6/11/09

Ok, we didn’t make it to the shop last night. John got stuck in Not Texas until 1700 h and didn’t expect to be home until at least 1800 h. We decided that blowing it off would be the prudent course of action because I had a single folding dollar in my pocket so doing anything but go to the shop was out of the question. Ok, back to Sunday. After the gun show, I napped for a little while then at around 1745 h mom asked if I was still going to the car thing. I said I was and began to roust myself into action. I strapped on Big Millie, just because I can, and headed out in Lil' Wiggly. I pulled through the parking lot at about 1800 h. Yep, way too early. I kept on truckin’. I headed down Hulen to look for a Mobil or Exxon station. I turned right onto the access road and jumped up onto I-20. No, that isn't a typo. Yes, the event is held at the Purple Cow at I-30 and Hulen, I drove all the way down to I-20 looking for gas, burning gas, and wasting time. I turned back north on Bryant Irvin Road, feeling confident that there was an Exxon or Mobil at Camp Bowie and BIR. There was. I pulled in and pumped until it stopped. Since it hit right on $17.50 I decided to not go ahead and top off. What the hell, I figure I can be sort of a very pale green every once in a while, as long as I can offset it by driving an old smog-wagon from time to time. I hopped back in and headed back to the Purple Cow. I think I looked at my watch as I was waiting for the light on Camp Bowie just before you jump onto I-30, and I think it said the time was around 1820 h or so. I figured I'd be at the PC right at 1830 h and find John there. No one was there. I parked and called John to see if we were still on. We were and he was on his way. He pulled up with Dave Heeter in the passenger seat. The three of us hung out for a bit chatting when some dude in a 240SX arrived. John had him park on the other side of the lot since his car was too new. Jeff arrived in his MR-2 and some guy in a Supra showed up. A 510 who’d been there before rolled up followed by a Honduh of some vintage. The Honduh parked several spots away but we enticed him just a bit closer. Turns out, he's Dave Heeter’s neighbor. We’re not sure how he found out about the event or if it was just a dumb-luck coincidence. About the time the kid with the Maxima parked, we went inside to eat. Usually, we’re the big pain-in-the-ass party at the Purple Cow. Not this night. There was a table of a dozen or so kids with a commensurate accompaniment of parents. The poor waitress, our usual girl, was busting her ass all evening. In the end, I paid her $40.00 on a $14.00 tab and tipped the other two chicks that were helping out $10.00 each. We went back out and chatted for a bit by the cars. Now, I forgot that the gates of the shop lock at 2200 h and it was rapidly approaching 2145 h when we walked out of the place. I hopped in the car and headed to the shop. I remembered the gate hours as I pulled up. It was 2150 h. I got in and moved Ms. Clio from Lil' Wiggly’s parking spot then parked and locker her up. I put the keys inside the shop and jumped in Ms. Clio. I had five minutes, by my watch, to get out. I pulled up to the gate and, wouldn’t you know it, it opened. Ha! You thought I was going to say I got locked in, didn’t you? Nope, I made it. I went home and fell straight into bed. After tossing and turning for a few minutes, I realized why I couldn’t get to sleep. I felt really grubby, nasty, dirty from hooning around all day in the heat in Lil' Wiggly. I got up and took a quick shower. Ahh, that’s better. I zonked out pretty quickly then. So, there you have it. I'm not sure what the plan for Saturday is, but I'm sure I'll talk a big game tomorrow about all the stuff we’re going to do.