March 25/26, 2023 - TRAACA/HVPR
Joint Spring Tour - Our 2023 Spring Tour was the first
overnight activity in years, and proved to be far more popular than
expected. The opportunity to 'Get Lost with Bill and Ken' was so enticing
that the hotel sold out in three days! (In truth, the actual
directions were prepared by Robyn Burnham, Bill Wilcox's far better
half, so maybe we should call the tour a 'Ride with Robyn.' In any
case, we started off in the Hampton Lowe's parking lot on Saturday
morning. The lineup was quite impressive. Dave and Faye Curl
brought their 1930 Model A Ford, Chris and Fara Harris-Evans
drove their 1941 Packard 160, James Stansbury had his 1948 Chrysler
Windsor, Bob Stein was driving his 1951 Studebaker Land Cruiser, Tour
Leader Ken and Barbara Talley had two younger generations riding with
them in their 1955 Buick Century, Tour Leader Bill Wilcox and Robyn
Burnham were in their 1956 Chrysler Imperial, Alfonse and Patricia Ludovici drove their 1956 DeSoto FireFlight, Keith Colonna had his 1956
Lincoln Mark II, Bob and Dot Parrish were driving their 1958 Chevrolet
Impala, John and Lynn Heimerl were in their 1963 Supercharged Studebaker
Avanti, Jim and Becky Woodall had their 1966 Mercury Caliente, Skip
Patnode drove his 1967 Alfa Romeo Duetto, Bill and Linda Treadwell were in
their 1969 Chevrolet Camaro, and Mickey and Toni McChesney drove their
1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88. And those were just the folks in old
cars! We also had Dan and Chris Ciccone, Richard and Sandy Hall,
Bob and Linda Pellerin, and Harry and Tammy Park in modern
iron. The first stop of the tour was the Gloucester Court Circle, a
historic site with one of the oldest Courthouses in the country still in
use. The site includes a debtor's prison, jail, and a 'fireproof'
Clerk of Court's building. Then it was off to lunch at Southwind
Pizza, where they not only served incredible meals of all sorts, but
nearly put our club treasurer in a food coma with a banana split that
looked like it should feed a family of four. Following lunch, we
went to the Deltaville Maritime Museum, actually a large complex with
walking paths, internal and external displays, and even full-sized
restored vessels such as the skipjack Virginia and a replica of the shallop used by Captain John Smith and his men to map the Chesapeake
Bay. Then it was time to check into the Dockside Inn, a hotel that
was pretty much bought out by the old car folks. We had a couple
of hours to rest up before dinner at The Galley restaurant, which stayed
open late to accommodate our large (and possibly unruly) crowd. Sunday morning
started with a drive to the home of TRAACA members Sam Kern and Judy
Harding in Hudgins, VA for coffee, juice, water, donuts, and breakfast
sandwiches. Their place is quite unusual - a huge workshop/garage
facility with an immaculate and stylish 1700-square-foot living area in
the front. From there, tour participants walked just two-tenths of
a mile to the Gwynn's Island Museum, a surprisingly impressive facility
that was created, built, and is operated by private funds. The
museum host even had his 1930 Model A Ford roadster parked outside.
There were two more stops in the tour, both on the way back home.
Part of the group veered off for a quick look at the Gloucester
Marketplace antique mall, rejoining the rest for the final activity, a
tour of the Abingdon Episcopal Church, established in 1650. It was
actually saved from being burned along with other churches by Union
forces in the Civil War when the unit commander decided to use the
building as a stable instead of destroying it. We all went home on
our own after a very pleasant weekend. Many thanks to Bill, Ken,
and Robyn for putting together a memorable and thoroughly enjoyable
tour! (Photos by Marty Sugermeyer and Bob Stein) |