I owe my uncanny junking abilities to my mother. She had toted me along on her own junking adventures when I was a kid. Little did I know that I was actually apprenticing her. The ability to find cool treasures for free is now inherent to my being. I have what I like to call dumpster-vision and can identify good trash from bad in the split second it takes to drive past it. Pair that with the powers of the Internet: Freecycle and Craigslist and oh boy, the stream of cool stuff is endless. That would probably explain why I have a arcade in my garage and why my house is full of crazy knick-knacks and vintage furniture. I am very good at finding junk and by junk I mean all sorts of cool stuff, not trash but treasures.
That's where it comes in handy to have a big ol car like Lucy that can hold a lot of "junk in her trunk", if you will. I've decided I love to drive the car when it is fulla stuff. I know I look like "Sandford & Sons" (imagine theme song playing right now...waa waa waa wa wa, wa wa wa wa waawaawaaaaaaa...) when I'm dragging home a 3 piece mid-century sofa set and the tailgate is down and chairs are strapped down and I'm checking for cops and lost cargo in the rear-view mirror every few seconds; but that right there is my narcotic of choice. I get high on junk. Usually it is just me on these missions, a lot of them are impromptu and dusty-dirty but just last weekend I had a co-pilot for a night of random treasure hunting and it was amazing.
At her suggestion, my friend Candice launched us on a night of back-alley treasure hunting and secret thrift store adventures. Candice, Lucy and I started off with a fine sampling of illegal Thrift store Donation drop offs. You see, on the weekends people have yard sales and bouts of house/garage cleaning that lead to a superfluous amount of donations which they leave unlawfully at the back doors of thrift stores after hours. This, I admit is a moral gray area for me. These things are meant for the thrift store but it is written in plain sight that "NO DUMPING" of items after hours is allowed. So if these people are leaving stuff that isn't supposed to be there in the first place, is it wrong for us to take it? I dunno, but Candice scored a heater for her kid's room and I scored a window fan, so there. After that we stalked as quietly as you can in an old car down the streets of select neighborhoods looking for the elusive "FREE YARD SALE LEFTOVERS" piles that accumulate on the ends of driveways on a Saturday night. Right away Candice spots a collection of items and we pull over and briefly chat with another free-finder who is trying to fit a bulky piece of furniture in the trunk of her Volkswagen Passat. I offered to haul it in the wagon if she was going someplace close but she was going to Thousand Oaks which unfortunately is out of my jurisdiction. Sorry lady!
From there we headed downtown and drove behind some more thrift stores and didn't come up with anything. We bumped into Candice's husband who was standing outside the Nights Of Columbus where a Hardcore show was taking place, talked for a while and then decided to drive down the Avenue to search for more freebies. Now, I would never go down the Avenue by myself on whim, in the middle of the night. It is a little rougher down there but with a very convincing co-pilot, who I admit, is tougher than me; we went for it. After a few streets with nothing on them we were losing steam. Then I remembered this crazy thrift store called La Barata that may be open. I used to go to that shop when John lived down on the Avenue and we found some neat things in there. For some reason La Barata had not been open during the day anymore and not to long ago I was on the Avenue after dark and spotted the lights on. We cruised by and sure enough, the place was open. We went in and Candice was surprised how chock full of stuff this place was. From floor to ceiling and in every corner there is junk. None of it is priced and almost all of it is dirty. I think the owner buys out old storage lockers that have gone delinquent and just throws the stuff anywhere in the shop. It is like a mummy's tomb of random crap. You can't help but feel like a tomb raider when you pick up a photo album that still has pictures of the last family in it. Candice made a purchase, more of a souvenir I think than a real need; something to prove that this unusual late-night thrift store actually exists.
