I'm doing it: I dropped my registration form in the mail today, my airline ticket is bought, and this year, for the first time ever, I'm going to the National Crosley Auto Club Meet in Wauseon, Ohio.
The National Meet (called 'the Nats') have been held since 1971 if I remember right, and I think it's been in the tiny town of Wauseon almost from the beginning. It's a three-day affair in early July, with a hundred or so Crosleys roaming the town and various Crosley-nerd-out activities filling the time. Each year I wait expectantly for Crosley Club webmaster Jim Bollman to post pictures from the Nats, and each year I lose about three hours just going through the page after page of pics the day he posts them.
I'm a little shocked that it's taken me 14 years to finally do it. I've been planning to go since I first started thinking about Crosleys back in 1997. For the longest time I put it off because I always thought, 'next year I'll drive the Crosley to Ohio.' It was always 'next year.' This year I finally decided to stop waiting for next year.
I'm not sure what kicked me in the pants this time around, but part of it is having some old friends pass on and wishing I'd spent more time with them. It's not like I
really know the Crosley folks that I've been phoning, yahoo-grouping and emailing over the past 14 years, but then again, I sorta do. Even though I've never been within a hundred miles of Dave Edwards, Butch and Fonda of Service Motors, Chuck Koehler, Barry Seel, Peter Berard, Jim Friday (and the list could keep going)... I talk or email with some of them more often than I do many members of my own family. They're kindred spirits, even if they are a timezone or two away.
The other part is that I really love the folks in the
Crosley Club. I'm not a 'joiner' - the Crosley Club is one of the only 'official' groups I've ever belonged to in my life, and, at some point, I can't expect
everyone else in the club to make the trip to Wauseon, put on a great meet and then post hundreds of pictures that I can look at and appreciate. Even if I can't bring a car (this time) I can bring me, and that's something.
I'm a little bummed that Liv can't go with me, but on the other hand, I don't know that I want to put her through that kind of Crosley-overload until I've been though it once myself. The other good part is that I can save a little cash by just bringing a sleeping bag and camping out - wives always want to get all fancy, like with hotel rooms and such.
So that's it- I'm going. From now til July 7, I'm just killing time.
All photos from the Crosley Auto Club Website
