My Waterfest Story: the rest if the weekend, LONG

[roccit_53 at scirocco.cs.uoguelph.ca (C Boyko)]

The usual disclaimer: delete if you like...

Saturday:

This is the relaxed day for us, so after eating breakfast, a bit of
shopping, and washing cars, we headed for Hotel one. I was still thinking
about the last thing I?d seen the night before, a nice Rabbit with a
Callaway build under the hood. We arrived at Hotel one and found a quiet
spot well away from the defiled asphalt, expecting there would be more of
the same later that evening. I was sad to have ?the twin? pointed out
to me, as it wasn?t Anson?s ?coat of many colours? car, but
something much shinier and more handsome. Turns out he treated her to a
respray, she sure deserves it. The usual scenes were unfolding, a nice
Cabby high in the air with its tranny on the ground, various clusters of
people enjoying cold beverages, folks arriving in from the swap meet/show
with newfound treasures, that sort of thing. We spent the afternoon talking
VWs with some East Coasters. 

The lot continued to fill, and Roccs arrived until there were a good number
of them, mainly MkIIs, all different, all strangely familiar. A pickup
truck went bolting down the road nearby and smashed into a tree, then the
local authorities followed, putting them within earshot of the burnouts
which were commencing at about the same time. A Scion  produced enough
smoke and noise to get the whole lot locked down, they sent about 20
cruisers full of cops, all with miserable attitudes, to clear us out of
there. The crowd was docile and compliant, but the attitude of the cops was
very ?in your face?. 

We headed up to the Mad Bastard?s room, where his re-enactments of
previous Waterfests proved entertaining,  he was hopped up on caffeine.
Next destination was the ?Presidential Suite? where about 30 dubbers
were discussing cars, in a peaceful and orderly manner. Someone knocked a
beer bottle off the balcony, and the riot squad arrived, and cleared the
room. Again, it was major overkill and bigtime attitude which was not
called for IMHO. But understandable. A small group of us moved to Anson?s
room next door, and we sat chatting in subdued lighting. The cops came in
and told us to behave, and about an hour later they stormed in again,
skinning Anson?s knuckles with the door on the way through. I was on the
balcony with MkI Mark, and was asked ?What are you doing out here?. I
replied that we were talking about why my car was missing, well, that took
some explaining, the cop assumed stolen, I meant misfiring. Adam and the GF
were stupidly drunk by this point,  so I headed past the armed guards (more
cops) in the lobby, into the silent parking lot, and back to our motel with
them in tow. The only dangerous drivers I saw all night were cops. Fun was
not had by all.

Sunday: We awoke to weather conditions known in local drag racing circles
as ?blue skies and sunny? (rain), and we arrived at Englishtown around
noon. We?d decided to pack everything back into the two cars and check
out of the hotel so we could deal with the Jetta we?d abandoned early the
next morning. After having the rainchecks I?d kept in my purse since last
year refused, we unearthed the tools/jack/slicks/helmet etc, we mounted up
the slicks and hubby made one (slow) pass in the 16V. I?d decided not to
race, and was headed off to see the show after seeing that he was okay. 

I had a really bad feeling that he was going to break the car, and I
didn?t get 60' away before someone asked me,?Is that your Scirocco that
broke out there??  I?m afraid the first word out of my mouth was
unladylike. I found out that it had broken on the line after a puff of
smoke, and had been towed. I consoled myself in the fact that racing had
resumed quickly, meaning no fluids were spilled, a good sign. Turned out he
overextended the Ebrake past the last stop and it wouldn?t let go. I got
that fixed quickly, (I was in a really good mood by then...) 

Then the sky opened. Ladies and gentlemen, it?s Waterfest. Off I went, to
find dot orgers standing in the rain by Sciroccos. They finally called off
the race after lightning struck near the park, so we have a raincheck for
the raincheck for next year. Good deals were to be had in many of the
booths as the vendors scurried to get out of there. Denny was left to sort
out the tires, and I tried to load our wet belongings into the two cars.
Yeah, it was great. 

45 minutes after we started to leave the park, we reached the gate,
reclaimed our beverages from the ?beer impound? and since there was a
plane crash to the left, and a car wreck/ downed tree to the right, we went
straight ahead onto a horrible mud road. I felt sorry for the show car
crowd, this road was nasty, full of craters and soaked. About 15 minutes
towards our destination for the night (in the town of Jamesburg), I felt an
oh so familiar vibration. ?Her silverness? was at it again, sleezy
thing. She just can?t keep her bolts on. Seems that hubby thinks the
proper spec for the lug bolts is ?finger tight, less 1/4 turn?. I was
not real impressed, again unloading the jack, and locating tools in the
driving rain. (you can put the jack in a stream of running water and still
use it, in case you ever wondered.) Then we noticed the emergency vehicles.
No rush to get the bolts tight, the road ahead was flooded. (Oddly, when
torqued to spec, the bolts stay on...) We waited around till we found out
the road would stay closed until a structural engineer verified that the
bridge was safe. 

Three hours after we left the track?s gate, we were driving past Hotel
#2. In the driving rain. We reached our hotel at 12:30am, and got the Jetta
rolling in short order the next morning, a simple wiring bypass on the pump
solenoid was all that was needed. The rest of the trip was uneventful, 
except for the sighting of a nice Mars red 84 with a 16V kit, and both
Wolfsburg and 16V trim bits (in Homer NY, anyone on the list?). And a nice
stint with a GTI on the thruway. Souvenirs include an awesome zero
clearance spring clamp tool, a New Beetle Bentley, and a variety of parts.
And a free T shirt from VWoA. Yeah, they gave something away!!! Pictures
all include a breakdown, rain, or an emergency vehicle of some sort.  Some
even have VWs in them. 
Waterfest has come and gone, and oddly, I?d rate this one as ?at
expectation?. I never see the show, or relax, but it is sure an
adventure.

Cathy