After La Barata, we headed back to her place where we found some stuff right there in the back alley. I scored a cool 50's black cabinet that I already have plans for turning into a custom television stand. We went into her place to chill for a minute and wash our hands. I had never been to her house before and there was so much to look at, it was like a veritable show and tell and right away I recognized a similarity to my place. We both have homes full of the little curiosities that make us happy. I had never hung out one-on-one with Candice before we had always been in a group setting and in fact, me hanging out at all is a new thing. I can be a bit of a recluse but have recently been more social with a large group of girls. It was really cool to get to know her better. Candice is funny as hell, cantankerous and generally amazing. We didn't do anymore junking after the pit-stop at her place. We joined up with some friends for drinks and spent the remainder of our night out on the town. I have to say, even though I turned in a bit sooner than the others, I'm sure I had just as much fun. It was an unusual night filled with everything I have come to love, good friends, good junk and and my faithful old wagon.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Like an old horse
This morning I ventured off of my normal route to work to drop off the rent check downtown. On the way there I realized that my old car was a lot like an old horse, set in its ways. Let me elaborate
(((flash back blurred segue))))
When I was living on my Mom's farm back in Ohio, we boarded some horses for a neighbor in our barn and pastures. As part of the deal my sister and I were allowed to ride the horses ourselves. There were two horses, Red Bird & Buckshot and they had lived together for years, they were besties. Red Bird was a big beautiful reddish-brown quarter horse and Buckshot was a scrappy little black and white speckled pony with a bad attitude. Once I was trying to mount the saddle on Buckshot and he kicked me with his back leg knocking me off. I swear I almost punched that horse straight in the face, I has my fist pulled back and everything and then realized I was about to punch a horse in the face and laughed at myself instead. Needless to say Buckshot didn't get ridden as much as Red Bird and if you took them out separately you could hear Buckshot whinnying from the barn the whole time.
Once I had Red Bird out for a ride and we made it about half a mile down the road at a nice and easy pace. I wasn't a pro at horse riding and never really trusted the giant creatures so I usually took it slow. Red Bird didn't want to be out at all, and especially not without Buckshot but I convinced myself I was the boss and we went a little further. That's where I was wrong, Red Bird was the boss, and he was about to prove it. When we turned around and pointed back in the direction of the farm Red Bird knew right then and there where he was headed. What waited at the end of the line for him was a bale of hay and his ol' pal Buckshot. Like fate the minute we turned I heard Buckshot call out to Red Bird and that was all it took. Red Bird set off like a kid trying to catch the school bus and I was like his backpack flailing in the wind. He was in full canter and I was hanging on for dear life. I tightened the reigns and yelled "Whoah!" to no avail, he wasn't going to stop until he was home. We plowed through the neighbors fields and finally made it back where he slowed down and casually walked over to the stable allowing me to dismount. It was a short and terrifying ride but I made it back in one piece.
Now, back to my old car and me
(((flash back segue coming into focus onto present time)))
This morning I had to drop off my rent check so instead of waiting until 8:45 to leave for work, I left at 8:20 to allow enough time to drop off the rent and get to work on time. I hopped in Lucy (just like horses cars have names) and cranked the engine, low and behold she didn't start right up like normal, in fact the battery sounded sluggish. I tried a few times and she came back, roaring with the extra gas I was pumping (the equivalent of giving out extra oats & hay). I let her sit for a minute and warm up while I wrote out my rent check. Normally I drive a slow back road to work, facing the sunlight, taking my time and letting her warm up on the way. Today I went the opposite direction on a street with traffic and multiple lanes, the sun at my back. Stopping at traffic lights, Lucy was slow to speed up and take off when the light changed. I made it towards downtown and was waiting for a father & daughter to cross the street before I made my turn. Once they were safely out of the way, I eased onto the gas and Lucy sputtered, and barely moved. I feebly smiled at the dad who I had noticed admiring the car and tried again. I gave her more gas and probably seemed like I was showing off but was only trying to get her to move (that's right, I'm the boss). She lurched forward taking me to the middle of the intersection and and then sputtered out again, eliminating any chance of looking like a show-off, or at least a successful one. So I pumped in more gas, go dammit go! We made it through the intersection and headed toward the rental company. I dropped off the rent and turned around, back toward my usual route.
