Hi everyone:  Just returned from a wonderful weekend in Savannah, where we joined Brian Redman and his Targa 66 Club for three fun filled days. The weather there was picture perfect clear, highs in the mid 70's with zero humidity. And, all sorts of cool cars were already stretched out along the grass, parked next to their varying sizes of set-up crews and transporters, when Jeffrey and I arrived Friday, just in time for the Southern theme luncheon. James Redman, his wife Dawn, and their Brittany Spaniel "Dolly", greeted us warmly. It was our first introduction to Dawn, and she couldn't have been lovelier. We were very happy to see James married so well. We met up with Brian shortly thereafter, and, who would be standing next to him but Heinz, the very colorful Freudian sounding, astrology espousing, Chinese "Monkey" sign person, from The Can-Am reunion! I'll tell you, by the end of the weekend, we had become good buddies. He is an absolute, one-of-a-kind delight to know, and he, Brian, Jeffrey and I shared a surprisingly delicious Thai/Vietnamese dinner on an impromptu hike, searching for local vibes that night. Well, the local vibes we were looking for had a thirty minute wait line, so being that we were already cocktail-ed, tired and hungry, we ventured in to new territory. And, it turned out great. In case you were wondering where Marion was in all of this, unfortunately she didn't come on the trip. We sure did miss her company!

 

Back at the Inn, The Mulberry Inn, where most everyone stayed that didn't stay in their Motor Coaches at the track, we gathered at the bar again with some of the "Diverse" group members who were still up and about. Jeffrey and I cut our fun a bit short though, in order to catch up on lost sleep. But, the Inn itself is tres atmospheric, and you  don't  really want to miss too much by sleeping. Ditto for the track.

 

Hey! I forgot to put in that after luncheon Friday, Brian took me, Jeffrey and another passenger racing around the track in a new four door Bentley. If that wasn't a hoot, I don't know what is! He had that thing going 154 MPH (According to the radar gun) down the straight and into the first turn. And, if you know, Brian isn't too keen on braking much, so there was a lot of tire squealing around the corners. What a blast, and a funny sight, when I watched him go later with others.

 

Meanwhile Saturday was shaping up nicely, and Jeffrey and I met more new people including David Hobbs, who is a great "Mate" of Brian's, and who flew in from Milwaukee specially to be the guest of honor/speaker at that night's dinner gathering. David told me he knew Doug very well, and Peter less so, which was interesting to me. And, so I found out new neat stuff about both brothers that I hadn't heard before. But about that night's dinner, eighty were in attendance, and it was set-up outside in the Inn's enclosed rear courtyard. Very romantic setting it was, amid lush trees and flowers, lit by tiny lights and lanterns. My table companions were of the male species only, and were a good bunch to chat with. Who I can remember is: Lee Hollman who I met this past August in Detroit, when we inducted Hollman-Moody in to The MSHF and who brought a tricked out 427 Ford Fairlane,  Jeff Mennen who I met years ago at a Targa 66 event in West Palm Beach, Caesar someone, a pal of Lee's and Jim's, a Brit with a cool Ferrari, and Mister Jeffrey, who brought moi. After the meal was eaten, David got up at the podium and gave us a fun and round about talk.  It was maybe getting  a tad too rounded and abouted, so Brian joined in to carry it along, creating a routine similar to Martin and Lewis. Then there was a give-away session, and believe it or not, I had one of a few winning tickets for a New England cookbook. Then there was a tongue twisting contest that a representative from each table had to get up and do at the microphone. Out table wanted Jim to do it, but he was reluctant. So, silly moi, actually pinched his bottom in order to get him up and going. Hahaha. He gave it a good try, but didn't win the six live Maine lobsters. See, the Maine motif had to do with the Barnstorming Maine Road Tour with Brian, come next June. It sounds like an absolute blast, and you should look it up by going to: www.BarnstormingMaine.com. After the dinner was over, some of us gathered in the bar until getting the boot at midnight. So, we adjourned our fun to the main Lobby lounge until slurring and better judgement kicked us up to bed.  I don't want to mentions names or anything, but a certain person with the initials DH was never seen at the track the following day. 

 

Sunday was gorgeous out, and by mistake I actually got sunburned standing at the start/finish line for hours. But, my real highlite was when Brian took me in my Porsche out on the track to do hot laps. We even challenged a Porsche race car, by slowing our speed and waiting for him to catchup. It was so much fun because his car was so much lighter than mine, but Brian being the far better driver, blew on his rear end, before blowing his doors in. And, as I mentioned before, Brian's not keen on braking too much, so we took the corners very faaast.  I imagined that any moment we might be catapulted in to the woods, by the sound of the tire squeal, and the look of the trees blurring by, but of course and thank God, Brian's a driving legend. And, we each hooted in delight turning in pit road. Yippee!!!

 

If you want to learn more about Targa 66 go to www.gorace.com. I think some of you reading this would just love bringing your cars, and racing your little hearts out while enjoying the company of Brian, Marion, James, Dawn, Dolly, and the gang!

 

xoxox,