Dateline August 9, 2017, Connie and Lee and the Car Show
Connie and Lee. From Salisbury we drove over to Janice's sister Connie's home in Derry, New Hampshire, and parked next door in the lot her husband Lee uses for his business; he buys cars at the local auction and ships them up to a dealer in Maine he does work for. We got the RV set up, and about the time we finished, Connie came home. It being Happy Hour, which at their house keeps its own clock no matter what the actual time, we sat down to talk about family and friends, and Connie put on a wonderful dinner, flank steak from the grill and Stan's potatoes. Stan was Janice's father, and those potatoes, done up in foil with onions on the grill, were a thing of his; it was a fine evening. We were glad of their company, and of the schnauzer, Bouncer, too.
Over the next few days Janice was practicing and then playing a qualifier for the USGA Women's Senior Golf Championship, held at the Haverhill Country Club in Haverhill, Massachusetts. She came up a single stroke short after going six over on the last two holes for an eighty-one. In her own word, she "choked."
On Friday we made a day of lunch and golf at the Hidden Lake Golf Club, seventy-five degrees and perfect.
Afterward we went home and put together a lobster dinner with fresh corn on the cob. Saturday we took it easy, then went out for a fine prime rib dinner, and Connie and Lee introduced us to a small craft brewery called Pipe Dream.
Two former Marines started it up about a year ago, and they are as surprised as anyone at how fast it has caught on. Out back there is a picnic area and a few games, and dogs are welcome, so people bring the whole family. It lives up to its name. Great beer and a lot of fun.
The car show. Sunday was something special, a car show to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, held at the Budweiser plant in Merrimack. We rode over with Lee and Connie in Lee's 1966 Biscayne, a show car that has taken a prize at this event before, and parked under a tree near the horse barns.
We walked the whole property looking at the cars, and they were sensational, more dream cars than you could count. Then the barns opened up, and we got to see the Clydesdales. This is one of Budweiser's training facilities, home to their east coast horses, and we watched one being washed and others out walking the fields. They are magnificent animals.
Later we took a tour of the brewery and stayed for the tasting, which we thoroughly enjoyed.
This is the smallest of the Budweiser plants, and even so it turns out something like eight million twelve-ounce bottles a day, with two more lines running cans and kegs, supplying Budweiser and some Michelob across New England. The numbers were staggering. Lee did not take a prize this time, though his car was among the best there; we gathered that winning two years running moves you up into a tougher class. We rode home worn out and happy, after quite a day.
Our time with Janice's sister and Lee was over for now, but we will see them again on the way back from Newfoundland, at the lake up near Sunapee, New Hampshire.
