DreamCruise plans fell together

[DonaldSmith]

We had a family get-together Saturday, August 15, so we missed the culmination of the Woodward DreamCruise, but we had invited some new friends to park and camp out in our driveway for the event.  Jerry is the guy who trailered my Suburban home from the DeSoto convention.   We had already arranged for him to use our premises, so the trailering was completely gratis.  I joked that the amount which I normally charge for my driveway during the DreamCruise is less than what I would have given him for towing me home. 

 

Our guests came last Thursday, so we shared a good taste of the DreamCruise, which builds up the previous week.  That evening, the lawn chairs were along the roadside, and the lanes were clogged with cruisers.  Friday was even more intense.  

 

During the day Friday, we got our DeSoto running decently, so we Visited the Shrine of the Little Flower basilica, at Woodward and 12-mile road.  Jerry's wife wanted to see the church, since her gransmother had worked there in the early years of its history.  

 

We visited the Heritage Hall, with its historical presentations, and then went outside for a close-up look at the Crucifixion Tower. We wandered through the St. Therese chapel to the main body of the church.  On the way back to our car, as we entered the vestibule back to the Heritage Hall, we saw on a pillar in front of us the 1993 dedication plaque for the grand piano.  There, on the bottom of the plaque, on the high note, was her grandmother's name.  Coincidence?  

 

Our guests went down Woodward to Ferndale to visit some friends, but the next I heard, Jerry was calling me from the cemetery at 12 Mile, where the Berkley parade was marshaling. Their friends had a pass that they couldn't use, since they had sold the car they had intended to enter. We met Jerry and his wife among the 350 vehicles lined up for the parade, and we went with them in their camper for the two-mile parade.  Jerry had been in parades before, but not where the people applauded.  Great fun!

 

Now, Jerry's camper is a 1984 Dodge pickup, with the bed welded to the cap and a custom top, with all manner of ingenious accessories.   These few photos don't do it justice:

 

 

[Don Coatney]

This truck? This photo was taken at the Fort Wayne Desoto convention a year ago.

 

[Merle Coggins]

I have also seen that truck, at the WPC meet in Kalamazoo in 2012.

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Edited August 17, 2015 by Merle Coggins

[BobT-47P15]

Apparently these folks drive this truck a lot.  Some neat inventions attached..........

[DonaldSmith]

That's the truck.  Ingenuity in every nook and cranny.  For the Berkley Cruise Fest parade, Jerry didn't have the sink on, since the clearances in the marshaling area were tight. But here's a photo of a nice couple in the back of the truck, and the driver enjoying the adulation of the crowd.

 

 

Here's the marshaling area, in the Roseland Cemetery at 12 Mil and Woodward:

 

Edited August 17, 2015 by DonaldSmith

[mrwrstory]

Some day I'll make it.  I did Woodward in the 50's and 60's and hope to cruise there one more time. 

[Merle Coggins]

That's the truck.  Ingenuity in every nook and cranny.

 

That's an understatement. I enjoyed looking it over and chatting with him at the Kalamazoo meet. It's quite the camper rig.

Edited August 17, 2015 by Merle Coggins