Memorial Day Tbird Drive to Fort Rosecrans at Point Loma, San Diego
It was a great day to let the T-birds fly. The weather was a pleasant 60 degrees, and the skies had broken clouds, just the kind of weather that enables these V-8s to run smoothly and not overheat. We had six T-birds meet up at Mossy Ford in Mission Bay: Steven in his fluorescent green, Patty and Gil in the colonial white, Geoff and Barbara and Mitch and Elaine in their gun metal grays, Jeff, his granddaughter, and son in their red one, and Ray and his wife in their Starmist blue. These birds added bursts of color and character to an otherwise gray day.
After donuts and banter, we took a leisurely drive to Fort Rosecrans to pay homage and give our respects to our fallen heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. We drove the speed limit down Grand Ave, Crown Pt Drive and Ingraham Street to go through Ocean Beach. You should have seen the crowd ogling these beautiful vintage cars as we went round a traffic circle with Paul jumping out of the Jeff’s red ’55 to take pictures!
We got a special surprise with an emergency vehicle falling in line behind us and flashing its lights to draw even more attention.
The weather was clearing up as we went up Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, where we stopped at a scenic overlook to get pictures of the caravan overlooking the beautiful Pacific. We then went through O.B. neighborhoods when we encountered a big fire engine coming the opposite way. They turned on their lights and blew the horn to salute us!
We made it over to Hill Street and then into Point Loma Nazarene College where we ended up in an empty parking lot that had a great view of the ocean. There were a few young visitors there who could not get over the cars. They asked and received permission to sit in a few of them and we took pictures of them sitting proudly and horsing around in the vintage machines. Who knows, they might be the T-bird owners of the next driving generation.
It was then time to make it over to Fort Rosecrans to distribute the beautiful red roses Mitch and Elaine generously provided. We found a nice secluded place to park the cars in a row flanking the many gravesites on the bay-side of the burial ground. We took many pictures to commemorate our presence and our tribute to those laid to rest on this sacred ground.
It was a day and a cruise to remember. I, for one, will never forget the many “thumbs up,” the shouts of “I like the green one, the red one, the blue one...” and the many smiles on so many people who stopped what they were doing to take pictures of our Baby Birds.
Written by Geoff Wahl, CTSD Member and Board Member