As soon as we made on our way toward the back road and the slow ride to work, facing the sun once again she perked right up. No more stuttering, even the rattling exhaust pipe calmed down when her engine idle returned to normal. Now she knew where we were going, now we were back on schedule. She knew what was waiting for her at the end of the trip. She was headed to her very own parking space under the only shady tree in the lot where the dappled sunlight would shine on her hood. There she will patiently wait until my lunch break. I made it to work in one piece and she got what she wanted. Everything was right in this world and that's where I will end this story, my car is like a trusty old horse that occasionally lets me think I'm the boss. :-)
(((flash back blurred segue))))
When I was living on my Mom's farm back in Ohio, we boarded some horses for a neighbor in our barn and pastures. As part of the deal my sister and I were allowed to ride the horses ourselves. There were two horses, Red Bird & Buckshot and they had lived together for years, they were besties. Red Bird was a big beautiful reddish-brown quarter horse and Buckshot was a scrappy little black and white speckled pony with a bad attitude. Once I was trying to mount the saddle on Buckshot and he kicked me with his back leg knocking me off. I swear I almost punched that horse straight in the face, I has my fist pulled back and everything and then realized I was about to punch a horse in the face and laughed at myself instead. Needless to say Buckshot didn't get ridden as much as Red Bird and if you took them out separately you could hear Buckshot whinnying from the barn the whole time.
Once I had Red Bird out for a ride and we made it about half a mile down the road at a nice and easy pace. I wasn't a pro at horse riding and never really trusted the giant creatures so I usually took it slow. Red Bird didn't want to be out at all, and especially not without Buckshot but I convinced myself I was the boss and we went a little further. That's where I was wrong, Red Bird was the boss, and he was about to prove it. When we turned around and pointed back in the direction of the farm Red Bird knew right then and there where he was headed. What waited at the end of the line for him was a bale of hay and his ol' pal Buckshot. Like fate the minute we turned I heard Buckshot call out to Red Bird and that was all it took. Red Bird set off like a kid trying to catch the school bus and I was like his backpack flailing in the wind. He was in full canter and I was hanging on for dear life. I tightened the reigns and yelled "Whoah!" to no avail, he wasn't going to stop until he was home. We plowed through the neighbors fields and finally made it back where he slowed down and casually walked over to the stable allowing me to dismount. It was a short and terrifying ride but I made it back in one piece.
Now, back to my old car and me
(((flash back segue coming into focus onto present time)))
This morning I had to drop off my rent check so instead of waiting until 8:45 to leave for work, I left at 8:20 to allow enough time to drop off the rent and get to work on time. I hopped in Lucy (just like horses cars have names) and cranked the engine, low and behold she didn't start right up like normal, in fact the battery sounded sluggish. I tried a few times and she came back, roaring with the extra gas I was pumping (the equivalent of giving out extra oats & hay). I let her sit for a minute and warm up while I wrote out my rent check. Normally I drive a slow back road to work, facing the sunlight, taking my time and letting her warm up on the way. Today I went the opposite direction on a street with traffic and multiple lanes, the sun at my back. Stopping at traffic lights, Lucy was slow to speed up and take off when the light changed. I made it towards downtown and was waiting for a father & daughter to cross the street before I made my turn. Once they were safely out of the way, I eased onto the gas and Lucy sputtered, and barely moved. I feebly smiled at the dad who I had noticed admiring the car and tried again. I gave her more gas and probably seemed like I was showing off but was only trying to get her to move (that's right, I'm the boss). She lurched forward taking me to the middle of the intersection and and then sputtered out again, eliminating any chance of looking like a show-off, or at least a successful one. So I pumped in more gas, go dammit go! We made it through the intersection and headed toward the rental company. I dropped off the rent and turned around, back toward my usual route.
