State Street Cruise
September 22

It's early afternoon and Sergeant Mitch Johnson calls to report the Doppler radar picture showing a large cell hanging just west and moving east toward our location. "Are we still a GO?" "Roger That", says I. And so begins our annual State Street Cruise down the 90 blocks from the Gravity Hill area of the capitol to Joe Chou's Dairy Queen restaurant in Sandy.

We originally had quite a few cars and folks planning on the Cruise but the rain kept a few of the Little British Cars at home and under cover. That's quite understandable as a few do not have hoods over their cabins. Those that did make the scene were Michael & Mary Scoggins in their Mini Cooper S, Mitch & Diane Johnson in their Spitfire, Larry & Margaret Farington in their TR-6, Jon & Laura Hermance in his '53 MG TD, Roger & Jill Davis in their Honda Prelude and me in my space shuttle.

The sky was steel gray and a light rain was falling at the staging area over looking Memory Grove but the temperature was a pleasant 64 degrees and would remain that way for the next few hours. The drive under the Great Seagull and beyond to Sandy was a cruisin' 30 mph. Traffic was light and at that velocity I saw restaurants that I hadn't noticed before. Once up the hill to the Dairy Queen Joe had his orange MGB out front and welcomed us in for this annual gathering. His daughter Ruby was at the counter and joining us too. We met his neighbor Wendell, who is purchasing Joe's TD and will of course be part of our group now as well. The dessert Joe provided this year was a wonderful cookie dough ice cream cake. Jon did the honors and it vanished, as if by magic. We stayed long and visited well, rain falling gently outside. And this is the fabric of our club, the camaraderie we enjoy based on the hand made and enduring novel cars from England that we so enjoy.

-- Paul Jaroch

Click here to see photos of the event