Museum Friends

Whoa, it’s been a while since I posted anything. Sorry. With cruises most every night of the week the time seems to slide right on by. It makes for lousy performance but I still remember winter lasting a long time so I’m determined to have some summer fun.

It was good to hear a little detail about a cruise a bit beyond my usual neighborhood. It’s at Culver’s in the Lake Orion area on Tuesday evenings. It sounds like it might be worth checking out. There’s a comment posted here with some more details.

This post is an exception because I’ll usually not mention individual cruises. That’s mostly because I see a car cruise as a fairly local activity. The best cruise ever might be in Adrian but I don’t see me or anybody on this side of town making it a habit of driving that far. Let’s all favor our local talent and send the rest of the world our good wishes.

I totally enjoyed going to the cruise night at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum last Wednesday. Understand that I am one of their volunteers so I’m bound to be biased. But that doesn’t wipe out the fact that I enjoyed the variety of the cars (restored classics, muscle, customs, Hot Rods, everything was there). And of course I see a lot of people I know. And, of course, it’s a nice venue. Really, what else is there?

I saw the head honcho of the Museum there, Lori Pinter. She’s a very nice person. She was taking a walk among the cars and was nice enough to stop to say “hi”. Maybe it was just my imagination but I saw her then as stepping out of the “upper management bubble” she must inhabit all day long at work to just “hang out” with the crowd. She talked about the cars she liked and all that kind of stuff but she seemed totally sincere when she summed up her impression of the cruise (or any good cruise). It’s a social event. It’s about seeing your friends and making new friends and acquaintances.

So at your next cruise, enjoy your friends and make a couple new ones. And don’t forget, those new folks don’t know you very well so you can shave a healthy fraction off your car’s best ET or pump up your coolest award or gas mileage or whatever helps you brag a bit.

Happy Trails,
bob

It's What I Like, or not

Okay. Last time I made some good, positive comments about cruises. This time I’ll get down to basics and just rattle off some of my likes and dislikes about cruises.

Don’t like rain.
Do like lots of cars.
Do like lots of variety of cars.
Don’t like scams.
Don’t like dust.
Do like a little consideration for the cruisers.
Nobody can do much about rain other than stay in the garage; if you want to bring out your ride, God bless you, otherwise, might as well rest up a bit.
If the chemistry is right, there will be lots of cars that show up, that’s great. I tend to burn out when a show caters to just one type of automobile or truck. Actually, a mix of hot cars with a bit of vintage, both original and modified, makes for good viewing and a good mix of opinions and attitudes among the cruisers. Now that’s fun.
I don’t like it when I think somebody is trying to use a cruise just to bring in a crowd for their business. Lots of businesses run cruises and that’s fine. If they have the room in their lot and want to make the space and some modest things available for the cruisers, great. I think it was a TGIFriday’s on Woodward at Square Lake Road that had a nice cruise. It was a good place to go for a meal or snack and they had a few goodies, like coupons for food, as door prizes and “not too loud” music outside; nothing special or extravagant but a nice touch. Too bad some neighbors didn’t seem to like the gathering of cars so that was the end of their cruise.
Dust stinks. Hey guys, if you have an un paved area for cars at least encourage something green to grow on the off days. If you have a gravel or dirt venue, please do a quick hose down an hour before the cruise to knock the dust down. If you want shiny cars to grace your event then do that little bit to aid the cause.
On the other hand, I really don’t like to a “cruise” and it turns out that everything is inside; especially inside a bar. Roll your eyes and call me a bad name if you like but it just doesn’t make sense to me that I should drive my prize car and then get encouraged to have “a few” beers/drinks. Anyway, if the music, door prizes (if any), entertainment, other car drivers, etc are all inside - - how can I talk to the owners of the cars that interest me? It just don’t make sense, nohow.
A good thing I spotted just recently. While lots of cruises have 50/50 raffles to raise money for the sponsoring club/group/etc one has a good way to give the money all away! That night’s winner gets the usual 50% pot and the club that puts on the cruise uses their portion they keep to buy door prizes (gift cards at that!) for the next week. That’s uncommon generosity.
That’s enough for now. Have you got any likes and dislikes about cruises? Then add a comment.
Happy Trails,
CrusenBob

Best Cruise Features

Okay, so let's do some CRUISIN'.
I'm not going to use this space to tell you all the details about the wonderful time I had at this or that cruise. Of course I did; if I didn't think it would be fun, I just wouldn't have gone. And lots of Cruises aren't designed to encourage or even allow adrenalin pumping excitement. Nothing wrong with that; everything has its time and place and we'll get there.

So let me try this, here's a couple things I found that really stand out as unique or was a great feature at some cruises or events I've enjoyed recently.
At Multi-Lakes' Conservation Club Friday night cruise I enjoy four treats. Lots of great cars; as many as the high 200's. Second, it's in a big grassy field so you can either be close to the music or in the quieter back row. Thirdly, it's an ideal place for friends to gather since there's room to get several cars and lawn chairs together. Last, plenty of good food; from the grill outside to a sit-down, all you can eat dinner inside.
Then there's the Walter P. Chrysler Museum cruises on Wednesday's. Nice neat paved parking lot. Again, lots of cars; usually about 200; and there is super diversity with muscle, vintage, street rods, pro streets, all out race cars, and everything in between. It's "rain or shine" so the hard core cruisers will have a spot to hang out. A great DJ that knows the car cruising crowd and what they like. And you can get into the Museum at a reduced rate. A good show.
O'Toole's on Monday offers a live broadcast of "The Doc of Doo Wop". Dr. Roman Franklin and Benny Spears spin the oldies and stories about our "rock and roll" adventures in life for the cruisers and for WPON radio from 6 to 8. And there's great O'Toole's food to enjoy on the deck or inside.

So there's a couple highlights of just a few I've happened to get to.
If you have some favorites or things you would like to find at cruises why not add them in the comments so we all know where the good spots are.

More later.
Happy Trails,
bob