Destination 55 - Day Two Report

Gotta jet here pretty soon... but HERE'S THE LINK to the D-23 re-cap for Day Two. Today is the big Scavenger Hunt... Marcus and I are the TEAM PYEWACKET - anybody know the "key" to that reference? (Note: It's two-fold.)

Kelly, Brooks and the Kidz fly in tonight, and I move over to the Ramada Inn. We also have a SPECIAL SURPRISE in store for Tomorrow... Ya'll come back, ya hear...

"Never squat while wearing your spurs!" Will Rogers

Disneyland, Disneyland & MORE Disneyland

Wow! JC dropped me off Thursday (after a visit to the Grand Californian for a snack and refreshment, then a tour trough Downtown Disney, and more refreshment at The ESPN Zone) at the Disneyland Hotel, where I'm staying for the weekend events.

And I've been up to my eyeballs in Disneyland, Walt Disney, Mousekateers, Imagineers & Disney Legends ever since. From 8:00am to 10:00pm. (OK, so we cut out on the Music portion) last night and ran over to California Adventure to take in the WONDERFUL WORLD OF COLOR show (Note about the Video - compared to the "real thing" this half hour video only rates about a "3" in quality, you just can't duplicate the vibrant colors they produce, and the amazing choreography of lights, sound and water are pretty amazing. That being said, the video does give a pretty good idea of the show, so if you want to be surprised, probably best not to watch it), and then made a banzi run over to Disneyland to catch the second FANTASMIC show. Whew, a bit of a hustle, but worth it.

So - back to yesterday... fortunately, the wonderful D-23 Folks at Disney already have a GREAT summary of the entire day posted on their Blog, so just CLICK HERE to get the full report AND photos.

I will make one comment though, at the close of the Imagineer's portion, host Marty Sklar had the following to say... "Disneyland is NOT a place to "escape" it is a place to "relive." A place to relax and remember when you could feel safe, in a clean environment, and feel comfortable talking to a stranger, and enjoy life and be happy!" And he's right. It only bears out a philosophy I've held for just about my entire Adult life, "If the WORLD were run like Disneyland, we'd all be better off!"

"To all who come to this happy place: - Welcome - Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past ... and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America ... with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world." Walter E. Disney July 17, 1955

End of Summer & SMOOTH Ride

No... doggone it, it's not my new ride. Well we made it to mid-week without too much of interest. Ran a bunch of errands, made a visit to ALPINE VILLAGE to hook-up with a couple of old High School pals, Fred Benham & Craig Hanna, along with JC, to drink some beer and decide on next year's 45th Class reunion (which we did).

But this afternoon we had a chance for an unexpected treat - we were invited to check out Daryl Shaar's 49 Chevy Fleetline custom car.

What a beaut - more than I can adequately describe, so hopefully the photos here will tell enough of the story.

Named the SCARLET HARLOT, this crimson beauty is on her way to Long Beach for the annual custom car show there. Now, here's the kicker - Daryl and his wife Jan, DROVE this machine from Carson City Nevada!

And on another note... my Dear Friend from Chicago, Emilie Barry sent me a heads-up e-mail reminding me that today was not only the "end of Summer" but the Autumnal Equinox as well, and the interesting side note that the Moon (which would rise opposite the setting sun today) was at it's closest to the earth in 26 years... well, had to catch that, and as you can see - I did.

"If in the process of winning you have lost the respect of your competitors you have won nothing." -- Paul Elvstrom

Ron's Rendevous Round-up

I left you yesterday as we were heading to the Hospitality Tent, dinner and car watching. Well dinner was pulled pork sandwiches, sliced potatoes and salad. Budweiser & Coke products along with bottled water were the bevereges, pretty much all you wanted. A side note of interest (at least to some) was they had the best Porta-Potties I've ever encountered. Carpeted, framed artwork on the walls, porcelin urinal AND flusing toilet, faux granite counter top and hand sink w/ hot & cold water, big mirror, and believe it or not, AIR-CONDITIONED!

Be sure to click on the COLORED links to learn more about anything of interest.

