytona 2 hours across the Ocala nat'l Forest on Sunday. I ran it by the boss and I was a GO (duh)
I also ran it by the wife since one of the guys was bringing his son, I was taking John and he'd have to miss school .... Load up the Tacoma and the trailer and hit the road on Friday. When I was parking the trailer in Ocala, I ran into (not literally) Rob from McMichael there with his Cobra and the 203mph Mustang.
Arrived at the show in Silver Spring's - Nature Theme Park (where they filmed Creature from the Black Lagoon and Tarzan) ... the cars are spread out around the trees:
There were 1000 cars in attendence (over 1500 entered):
We spent the day at the show and rolled out to cruise around and get some dinner Saturday night getting back to the park early Sunday to see the sun coming up over the lagoon and a gator just cruising around the pier:
Did I mention that it was shorts and t-shirt weather...sunny and 80 !!! ? I understand Atlanta was a bit damp and cool this weekend .... bummer...
Sunday was another great day, made even better by:
WINNING BEST COBRA REPLICA!
So... we left the show headed across Florida to Daytona. Cruised A1A in the Cobra and terrorized Outback Steakhouse. The morning was breakfast with SPEED, Tom Hnatiw, Jeff Lorman, Tim from Grassroots the camera crew etc.
When Tom saw the car he said it would have to be in the shot for the interview so off to the St Johns river for an interview and then... if that wasn't enough ... he tosses me the keys to a C6 convertible from GM to 'evaluate'....
We eventually had to turn the C6 back in and jump in the Cobra to rejoin the truck, trailer, and Cobra in Ocala. It was a long drive back to GA.... but on the way....
I mentioned I will stop smiling some day, just not today.
How I to spent my winter vacation.
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