Welcome to our…
…first rain out of the season. I know. This is more disappointing than Madonna dancing with a chair, but it's that time of year. This is more disappointing than the dollar menu at Taco Bell. Well, we always have next week. This will probably happen a few more times before we have that first glorious Saturday morning where everyone is happy and dancing around like Munchkins.
We again want to remind people to check our criteria page first before writing to us about your car. Most of the mail we get is about car qualification questions with cars that don't meet the criteria, yet they pitch us on features that are not how we decide what gets in if they read the page. Color has nothing to do with getting in, nor does who farted on the seat in Hollywood. It doesn't matter if they only painted 4,015 in that shade of red and you got the special order 4,016th; it still doesn't change things. Sending us a list of your mods that disappointed your parents doesn't do it for us either. We're not that kind of show. There are just a tiny group of exceptions, and the car has to be extra-extra-extra special.
Lincoln Prevedel
My favorite is when someone writes to us and asks if they can get in because they are friends with one of our Thugs. That's an automatic "no" because we don't do favors like that, and besides, none of them have friends, so we're sure you're fibbing.
Again, if you're new to all this, take a gander at our rules before you show up. Get to know them better than your ex before you found out about that little thing they did that you can't tell anyone about.
As for our Thugs, we couldn't ask for a finer bunch of humans, and for that reason, we'd like to thank three that have been with us for over ten years but less than the original OG that we thanked last week.
Lincoln and his dad, Dave Prevedel, have been with us since 2012! When Dave first started showing up, Lincoln volunteered even before he was old enough, and Lincoln was so small he could fit in Dave's shirt pocket. He grew up with E@RTC, and now he's a foot taller than Vic, like everyone else.
Dave Prevedel
Then, of course, as we said last week, there is Jason Bourriague who started with us in 2011, and we highlighted his substantial contribution on the last blog. David has been super helpful with our criteria page and helps make the calls about what is and isn't show qualified along with Sean. David and Lincoln are a big part of our continued legacy and drive a long way to help out with the show, so please give them a giant thanks.
Dave has a good feel for the overall management of the group and is one of our most knowledgeable Thugs.
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For those who are arriving for the first time, please study the traffic flow to get in to save you lots of personal embarrassment. Nothing screams newbie like showing up pointing the wrong way. Don't try to fix it by cutting in line over by Bed Bugs and Beyond, now known as H Mart. Not to be confused with K Mart.
Jason Bourriague
We don't let cars cut in, and we send you all the way around to the back of the line. We're also going to be loading cars into the lots in two rows, as we started doing last season on busy days. This keeps the line moving quickly and should get you from the back of the line to parked in around ten minutes. We do all we can to get cars loaded up just as fast as we can, but we're always dealing with logistics challenges. However, we get it done.
We shifted to the double entrance last year, and we were able to keep things moving right along. We've always wanted to make the show easy for anyone to participate in and not make you feel like it's a hassle. Just study the maps, and you will be good.
Still, every year we get people circling the lot like flies on poop with no clue how to get in. Don't let that be you. The best way to not look like a fly circling poop is to just look at the maps.
Here is a tip: Find the line of cars heading east on Bear Creek and just get in line and follow them. Easy-peasy!