2018 Newport Columbus Day Parade

We had a good sized group collect for the Columbus Day Parade on October 8th this year.  We gathered at the Park & Ride at Route 1A and 138 at 8:30.  As luck would have it – Bob Osborne was seen to have a flat tire – a few AAAAOOOGAAAs from the group made him stop to take a look.  John Mennucci had a handy foot pump and got the tire up enough to get over to Jamestown. Al and Sandy Bowder hosted a wonderful “coffee and” at their home on Jamestown. Fun, fellowship and conversation - and Bob got to change the tire and use their compressor to blow up the spare to spec!  The weather was cloudy with occasional drizzle, but the parade went well.  We followed up with a nice lunch at Tickets, a local Bar and Grille. 

John with his handy foot pump

Len Mendonca and Evie O

Al explains something big

The Mendonca truck and the Newport Artillery

The Line-Up

John talking cars to the soldiers

More of the line-up

The restaurant

The diners

2018 Windmill Day in Jamestown

On July 21^st we had a great turnout at the Old Windmill.  This windmill was built in 1787 and in operation until 1896.  It was a great place to park and show off the A’s.  The Jamestown Historical Society invited us to join them as they unfurled the sails on the Historic Windmill and let it run.  The grounds were very nice and afforded a beautiful view of the bay and the Newport Bridge in the distance.  Sea breezes, Jonnycakes, and an old fashioned string band made us feel welcome! 

Nice turn out and lots of interest

Sandy and the Mendoncas

Mendonca's Truck

The line up

Sue and Don

Setting the sails

The string band

The roadster

Our ever-prepared webmaster

Bischoff's delightful car & passengers

Great turnout

2018 LITTLE RHODY CLUB PICNIC

July 15^th found a large group of Little Rhody club members in North Scituate.  Dottie Cece and Angel Capperelli hosted the event – and it truly was a bit like going back in time.  Their large property was prepared with a tent, lots of table and chairs and we were fortunate to dodge the expected rain showers.  People also found shady spots to sit and visit, too.  The food was scrumptious, and Jeff Larrson manned the grill.  We were delighted to see Deb and Jeff Barnes!  We had car games, run by John Mennucci, Dennis Allsop, and Ken Trudel. The prominent winners were Angel, John M, and Sean Fay.  Dennis Allsop provided the prizes for winners. As usual, two of us had car “issues”, but were able to get home with a bit of trickle charging.  A beautiful day!

In the shade

pre meal visiting

checking out the new "books"

Our old friend Jeff, the cook

Ready to eat!

Under the tent

more happy campers

The Moscas enjoying the day

Angel sets off blindfolded

Dottie and Bob

Marie observing the fun

Angel in Dennis' car

The judges confer

PRIZES!

Trickle Charge to the rescue

Al and Dottie

2018 - Memorial Day Parade

Several club members took part in parades this year.  There were three parades – in Exeter, North Kingstown (Wickford), and West Greenwich.  Since this is an election year, politicians were out in force!  The weather was fine, and the crowds exceeded previous years’ celebrations.  We are now looking forward to the summer season.

Charlie and Pat

Lining up in Wickford

Sandy catching up with friends

Bob getting the flags out

Richard's 1929 Speedster

The 2018 Dust Off Tour

Bob Osborne arranged the tour to our destination - the New Bedford Whaling Museum.  Some of the members had never been to see this gem of a museum, though others had visited when they were kids or with their children or grandchildren in the past.  The group of us coming from the western and southern parts of Rhody started off at about 7:30 AM and reached the Jamestown Bridge at about 8:15.  There was some fog around at that time, and it was a nice thing to see it lift and the sunny skies take over as we went over the Hope Bridge on our way to the meet and greet at 10:30 AM at Exit 4 off interstate 195.  A total of seventeen joined up there and we headed over the Braga Bridge and onto 195 going to New Bedford. The Rousseaus were at the tail end of the convoy with a “slow moving” symbolic sign on their car as we traveled about 40 MPH on the highway.  We had special parking arranged by Moe in a lot across the street from the Museum.  Once inside, we went on our own to visit the galleries for about one and a half hours.  Moe & Jan led us through the streets and around New Bedford to a quaint off the beaten path restaurant called “ME & ED’s”. The food was good, our waitress was phenomenal, and once fed, we ambled our way back onto the highways and byways to return home.  The sunshine stayed with us and the mild temperatures assured us that spring had sprung!

The girls at meet and greet

Arriving at the museum

Sean and John Troubleshooting

Dom and Sue

The huge whale

The largest model ship ever

Sean taking the tour of the model

Dennis looking it over

Little known uses of whale oil

Discussing the sights

Taking a short break

Al and Bob watching the girls in the gift shop

Jan enjoying an exhibit

Me & Ed's Restaurant

A good meal ends the tour

 

March 11, 2018 Meeting

Our March meeting was well attended!  On the agenda was the July Picnic to be held at the Cece residence on July 15^th.  Also, we set the date for the Dust Off Tour for April 14^th.  The meet and greet will be at the Exit 4 Park and Ride Lot off route 195 in Somerset.  The refreshments were provided by Marie Cash and Ruth Andre – scrumptious!  Ken Trudel did the program for us – a slide presentation using photos taken by Bill Brum of MARCOM at the Hershey Car Show.  That event is three days and so huge that you would have a hard time getting to see everything available in that time.  Imagine 9,000 vendors!  The members enjoyed identifying years and makes of the cars shown.  Sparky entertained us with his mystical magic light bulb, too! 

 

Ken Trudel doing the program

Sparky's Mystical Magic Light Bulb