How Many Old Cars Does it Take???

Well here we are at the end of July. Can you believe it??? It will be Christmas before you know it..... I just don't understand where the time has gone?? But it has and I will be leaving here in the not to distant future for parts and places unknown.. But for now I will answer the question that is the title to this chapter, well not really a chapter, but I guess you could call this a chapter since because of picture limitations there will be a few other PICTURE CHAPTERS to go along with this one. Isn't this just exciting???

So shall we press ahead and if you don't want to press ahead then just keep one hand one the mouse for scrolling purposes and you may do whatever you wish with the other hand. EASY THERE YOU PERVERTS!!!! I meant like drink a glass of wine or an adult beverage of your own choosing which is what I try to do as often as possible as it seems to help the creative juices flow. I am not exactly sure how the wine works as far as my writing goes, but it definitely has some affect on it.

And now on to the answer to the question that begs to be answered. Well the question does not beg because if it did then it would have some semblance of intelligence and obviously a question cannot show intelligence. I even have trouble doing that!!! even if I am not drinking!!!!

And now on to the answer to the question that begs to be answered. Didn't I just write that??? See what happens when I write and drink at the same time!!! The "PUTER" tends to repeat itself!!!

So HOW MANY OLD CARS DOES IT TAKE??? to have a really humongous car show?? Well it takes a whole bunch of them and every year in Grants Pass, Oregon on the last weekend in July at the city park there is a car show called the "BACK TO THE FIFTIES"!!!!! It brings in a great coolection of old cars, odd cars, custom cars, and cars that defy the imagination!!!!!!!

This year I was asked to put Mr. Blue in the show since to my knowledge I had the only GENUINE HUMMBUG within at least 5 miles of the city park. It may have been a greater distance but I do not wish to take literary license with a statement that may or may not be true!!!!!!

Anyway I was up early in the AM on the morning of July 30 so that I could have my coffee, get my act together, pack up some stuff, (NO WINE {:-{ ) get Mr. Blue sort of spiffied up and then it was off to the park so that I could get my place..... I got there I thought early and was I wrong. I was in a line about 1/2 mile long getting into the park. But with my show pass and the organization being what it was I was pleasantly surprised to be in the park and parked with in 20 minutes. then it was time to set up my chair, wander around, take pictures do my OOOOOHING and AAAAAAAHING and then go back and get ready to answer questions.

The show as it turned out was a rousing success. There were cars from as far away as Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, California, Washington and I am sure some other states, but these I know for sure. I was told that there was approximately 1500 cars in the show. If you started in the morning and just kept going I am sure you could see all of them, but I saw just a fraction and that was an accomplishment by itself!!!!

So after sitting and answering questions and letting everyone that wanted to sit in the car and have their picture taken in, on, or around the car the day FINALLY came to an end and it was back to the Chateau To Go for a much needed shower and a BIG BOTTLE OF WINE!!!!!!!

I will post this story and all the other pictures will be below this story as chapters 2,3, and 4.
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How Many Old Cars Does it Take??? TWO

How Many Old Cars Does it Take??? THREE

When I saw this thing????? I had no idea what you would call it???? It also drives from on top or inside!!! The entire inside is empty!!!!
WHAT A PARTY BUS!!!!!!!!!!
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How Many Old Cars Does it Take??? FOUR

I beleive this is a 1931 or 1932 Chevy that has been slightly modified!!!! I know it is a Chevy. The torpedo looking thing on the "shotgun" side is an actual working air conditioner from that era!!!!

Crater Lake???????

So did I tell you about Crater Lake???? Well of course I didn't because if I had then I would not be asking that question and I would not be writing this story. Ah but I could have had a senior moment in which case I would not have remembered if I wrote about Crater Lake but then I could not ask you since you are here now and I have already been here, well not really here, but on my "PUTER" some where typing what you are reading. But is here where I am or is here where I was or did I really type this and if I did where was I and what was I thinking???? as all things in time and space are relative, but I think I already wrote about being related to time and space and I am still pretty sure that neither of them is on my family tree any where and so now that we have established some sort of ????????? Exactly, I am not sure what just happened but I am not going to change it......

So after the trip to the coast for the 4th of July it was time to go to Crater Lake and where is Crater Lake you ask???? Well maybe not all of you will ask, but I know some of you are geographically challenged and since you can ask, but I am not able to answer I guess you will just have to GOOGLE or MAPQUEST it.....

Crater Lake is a really cool place and that can be said both literally and figuratively since the lodge is at 7100 feet above sea level and one observation point is about 8000 feet???? above sea level. And yes it was the week of the 4th of July and yes there was lots of snow on the ground and yes it was COOL!!!!!!! They had actually had so much snow up there that the roads were not cleared yet to be able to drive around the rim of the lake. There was still on the road about 14 feet of snow in certain areas!!!!!!!!!