As the sun set the Crusin' Parade was in full swing, open headers, Oldies music and Cars under lights. We were joined early by Paul Peterson (notable for his many years on the Donna Reed show. He and JC had met many years ago, and have become Friends. He is now active as an advocate for child actors and always has a good number of celebrity stories to share. An interesting one this trip was about Jay North (Dennis the Menace) who is now a corrections officer in Florida.

Later in the evening - JC had gone off on a Golf Cart to get up close and personal when a reporter and camerman from San Bernadino local TV IEMG Ch.3 stopped by and wanted to do an interview - so Franci joined Paul and wound up doing about 20 minutes. Ya just never know what's gonna happen at these events.

Saturday we had an early call, as JC was introducing Dave McClelland the MC for the induction ceremony. The group of inductees was an interesting one, and as each was introduced a 3 minute video was played in which they told some of their accomplishments and background as to their selection. It was one of the better formats I've seen for this type of event. If you've any interest, click here >>> Crusin' Hall of Fame to learn more about WHO and WHAT.

Out in front of the California Theater (which has just been completely refurbished and is a classic old theater house complete with balcony seating) they had parked several cars from the Peterson Museum, Jim Wagener's THE JUDGE GTO, Hurst's 2010 Dodge Challenger Hemi Series 5 SRT8, and Boyd Cottington's ALUMABODY Million dollar roadster... I've pictures of them in the collection linked below.l


After the Hall of Fame induction ceremony we cruised over to the Hospitality Tent for breakfast burritos (scrambled eggs and churrizo). I managed to get a pretty good sampling of the cars making the rounds. I've posted them on my WEBSHOTS site, all you have to do is click the link here>>>>> Route 66 Photos Mind you, I'm not a photographer, so other than a few, they're not particularly great, but you'll get a good idea of the wide range of vehicles to be seen.

The evening capped off with a real treat, we were given tickets to see Frankie Avalon, also at the California Theater. I have to tell you the show was good, and Frankie's still got his own hair and coincidentally he was celebrating his 70th Birthday. His youngest Son (he's the Father of 8 children, his oldest is 46) is his drummer, and his lead guitarist is Phil Everly's son...

Sunday was simply returning "home" to Hermosa, just in time to catch the NASCAR race. Ahhh, life is good!


"If you live right, things happen right!" -- Walter Elias Disney

Lake Not So Woebegone

This morning we had a light breakfast at the hotel then out and about to get our credentials for the weekend. KTLA Ch.5 was doing live broadcasting and we caught the tail end of that. One of the first "not so normal" cars we saw was this Nash Rambler that was more engine than car...

Not much was going on today so we took off for Lake Arrowhead, did a little driving around in the mountains, stopped at the Lake Arrowhead Resort for a beverage and to enjoy the view of the Lake. Then it was down to Alpine Village for lunch at Woody's Boathouse, right on the Lake. The theme there is Chris Craft all the way, including Booths placed in the stern section of the classic motorboats. They have a great Soup and Salad bar, besides a full menu and complete bar. The level of the lake was way up from last year, so that's a good sign.

After lunch we stopped to visit with a fairly familiar looking fellow...

We needed to get back to SanBerdo to meet friend's of Jay & Franci'; Gary & Paula Weber, who were joining us for the Rendezvous. Gary's another "car nut" and owns a classic Woody (not being shown this weekend) and I'd originally met them at a Long Beach Grand Prix several years ago. After getting them checked into the Hotel, we headed down to the Hospitality tent for some car watching and dinner. I'll follow up this post with photos...

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." -- Vincent Van Gogh

Headin' Outta Towne...

Well, we're off to the Route 66 Rendezvous in San Bernadino. Big doin's out there, they close of 2 miles of downtown San Bernadino and over 1,000 Classic Cars, Trucks and assorted other vehicles cruise around town, many with open headers, and bring the show to you! Among this year's headliners are Frankie Avalon, Paul Peterson of the Donna Reed Show fame, and Football Ledgend Jerry Rice.

