Midlife by Farmlight: Old Cars

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Cedarloo Time Warp

After leaving Story City on Saturday, and motoring with four-lane ease back north on I-35, then east on 20, and reaching Cedar Falls, I did my wifely, motherly duty of shopping for groceries to feed the hungry menfolk back at the farm. Normally, after shopping in Cedar Falls, I use the quickest get-out-of-town route, which means heading north on 218........but, this time, for some reason, I instead turned east on University Avenue, just for some different scenery. And, I did find that! Before long, I felt as if I'd driven into a time warp.........as if our old high school parking lot had suddenly come to life. I was driving along surrounded by 1960's & '70's style cars........some pretty well souped up and jacked up in the back........Monte Carlos, Chevelles, Novas, Camaros.........and many others that I don't recall the model names of. (Our high school's third-floor library, which served as study hall, looked out over the parking lot, and we'd often stand at the open windows, chatting and gazing at all the cars. There was a beautiful blue Chevy Impala which I would have dearly loved to take a ride in, but I didn't know the owner well enough. He's our mailman, now.......maybe someday I'll ask him whatever became of that car. It was a beauty! The car I drove was a long, light-blue 1964 Oldsmobile Dynamic88........455 hp, dual exhaust........guys drooled over it, but to me it was just a dumb old tank, because it was our former family car, handed down to me to drive to school! I wish now that I still had it!!)

Evidently, this was a Labor Day Weekend vintage car cruise on University Avenue in Cedarloo (the six-lane byway lined with restaurants and stores, between Waterloo and Cedar Falls), where generations of teenaged drivers have cruised for decades. Here and there were groups of waving onlookers in lawn chairs. Soon, even older cars came into view. I tried to blindly snap a few photos while stopped for red lights.

The atmosphere was carefree and happy! Car windows were down.......elbows hanging out........people smiling and laughing, waving and shouting greetings between cars and pickups.

Though my vehicle didn't fit in at all, I was tickled to be witnessing this event, even for a short time! Like I said, everyone looked so happy.........and even the older people looked youthful, and probably felt that way, too!

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Several years ago, I managed to inadvertantly get caught up in another cruise.......this one in Pella, Iowa, where my daughter was attending Central College. I had driven there to visit her one Sunday, and upon leaving the campus area had somehow ended up in a traffic jam of cruising teenagers around the town square. I found out LATER that that is a Sunday evening tradition in Pella........teenagers from the area congregate to cruise round and round the scenic town square. I would imagine this occurs AFTER the Sunday evening Youth Group meetings dismiss at the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Reformed Churches (as in Dutch Reformed). Pella is a very pretty town, with Dutch architecture everywhere, and many, many churches. But, be that as it may........I felt totally stupid in my big van, caught in the middle lane of a teenagers' traffic jam. I ended up being swept around the town square several times with the crowd of teen-filled cars, until finally someone noticed my plight and kindly allowed me to escape! Sheesh.

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One last thing........simply because of a recent post about the "Kick A** Blogger"award: I was fueling up my vehicle at The Mill on Saturday and noticed this metal plaque on the pillar near the gas pump.......

Look closely at it........see the name of the town? And, it looks centered, like it was intended to be printed that way! Maybe its a little joke the company likes to pull........their address is actually Cassville, Missouri!