3RD ANNUAL HOT DOGS, BRATS AND DRIVE-IN

CLASSIC THUNDERBIRD CLUB of CHICAGOLAND ~
3rd ANNUAL HOT DOG, BRAT, and DRIVE-IN MOVIE GALA

Saturday, July 11. 2009, 36 members and guests of CTCC gathered at the home of Len and Mary Keil in Johnsburg. Ill. for hot dogs, brats, and a table full of delicious "eats". Len had two coolers full of cold soda as we gathered in his garage and overflowed onto the driveway. Present at the gala were Joel Greenberg and Annie Luginbiil, Tom and Alice Wolfe, Ed Levin and Rose Kovelenko, Bill and Liz Werth, Mary Ann Graziano and Paul Ureche, your scribe. Jim Elijah, Joe and Sandy Kraatz. Bill and Elaine Axelson, Jerry and Pat Peterson, Bert and Jane Eisenhour, Pete and Marylu Kramer, Joe and Madeline Zambon, Pete and Lisa Ekstrom, Lloyd and Joan Schellin, Bob and Sue Wenderski, Len and Mary Keil, Bob Sroka and guest Beverly, and Bob and Helen Hoge.

The day was sunny in the mid- 80's with no rain and only a few menacing clouds, so 13 - '55-'57 Thunderbirds and 3 New 'Birds filled the block in front of Keil's home. Pete and Lisa drove their '03 "007" 'Bird. Bob and Sue, their Vintage Mint Green '04. and Pete and Marylu. their Cashmere 50th Anniversary '05.

After several hours of feasting and 'Bird talk, dusk was approaching and several members began their trips home. The movie at the McHenry Outdoor Drive-in Movie Theater that night was "Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs". Our adult crowd decided to skip the cartoon movie. Len said, "Next year, we'll have the hot dogs again and maybe skip the drive-in."
- Jim Wilson

HOT-DOG GALA - BELIEVE-IT-OR-NOT!

It turned out that one ot our lead-footed T-Birders raced by the turnoft to the Keil's subdivision, finding himself "lost" somewhere north of his intended target!

While pondering his dilemma at a stoplight, the fellow in the car just in front of our member's 'Bird exited his car and asked, "Are you looking for Len's house?" Momentarily baffled by this stranger's uncanny mind-reading powers, our subject learned that the elusive turnoff was some 2-miles to the south!

The "GPS Man" did indicate that he was a neighbor of Len and Mary's! (In fact, the neighbor lives almost directly across from the Keil's residence!) [Name withheld to protect the 'guilty.']
- Ed.