As soon as we made on our way toward the back road and the slow ride to work, facing the sun once again she perked right up. No more stuttering, even the rattling exhaust pipe calmed down when her engine idle returned to normal. Now she knew where we were going, now we were back on schedule. She knew what was waiting for her at the end of the trip. She was headed to her very own parking space under the only shady tree in the lot where the dappled sunlight would shine on her hood. There she will patiently wait until my lunch break. I made it to work in one piece and she got what she wanted. Everything was right in this world and that's where I will end this story, my car is like a trusty old horse that occasionally lets me think I'm the boss. :-)
Monday, October 5, 2009
Ojai Big Chili Let-Down
Well, this last Saturday was the culmination of a weeks worth of crafting for myself and the DONO girls. We signed up to have a vendor booth at the 1st annual Ojai Big Chili Cook-off. The booth itself was a pricey $150 but with only one other event, the Johnny Cash Music Festival under our belts, we decided it would be worth it. It was promising to be a big turn-out, with many vendors and chili contestants and live bands to draw a crowd. The event opened to the public at 12:00 but we arrived nice and early to stake a claim on the best possible spot to set up. We were as full of ambition & excitement as you can be that early in the morning. We set off from Ventura in a three car caravan, my rusty yet trusty wagon as the official DONO mobile, loaded up with our wares & gear was the lead car and Jaymee with co-pilot Candice (lookin' pretty in pink)in the middle and Claudia bringing up the rear.
We arrived at Lake Casitas and didn't see a single sign indicating the event until we go to the main gate. We informed the gate-guy that we were vendors for the event and he then directed us all the way through the park to a dead end where we had to ask for directions yet again to get to the correct location. Our three cars trailed each other back out of the park and down along a side road to the vendor entrance. Once we cleared the gate there, we were mis-directed several more times to before we found our booth and were able to set up. There were some other managerial difficulties with the set up too, like when they moved a picnic table away from the back of the booth because it was supposedly in a walkway and then let a another booth set up at the end, essentially blocking off access to the walkway. I understand that it was a first annual event and that there are growing pains to be expected but it seemed like they were unprepared for their own event.
Once we were finally situated, the DONO booth went up with no problem. You would have thought we were seasoned pros at set-up. Everyone's beautiful hand crafted awesome-ness was ready to meet the hoards of chili lovin' patrons! We set up our chairs and eagerly awaited our crowd. At noon they opened the gates to the public. People paid the $10 admission and started to meander in. The 1st place they all went were the ticket booths where they had to purchase "tasting tickets" for the chili participants. For $5 they got 10 tickets to taste table spoon sized portions of the various chili offerings. So right away the customers are out $15 a head. The crowds hit all the chili booths first (which rightfully, were amazing) while we waited for the waves of customers. We waited, and waited.
The projected turnout was going to be in the 1,000's but in reality it was probably more like 500-700 people. We sold a total of about $30 DONO merch, and Canidice made a fair amount off of her hand-made jewelry but we didn't come anywhere near recouping the cost of our booth. In fact we barely made back the money we spent on the breakfast burritos we treated ourselves to! It was pretty dismal. We talked to other vendors and they all agreed, several others did not make back their booth investment either. However, what we didn't make in money, we gained in precious experience. That, I suppose is priceless.
We packed up about an hour early and like a sigh of relief, other vendors started to tear down too. We carted all of the stuff back down to the cars and loaded them up, tired and ready to go. We all hugged and then loaded ourselves into our cars and got the hell outta Casitas. Our faithful DONO mobile carted Lisa and I back down to Ventura where we and the other girls will plot our next event with the knowledge gained from this one.
