CAR SHOWS, WINE, AND AUTOMOTIVE CELEBs (maybe)

My hubby is a car guy.

For some of you, I could stop right there. You’d understand. Sigh. Car guys rarely pass up a chance to attend a car show, and as the wife of a car guy, I’ve been to a gazillion of them.

The weekend before last we attended the Ironstone Concours d’Elegance in Murphy’s, California. This one is a favorite of Paul’s, and I like it because they have wine.

Last year we BAKED! This year was jeans and flannel! The cars were spectacular and plentiful. Notice Paul admiring a Cadillac that will never occupy a stall in our garage. 😉

The owner of a rare AMX came from Vancouver, Canada. He was very knowledgeable and I learned more than I ever wanted to know about this brand.

A 1968 pink AMX given to the Playboy Playmate of the Year was there—along with the former herself, Playmate Angela Dorian.

We also bumped into our daughter who was attending for the first time. Did I mention Ironstone is a winery? It’s a winery. The grounds are gorgeous and include a lake where, for a price, you can ride in an amphibious car. I’ve yet to have enough wine to make this sound attractive.

But a funny thing happened at the Vintage Car Race. I was standing at the makeshift fence waiting for the race to start and I happened to notice that the man to my right bore a striking resemblance to Wayne Carini, the host of the MotorTrend TV show called Chasing Cars. I turned to my hubby who was standing on my left and whispered, “Doesn’t that guy look like—” And, before I could finish my question, the woman behind Paul said, “Yes. He does.”

Just like that I’d found my tribe: Wives of Car Guys.

We all agreed the man did look just like Wayne, but then the race started and we were too distracted to ask, so, I guess, we’ll never know. 😉

I’ll spare you the video of the race—cars of that vintage weren’t all that fast (yawn), but here is a few seconds of engine noise. The drivers in period costume were awfully cute. And for the right price, you could suit up for a ride. I didn’t. Again, not enough wine. 😉

Q&A

My Q&A question this week is about hobbies: Do you have a hobby (besides reading, which I assume is a given)? Y or N. If yes, I’d love to hear about it. Getting to know you better is the best part of this newsletter adventure for me.

(Two winners will be chosen by random drawing to receive either a $5 Starbucks gift card or a $5 Amazon gift card. Please reply the usual ways: email or on my DebraSalonenAuthor Facebook page.)

Last week’s Q&A was: Are you a fan of Pumpkin Spice? Yes or No?

Well, the “NO’s” have it by a small margin. In the interest of full disclosure, I still haven’t tried a pumpkin-spice favored coffee, but I did buy some pumpkin-spice flavored coffee CAKE. Not bad, but nothing to write home about. 😉

My two randomly selected winners this week are:

Linda Farabaugh – YES
and
Brenda Hahn – NO

(Linda and Brenda congrats. Please email me your pick of either a $5 Starbucks or a $5 Amazon gift card.)

Drought? BEFORE AND AFTER

On our way to Murphys, we pass by a pullout above the Stanislaus River which we photographed on a 2015 trip to the car show. That happened to be a drought year. Wow, right?! We much prefer the current water level.

Happy October, my friends.

Deb

Next week… our last goodbyes at San Simeon, a plethora of scarecrows, and one gorgeous dragon!