Thirty-five PT Cruisers from Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia converged on the Sonic Drive in Nelsonville, Ohio on October 21st. (The count may be low or high, but that was the number actually signed-in) The bright blue sky and sun shined brightly on a sea of flames, mythical beings, pinstripes, fuzzy dice, woodies and a land-locked surfboard. The lot was filled with shiny stock, customized and performance enhanced PT Cruisers... And Old Glory was flying everywhere!

The registration table was a bustle of activity as cruisers signed in and picked up their name tags. Amid the pandemonium, Cadet Jack and Ellen corrected the mistakes and made out tags for unpre-registered attendees. We even had one cruiser who had stopped at the Sonic the day before, unaware of the event. When the waitress asked him if he was coming to the Cruise-in, he was taken by surprise and decided to stay overnight and participate. How cool is that!?

After two hours of looking at Cruisers, we gathered at the patio, joined hands and held a moment of silence for America's dead and missing as well as for those who give of themselves for the relief of body and spirit and defense of our freedom.

All of the attendees received a commemorative dash plaque and a miniature PT Cruiser with the Red Cross Emblem and the date of the cruise affixed to the model.

The cruise sponsors were very generous with their gifts! We even had fellow cruisers bring additional prizes... such is the spirit of the PT Cruiser fraternity! Every registered car received a ticket and prizes were drawn. The prizes included PT Clocks, PT caps, Hot Wires engine wire covers, ventvisors, t-shirts, decals, books, tin signs, tool sets, models, lighted windshield washer nozzles, flaming dice and, yes, the infamous PT Designer Soaps! Everyone won at least one prize and many won two. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard and gave so generously to make the Meet and Greet so successful!

Time to Cruise!

Cruisers left the Sonic at 2 pm and reassembled at the Hocking Hills Visitors' Center, which was overwhelmed. Someone came up with the idea of staging on the access lane, for which several unsuspecting visitors and the Center staff were grateful. Poor road-weary Stefanie was the last to arrive and after we were all assembled, we began our tour of the Hocking Hills.

A special THANK YOU to a couple of young fellows who held traffic and took a lot of guff from some less-than-patriotic travelers who cared little about anything but themselves. Thanks boys!!! You did good!

We were supposed to have our first stop at the Old Man's Cave tri-level parking lot.... Lots of room... Or so we thought! The lot was jammed to full and there were cars parked well beyond the parking grounds. We decided to pass on this one and resumed cruising through some of the most beautiful woodland in the state. We arrived at Rock House, which was not as crowded. Some folks decided to tour the Rock House Formation and others relaxed amid the fall splendor. Some even watched TV on their dash-mounted video entertainment systems!

And along came the four horsemen... Actually they were mules.... Four young men and ladies rode their mules into our midst out of curiosity. They wandered around the PTs and Stef's companion, Sassy was intrigued... Sassy had never seen such a large animal before.... but that's another story and I'll let Stef tell you about Sassy's reaction. Let's just say that canine and equine noses were stretched out as far as they could be toward each other.It seems that the mule riders all worked at the Kokomo Transmission Plant where they make the transmissions for the PT and other vehicles. They wanted to see the finished product!

At 4pm it was time to go. Some of the cruisers had already begun the long trek home. As we cruised the last few miles to Rt. 33, Ellen and I discussed how successful the event had been. We pulled off of the road and waved to our friends, new and old, who honked as they went by.

Our cruise was for the benefit of the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. How successful was it? Well, along with the check from collections taken by the North Coast PT Cruisers, who were holding a seperate event, we collected $690. God bless you all for your help.

We have been asked about holding another event next year.... I will be contacting everyone about that shortly.

Yes, it was a wonderful day!

Yours in Cruisin'

Jack and Ellen

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Black Touring 5 speed, moonroof, flameball,wheel lights, ghost flames, lighted windshield washer nozzles, lake pipes, pin striped rear deck and more to come!