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 Macungie or Bust
Macungie,
Pennsylvania. Home of
Das
Awkscht Fescht [The August
Festival-link], an annual festival and car
show at the town’s Memorial Park.
The show runs for three days, Friday through Sunday, hosts many
other clubs and is a regional meet for Metropolitans and members of the
Metropolitan Owners Club of North America
[MOCNA-link].
Macungie is near Allentown,
PA
where the host hotel for club members was located.
Being the owners of a newly acquired 1958 Met, we had heard from
many sources that the show was one “not” to be missed.
So, we signed up. Thanks
to several members of the Upstate New York Metropolitan Club [UNYMets-link], we were asked to join their caravan down to Pennsylvania. By the way, many Met
owners have taken on a peculiar habit of naming their Mets.
We chose the name “Mardi” for our Metropolitan since she is
Mardi Gras red. Her NY plate
reads “58 QT”.
Friday, August 4th – Three other Mets were running down
together and we became the fourth, linking up with them on I-81 near Whitney
Point. The trip down I-81 and
connection onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike at 55mph in heavy highway
traffic was interesting, to say the least, and with a good stop for gas
and food in Scranton, the trip to Allentown
was about 5 hours. We really
appreciated the safety of traveling in the group!
The only concern on the trip was our Met ran a little hotter than
we might have liked. Pulling
in to Allentown
in late afternoon was a trip back in time.
There, before us, were a half dozen Metropolitans in various
colors, and as the afternoon passed, many others pulled in from their
various directions or from attending the Friday events at the show.
In all, over 20 Metropolitans called the Ramada Inn home for the
weekend.  Friday afternoon
was spent making acquaintances and checking out all the Mets.
We met up with our friends Bob and Phyllis from Connecticut. Together, we met another
couple for the first time, Fred and Helen from their same home town.
Quite a coincidence that they both own red and white
convertibles, live in the same town and yet had never met!
Over dinner, we began talking about our cars, and we discovered
that Nancy and I bought our Met from a man in CT who is a mutual
acquaintance of both of these couples.
It IS a small world sometimes.
And, we’re all happy with our little “red and whites”.
We met most of the other Met owners at an early evening
get-together but then Nancy and I decided to go find the park at
Macungie. We made an
“excursion” of it by missing several turns before finally locating
Macungie and joining the Friday evening festivities.
42 acres of SHOW!! Antique
cars, . . . . . hundreds of
them, and all the food and entertainment of any large regional festival.
There were tents and booths set up for not only food but
antiques, crafts, car parts and more.
There’s an Olympic size public pool.
The site has a large outdoor amphitheater featuring entertainment
for all three days. Friday
night is usually Flamin’ Dick and the Hot Rods
[link].
The band has been performing for over 20 years and puts on a
great show! Good old-time
Rock & Roll and a group not to be missed.
We stayed til the end and finished Friday evening by dropping in
to the adjacent Macungie VFW. Our
first experience at Macungie was all positive.
The trip back to our hotel? Well
. . . . . this trip “was” an adventure, right?
Tom got lost. The
road went either straight or right and Tom chose right.
We took the tour. Ultimately
we discovered we w ere a “few” miles south of Allentown and spent the
next 30 minutes working our way from south to north through narrow city
streets in many of the “ethnic” neighborhoods of Allentown, a little
after midnight. Our Met was
tired, uncomfortable and ready for some rest but she got us “home”.
Saturday, August 5th – Full sunshine and more than twenty
Metropolitans lining up for a 10-mile cruise to Macungie.
Again, meeting owners and looking under hoods consumed a little
time before we all departed for the park.
Our “parade” of Mets heading west down busy Route 22 was a
sight to be seen. There were
Mets of just about every color and type including a Met Fire Truck.
[That’s MOCNA's Eastern Region Director Chris Custin, from Wayne,
NJ
at the wheel.] Friendly
horns were blowing as folks passed us by.
Lots of smiles and waves. We
only lost a single Met on the run; unfortunately, the fire engine had a
minor miscue and needed rescue, but made it to the show a little later.
 Arriving at Macungie in style, our motorcade made our way through
registration and a gauntlet of fans and photographers that watch and
photograph the 1300 antique cars arriving in the morning.
Das Awkscht Fescht had reserved an excellent spot for the Mets,
and we joined a field that totaled 31 Mets parked under a group of trees
near the pool. We were close
to everything. Saturday was
a blur of entertainment, flea-marketing, eating and, of course,
conversing with other Met owners. We
met our new friends from Connecticut. We met other members of
our own Upstate New York Mets for the first time.
