Carlisle 11

Carlisle PA
August 26-28, 2011

This is the big one, the Holy Grail of Corvette shows!
Thanks to Lance Miller for hosting us again for our 14th appearance here!
As a result, we were able to sent the American Cancer Society's Harrisburg office $1101.00!

Wednesday August 24

Departure from Decatur AL. (Yes, 4:53am, but that's ok - we lose an hour going east...)

Thursday August 25

I had spent the night with my 94yo mother in Philadelphia. Sadly, this was probably the last time
I'll be in the house that I grew up in, that they bought in 1942 when I was 3mos old!
She is moving to an assisted living facility mid-September.

On to Carlisle!

Thursday Evening

The first tapping of Carlisle Blue Brew at Market Cross Pub & Brewery in downtown Carlisle.
(It was excellent, and no, it isn't blue!)
This was in honor of Chevrolet introducing Carlisle Blue as a color for the 2112 Corvette.

There's Judy Miller's Carlisle Blue ZR1 in front of the Pub, and Lance in the ball cap.

Then, another showing of "The Quest" at the Carlisle Theater, one block from the pub.
I had come to the premier of the film in May.

Friday, August 26

Our usual (and favorite) spot, by the Big Tree, facing the grandstand & stage.

The view from behind the table.

Friday evening

The C5/C6 Registry dinner. Corvette Assembly Plant Manager Dave Tatman gave a
great PowerPoint presentation on a lot of cool things going on at the plant and in the community.
We did the usual 50/50 for the American Cancer Society, and Dave drew the winner: event regular Ryan Schaeffer.
He gave his half back, so the entire pot of $1051 went to the American Cancer Society office in Harrisburg!
Thank you Ryan and your cronies!

(Check out the debris they left on the table!)

Saturday August 27

Yes, 6:08am arrival on site!

Now that the sun's up, the place is jumping!

Thanks to John & Carma Bieglecki I was able to get away long enough for the Celebrity Lunch...

...and to make my Celebrity Pick. I always try to find the one Vette that Sandy would have picked:
Larry Spilman's Honduras Maroon 62 with the Torque Thrust wheels grabbed me... again.
It had also grabbed me in 2005!

Club members from New Hampshire: Dan & Claudia Feidler (red) and Joe & Carol Michalik (Cyber Gray).

New hood signers, for donating $25 to the American Cancer Society

Barbara & Rich LaGasse

Carl Bauman

Hurricane Irene was heading up the east coast and Carlisle's weather looked to turn ugly.
After watching the live radar and forecasts all day and with torrential rain and 30+mph winds forecast for Saturday night,
I decided to cut my losses and packed up a day early. It was the right call.

Sunday August 28

The Hampton Inn was overrun with refugees from the coast.
Lance Miller had posted on Facebook that they were assessing the damage and that
only those who already had credentials would be allowed on the fairground to pack up.

The Mid-America tent and the GM tent had both collapsed.
The GM cars were already gone, but Mid-America lost a lot of merchandise.

So, I headed for home about 9:20am. At least this would get me home that day, saving an overnight expense.

All the way down I-81 the the opposing traffic was extremely heavy with coastal refugees heading back East to pick up the pieces.
And rarely was there a view that didn't include convoys of utility trucks. This was the situation all the way to Knoxville TN!

Final stats (Trip is actually 2007.1 miles. Trip od annoyingly resets @ 2000 miles!)

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