Despite the Rain, Car Care Safety Clinic Was a Huge Success.

It was a dark and stormy night. I have no intention of swiping the opening line from the aspiring novelist, Peanuts’ character Snoopy, (who used the often-parodied line from a novel written in 1830), but it sure fits this event. At 3:00 a.m. on the morning of the Car Care Safety Clinic for Seniors, I was awakened by a loud crash of thunder, several more lightning flashes followed by even louder thunder. Getting out of bed, I looked outside. A torrential rain was pouring down. My street was flooded, no doubt because in my neighborhood, residents had deposited fallen leaves in the street ahead of the next week’s leaf pickup. The river of water washed the leaves down the street, clogging the storm drains. “It might be a bad day for the Car Care Safety Clinic,” I thought as I went back to bed.

Bill Kalafut starting the inspection of an arriving senior.

Scott Boyer & Chuck McCallum checking tires.

Chuck McCallum, Scott Boyer, & Dean Hickenlooper

At 5:00 a.m., my clock radio was signaling me to get up. Instinctively, I reached for the snooze button to buy another 10 minutes of sleep. Just as my finger reached the radio, the room lit up brighter than any light I had ever experienced and simultaneously, a very loud thunder shook the house. “Okay, I’m up,” I muttered, “I get the message, but I don’t think many seniors are going to show up today.”

In my garage, I realized that the MG’s tonneau cover would not be sufficient, so I had to raise the top. The short commute to the event site was eventful, riding the high crest of Ogden Avenue’s four lanes plus a center lane, trying to avoid deep puddles. Luckily, at 6:00 on that Saturday morning in a pouring rain, there were very few cars in sight.

I opened the township and started the first of many pots of coffee that would be brewed for the event. Lo and behold, the first of the volunteers arrived, and even the first two cars to be inspected arrived early. The MG guys arrived: Scott Boyer, Dean Hickenlooper, Bill Kalafut, Chuck McCallum, and Tim Schafer. Our volunteer faculty-mechanic from Universal Technical Institute (UTI) was there, as always. TwoMidwest Miata Clu members and a couple of seniors who like to help with the vehicle inspections rounded out the vehicle inspection team.

We even had a surprise visit from Barney Gaylord and his well-traveled MGA. Barney was one of the first MG club members to work the event years ago, before he began his nomadic adventures. (Was his appearance my prize for kissing the Blarney Stone in Ireland a week earlier?)

(Continued on page 9)