2012 Gathering

the picture of Freds little girl Kaytlin, with the earmuffs is one of my favorites...

 

Mike. It ain't easy be-in cheesy. It sure was great meeting you and look forward to seeing you and your wife again.

 

Made it to Dearborn yesterday, and got my windshield sealed up today. Hope it works!

 

Well all I can do is think about from beginning to end, and I know this is going to be long but read it anyways.

Wed: John, Becky and Noah Ford showed up a little after noon. We mounted a grabber spoiler on his car while waiting for Bruce to make his way to meet us. We met up with Bruce on I65 and proceded to caravan to Somerset. Becky was in the rear and what a team player, as we traveled she would pull out to make sure we got over all together. Got to love that! When we arrived at the hotel Jeff, Misty, Page, Mike, and Aubrey(nice to meet you) were waiting for us as we pulled in just as all the mavericks and comets were filing out to dinner. Not a few minutes later Jack, John, Luke, and Chloe showed up, or was it Stephen, Jenny, and Andrew Moore (The Moops) anyways we all got thier real close to the same time. We unloaded and went to dinner with the rest of them. Dinner was hosted by Chuck and Allison (Tony Hahns daughter and son in law) at thier home. They fed us pizza, drinks and deserts all at no charge to any of us, what can you say about something like that? THANK YOU!!!! Met some new friends and caught up with some old(Frank and Don) ones. Afterwards it was back to the hotel for parking lot antics.

Thur: We got up and went to the Hahn's woodshop for the first ever how to/fund raiser on putting disc brakes on an 8" rearend. We had a great time with that one, it went very well IMO. Then back to the hotel to get ready and go to the water park. All I saw was mile wide smiles.There were kids and kids at heart having a great time. Jack, Allen and I and a bunch of kids made a floating island that turned into a snake in the wave pool with about 15 kids, we had a good time and stretched muscles we forgot we had. Then it was off to have dinner provided by the Somernites Cruise Team, again at no cost to anyone!!!Another big THANK YOU!!! And of course back to the hotel for another night of parking lot mayhem.

Fri: Thanks to TJ waking me up my family got ready in time to make the leaving for the train. We went for Train ride on the South Fork Train and went to an old coal mining town. Got off the train to look around. One of the park rangers gave an exhibit on local snakes and some of the kids (me included) got to hold a small corn snake. We had a hobo lunch served in a bandana. Then a train ride back where I got to compare roughin' it with Becky Hahn. From there it was off to the Cumberland Falls. The kids all got ice cream thanks to Allen and I, we were just trying to ruin their appetites before going to the seafood buffet, you know trying to save all we could for ourselves. I went with a group of kids down to the river below the falls and John-Aaron found a clue to a pirates treasure in a cave so we followed it and sure enough dug up a treasure. It was for something the park was putting on so we buried it back where it was and remade the X. We had a good time. Next it was up the hill to the DuPont lodge for the dinner. Allen and I didn't plan very good because even if the kids had good appetites there was too much food. We enjoyed a great dinner among great people and filled the room so full that Tony and Bobbi Hahn and Rudy, Ellen, Lynn and Mark had to set outside the room, not sure if it was that they were banished or they were treated to royalty. It was kind of kept hush hush.This whole dinner was provided by Bobbi Hahn and her co. and deserves another really big THANK YOU!!!!! Then back to the hotel for more parking lot fabrications.

Sat: Off to the park for show day. I think we had 27 cars at the park, it looked really cool seeing them all together. Lots of BSing. Ruth did a great job of keeping the kids involved, there were games and instead of the kids sitting around bored while the adults got called for door prizes she put together 2 rounds of kids door prizes, she went all out to make the kids feel apart of it all. Lunch was served and provided by the local Tourism Bureau!!! We had our awards and door prizes and headed back to ready for dinner. We headed to the Fishing Creek park to be fed some excellent BBQ by Barry. It was by donation and I'm sure based on the taste of everything that we couldn't pay him what it was worth. I got a pan of left overs and ate a sandwhich today, HMMMMM it is good, hey they offered. Back to the hotel for the last night of parking lot good times.

Thank you to the Hahns for another great show!!

Jim Allen, as stated was a big hit with kids of ALL ages with his antique ice maker and the results of it a few nights in a row.

Mike and Cindy, from Oregon, deserve a huge THANK YOU for the cheese, meat, and crackers every night in parking lot and the mav/com trivia game.

