If you see SMMC members sporting some unusual tan lines it’s a good chance that they were on the club trip to Mustang, OK for the MCA National Show. It was hot & sunny but a very strong breeze and canopies kept members comfortable. Thanks to Derrick/Staci and Doug/Deanna for bringing their canopies. The trip started early Friday morning from a couple of meeting points to all jump on 44 together heading to Oklahoma. We had a good & trouble free journey & even found 94-octane fuel at one stop. Gas prices were lower than St. Louis as well!

         

We hit Mustang, OK in time to check into the hotel, unload trailered cars & register at the show site. After unloading some very fully packed Mustangs and a little detail work, we all headed across the street to “Large Richard’s” Bar & Grille. The food & drinks were very reasonable & got us ready for a parking lot party at the hotel. The weather was fantastic to grab a lawn chair, try an official SMMC Cherry Bomb, a variety of Jell-O shot flavors & junk food. A special moment of the evening was Terry adopting a new pet he named Rodney. I’m not sure Rodney, the GIANT cockroach (that could run very fast & even jump & smelled), captured the hearts of the rest of the group.

         

Our hotel provided breakfast including Mitch’s requested biscuits & gravy, eggs, waffles & other goodies to start our day at the show. We set up Camp Show-Me & finished last minute detailing (David was our early bird going to the show site about 6am to detail his beautiful Concourse Mustang). Mustangs from around the country pulled in & gave members a chance to see some fantastic cars & meet other Mustangers from Missouri and around the U.S., which is always a lot of fun. Mitch & Karen attended the judges meeting where local police swore in the judges & were presented with official judges badges. While SMMC members enjoyed shopping the vendors, hearing the whirl of the blender, checking out cars, both Mitch & Karen judged the Concourse Shelbys along with Asst. Head Judge, Jeff Speegle, offering that it was interesting to see the process & procedures first hand at a national show.

         

Saturday nite all 14 members cleaned up & headed to a local restaurant for some “non junk” food. The hotel then was kind enough to give us their breakfast room for watching the rest of the Nascar race & enjoy SMMC Chairman of the Bar, Terry’s, margaritas. OK, we had more junk food too!

         

Sunday gave everyone an opportunity to check out cars again, make final purchases from vendors (yes, you will be seeing new Mustang shirts on a lot of people) and get ready for the trip home. David & Karla along with Reg & Mary stayed for the award presentation while the rest of the group headed back to STL. The SMMC should be proud – 100% trophied!

         

If you notice there is your typical 1st-3rd place & also Gold mentioned. In MCA, different classes are judged by different rules & point systems for different years of vehicles thus creating the variance in award types.

         

The trip home offered just a couple of minor delays as Doug insisted that he wanted a memento from the trip & obtained his very own black alligator from his trailer tire. One other quick stop for some caffeine & a drink for Jack’s car was just the thing for us to arrive home all in good shape, including Jack having no ER visits!

         

Hopefully, the heat and the walking worked off all the junk food. It was a great trip & a fun group that we hope will attend more shows & club events together.