WOW...what an event!!!!! The earlies started gathering at Deb and Gills' place Saturday afternoon...Ken and MaryFrances with the 8 door and the pickup, The Tinvan from Ontario, and Tim from Kentucky, along with myself, Jarvis, and Odie. had a great time looking at old pics and telling stories til 1 AM. Gills fired up the grill for Pork loin and Chicken, and we had a few beers (a few???) Got a little nippy overnight, but we all survived. Breakfast and cleaning started early on Sunday, and by 9 30 we caravanned off to the Dairy Queen in search of more earlies. Our caravan was 2 8 door Econos, 2 extended Econos, and an Econo pickup. Oh yeah, me bringing up the rear in my 2003. As we were about to get on the highway for the 20 mile cruise, Ken pops out of the white 8 door and tells me to drive it!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP!!! I jump in and stall it immediately like a guy who never drove a stick! 2nd try, off we go...all the way there I am getting thumbs ups and pictures taken...I needed a sign to hold up that said "not mine, but thanks". What a rush to drive that van! We arrived at the Dairy Queen to find another 6 or 7 earlies, and proceeded to hang out and meet everybody. A few minutes later, a caravan of A100 vans and pickups showed up. We took our group across the street to the main show and got organized on the hill overlooking the show lot. I think we ended up with 19 earlies. Chris and the vintage-vans.com group did a great job getting door prizes, goodie bags trophies and everything organized. The goodie bags were huge...I mean HUGE!!!
I think they each weighed about 10 pounds! They had a TON of door prizes...Gills won about 6, and everyone got at least one or two. Not cheesy crap, either-oil, cleaning stuff, Nascar stuff, diecast cars, shirts, hats, 50 dollar gift certificates etc. The rest of the car show was awesome as well, hundreds of cars and trucks cruised in and out all day long. We finally set up our lawn chairs on top of the hill and just sat and watched the parade! Thanks again to the vintage-vans.com guys for making me feel welcome, to Deb and Gills for the hospitality and fun, to Ken for making my day...week...month...decade. Hopefully Chris will be at Cortland, and hopefully he will have flyers for the 2008 gathering...look for the awesome yellow Early Chev!

Howard