As I've always said, the Driftwood parade is probably the
shortest parade we do next to McDade or possibly Manor. However, that
doesn't diminish from what a good time we have.Danny and Madison both
trailered their M37's over to the Albertsons at the "Y" in Oak Hill and were
unloading about the time I pulled into the parking lot driving my M38A1.
Within a few minutes, Herb showed up in his '44 GPW. After a few minutes,
we had a crowd gathered with people coming over asking what kind of vehicles
we had, where we got them etc. Then my dad arrived and the party was almost
complete. About 7:45am, Rory driving his Unimog and Jeff L driving his
M35A2 arrived and now were were ready to make the trek to Driftwood.
Promptly at 8:00am, the six of us headed out with the 'crunchies' as Rory
calls them, leading the pack, followed by the pair of M37's and then the big
trucks picking up the rear. We hopped on 290W for a few miles then hit Camp
Ben McCullough road for the 15 mile or so trip through the hill country.
The drive was uneventful except for the one vehicle that sometime during
the night prior to our passing has failed to negotiate a curve and skidded
into the trees where the car still rested. The temperatures were cool, and
the sun shining.
We arrived at the pre-staging area and immediately were bombarded by
people asking all sorts of questions about the vehicles. After a bit, John
K and his two daughters arrived with John pulling his '45 MB. At 8:45 we
took our assigned spot of #14 and waited. Dan W, a local Driftwood
photographer joined our group dressed in a gliders uniform and a Cushman
scooter that was very nice. A teenager came up to Jeff and Rory and all but
begged for a ride in the parade and Jeff was more than happy to
accommodate. The usual compliment of politicians were there along with a
fair number of other entries. Much more than in years past were present.
About 9:30 the parade started and we drove the whopping 1000 or so yards
where we were instructed to turn into the arts and crafts area and setup a
static display on the new blacktop. Well, the guy who was supposed to
direct us didn't so we followed the rest of the participants and wound up in
a large field trying to navigate the POV crunchies. We all made it safe and
the best part was, we had an egress route.
About a half hour later, we were marshalled out of the the field and
setup camp where we should have been in the first place. There wasn't a lot
of foot traffic for us, but we all hung around and had a good time anyway.
About noon, we loaded up and departed for the Salt Lick in Driftwood. What
a sight to have all our military vehicles parked in their parking lot.
As we all went in, the aroma was overwhelming. We were promptly seated
at a table too small for our group, then very shortly moved to a much larger
table. Drink orders were placed and then food orders and before we knew it,
the food had arrived. What a FEAST! We all chowed down on some of the best
BBQ around central Texas. We all also agreed that next year we could just
meet at the "Y" and drive to the Salt Lick for lunch and just skip the
parade. Naw..... we'll probably do the parade, but the Salt Lick will for
sure be a part of the day.
With our bellies full, we made our way back to the vehicles which were
just as we left them. The good-byes were said and we all departed for our
home bases.