Taking a tour of the rim is always exciting, but since I am not real thrilled about looking down or over the side of a mountain I always prefer to take pictures from afar...... But in certain cases that is not possible to be able to actually get the full affect/effect (I was not sure which word to use so I just used both) desired with out taking a certain amount of chance. So therefore yours truly risking life and limb to bring you only the finest photography put himself in HARMS WAY at great risk to life and limb so that pictures you see are what they are....... Now this is the point where you OOOOOOOOH and AAAAAAAAH and say "WHAT A GUY"!!!!!!!!

I will give you a few facts about the lake and then end the story. The lake used to be a volcano called Mt. Mazama. Then about 7700 or so years ago the volcano blew up, collapsed on it self and became a lake. Well it did not actually become a lake quite hat fast. It formed a 5 mile wide crater and began to fill with snow melt and rain water. The lake is one of the clearest and deepest in the world. How deep is it you ask?? Well I am glad you asked for I shall give you the answer!!!!!! A little drum roll please... Sorry I don't do drum sounds so you just have to imagine.. the lake is a little over 1940 feet deep.....and is about 5 miles wide.

Since there are no streams or springs to feed the lake. It remains at an almost constant level from rain and melting snow. The lake was actually stocked with fish, of several varieties, but only 3 survived. One was a type of trout, another was the Kokanee? salmon and I do not remember the third type?? But for those of you who really want to know I bet you can find out.

and so after an exhilarating day way up there in the LAND OF HARD TO BREATHE it was time to head home. It is about 120 miles to where the Chateau To Go is from the lake, but it was still a great trip!!! Again due to the picture limitations The pictures will be posted in groups of 5. The story will be first and then you should be able to scroll down to see the rest of the pictures in parts 2 and 3??? The 4th picture in this story you are actually looking down about 8 or 900 feet at snow on the lakes beach!!! The last picture in this series is an actual lookout at approximately 8400 feet above sea level!!! I guess they can see better from up there???????
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Crater Lake ??????? Part 2

Crater Lake ??????? Part 3

Old Volks and the Oregon Caves!!! Part 3

Old Volks and the Oregon Caves!!!! Part 2

The OLD VOLKS and the Oregon Caves!!!!!

So on July 23rd with the weather finally getting into a good routine of being good weather, the OLD VOLKS and FOLKS did their bi-weekly trip and this time it was the Oregon Caves and we headed out about 9 am with sunshine and blue skies!!

This run had quite a few people going as it was not an over nighter and it was quite an adventure. If you can imagine trying to keep about 20 or so Volkswagen's in a line when all of them are several years old and not back traffic up while this is happening. It is actually quite a feat and quite a parade at the same time since every where they seemed to go people would actually stop and look. Whenever they go to the coast or come back from the coast or going to the caves they always stop at a place in Cave Junction (look it up on the map or use map quest) called Taylor's Restaurant which is actually a meat market,deli,wine seller. The meat is all local, the deli is superb actually serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner and the wines are all from the local wineries so it is sort of a ALL IN ONE for the locals and the travelers.

Well when the O V & F stop there it sort of turns into a small car show and every one starts remembering when they drove a VW?? So after a short break it was back in the parade and off to the caves. The caves are about 19 miles from Cave Junction. I am not sure how long the caves have been open, but it is a reallllllllly loooooong time!!! You can GOOGLE Oregon Caves National National Monument and find out every thing you ever wanted to know. I can tell you that the tour takes about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours and the temperature inside the caves is 44 degrees!!!!! Wanna guess why yours truly did not go????

The drive is fun and the road has a lot of curves similar to Bear Camp Road, (please refer to Over the River and Through the Woods). Unfortunately due to the amount of traffic trying to straighten that road out would be an exercise in futility... or maybe just plain SUICIDAL. So I was the third car in this parade going both ways I maintained a certain amount of decorum so as not to make everybody mad.

However!!! once we got into Cave Junction and headed for the Picnic area at Lake Selmac all bets were off because then Larry took off towing his trailer and I was right behind him. Everybody knew about where we were going so it became a race to get there!!!! Lake Selmac is situated off of Highway 199 which is the highway to the coast. I suppose it is named after the closest town which would be Selma??? anyway all arrived at the appointed location with enough food to feed several more people than was there!!!!!!!

So after a most relaxing, NO WHITE KNUCKLE DRIVING {;-( day we all headed back toward home, but did I mention that Larry took off with me in HOT PURSUIT and left everybody else behind, well not actually until we got to a stretch where the road develops a few curves and then we took off!!!!!!

So that you can see what it was all about that day this will be the only story, but there will be more than one post because of picture limitations...... Pictures 4 and 5 in this set are of a VW powered motorcycle and yes he is pulling a trailer!!!!!!
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