P.S. To see great photos of our booth and the other hard working vendors & chili people, check out Kara's Facebook album here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=2039370&id=1170753029&ref=mf
We arrived at Lake Casitas and didn't see a single sign indicating the event until we go to the main gate. We informed the gate-guy that we were vendors for the event and he then directed us all the way through the park to a dead end where we had to ask for directions yet again to get to the correct location. Our three cars trailed each other back out of the park and down along a side road to the vendor entrance. Once we cleared the gate there, we were mis-directed several more times to before we found our booth and were able to set up. There were some other managerial difficulties with the set up too, like when they moved a picnic table away from the back of the booth because it was supposedly in a walkway and then let a another booth set up at the end, essentially blocking off access to the walkway. I understand that it was a first annual event and that there are growing pains to be expected but it seemed like they were unprepared for their own event.
Once we were finally situated, the DONO booth went up with no problem. You would have thought we were seasoned pros at set-up. Everyone's beautiful hand crafted awesome-ness was ready to meet the hoards of chili lovin' patrons! We set up our chairs and eagerly awaited our crowd. At noon they opened the gates to the public. People paid the $10 admission and started to meander in. The 1st place they all went were the ticket booths where they had to purchase "tasting tickets" for the chili participants. For $5 they got 10 tickets to taste table spoon sized portions of the various chili offerings. So right away the customers are out $15 a head. The crowds hit all the chili booths first (which rightfully, were amazing) while we waited for the waves of customers. We waited, and waited.
The projected turnout was going to be in the 1,000's but in reality it was probably more like 500-700 people. We sold a total of about $30 DONO merch, and Canidice made a fair amount off of her hand-made jewelry but we didn't come anywhere near recouping the cost of our booth. In fact we barely made back the money we spent on the breakfast burritos we treated ourselves to! It was pretty dismal. We talked to other vendors and they all agreed, several others did not make back their booth investment either. However, what we didn't make in money, we gained in precious experience. That, I suppose is priceless.
We packed up about an hour early and like a sigh of relief, other vendors started to tear down too. We carted all of the stuff back down to the cars and loaded them up, tired and ready to go. We all hugged and then loaded ourselves into our cars and got the hell outta Casitas. Our faithful DONO mobile carted Lisa and I back down to Ventura where we and the other girls will plot our next event with the knowledge gained from this one.
P.S. To see great photos of our booth and the other hard working vendors & chili people, check out Kara's Facebook album here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=2039370&id=1170753029&ref=mf
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
It's a Major Award!
I had the best Saturday last weekend! I am a member of a newly founded group of all-girl-do-gooders called the Daughters Of Nelly Olsen (aka DONO) and we had a booth at the Johnny Cash Music Festival. Our basic goal is to pool our creative energy into offering help to those who need it. For this particular event we all crafted our butts off making all kinds of cool things to sell like Johnny Cash grab bags, stickers, magnets and more. Some of us sold independent crafts and I was there as a face painter (for the kiddies). In one of our discussions the task of how to get all of our lovely junk to the event came up. I offered the use of my big ol' wagon and before you know it, Lucy is the official car of DONO. We loaded her up to maximum capacity and set off on Saturday morning for the event.
When we arrived at the gates our friend Jessie was directing the entries. He took one look at us in the Dart and told us that all the show cars go to the right. It took me a second but then I said, but we're vendors....wait...there's a car show?? At that moment we just needed to get into the vendor section and set up so I told him I'd think about putting her in the car show. As we were setting up our booth I kept looking at Lucy and wondering if she should be entered. I know I love my car but would other people love her? Plus there were A LOT of really bitchin' cars there. I knew that it wasn't necessarily a beauty pageant though, it was a people's choice jury so everyone could vote for themselves. After we set up I had to move her out of the vendor section anyway so it was either park her on the grass and enter in the show or move it all the way out into the parking lot. Ultimately, I paid the $15 bucks and put her in!
