Sunday June 17th, 2012 – Kenosha, WI
I took a nice relaxing day off today to hang out with friends and enjoy life. Other than trying to help as many people as possible, that’s about all that’s even close to being important. If life is not fun, why live at all? That’s a waste of breath in my opinion. Find what fun is, and do that - a lot.
Sources of fun are different for everyone, and I find mine changing as I get older. Today was a prime example. I went to a car show in Kenosha, WI with my friend Mark Gumbinger. He loves old cars just like I do, and found out that our mutual friend Lou Rugani from WLIP had a car on display at the show. It’s a 1938 Hupmobile, which I’ve heard about a lot but never got to see it.
Today was my lucky day. The weather was as good as it gets, and Mark and I drove over to the Moose Lodge on the north side of town to check out the row of tin. There were some outstanding specimens of all kinds of car genres from the muscle variety to AMC to early models like Lou’s.
I loved trolling the aisle and just soaking up the beauty of all those pieces of mobile art. I used to want to own a fleet of show cars like Jay Leno or Jerry Seinfeld, but now that couldn’t interest me any less. I was fine with just the looking, and telling the owners how much I liked their baby.
If there’s one surefire way to make new friends, that’s it. Go to a car show and tell an owner of one of the cars on display how much you admire it, and you won’t be able to shut them up. Ask a well placed thought out question and you just may receive a dinner invite for next Thanksgiving.
I happen to be interested in old cars, so I don’t have to fake it. I can usually find some kind of angle to bond with owners whether it be engine size or paint color. I talked to dozens of owners today, and I made it a point to try and make each one beam with pride of ownership. It worked.
After the show, Lou took a bunch of us for a ride in his Hupmobile, and that was fun to watch everyone else watch him as he toured through downtown Kenosha. I thought I’d seen just about all I could see of the town, but he took us places I’d never been to and everyone had a great time.
Again, I didn’t have to be the center of attention or own any of the cars. Seeing Lou get a kick out of people enjoying his pride and joy was enough for me. We stopped and had a meal at some outdoor café I’d never been to before and it couldn’t have been a more enjoyable day for us all.
After that, I drove to WLIP myself and hosted The Mothership Connection program from 8pm to midnight. We had some interesting guests, and the four hours flew by as they tend to do when things are going well. We did receive several phone calls, so at least a few people were listening.
I have to say, if there are more enjoyable ways to spend a gorgeous day in June I have to think pretty hard as to what it could be. I really had fun, even though I didn’t make a plugged nickel to do any of it. It didn’t cost me anything either, and there was zero pressure. The vibe was just like I like it, and it was a perfect way to forget about Father’s Day and all the ugly memories I don’t want to have to revisit. Life is a blast when the days are like this, and I hope there are a lot more.
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