- By Bill C.
AUGUST 4, 2002 – Handy Park, Beale Street, Memphis
Buzzzzz! 3:40 A.M. "Yaawwwnn... gotta load up and be to the Fairgrounds by 5:15 A.M. Oh; and meet Dee at 4:40. Didn’t sleep too well last night. Yawn!"
Bumping from wall to wall as I staggered down the hall, I went through the morning ritual. Finally ready, I headed out to the garage, anticipating some crisp morning air. But, yuck! It was still hot and extra humid! "Oh well; maybe it will cool once I get going." Not to be. "Shoot! I’m banging on EMPTY! Hardly any place open. Wonder if Dee is waiting. I need some coffee, but it’s so hot!"
After missing Dee by a couple of minutes, I met up with the others at the Fairground parking lot. Club members present were Bobby Barker, Jim Heitzman, Brenda Blizzard, Eric Johnson, Dee Foster, Tom Jeanes, Ron Smith, Chris Browder, Bennet Fox, Mark Hartsell, and me. They did not look as blurry eyed as I felt. By the time I snapped a few pictures it was time to go.
I think Bobby’s bug must have been on auto-pilot and that it was trying to take him to work. After we all blindly followed him the wrong direction, we did manage to get turned around and headed down Union Avenue. We missed about every green light, but finally arrived and crowded into the secured area of Handy Park, beside the main stage.
When it was our turn to be on the show, they interviewed Jim. He was asked about Bugs and New Beetles, how they differ, our club, events & charities, web site, and even my new engine. Jim, you did a fine job. And thanks for straightening them out on the address for our web site. They had accidentally quoted "www.vw.com." I wish! Of course, they shot all the cars and most of the members at some point or other. During the weather forecast, they did a cute piece on Brenda’s New Beetle "Peace" symbol taillights. Groovy!
Thanks to Jim Heitzman for putting this all together and to those members for giving up some precious sleep to show up for a fun morning. I hope I can stay longer if we ever do this again. You see, I had an all day training session to attend. Goes without saying that the afternoon classes were not of much benefit. Yawn!
Some of our "Morning Crew" humming
"Wake Me Up Before You Go Go."
Maybe room for 2 or 3 more VWs