Mystery Drive - Great Start. January 21, 2012
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Mystery Drive - Grrreat Start
"Tony the Tiger” may have coined the word grrreat to sell the taste of his cereal, but he doesn’t have exclusive usage of the word. And it is the purrfect word for our Jaguars to express how they liked the first driving event of the JCSA’s new year. I don’t want to seem to be blowing my own horn, but since no one wanted to write about the Mystery Drive/Bubb’s Grub BBQ, I shall modestly (ha ha) say that according to all the compliments that I heard about the drive and lunch it was a grrreat event with a grrreat turn out.
We had fifteen cars that met at Sentinal Peak Park (A Mountain) for the start of our drive. There were thirteen Cats and two brand X vehicles. New members, Ray and his lovely wife Sanda O’Brien were driving brand X because their cat is in winter hibernation up in Boston. And of course yours truly and his lovely wife, Claire are still waiting for a safety gauge for the XK140, so was also driving brand X, but at least it was a British brand X. Also joining us were perspective members, Bob and his lovely wife Pam Asbell, in an XK8. Hopefully they liked the drive the people they met and will be joining our club soon.
The weather was ideal for the drive, temperature in the 70’s and a light cloud cover to keep the sun from baking us. But only two cars that I can recall that made the drive with the top down, Tom Durham, in his beautiful blue E-Type OTS, his lovely wife Daria not being there to protest about too much fresh air. Rich and his lovely wife, Rita Skillman, wrapped in their Mink jackets and appropriate head gear, also in a beautiful E-Type OTS. But then again, if it weren’t for car shows, where the top has to be up for judging, the Skillman’s never put their top up. Darrell (Andy) Anderson mentioned to me that he thought that if he suggested putting the top down on his convertible, his lovely wife, Carol would protest, so he made the intelligent decision, not to bring the subject up. After all, “A happy wife means a happy life.”
Departing “A” mountain the parade of cats padded their way up Starr Pass and then over Gates Pass amongst the Saguaros that were too numerous to count. At a mostly leisurely rate of speed we twisted and wound our way up and down and round the hills of Saguaro National Park, giving our cats a chance to show off their agility. With a cavalcade of fifteen cars it is pretty hard to all stay together, but by staying mostly off major roads and avoiding at lot of stop lights, we managed pretty well to stay together. The only exception that I know of was the Zimmerman’s, who arrived late at the starting point and didn’t get the route directions. They ended up getting trapped behind a slow moving RV, but knowing the final destination and by taking a more direct route for part of the drive, caught up to the caravan before we got to the restaurant.
Arriving at Bubb’s Grub just after 11:30, we were joined by the lovely Lois Bloom, who eschewed the drive to exercise. Can you believe it, someone that would rather go to the gym than drive their cat! It’s unimaginable. There we sat at two large tables and enjoyed some good BBQ and what I thought, was excellent service. But, I guess the two beers I had might have tinged my perception. At the lunch table, our Pres., Doug Dechant, accompanied by his lovely wife Shirley, brought out a copy of the January newsletter, so that we could all see the great production of it, done by Royal Jaguar. Thank you to Royal for your support of our club and to Fred Secker, who approached Royal about doing the newsletter printing for us. Fred, along with his lovely wife Maggie, made the drive, and got to take home the copy of the newsletter.
After lunch we had an unplanned bonus for the ladies (and some of their husbands), of a little shopping trip to the local thrift store, located next door. I don’t know if anyone else picked up anything there, but Claire picked up a novel and I picked up some Hi-ball glasses, so that when Chuck Z. and his lovely wife, Dolores visits, he will have a proper glass for his Bloody Mary.
And in closing I would like to apologize to all the lovely wives, whose names were not mentioned in this article, whether they were present on this drive or stayed at home. Why do I apologize? Because I believe that saying, “That a happy wife means a happy life.” I also believe that a happy cat is a cat that can show off its agility on a GRREAT event like this one was.
Herbie Hampton