June 19, 2004

Day 9 of 16 (Page 1 of 3)

 

This morning was all about the car show. I was up early and completed uploading all my full size pictures for the first half of our trip. I then removed everything from Angelisa and drove her over to the Convention Center. I wiped her down with my California Duster and emptied everything out then locked her up.  The serious show people were all there setting up their displays, my goal was just to have her as clean as one can get after 3500 miles and in a nice spot at the show. I got a second row center spot in the shade. I then walked the block back to the hotel and worked on my website until the show started.

 

The day was really nice, high 80s, party clouded, no rain. Once we got to the show, I set up Katie's pictures in the dash and gave Lisa Katie's plaque from R2Kv1 to display in the R2K Museum for the day. We walked around and looked at cars, talked to old friends from years past, meet some new friends and looked at all the neat stuff at the vendor's areas. I bought a few antenna toppers, Fog Light grills and a T-shirt.

 

David Allen gave me Herbie the Love Bug collectable Video Disc signed by Dean Jones for my Herbie past in giving away so many Herbies over the years including the 6 large Herbies given away at R2Kv1. I had Mr. Jones personalize the autograph and then I gave him the Herbie that has been riding on Angelisa's back shelf for the last 5 years. He also signed my R2K Tshirt along with Heather and Naomi's T-shirts. After the autographs, we spoke to Mrs. Jones for about 10 minutes about Disney, where we lived, our Herbie connection. They both were really nice people and seem to really enjoy their time at the show.

 

We won a door prize of a yellow New Beetle model and Naomi took almost 400 pictures during the day. The only bad part was my right headlight went out that was just replaced by VW a few months ago and I could not get the assembly out :(

 

The awards ceremony started at 2 pm and to my surprise I won 2nd place in 1999 Custom. I guess none of the really great custom jobs were 1999 models otherwise I would never had had a chance. It was Angelisa's second trophy. Now the real problem is trying to get everything home in the car.

 

After the show, there was the parade through downtown. They blocked off all the streets, allot of locals lined the street, Dean Jones was grand marshal in the lead car. We bought about 10 pounds of candy and rubber toys to throw to the kids. It was a fun event, the kids loved it, Candy was flying everywhere. I hit Naomi a few times has she was standing up through the sunroof taking pictures and I was throwing candy over the roof with a hook shot.

 

After the parade, we headed to the Sunken Gardens to visit Katie's bench. It is the first time I have visited since the bench and plaque were placed in the garden. It was extremely emotional to me. It was the first time all weekend it hit me so hard.  The first R2K was all about Katie and with everyone constantly coming up to me and offering their condolences, I was an emotional wreck. This weekend was all about the show and the family doing something together we love. Katie was still there but she didn't dominate the show like last time. I plan to go back in the morning and clean the plaque, I just wish there were some flowers around the bench. The park is a little run down since 2000.

 

I went back to the hotel for a short nap before the Alien Costume party/Picnic at the zoo. We went as a Hawaiian Cone Head family. We wondered through the zoo and then found the party area. This was allot different that the planned activities of R2Kv1, but it was good for us with Heather. The food was good and Heather won 2nd place for Kid's Alien Costume. She was really happy about winning even though I had to push her up there to participate :)

 

We then headed to Dairy Queen, one of the many after-party events. Others included drag racing, pool party, local bars and restaurants.  Dairy Queen was offering a "Herbie Goes Bananas Split" for $2. Since we had just ate, we got one and split it between us. We had planed to then go to the pool party but it was late for Heather and she was tired, so we called it a night and went back to the room to back for an early departure in the morning.

 

Today was a great day, great because of the people of R2K. The events were all as good as advertised or better. David and his support staff did another wonderful job. I only wish it wasn't so far away and we could attend more than every 4 or 5 years.  I enjoyed the cars, parade, picnic and ice cream.