National Corvette Museum
Bowling
Green, KY
April 22-24, 2004
The C5 Birthday Bash at the National
Corvette Museum has been one of our better fundraisers. This year's
edition
(the 5th for me) was the best one yet! No small factor was the bigger
than usual crowd that was drawn there to get
their first personal look at the
next Corvette, the 6th generation, the 2005 model.
Sunday,
April 18
Since Monday, April 19 was a holiday (Patriots' Day, ME & MA only) I drove
down to my daughter Christy's home in Bedford, MA for the night.
Monday,
April 19
Both Christy & I left early: she for work in NYC by train; me for Princeton,
NJ by C5.
Since she was going to take the train down to Princeton that evening, I brought
her overnight bag with me.
Our common destination for the night was Sandy's sister Mary
Ann's house.
Along the MA Turnpike I happened to catch this shot of
the New England Division home office of the American Cancer
Society.
Reaching Princeton by 11:30, I was in time to have a pleasant lunch with Mary
Ann and Sandy's brother, Ray. Christy's train got her to Princeton in time
for a
great dinner with Mary Ann, Deb Barrett, Ray and his wife Jo Anne and daughter
Laura. I won't embarrass them with the bad photos!
Tuesday,
April 20
After a relaxing night with Mary Ann & Deb, Christy and I
drove down to Philadelphia to visit with my parents. Dad is 94, Mom is 87, and
they still live in
the house they bought in 1942, when I was 3 months old!
Christy treated us to an excellent lunch at my folks' favorite restaurant. I can
only hope (and
thank the good genes) that I'll still be able to live on my own
and enjoy going out to a restaurant at their age! (I will embarrass
them with this photo.)
Mid afternoon, I took Christy to catch a train back to Princeton for the
night. It was great to have the opportunity for some family visits this trip.
Wednesday,
April 21
At the crack of dawn, and in the rain already, I left
Philadelphia for Bowling Green.
Before 5:00; I can't believe it!
Passing
the Carlisle Fairgrounds before 7:00. It was already busy: Spring Carlisle
Weekend!
Medieval
horse farm in, where else, Lexington, KY.
The
serious rain sets in.
We
arrive at the National Corvette Museum.
Thursday,
April 22
We take a spot on
the circle and set up our display in the Atrium area, next to Dana Forrester.
Friday,
April 23
This is what Friday
morning looked like out my window at the Microtel!
Much
of Friday was focused on the C6 introduction. Photo below links to a lot of C6
photos.
Friday
night dinner @ Ryan's Steakhouse was one we won't forget soon... but won't hurry
to repeat, either! (Don't ask...)
Saturday,
April 24
Intermittently very
busy and very quiet in the lobby. The sun actually came out, and there were many
seminars going on. New since my last trip here
was the rest area, right across
from my display, where people could take a load off. Almost like a captive
audience for me!
My
display included some memories of Chip Miller,
including the program from his memorial service.
Saturday
night's banquet was a very busy evening. As the guests were seating, I took the
mike and gave a short recap of what Corvettes Conquer Cancer
was
all about, how
Sandy started it in 1998, and what we have been doing since. It was gratifying
to get a round of applause as I concluded. With the help of
3 volunteers, we
sold 50/50 tickets non-stop. I never even noticed what the dinner was. By the
time we had milked the crowd for all we could get, the food
was gone! The good
news is that the 50/50 pot totaled a record $4515:
$2258 for the winner, and $2257 for the American
Cancer Society!
Corvette Plant
Manager Wil Cooksey spoke to the crowd. In the foreground you can see the 50/50
tickets and cash. Corvette Chief Engineer Dave Hill spoke next. Then Dave's wife
Karen drew the winning ticket for the LAST C5 Z06.
Then
it was our turn: The lucky 50/50 winner of $2258 was Robert Kjersgaard, who
coincidentally is a cancer patient. He used a little of his winnings to make the
first purchase in the Museum benefit auction that followed our drawing: a C5R
racing team shirt, autographed by all 6 of last year's drivers!
I
stopped at Wendy's on the way back to the Microtel...
Sunday,
April 25
We took our time
loading up in order to see Buzz & Jackie Nielson and Chaz & Gael Cone
off in their (almost) matching 53-C5 Commemorative Editions.
They were headed
for Chicago, where on Tuesday they would start off for Santa Monica, CA,
traveling as much of the original Route 66 as still exists.
You can travel with them on
Chaz's website http://www.kicksonroute66.com which
he updated daily.
The
travelers wave to the Museum's webcam.
They're
off!
Just
around the bend at the Museum, just visible behind my car in the pic above left, and
not nearly as happy, was Tom Feuerherm from FL. The throwout
bearing in his Z06
had managed to weld itself to the output shaft. Undaunted, there he was with the
whole driveline spread out on the driveway, with rain
imminent. Art, of Art's
Corvettes, the red roof visible in the background, was helping. I trust he finished and
made it back to FL OK.
Hitting
the road for home. The rain started up again about 20 miles north of the museum, and
never stopped before I got home!
Monday,
April 26
After an overnight
stop (Microtel again) in Hagerstown, MD, this again is what the rest of the trip
looked like.
Home
at last, and still raining. After those first 20 miles out of Bowling Green, the
trip probably had the wipers on high speed
75% of the time, slow 20% and
intermittent 5%. But NO more "BST" (that's Big Scary
Truck) incidents!
I
want to extend a
VERY BIG
THANK YOU
to the National Corvette Museum, and the C5 Registry,
for again allowing me to use their C5 Birthday Bash event
to raise
money for the American Cancer Society. I am very conscious of the
fact that this event is a fundraiser for
the NCM, a non-profit corporation.
Thanks
to their generosity, and that of the participants at this great event, I was
able to send
$2257.00
to the American Cancer Society office
in Bowling Green, KY.
Click
to go directly to next event!
