[s-cars] Fested n Rested

[bill mahoney]

In the course of life, what's three daze out of the house?
In a sick sort of way, driving der S avant pig to and fro is half the fun.
I got back home Aokay still in a fog at 11pm Sunday night.
I had arrived in holy Toledo Thursday night about 2am after a short
welcome warning from the Indiana State welcome wagon patrol.  "So this
is a '95 Audi?"
I rendezvoused with Keith (derRingking) Maddock Friday morning and
after an awesome dinner with the Syracuse bikers at the Dinosaur BBQ,
we drove on into the darkness, crossed over the Hudson River and the
fog and rain descended upon us.
Just as the road ahead looked like "the end to the world," who should
appear but Monsieur "La Fin Du Monde" himself; Vincent from Montreal.
What are the odds of that huh?
Driving through the dark Connecticut woodlands proved once again that
By's place is difficult to find and impossible on the first try.
Finally, like Brigadoon rising out of the mist, there it is again;
Sfest City fully populated with all the players just as we had left
them last year.  Apparently Paul and the gang never leave?  Every year
there are improvements and this 5th one was no exception.  More canopy
cover, huge grill, a modern shower, more beer, more food, more
schwagg.  Upscale baby!  Them organizers are awesome!  Thanks men!
A torrent of rain and beer forced an early retirement Friday and it
continued through the night.  Amazingly it stopped just before the
show began on Saturday morning.
So many S cars this year... at least 60+ I would say.  I tried
counting but gave up at 35 IIRC, but I had only gone a third of the
way around.  A lot of Avants and after having the pleasure of watching
Keith's on the road, IME they look great!  The fender flares and wrap
around rear glass give it a unique look and great presence on the road
me thinks.  It's a great sleeper and great to sleep in too.
Saturdaze weather cooperated perfectly with 70 some odd degrees F and
overcast skies so it was not too hot and not too cold.  Somehow,
someway, the dark clouds circled all day long and all but one of us
stayed dry;)  I had been coerced into one little sip of that ethanol
100 goin around and must say the brain lost a few cylinders for a few
minutes on that.. and that was just a sip.
After all is said and done the overriding impression of the attending
S cars, to me, is that they are DRIVEN!  Bunch of go fast boostOholics
we are.
Sunday morning we woke up and knew it was time to leave because all
the beer was gone.  Unbelievable... or, maybe not.
My new to me nav system decided the southern route was the way back to
Illinois, so after a very scenic, drive through the surrounding CT
country roads, Keith and I jumped on I84 down through PA.  The rain
and mist started in again as BrigadoonFest disappeared in our mirrors.
 And; rain it did for the whole length of PA.  Not just rain mind you
but a four hour downpour like I have never seen.  I thought it was
letting up a few times only to see it rain even harder over the next
hill.  The sea of green tree tops shrouded in fog and rain was awesome
looking and driving though the storm proved both fun and scary.  This
was a tribute to quattro and great wet traction of F1 tires (even
though they are half worn.)  There were a couple of cars being pulled
out of ditches, some folk's driving with their flashers on and others
off the side of the road apparently ready to wait three hours for the
storm to pass.  Ringking Maddock was no doubt very happy not to be
driving the Miata this year;)
He pealed off to the south in Ohio to go visit some friends while I
soldiered on to Chgo.  One last fill up of Sunoco 94 for $3.09
(thankyouverymuch) just outside holy Toledo was enough to get me home;
 good thing too cuz all my road Cheetos were gone.
I cannot thank enough the guys who do the heavy lifting for this
event:  By's for providing again this magical location, Posto, Bob R,
Jim P, Steve and Bob S.  And thanks to CEO Paul K for makin' it happen
for us to enjoy.
It sure seemed like one long 72 hour day of fun.  Rain all around
Granville Road before, during and after the event, but not a drop on
Saturday afternoon, proves that the Audi gods "sometimes" do smile
upon us.
Bill~Rainman~M