Got an early start today with Mango (the Painter) showing up at 7:30am to start on the Media Room, we had to take JC's car in to get the brakes done before our trip and then JC and I made a trip to Lowes to pick up Horse Tails, a couple small Palms and 120 lbs of planting mix, Francie had to teach and then go shopping, Nick (all purpose Handyman) arrived to finish spreading and leveling the Truck load of dirt Manual moved on Wednesday. Then Franci had to teach some more this evening and JC had to get his car washed while I ran a few errands and shortly we'll be off to load the car (it looks like 6 people are going for a week...), pick-up Franci and head on our way to the lovely Econo Lodge.

Friday is check-in day and give things a the once-over, primarily to find the Hospitality "tent" which is really a whole street corner with a couple of tents, chairs, couches, food tables and of course the Bar! Saturday morning is the CRUSIN' HALL of FAME Induction Ceremony, and JC will be introducing the event's MC, David McClelland, the "voice" of the NHRA. I'll have more on that later this weekend. Also joining us for the weekend will be Black & Jim Bell - Bass player and Lead Guitar with GLASS (Ya'll know GLASS right?)

Sunday's a lazy day, JC & Franci are heading to a birthday for a 90 year old Friend, and I'll be getting a ride back to Hermosa as it'll be time to check on Stoopy & Vinnie (the Cats).

Good Friend Sandy Saemann is out of the Hospital (I know, you didn't even know he was in did you) after back surgery, and is doing well - working on his latest project, to open a small food restraunt in Manhattan Beach, HOTDOGGERS. (More on that when it's appropriate). His younger Brother Rob and wife Katie left yesterday for Italy, and a family visit (on Katie's side) in Sicily.

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." - Bill Cosby

So Long Salem... Hello LA!

Well Monday was my last day in Oregon, and it turned into a pretty darned good one. Had a lazy morning at Kris' and then took a drive up towards Portland, and decided to check out McMenamins, in Edgefield and I gotta tell ya, it was quite a treat. Originally built in 1911 as the County POOR HOUSE, it was a pretty impressive estate. At one time it also served as a sanatorium and currently boasts a 100+ room Hotel, a Brewery, Winery AND Distillery! Talk about one stop shopping... Kris sampled some wine, then we went for a "snack" and had Greek Pizza and I had the Brewer's Sampler of 7 tasty Ales and Beers. Good fun - I think on a future visit to Oregon it'll have to include a stay there, and a chance to take in the Spa.

After that it was over to Cousin Sherry's for a brief visit before heading to SALTY'S on the Columbia river with Sherry, her husband Joe and his Mom visiting from Texas, along with another Cousin, Linda Elaine and her husband John. Linda will be heading to Maui to meet her Mom (Aunt Elaine) and Sister Cece the end of the month. Dinner was a treat as was the terrific sunset. Spent the night at the La Quinta Inn and Kris dropped me off at PDX this morning and it was off to LAX - where JC picked me up. Clear skies and warm weather greeted me upon arrival, so things look promising.

Got this little tid-bit from Son Carl. A nice little article about his car in Mustang Monthly - check it out. A little side note - Carl's got himself a job working for Shelby American... kind of a dream come true for a Mustang owner... he even got his car "signed" by Mr. Shelby himself last week... Ahhh, Boyz and their Toyz!

And speaking of Cars... I'd like to make a little plug for my Friend Sam Kaskanian, and Sam's Autoland. You can (and if you would PLEASE do) vote for Sam for BEST Auto-Body Shop in LA. CLICK-HERE to visit the voting site. Sam is gracious enough to host a Hospitality Suite every year at the Long Beach Grand Prix, but more importantly, several years ago, after Mom & Dad had a little "incident" with their car, Sam's Guy's fixed it up one afternoon, just like new! You can also catch JC Agajanian in some of the clips from the TV show, "Best of LA" Check it out and please make a vote, as Sam can use it this year... appreciate your support.

Well - Jay tells me we're "off to Home Depot" to get some paint. They're remodeling the "game room" downstairs and evidently the dry-wall guy is finishing up today and the painter starts tomorrow... gotta go, see ya bye...

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." - Plato