- By Bill C.
As planned, we all met at the Roy Rogers store on Yale Road. Some of us did a little VW shopping while we waited to circle up and leave. Not sure what everybody else bought, but I picked up the latest Bentley Shop Manual, while Ron S. purchased a replacement side mirror for his convertible. There were the required tall tales in the parking lot and exchange of what little gossip we could conjure up. We were fairly certain that everybody was there and “lined them up” at 4 PM.
Bobby B. brought son Mat and a friend of Mat’s to ride in Jean’s New Beetle. Ron S. was solo in his white Beetle convertible, since Barbara stayed home to welcome any members that skipped the Poker Run & Cruise. He led the last half of the cruise, which ended at their homestead. Mark C. piloted his ’85 Gold Vanagon. Damien C. proudly showed off his new floor pans in his ’68 Beetle. Mark H. was in the “rocking chair” in his ’71 Beetle. LaRue & Evelyn H. brought their “babies” Candy & Niña to do “rear guard” duty in their red & white ‘71 Westy. Of course, Connie & I led the first couple of legs in Verty, our ’78 Beetle Convertible. I want to tell you, we really lucked out with the weather. I had spent some time trying to find a shady route because of some of the warm weather we had been experiencing. The problem was that “our side” of the road was always going to be in the sun. But when Saturday afternoon arrived, there was just enough overcast and wind to make it truly comfortable.
We left Roy Rogers and skirted Bartlett, motoring through the trees that cover Bill Maher Road. Then, we cut east on Old Brownsville Road, through Brunswick and on to Highway 70. Our first stop was at S.Y. Wilson (country) store in the historic section of Arlington. What a neat little area. The town has carried the railroad and old town theme throughout. We did some shopping at S.Y.’s, picked up a few snacks and headed down Chester Street past some beautiful homes, on the way to our second stop in Eads, via Collierville-Arlington Road.
From Eads, Ron picked up the lead and I dropped to the rear with Ron’s other walkie-talkie. Passing several country estates, we cruised further down Collierville-Arlington on the way to our 3rd stop in Fisherville. It was not much further before we crossed into Fayette county on the way to Ron & Barb’s “Ponderosa” (as I nicknamed it).
Barbara had things all set up for us and really made us feel at home. Richard, Robbie & Abby G. met us there. They had an appointment they could not reschedule, so drove their red ’71 Ghia out to join us. We enjoyed some cold drinks and finger foods while Ron grilled burgers and dogs. The pooches especially loved romping after each other on the S.s’ manicured lawn. We took a few motorized tours of the acreage to scope out some possible, future campsites for a club thing next time we can schedule something. I got to see Ron’s cool VW shop, converted from a horse stables, including a concrete floor. I told him it had sort of an old German look, with the beams and posts.
Before we closed things down after dark, we did our final drawing to see who would be the winner. Well, our “new guy,” Damien C. was the lucky winner!
As I mentioned in the Rear View article, our participation was a little lower than I had hoped. The big 4th of July weekend was still a week away. But I guess lots of folks had trips planned that would put them out of town until AFTER the 4th. We’ll need to remember that next year, whatever it is that we might be planning. But we had fun getting together driving our VWs through the country and sharing experiences.
Keep on cruisin’
For photos