We met email contacts from Michigan and New Jersey, and we talked cars. We
learned we have the wrong thermostat in our car and it is the primary reason
it runs hotter than the rest. We
talked to parts vendors that specialize in Metropolitans.
We acquired a catalog of virtually every part we might need and a
few good sources. As new Met
owners, on Saturday, we acquired a wealth of knowledge and information.
We even attended a  business meeting of the UNYMets held right
among our Mets on the show field. While
the show held many good food attractions, including some ethnic dishes
such as pierogies, we decided to go back to the Macungie VFW for dinner
and a beer. Their Black
Diamond steaks were excellent. Saturday’s
bands were very good during the day but tonight’s entertainment, King
Henry & The Showmen were excellent.
We took in the first two sets and fired up Mardi just as the
first fireworks were shot overhead.
We beat everyone else out of the park and actually got back to Allentown
without any side excursions tonight.
Again, this was a perfect day and a perfect outing for our Met.
Sunday, August 6th broke warm and sunny again, and we did
some real soul-searching. Our
new friends from CT were heading home; and although our friends from the
UNYMets were going back to the show, their plan was to leave in early
afternoon for the motorcade back home.
And, to be honest, Nancy and I were being just a little bit lazy.
The pace of the past couple days had made us want to take our
time. So, instead of
participating in Sunday’s parade to the show, we decided to stay back
at the hotel, take our time, photograph their departure and take in a
calm sit-down breakfast with Bob and Phyllis.
And, to be honest, while Lenny’s assistance in getting us to
Macungie was invaluable, it also gave us the confidence to simply head
home ourselves. Rather than
rush up the highway, we decided to take some scenic byways.
Yes, Tom knew the roads and knew all the railroad-oriented stops
and locations enroute. Ten
hours. Our five-hour trip
home took us ten!
 Ten hours? How could it take
ten hours? Our hotel was
located at the intersection of Route 22 and Route 145.
Rather than heading back down Route 22 to the Turnpike, we headed
directly north on 145 and discovered a much better route to the hotel
for future trips. Route 145
ran north through country settings for 15 miles or so before joining up
with Route 248 which literally takes you to the Lehighton exit off the
Turnpike. On future trips,
we will always exit there and take the more direct and much less hectic
trip via Routes 248/145 directly to the hotel.
Heck, it even saves tolls. So,
at Lehighton we began to go helter-skelter and over hill and dale
towards home. PA 209 took us
into Lehighton and PA 54 to Jim Thorpe,
PA.
Jim Thorpe is an excellent tourist town with museums and typical Pennsylvania
homes and churches and home of the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway
[link].
We’ve been coming here for years.
It was a worthwhile stop. Mardi
was posed next to the grand old Jim Thorpe station as well as a pair of
Jersey Central locomotives. From
there we headed west, then north onto PA 93 to Hazleton, perhaps another 20 miles. Tom
found the old Lehigh
Valley
enginehouse and Mardi posed again with some Norfolk
Southern locomotives. Turning
onto US 309, we next headed for
Wilkes-Barre
which coincidentally was about another 20 miles north.
It appeared that “20 miles” was becoming the norm between
stops. Departing Wilkes-Barre, we went past Pocono Downs Raceway which will soon become another
Mohegan Sun Casino [link] as well. Hmmm.
For future years, that might be a decent halfway point in this
trip? Perhaps a Thursday
evening departure and stay in this area?
Scranton
was next. Of  course, about
20 miles, north on PA 309, PA 315 and US 11.
Scranton
is home to a friend’s railroad and shop.
New York’s Genesee Valley Transportation owns the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad
and Mardi had no problem sensing out how to find the shop while
northbound on US 11. There
were 3 locomotives basking in the sun, unfortunately Mardi was not
allowed to drive into the facility so Tom had to walk and take the
photographs. Next stop was a
quick visit to Steamtown
National Park
[Scranton-link] and the Electric
City
Trolley
Museum
[Scranton-link] where Mardi got to see some old steam locomotives, an
old black and yellow diesel and a former Philadelphia
trolley. We think she was
enjoying her trip home.
