Fall is in the air...

[greatbear]

... and as is usual for me, it smelled of greasy food, heady pre-emissions control exhaust fumes and lots of woofy men. Yep, yesterday was my annual excursion to Carlisle, PA for the Fall Car Corral and Swap Meet. If I were to try to describe for someone what my kind of heaven would look like, it would have most of the elements of Carlisle. Hundreds of vendors selling and trading tools, parts, memorabilia, hell ANYTHING related to cars, as well as thousands of mostly rare automobiles, trucks and bikes of every vintage and condition for sale. I've spent countless thousands of dollars there over the nearly 20 years I have been attending the big spring and fall meets, as well as a few smaller events in between, on tools, parts, machinery, etc.. Anything and practically everything can be had at Carlisle, for anyone who likes cars, at every level.

The grounds is over 80 acres in size, and it's packed to the edges. To see everything one would have to walk over 35 miles. Unfortunately, my back became too much of a liability, as well as my long time buddy John's bad knees, so we cut out early. It's tough getting old. Still, I am making a mental 'shopping list' of items to go into the garage to help with current and future projects. Near-term items include a small MIG welder for portable jobs as well as a full capability TIG outfit. Once I add the high bay, the first thing to go in after it's done is an offset high-rise lift. My back no longer appreciates rolling around the floor on creepers and stooping under hoods for a long time. In fact, this is probably one of the main causes of the trouble I am having. Okay, that, and tossing guys over my shoulders.

A delicious bit of poetic justice happened at Carlisle as well. While waiting for the 'walk' sign to go on to cross the street to get to the fairgrounds, a woman blathering on a cell phone in an Excursion decided she's gonna try and beat a motorhome waiting to go across by making her left turn before the motorhome had a chance. Well, in doing so she nearly runs over John in the process. Her subsequent last-second suprise and slamming on the brakes to avoid us cause her to toss her phone out the window. Upon hitting the pavement, the phone disintegrates. John, being the nice guy he is, help her to collect the shapptered pieces of her phone, all the while she is blocking the intersection. Her excuse? "I didn't see you because of the light". WTF? Still, one cell phone down, one blathering bitch pwned.

In other news, I have another 'pet'. I was moving some stuff on the deck, and under a large seashell on a shelf a frog jumped out, landing on my leg. I picked the critter up and he proceded to crawl up onto my shoulder and sun himself. He sat there comfortably for a long time. Mom took a picture. Once she had done that, Froggie had jumped onto her shoulder. We returned our new wildlife pet back under the seashell.


Ah, nothing like cars, and nature. And woofy men.

Comments

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Well, there are several tents with the craptastic Chine-Ease tools, but there are quite a few with the good stuff. And this is not a show, it's a place where you go to buy and sell cars and things related to them. Yeah, you will find kit rods and mullet-tastic Camaros, but those are quite rare. There are also far too many tents selling die cast stuff, but there's a big demand apparently. Plenty of Mopar cars and 'stuff'. Things you don't see everyday, like a '58 Buick Roadmaster convertible with only 75 (yes, seventy-five) original, documented miles (and selling for a 'mere' 30 grand) that looked and actually smelled like it had been just driven off the showroom floor (which, actually, it was, since it was a 'showpiece' in that dealer floor and used only for parades in the town). I have no doubt that you would enjoy going, being that you seem accustomed to the Kalifornia Kar Showkase kind of events.