I found a parking spot next to two other wagons and jumped out of the car to survey her condition. Thankfully I had at least hosed her off that morning! I rolled all the windows down to hide the dirt and folded the seat back up. I stowed all the junk under the spare tire compartment and rubbed the cat paw prints off the hood with my bare hands. There was nothing I could do about the leaves all over the floor but c'est la vie! I chatted up the other wagon owners for a minute and told them that I had a vendor booth and wouldn't be with the car. They were cool dudes and I'm sure looked after her for me. As for me, I had only a few moments of freedom from the face painting booth but I did have the chance to make a sign to put on the dashboard that read "1963 Dodge Dart Wagon Work in Progress and Daily Driver, the official car of DONO (come see our booth!)" I put the sign up and gave her a good luck pat and then returned to my servitude as a face painter.
The whole day was great, our booth looked amazing, our crafts were selling well, I was painting faces like crazy and we had a member of our group in the pin-up girl contest too. Candice was our pin-up and she was dressed as an army girl, number 21 ("You have to be at least 21 to vote!"). She looked like a punk rock Andrews Sister, too cute. She did a lot of campaigning to get her number out there to the people so they could vote for her. Every time someone came to our booth we told them to vote for her. The girls were also telling people that we had a car in the show, our Dart number 11! I knew Candice had a winning chance but I didn't think my last minute dusty Dart would pick up any prizes, the competition was just too good. The way I saw it, I just paid for convenient parking when I entered!
About five hours and 100 different versions of "Ring of Fire" later, we were about to find out the winners of the contests. They did all the pin-ups first, there were about 15 in all. They all looked cute as buttons. They started with 4th place first and whadda ya know, Called out #21, Candice! She sashayed up to the mic and accepted her trophy, a shiny chrome pinstriped car part (air cleaner?)! They named the rest of the girls and another one of our friends made it to second place I believe. After that they kept the winning pin-ups on stage to take pictures with the owners of the winning motorcycles & cars. They went through the bikes, then the trucks and lastly the cars. When they got to the cars I figured well, I had better stick around just in case there is some crazy reason my car wins something. The announcer stepped up to the mic and began the car category. As with all the other categories, they announced 4th place first. He said "...Fourth place for the coolest car goes to ....entry number 11"...Right then I gasped, my number was 11...omigod... I wasn't about to shout yet, I didn't want to be that actor who thinks they've won the Oscar when it wasn't their name called. I just waited for more info. "Numer 11, a 1963 Dodge Dart..." Holy crap! I thought I have one of those! I was starting to get excited but just could not believe it, they were going to have to say my name....and then they did! Still I was dumbfounded! My friend pokes me, "That's you!" Suddenly I snap to..It was me! My Dart won a prize!
Making it from my spot in the crowd to the stage was like being on the Price is Right (imagine the music in your head and Rod Roddy saying Come On Down!!!)... I ran to the stage passing through the crowd, and didn't see the steps to the stage so instead climbed up the side like King Kong! I might as well have been saying ME WIN PRIZE! ME WIN PRIZE! When I got to the center of the stage there was a pin-up girl waiting to take a picture with me. AWESOME, LOL! They handed me my trophy which was a pinstriped bottle of wine that said "4th Coolest Car, Johnny Cash Ventura CA 2009" I posed with the pin-up, as the only female winner and gave her a kiss on the cheek! The crowd was loving it. I finally found the stairs and went back to my friends. It was the coolest thing EVER! I was in total disbelief that my wacky little wagon could win anything especially as a last minute entry with leaves all over the floor!