What was next? Nicholson,
PA
was “about” 20 miles away, directly north on US 11 and home of the
Tunkhannock Viaduct, a massive concrete railroad bridge, approximately
100 years old. Check Tom’s old railroad webs for the Tunkhannock
Viaduct [link]
and Nicholson
Cemetery
[link]. While Tom 
photographed Mardi in the scenic overlook, a nice young couple touring
the area offered to take our photograph, so we readily agreed to a
family portrait under the arches. From
there it appeared that the Hallstead, PA VFW was approximately 20 miles
north on Route 11, so we again pointed Mardi northbound.
 Coming into Hallstead, we needed to make a quick u-turn to check
out an old yellow truck and NEAT old-time garage that has been decorated
with all sorts of old gas pumps and memorabilia.
Mardi loved it. Hallstead.
The town sounded familiar. Why
was it in the news? We
remembered when we saw the neighborhood that the VFW was located in.
There were homes and cars covered in mud, roads washed out, trees
downs, huge piles of rip-rap and lots of heavy equipment.
Flooded. Now we
remembered that the 20 miles or so between Binghamton/Conklin, NY and
Great Bend/Hallstead, PA received heavy flood damage in last month’s
storms. It was pretty sad to
see so much damage to so  many homes and properties.
Some of the homes were totally wrecked with water having flooded
through their front windows. Clearly
they were going to be bulldozed. Sad.
That Hallstead VFW? Flooded.
Temporarily closed and their beautiful Memorial Park, built and
dedicated last year, flooded and damaged.
NY 7 north to Conklin and Binghamton
was more of the same. We
passed a good friend’s home to happily discover his house was saved
from damage while homes just north and south of him sustained damage. The
Binghamton
train yard had been under water and was recovering and there was
roadwork and repairs all along the
Susquehanna River. 
Binghamton
is virtually home to us. We both
grew up here. We tried to
find
Nancy’s brother at a local watering hole but he wasn’t there, so we
watched a little of the NASCAR race and learned that this weekend was
the annual Spiedie Fest and Balloon Rally
[link].
It was such a great day, the thought of watching a dozen hot air
balloons launch sounded like a fine way to end it.
We had about 2 hours to kill and since
Nancy
’s sister lived nearby [only a 20 mile roundtrip], we went to visit
her and 
mooched a good late afternoon snack.
Mardi had not met them before and they remembered Nash
Metropolitans and appeared impressed with her.
We were still doing pretty good today!
Balloons. We had watched
them launch before but always from a distance.
Tom wanted to see if we could find some scenic spot to park so
that he could photograph Mardi with one of the balloons.
It was tough. No
parking signs and cones everywhere and people already waiting everywhere
else. So, there was nothing
else to do but to try to drive into Otsiningo
Park.
Yes, the park where they did not allow any public cars and had
three sets of Sheriff Deputies at check points.
The first set smiled at our Nash Metropolitan and waved us on.
The second set of deputies asked us to get our “credentials”
ready as we passed and the third set of deputies smiled and waved at us
as we smiled and waved to them. Mardi
just kept slowly rolling. Hey!
We were in! Mardi 
found a good grassy spot as close to the launch field as she could get.
Nancy and I went inside and had another snack – Lupo’s
Spiedies! [Lupos link]
[If you don’t
know what they are, we aren’t going to tell you so that we have more
for ourselves!] Balloon after balloon were inflated and launched, all passing
overhead and in clear sight of our Met.
[Yes, that’s
Nancy
in that poodle skirt and sunglasses.]
As the skies darkened and sun went down, we followed several of
the balloons north along US 11 to Castle Creek and then on to home.
Ten hours. We were
all tired but enjoyed our trip to Macungie and back.
Ten hours to get home? Not
bad.
August 1-3, 2008.
Macungie, PA.
We hope to do it all again!
Care to join in?
THANKS!
A final comment and thanks to UNYMets member Lenny Hass for
“pushing” us to bring our Met and to the UNYMets group [Len, Kathy,
Georgette and Lenny] for allowing us to join their caravan to the show.
It gave us the confidence to point our Met towards Macungie.
We all made it down and back safely!
Help such as this is exactly why individuals should join and
participate in clubs such as the Metropolitan Owners Club of North
America [MOCNA] and chapters like the Upstate New York Metropolitan
Club. Again, THANKS!
Tom, Nancy and Mardi Trencansky
Dryden,
NY
[August 7, 2006]
publicity@nycarclubs.com
The Upstate New York
Metropolitan Club has a new website
devoted to all things Metropolitan on the internet.
www.nycarclubs.com/unymets
For more information and links,
check out www.newyorkrailroads.com
and www.nycarclubs.com. [updated
8-7-07]
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