SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Thursday's
event will be a day-long cruise with a first stop at club member Benny Buckner's private junkyard & restoration facility. Benny has about 200 cars waiting for a restorer's touch. Most of them are Mopars and many are Forward Look cars. Contact Benny ahead of time if you have specific parts needs. The club host's C300 is at Benny's, along with an early 50's Imperial limo, a '42 Windsor coupe, a '49 Dodge Wayfarer 3-seat coupe, multiple '60's convertibles, a '59 Dodge swept side pickup, a supercharged Studebaker, Benny's 300G, etc. But the one car you will not want to miss is Benny's red '57 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer convertible with D500 hemi option. He spent 20 years collecting parts for this car, and should have it complete by August.
After lunch Thursday we'll drive up to the New River Gorge Bridge. This bridge is the longest single-arch bridge in the world and the second-highest bridge in North America. At 1,000 feet above the river, it would tower over the Statue of Liberty! The meet host will take you down the old winding road into the Gorge to cross the previous bridge at the New River below. We'll pass the massive bridge abutments along the way, view daring whitewater rafters & kayakers on the river, and take plenty of pictures along the way.
On the way back to the hotel, we'll wind along several more curvy scenic back roads. One will take us back down to the New River at Hinton, WV, where we'll dine in style at a Dairy Queen whose massive windows command a mesmerizing view of the rushing river surface near the massive Bluestone Dam.
Please note that this day-long tour is roughly 200 miles long. Anybody who "does it all" won't regret a single inch. This is what our cars were made for! But if that sounds a little daunting, you could skip out on part of the drive, and/or take the fast way (4-lane all the way) home. Ask the meet host for special instructions along that line if you need them.
Friday
morning club members will conduct business at the club meeting. Afterward, Gil Cunningham will supervise the concours judging. On Friday afternoon we'll picnic at a private campground on a quiet cove on Claytor Lake, which is a 26-mile-long dammed-up section of the New River. Afternoon activities will feature boat rides and/or skiing & tubing with a 1974 Correct Craft Southwind ski boat motivated by 318 cubic inches of ported & polished reverse-rotation roller cam glory. Local eatery Country Cooking will cater our lake-side picnic that'll feature macaroni & cheese worth a month of preparatory starvation. Really. Supper is $20/person & includes access to the campground, fuel for the boats, & all the food you can eat.
One of the local gems of nature is The Cascades, a 62-foot waterfall an easy drive (7-8 miles) from the hotel. The falls are a 2-mile hike from the parking lot & feature a large, deep pool at the bottom perfect for swimming on hot summer days. The hiking trail winds along the mountain stream with one wild, beautiful setting after another. It's a perfect 3 or 4-hour outing for energetic individuals with a taste for the outdoors and families with children. Friday morning before the picnic would be an ideal time to explore that attraction.
We're close enough to the Floyd Country Store for any bluegrass aficionados to get there for the Friday night jamboree. It's legendary, authentically "local", and a must-do for real bluegrass fans. I'm not including it as an official meet "event", but I'll happily point any interested parties in the right direction on Friday evening.
Saturday
we'll join with the Roanoke Valley Mopar Club for a car show at the Roanoke Civic Center. Local club members are incredibly excited about having so many Letter Cars at our meet. After the awards ceremony wraps up mid-afternoon, we'll drive up Mill Mountain to see why Roanoke is nicknamed the "Star City of the South". (Might have something to do with the gigantic neon star perched on the mountain.) We'll enjoy the view of the whole valley at the star overlook before we mount up again to return to the hotel for the evening banquet. The banquet is $40/person.
Sunday is farewell until our next meet in Massachusetts. See you there!