It was a great day all around, DONO kicked butt, Candice kicked butt and my Lucy kicked butt! Not bad for a buncha first timers! Here is the official link the festival web page and some picks of all of us. Enjoy!
www.johnnycashmusicfestival.com
and just for LOLZ, one of me looking like a starving vampire:
When we arrived at the gates our friend Jessie was directing the entries. He took one look at us in the Dart and told us that all the show cars go to the right. It took me a second but then I said, but we're vendors....wait...there's a car show?? At that moment we just needed to get into the vendor section and set up so I told him I'd think about putting her in the car show. As we were setting up our booth I kept looking at Lucy and wondering if she should be entered. I know I love my car but would other people love her? Plus there were A LOT of really bitchin' cars there. I knew that it wasn't necessarily a beauty pageant though, it was a people's choice jury so everyone could vote for themselves. After we set up I had to move her out of the vendor section anyway so it was either park her on the grass and enter in the show or move it all the way out into the parking lot. Ultimately, I paid the $15 bucks and put her in!
I found a parking spot next to two other wagons and jumped out of the car to survey her condition. Thankfully I had at least hosed her off that morning! I rolled all the windows down to hide the dirt and folded the seat back up. I stowed all the junk under the spare tire compartment and rubbed the cat paw prints off the hood with my bare hands. There was nothing I could do about the leaves all over the floor but c'est la vie! I chatted up the other wagon owners for a minute and told them that I had a vendor booth and wouldn't be with the car. They were cool dudes and I'm sure looked after her for me. As for me, I had only a few moments of freedom from the face painting booth but I did have the chance to make a sign to put on the dashboard that read "1963 Dodge Dart Wagon Work in Progress and Daily Driver, the official car of DONO (come see our booth!)" I put the sign up and gave her a good luck pat and then returned to my servitude as a face painter.
The whole day was great, our booth looked amazing, our crafts were selling well, I was painting faces like crazy and we had a member of our group in the pin-up girl contest too. Candice was our pin-up and she was dressed as an army girl, number 21 ("You have to be at least 21 to vote!"). She looked like a punk rock Andrews Sister, too cute. She did a lot of campaigning to get her number out there to the people so they could vote for her. Every time someone came to our booth we told them to vote for her. The girls were also telling people that we had a car in the show, our Dart number 11! I knew Candice had a winning chance but I didn't think my last minute dusty Dart would pick up any prizes, the competition was just too good. The way I saw it, I just paid for convenient parking when I entered!
About five hours and 100 different versions of "Ring of Fire" later, we were about to find out the winners of the contests. They did all the pin-ups first, there were about 15 in all. They all looked cute as buttons. They started with 4th place first and whadda ya know, Called out #21, Candice! She sashayed up to the mic and accepted her trophy, a shiny chrome pinstriped car part (air cleaner?)! They named the rest of the girls and another one of our friends made it to second place I believe. After that they kept the winning pin-ups on stage to take pictures with the owners of the winning motorcycles & cars. They went through the bikes, then the trucks and lastly the cars. When they got to the cars I figured well, I had better stick around just in case there is some crazy reason my car wins something. The announcer stepped up to the mic and began the car category. As with all the other categories, they announced 4th place first. He said "...Fourth place for the coolest car goes to ....entry number 11"...Right then I gasped, my number was 11...omigod... I wasn't about to shout yet, I didn't want to be that actor who thinks they've won the Oscar when it wasn't their name called. I just waited for more info. "Numer 11, a 1963 Dodge Dart..." Holy crap! I thought I have one of those! I was starting to get excited but just could not believe it, they were going to have to say my name....and then they did! Still I was dumbfounded! My friend pokes me, "That's you!" Suddenly I snap to..It was me! My Dart won a prize!
Making it from my spot in the crowd to the stage was like being on the Price is Right (imagine the music in your head and Rod Roddy saying Come On Down!!!)... I ran to the stage passing through the crowd, and didn't see the steps to the stage so instead climbed up the side like King Kong! I might as well have been saying ME WIN PRIZE! ME WIN PRIZE! When I got to the center of the stage there was a pin-up girl waiting to take a picture with me. AWESOME, LOL! They handed me my trophy which was a pinstriped bottle of wine that said "4th Coolest Car, Johnny Cash Ventura CA 2009" I posed with the pin-up, as the only female winner and gave her a kiss on the cheek! The crowd was loving it. I finally found the stairs and went back to my friends. It was the coolest thing EVER! I was in total disbelief that my wacky little wagon could win anything especially as a last minute entry with leaves all over the floor!
