Ann and I had a wonderful time at day 1 of the FC Roundup.  It was great to match faces with names of people I have corresponded with for years.   We spent the start of our visit with Glenn and Colin discussing some of the unusual history of Willys Overland they uncovered recently.

From Left to right is Colin, me and Glenn

As Glenn had to take off, we soon found ourselves on a quick tour of Phoenix in Jason’s FC Tour Jeep.  Our quick tour turned into a rollicking ride through Phoenix as its citizens tried to figure out what kind of vehicle was ferrying this crazy group of people.  Without hills or dales to wander, we stuck to city streets, waving at all the people who were waving back at us.   Canadian Dave was at the helm, navigating the roads of Phoenix like any true Canadian would do … very politely.  He didn’t cause a single person to flip us off.

Pretty soon we got thirsty, so we tried to hunt down a Sonic Burger.  Unsuccessful on our own, Jason had an opportunity to ask “Big Willy”, a guy next to us wearing a “Big Willy” shirt, if he knew where the closest Sonic Burger place was.  Big Willy responded with a point of his finger to our right.  Unsure if Big Willy was being accurate or just trying to get rid of us so he could continue driving in traffic, we followed his directions and found the cold drinks we sought.

After our cold drinks, instead of going back to Jesse’s house and the roundup, we soon found ourselves traveling to the airport to pick up Vance.  I jumped in to ride shotgun so I could provided directions to the airport; however, my phone’s GPS failed me in our hour of need.  Fortunately, Jason’s navigation came through and we found the airport.  Now, if you’ve never ridden an FC Tour Jeep through a set of airport terminals, I can highly suggest it.   People were smiling and waving … I’ve never seen so many happy people at the airport!!

Eventually, we made our way back to Jesse’s (after a bathroom stop at Valero).  After hanging out there for a little while, we all piled into FCs for a trip to dinner.  Ann and I jumped back into Jason’s FC.  This time, instead of Canadian Dave driving, Jason took the wheel and drove us over to a motel to pick up one more rider before heading to dinner.  As we innocently pulled up to the door of the motel, Jason honked the FC’s horn.  It just so happened at that moment a woman was walking forty feet or so in front of the FC.  The honk startled the woman.

Hearing that honk, the woman’s dog leapt forward, causing the woman to jerk forward too.  The woman thought the honk was for her, so she turned around and gave us the look of death.  Then, she gave us the one-fingered salute.  Yes, it took Jason only a few minutes of driving to have someone flip us off.  She might not have been very happy with us (she would flip us off a second time, too), but she made us laugh all the way to dinner.

More form the Round up tomorrow ….