It still being quite early for a the weekend, not even 9:00 A.M., I motored the Lumi, the Distaff Son of the Mousemobile home for breakfast, the apllication of sunscreen, & a brief rest. I was back downtown by 10:00 A.M., & commenced the long walk. I rang my father's mobile, knowing that he had left the house in the pre-dawn hours with his Corvette, a '79 painted a peculiar Ford shade of purple by the previous owner, but he did not answer. I, being old school, left a voice mail. From Kearsley I first walked north to the Corvette Reunion (nicknamed the Corvette Corral), over the Flint River & up now North Saginaw as it becomes M.L.K., then back down to where Saginaw branches away from itself & the transition to M.L.K. to remain Saginaw. I saw a great many Corvettes of all shapes & sizes, generations & colors. I even spied Dad's 'Vette, but he was not with it. I rather casually determined that this year I would see everything the Bricks had to offer, walking the length of the cars on Saginaw & on all the side streets. I did not pause adequately to consider to what I was really committing.
The following are my notes from the long afternoon's hike, jotted down in my new thin Field Notes notebook, replacing my thicker Moleskine. By no means did I write down everything I saw, the criteria for inclusion being, the thought fleeting through my mind, "I should make a note of this."
plate: ASK4MOE
Hurst/Olds 455 white w/ gold stripes
Corvette "Le Mans 50th" edition, 1 of 252
Just Hearse'n Around Hearse Club, Hell, Mich.
Oldsmobile Starfire
Stutz Bearcat
yellow Camaro SUE DENNIS sunvisors
M.A.R.C. of Excellence, Model 'A' Restorers' Club, "Repeal the Volstead Act" "...18th Amendment"
'73 Buick Riviera GS Stagel Boattail
In the course of the morning & into the afternoon I gazed upon thousands of automobiles. The vast majority of them were muscle cars, the vast majority of those from the G.M. stable (Flint being the birthplace of both General Motors & later the United Auto Workers), though there was a sidestreet for Ford Mustangs, another for the aforementioned Ford Model 'A' Restorers' Club (they spelt it Model "A," I'd have thought it was Model A, no quotation marks necessary), & throughout were to be found a handful of Chryslers, mostly Plymouths, most of those Barracudas. There was a single, brash Lamborghini; several Mercedes-Benzes, looking quite out of place amidst all the Pontiac Firebird Trans Ams with their glorious hood stickers; a couple of Porches; & a solitary B.M.W. Some folks have obviously missed the spirit of Back to the Bricks.
I walked & I walked & when my legs started to get tired I walked some more. I was sporting the Mark II wide-brimmed straw hat & S.P.F. 100 sunscreen, & I came through this particular duel with the Accursed Sun in fine shape. I saw one of my brother Knights of Columbus standing by his gorgeous mid-'50s pickup truck; he didn't recognize me at first, hidden as I was in that wide brim's shadow. We chatted for a few minutes, both of us being more interested in the cars' exteriors than their engine bays. When I'd seen all there was to see except for the rank of Pontiac Fieros I'd passed on my way in (& would pass again on the way back to the Lumi), I hiked back up South Saginaw to North Saginaw & said "Hello" to my pop, now seated in the retreating shade near his 'Vette. We compared verbal notes on what we'd seen, on which cars we liked best. I bid him adieu & began the long trek back my automobile.
It wasn't going to be that easy getting away. As I passed through the "flat lot" (an obnoxious name, since nearly all parking lots are flat) at the corner of Saginaw & Kearsley, I spied another of my brother Knights & stopped to exchange pleasantries. He insisted on buying me lunch, insisted, & thus I was trapped. I had my first ever meal of tacos from a taco truck (they were bland but unobjectionable) & listened to his sob story. He owns a '55 Chevrolet & had long been a participant in first the Woodward Dream Cruise & latterly Back to the Bricks, but this year he was just too busy, working on too many projects (he's a plumber), & he hadn't had time to spruce his car up in time for the cruise & show. He was bitterly disappointed, though he was putting on a brave face. We talked about his family & families in general & he urged me not to be in a rush, not to hurry to have children. This struck me as odd as I didn't think I'd expressed any specific intention of siring kids anytime soon, above & beyond my lack of resources to properly provide for any such wee bairns, but there it was. I listened patiently, but seized the first courteous opportunity to go our separate ways. I examined the Fieros & was terribly glad to park my arse in the Lumi's familiar driver's seat.
Another Back to the Bricks in the books. I had a grand time, but I am also glad it only comes once a year.
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