Steppin’ back in time.

Hot cars and hot weather were on today’s agenda. When I stepped out of the house at 7:45 a.m., (ostensibly to beat the heat at that early hour), I was greeted with a blast of hot and tropical-like air. I felt as if I should be sipping a drink with a tiny umbrella piercing a piece of pineapple and tucking a hibiscus behind my ear.

I immediately changed my plans for a roundtrip trek to Council Point Park, and two loops at that venue, then to bop over to Fort Street to watch Downriver Cruisin’ for a while. At 81 degrees and humidity of 91%, I decided to just minimize my steps and walk along the Cruise route only. What a Summer weenie I am turning into!

I sauntered along Fort Street, then quickly sought shade at Memorial Park when the first dribbles of sweat were running into my eyes. By then, many Mustangs had already arrived for the “Ponies in the Park” event. The Mustang Owners Club of Southeastern of Michigan members gather at Memorial Park during each Cruisin’ Downriver event to display their cars, which range from the original “Pony” to the later models.

As more of the Mustang aficionados arrived, they pulled onto the grassy area, then parked and immediately flipped up their respective car hoods to showcase the pristine engines.

I chitchatted with this guy who was buffing his already-gleaming car with a little wax.

He told me this car is a 2015 model and he drives it year-around and it has 45,000.00 miles on it. I sheepishly admitted I just rolled the odometer to 5,000 miles myself and my car was nine years old. He thought that was pretty funny and I added “I’m an avid walker though and don’t drive as much as I should.”

Since he, like the other Mustang owners, had the hood up, I bent in close to inspect it and take a picture.

As you can see, the engine area was clean as a whistle and I asked about the autographs – two were designers of both the clay mold and finished product of this car, and the other autograph was from a member of Roush Racing.

More and more Mustangs were being driven up and then sidling between their brethren. The meeting had an almost clubby atmosphere, and I’m guessing these owners regularly meet at other cruise events. I meandered around, admiring all the Mustangs from various years, clicking off a few shots of the rows of shiny Ponies, including a few which I remembered as the original Mustang Pony Car circa ’64. I had several friends whose parents passed their “Ponies” onto their offspring. This guy was willing to part with his baby for $30,000.00. It was in prime condition.

I finally tore myself away from “Ponies in the Park” and grabbed a good spot in the shade, but near the curb to check out the cruisers. It was just unbearably hot, even under the big tree. Occasionally, I’d dash out of the shade when I saw an interesting car or truck pass by.

Unfortunately, the cruisers usually use a dedicated lane, (the right-hand lane), for cruising so spectators can see their vehicles up close. This was not happening today as drivers were all over the road and with the traffic flow from the Rouge River Bridge Project, it was hard to get shots of unique or classic cars, but here are a few below. I think the color red ruled, just like the red-hot weather, was the color of the day.

Despite the A/C running all day, I’ve still heard the bands in the distance ...

... as well as the ever-present hum of motors and cars squealing throughout the afternoon, so likely the cruisin’ crowd decided to tough it out on this stifling hot day – we got to 94 degrees today, with a 105-degree heat index. Mercy me!

I may not have gotten all my desired steps in today, but I did enjoy steppin’ back in time.

You can catch up on my blog posts before I started blogging at Patch in August 2013 by going here: http://lindaschaubblog.net/