n an impromptu, spur-of-the-moment and "driven" state of mind, a dozen hardy souls ascended the Mount Wachusett Auto Road on Saturday, October 16th. We were met at the top by all the beauty of the New England autumn, and views stretching as far as the proverbial eye can see (and how far, I wonder, is that?). Also meeting us at the summit was a fresh wind out of the northwest, which kept our sightseeing time to a minimum. It turned out that I was one of the few who brought gloves, and the two pre-teen kids along for the ride didn’t even bring jackets, naturally. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly it "chills up" in New England, once the summer is officially over. You’d think I’d learn. Or move south.

But it was the ride up the mountain that provided the most fun and thrills for me, and probably the other drivers (not so sure about the passengers, but we gave them some great vistas as we ascended the switchbacks). The views of the slopes below, and the lake in the valley that looked at least two miles away, were breathtaking. It made me wonder why we hadn’t done this in four years, and that, somehow, we oughta do it every year. For those of you who were there in October, 2000, you’ll remember that we had over 30 cars, over 50 participants, and the temps had soared to 70 degrees! Part of the crowd was from the local Triumph owners club, who were also invited along. It made for a very big and interesting tour. It also made the day for the local inn, which we intended to stop at this time around as well.

This year, it was Gene Durso who was the catalyst, emailing me a couple of weeks prior that we should go, and frankly it just didn’t allow enough advance publicity to enable planning, both by members wanting to attend the event and by planners wanting to make the event work on a larger scale. But heck, that’s okay—some of our most fun car events are those done on the fly, even if we don’t all get to attend (like last year’s Reservoir Ramble, which gave us a second chance a week later when temps stayed warm). Gene’s idea was too good for me to pass up, and shortly after I got to the access road he showed up in his yellow Spider with Judy, along with Scott Navaroli and his son Bryan in Scott’s Balocco, a fellow named John Pichierri in his white eighties spider, and Rod Burdick in his ’63 Giulia Spider. Also attending were friends Joe, Laura, and Jennifer Salvucci in their Toyota (the chase vehicle!) and my wife Diane and daughter Kelly.