Bruce(ELVIS), what can be said, been great talking to you up to and during the Gathering. Keep safe over there this next time also. Shoot me a number.
Max and your brothers name escapes me, Sweet car!

Joel and Issac, Glad you made it down.

Misty, thank you for helping during the show day it wasn't unoticed. And camera man Jeff.

Nice to finally meet Gena and Mitchel Sellers, I don't think I ever saw Gena without a smile on her face, hope this means we will see more of you in the future.

Fred, I went back and figured and I think it has been 10 years, Great to see you again and that little Kaytlin is a doll!

Met some new people from Ohio. Jamie, good looking car. Ken "better hide your plate" and his lovey wife Maxine. Maxine, you can come hang out anytime, if you bring Ken bring his muzzle. JK Ken, nice green car.

Met some more from Ga., and it makes me happy to know Frank is unique, the rest of gang is fun to hang out with.JK Frank. 2 very nice people in Barry and Sharon, wish there was more time to talk one on one with everyone. And Jeff, man the car looks great, it is hard to go wrong with grabber blue, but yours is above that.

Allen and his son Mike from Pa. Great to meet you both.

Jay, Ann, and Jacob, nice meeting you.

I'm sorry if I forgot anybody new to me, so much happening to try and get processed in this little mind of mine. And to all my old friends, it was great to see you all again.

My kids had a great time and that is very important to me. I got to haul many kids around and it was my pleasure to spend time with them when I did. I know we will always strive to make them a part of this event and in turn hopefully some will like these cars enough to continue to be a part as they grow up. It is sad and amazing to see them grow up year to year. Noah, Abby, Page, TJ, Telisa, Ally, Keith, Celine(motor mouth), Thomas(pepto pink), Josh, Mitchel, Jacob, Yana, John-Aaron, Shannon, Luke(I'm not your father, it never gets old to me, sorry), Chloe, Seth, these kids are the future of the MCG. Alex, Faith, Kaytlin, Jewel, Andrew are the next batch of kids to watch growing up. It really feels like a big family when we are all together. On the way home I had to deal with some pretty glum faces and I bet not a word was uttered. I really appreciate all the adults that my kids have and feel they can talk to in our club and the way you watch out for them. I don't have words for the importance I place on this, Thank you all!!!!

 

Earl it was great seeing you again and your car is awesome!!Be safe in your travels and we'll see you again next year at the latest.

 

we had 21 for dinner Mon. night, 78 for dinner Fri. night, anyone have a total for the meet?

 

It was a quiet ride home for us too (10 hrs). We pull up to the house and see our brown yard and it's 102 degrees and Page says JOPLIN SUCKS LET'S GO BACK!!! Later she was looking at photos and she says. It's pretty bad when people cry when saying goodbye that aren't related. Today she's talking about the next Gathering ( and giving me a hard time about our car). It makes me really happy that my family loves it so much.

 

Ward, great seeing you and your family too! Got the windshield fixed today, so hopefully, no more aquatics in the car. Take care, and look forward to seeing you again next year!

 

Was great to see everyone again!

 

Isaac and I had a great time. I am still trying to figure who goes with what car. I am glad we came down and hope we can attend more of the event next time. Thanks everyone for making Isaac and I welcomed.

 

We walked in our home about an hour ago.. As usual all I heard from the wife and kid most of the way home is how they are ready for next year. I am also but for now I am pooped..
I agree with everyone.. It was great to see everyone again. Everything was awsome. From the foods to the activities.. My family and I had a great time.
Back to work tomorrow..

 

Gene, That painting that you presented Ruth was fantastic! What a great idea.

 

Thanks. I now wish I had asked the painter (Coop) to do some extra paintings while I had him on the hook. I contacted him and he says he's gonna have to think long and hard about doing another cause it was challenging.. He does most of his art from his head where I supplied pics. All I know is that I can't do what he does concerning paintings and or drawings. I have several of his paintings and cartoons. He laughed when I called him "Coopasso" . His name is David Cooper. We have known each other since 9th grade.
Anyway.. I wanted Ruth (and family) to remember the Gatherings from afar. They traveled so far and now they have it with them... if that makes sense..

 

Funny. Too bad he didn't sign it that way.

 

Yea.. But he does use "Coop". And I could swear the o's look like eyes.