I finally made it to St. Louis, thank goodness.
I had planned to arrive about 6pm, but instead, thanks to my attempted
(and failed) Storm Avoidance Detour, I got there about 7:45 pm. As
soon as I opened the door to my room the phone was ringing. I picked
it up and Shawn (Five0Kiler) was on the other end. He had waited
around the motel from 2:00-3:30 that afternoon waiting for our arrival,
but finally decided he better go to work just as Rick (ThreeRRRs) and his
wife pulled up in his wife's purple Blazer. They chatted for a few
minutes but Shawn had to get rolling, so they parted ways for the time
being.
Anyway, on the phone Shawn said he and the welcoming
committee would be there shortly. As I hung up, wondering what he
was talking about, I saw Rick pull into the lot with Craig Watson not far
behind him, Nova in tow. Craig had planned on arriving around 3pm
Friday, but some early morning electrical gremlins assured a late arrival.
At least we were there now!
A few minutes later I opened my room's door and
this is what I saw:
My Nova was surrounded by other Novas! Way
cool! They turned out to be Shawn's cousin Mike's '68 at the bottom
of the pic, then Shawn's '72, then my '72, then Kayce's '71. Man,
it doesn't get any better than that!
But no one was around.
I walked around the Novas, checking them out...
...and walked over to Craig's room. Sure
enough, there were all over there, checking out his '73, so I joined in
the party.
That's Kayce on the right, Shawn in the white
T-shirt, and Craig next to him. Craig unhooked the car from the trailer
and fired it up and backed it off. Wow, what a nice sounding Nova!
Those 3" pipes and Hooker Max Flow mufflers sure sound mean! That
drew a few people out of their motel rooms and they started asking questions
about Craig's car, so we're trying to introduce ourselves to each other,
while checking out Craig's car and talking to our fellow motel-stayers,
too! It was fun.
We realized how hungry we were, so we all hopped
in our Novas and cruised Lindburgh Blvd. up to Longhorn Steakhouse for
a late dinner (it was after 9:00 by this time). Shawn's cousin Mike
dusted a cocky Mustang GT on the way, so it was a fun drive. Picture
five nice '68-'73 Novas cruising the strip and you get the idea.
This is where we ate:
I didn't take the digital camera with me to dinner,
the picture was taken Sunday afternoon as we passed by it again.
Anyway, we talked about Novas, the trip to St.
Louis, Novas, tickets, Novas, crashes, Novas, racing, and Novas.
We had a great time. Shawn, Mike, and Kayce were great, and another
of their friends showed up with his '79 Nova just as we were about done
with dinner. We hung out in the parking lot for another hour or so
after dinner and finally called it a night. Craig, his wife Angella
and I cruised Lindburgh back to the motel, chatted a little more, and went
our separate ways.
One side note, Lindburgh Blvd. ends just south
of the motel where we were staying. What it does is if you stay in
the left lane, it veers out to the right and then directs you perpendicularly
to a stop sign at northbound Lindburgh. Take a left and you're back
on the strip, going the other way! Man, it's like it was made especially
for cruising! Gotta love it.
Thus ended the first day
of The 1st Annual Nova List Gathering.