It was a great day all around, DONO kicked butt, Candice kicked butt and my Lucy kicked butt! Not bad for a buncha first timers! Here is the official link the festival web page and some picks of all of us. Enjoy!
www.johnnycashmusicfestival.com
and just for LOLZ, one of me looking like a starving vampire:
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Out To Pasture
Q: So where do Dodge Darts go when they are no longer drive-able??
A: Out to pasture, LITERALLY.
I went to visit my brother & his family up in Grants Pass Oregon over the holiday break. Of course I started perusing their local Craigslist for Darts. And of course I came up with something. Amazingly, a pasture full of Dodge Darts! I could not believe it! The owner of the cars told me that he was out of town but that we could drive out to the field, hop the fence and check out the Darts. As an after thought, he said "Well, there is a cow in that field, but she wont bother you". Hahah, awesome. It was the only sunny blue sky day I saw while up there and it was definitely the highlight of the trip. I tried to score some parts off of the '63 but the owner didn't make it back into "town" before I had to leave back to California. Its a shame too because the grille on the '63 was beautiful! Who knows, maybe I can work something out. Till then, I have an awesome Dart experience to look back on. Enjoy the pics (click for larger pic or here for a slideshow: http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b230/aburrito/mopeds_and_cars/?albumview=slideshow)
Some notable observations about my visit to the Dart Farm:
-The owner had pulled almost each engine, transmission and other mechanical parts out of each car and stacked them in different piles, like a pile of engines!
-Most of them were 2 door GT models and there was only one 1963
-The '63 had a bumper sticker that said "Feminism is the radical idea that women are people"
-Another Dart had a parking permit from Medford High School, from the 60's
-The cow was very interested in us and wondered what we were doing in her car lot.
-The owner said that he had restored a "few" Darts over the years. I counted at least 8 Dodge Darts in that field and one Swinger Model under a lean to in the driveway. He did have a big barn on the property and I bet dollars to donuts that he has a really cherry restored Dart in there. The whole thing was crazy. Special thanks to Bruce for being my partner on this adventure!
A: Out to pasture, LITERALLY.
I went to visit my brother & his family up in Grants Pass Oregon over the holiday break. Of course I started perusing their local Craigslist for Darts. And of course I came up with something. Amazingly, a pasture full of Dodge Darts! I could not believe it! The owner of the cars told me that he was out of town but that we could drive out to the field, hop the fence and check out the Darts. As an after thought, he said "Well, there is a cow in that field, but she wont bother you". Hahah, awesome. It was the only sunny blue sky day I saw while up there and it was definitely the highlight of the trip. I tried to score some parts off of the '63 but the owner didn't make it back into "town" before I had to leave back to California. Its a shame too because the grille on the '63 was beautiful! Who knows, maybe I can work something out. Till then, I have an awesome Dart experience to look back on. Enjoy the pics (click for larger pic or here for a slideshow: http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b230/aburrito/mopeds_and_cars/?albumview=slideshow)
Some notable observations about my visit to the Dart Farm:
-The owner had pulled almost each engine, transmission and other mechanical parts out of each car and stacked them in different piles, like a pile of engines!
-Most of them were 2 door GT models and there was only one 1963
-The '63 had a bumper sticker that said "Feminism is the radical idea that women are people"
-Another Dart had a parking permit from Medford High School, from the 60's
-The cow was very interested in us and wondered what we were doing in her car lot.
-The owner said that he had restored a "few" Darts over the years. I counted at least 8 Dodge Darts in that field and one Swinger Model under a lean to in the driveway. He did have a big barn on the property and I bet dollars to donuts that he has a really cherry restored Dart in there. The whole thing was crazy. Special thanks to Bruce for being my partner on this adventure!
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