COTV Goes Cruisin’ Grand

 On a very warm Friday afternoon, a group of 10 cars and about 20 COTV members met at the Big Flag at 3pm to go Cruisin’ Grand, in other words we went to the cruise night on Grand Avenue in Escondido. This event is held every Friday night from April through October, when anyone who wants can bring their car to display on Grand Avenue which is closed off from Escondido Street to Ivy Street for just that purpose. Various car clubs can join in – this week the Poway Cruisers were there, as well as a Studebaker group. There is live music on all the street corners and all the restaurants are open to cruisers. The Cruisin’ event runs from 5-8pm, but folks come and go as they please.

 Vickie had selected Filippi’s Pizza Grotto for an early dinner before we started looking at the cars and so we aimed to get there at 4pm. Forming a convoy from the Big Flag were Al and Vickie Hackworth, Harry and Sharon Finch, Bob Smith and Rose Street, Bill and Marilyn Watson, Joe and Rosemary Priebe in their 1963, John Meyer and Skip Hipp, Steve and Marsue Page, Ken Kaufmann and everyone’s friend Bruce, Bill Stedfield, and Rob and Daryl Weber. Keith and Lana Jenkins met us at the restaurant and Dayton Taylor came in and said hello for a while before going back to his beautiful ’41 Lincoln and then on to view other cars along the street. We were lucky enough to immediately get 3 long tables for the group, as well as a waitress who was willing to give us separate checks even though it is not the policy on Cruisin’ nights. As previewed by Vickie, the servings at Filippi’s are more than just generous and those of us who ordered pizza have never seen so much cheese. One slice of pizza was about all most of us could eat, so a lot of boxes went back to the cars for future meals. (Amazingly, all that pizza was still hot when we got back to the cars due to the warm weather!)

After dinner, we headed out to view the cars. Joe and Rosemary had been given a pretty good parking space for the ’63, while the rest of us left our cars in the parking lot behind the restaurant where we had been lucky to get parking places when we arrived. Dayton was on Grand across from the restaurant. We all strolled along looking at the cars at our own pace, sometimes crossing paths with some of the others. Everyone was able to stay as long as they chose and make their way home when they wanted, although Joe and Rosemary stayed with their car so they could open up the hood for viewers.

All in all, we got our fill of both great food and great cars, as well as the usual friendly camaraderie that comes with a COTV gathering, no matter the size of the group. We are all looking forward to Vickie’s next planned meal…oops, we mean event!

“Nothing Succeeds Like Excess”