The Wood

It's four in the morning...I slip out of bed...I know if I wake her....I'll wake up dead!
To paraphrase a Mr. D. Mustain, fortunately I was getting up instead of getting home, either way waking the lady of the house was not an option.

It was the beginning of what would prove to be a long day, but a day we in the neighborhood wait for patiently. The annual decendance of chrome, gasoline and color.

Thirty two feet wide and spanning nearly a mile and a half the Greenwood car show is a event that everyone comes out for. Parks that are normally jammed with sungazers are empty, walking trails and dog parks are devoid of there normal chatter and bussle.

The shops that line the streets open early with breakfast specials, discount cups of coffee for entrants all while the roar of horsepower echoes threw the little neighborhood in the north end of Seattle.

I was up before the sun to help my neighbor enter his sixty one and sixty two Thunderbirds, both restored to near original. The sixty one however having the motivational luxury of a four twenty eight big block with a tri-power.

Polishing off my second cup of coffee just as the windows began to rattle as he brought the big monster to life. We set out just shortly after five a.m.

To fill twenty three blocks of city streets it takes a lot of cars, last I heard mentioned was in excess of seven hundred. So the line was already well under way by the time we arrived.

Always having been a lone wolf, we had no club or group affiliation, so as they taxied us in, the ever nervous jockeying of where to park.That group seems cool, but will there cars detract from mine, what's the sun gonna be like mid afternoon, am I to close to the restrooms.

Finally getting the nod and settling down as you back into a stall, thirty five degrees to the curb so your audience can get the full effect. Time for the quick detailer and another cup of coffee. Followed shortly by taking advantage of all those daily specials.

Carb load and caffeine up, cause not the fun begins. As entrants we are fortunate enough to get to get out and walk it, while chatting up the other owners before the masses arrive. And arrive they do.

It starts small, a couple people swing by the car and ask you a few questions. Then within the hour they have had there breakfast, napped there children and enjoyed there morning, it's time for some street meat lunch and to see all the cars.

Soon your fielding questions like a coach after winning the big game, "Yes! You in the back, what was your question?"

It's the love and Inspiration of all that effort that brings us out, some great pride in the neighborhood and a few family traditions.

So come late June next year, we'll all be back, a little shinier then last year.