I experienced something last weekend that I have never knew
existed. It was part soapbox race, part antique car show. It’s the Hershey Hill
Climb, and apparently it’s been happening for years. Older gentlemen who own
antique race cars race up a steep, windy hill to see who can make the best
time. In a word, it was LOUD!
So what in the world was Adventure Whit doing there? I was
working! I’ve done some events with a marketing company that contracts with
Lincoln Cars, and they needed help with this event—so I said to sign me up!
Basically what I was doing was just helping set up and talking to people about
Lincoln cars. We had a contest going on for people to enter a key code into one
of the cars; if the code opened the door, the person won a spa package from the
Hotel Hershey! We also had test drives going on. Anyone with a valid license
could take the car out with one of the “specialists” for a drive around the
area, and Lincoln would donate $20 for juvenile diabetes research. Works out
well for everyone!
Anyway, these race cars were something else! There were lots
of Aston Martins, Porsches, Corvettes, and LOTS of fancy cars I’d never heard
of before. I think some of them were just made up for the race. ;) Anyway, it’s
quite the challenge for all the old cars to go up this hill, but apparently
some people make a hobby of this and make their cars specifically for this type
of thing. I was just waiting for Spanky and Alfalfa to jump out of one of the
cars! The old men doing it were so funny, too. They’re just like little boys! I
liked looking at them all, but after a couple of hours, the noise and exhaust
started to get to all of us! I’m glad I got to be part of the event, though. =)
There were a few moments of excitement whenever one of the racers had an
accident. No fatalities, as far as I knew, but a couple of the cars
unfortunately had to come down on a truck and be taken away! It’s a pretty
dangerous course, even for just .7 miles up and .8 miles down.
Lots of fancy old cars were there for sale, too. I know
nothing technical about old cars, I just like to look at them. =) And there
were plenty to look at! Lots of them had very interesting stories attached to
them as well—who the owners were, what happened to them over the years, some
were stored for 70 or more years before they were uncovered. What amazes me is
that some of these cars are over 100 years old and can still run—not to mention
run uphill!
A few of my coworkers and I took a hike part way up the hill
to watch these cars take the turns—quite the feat for these cars! While we were
up there, we got to talking to some of the volunteers, and they let us know
that there was going to be a foot race the next morning. Oh boy! It’s only
about a mile and a half course, but remember that a good portion of it is
uphill! So I thought… why not?!
That evening, a bunch of us went out to supper at a place
called the Warwick Hotel and Restaurant in the next town over. I’d heard it was
good and it’s historic, so of course I was all about it! =) It’s in an old
hotel that was built in the 1790s when this was still the “frontier,” and it’s
been a restaurant and/or hotel every since! Several people have owned it,
including sports people (I know, that’s not descriptive enough for some!), so
it’s also a bit of a sports bar, too. It was an interesting mix of sorts. =)
The food was good!
And the next morning… I put on my proverbial “big girl
panties” and ran the hill climb race! After about the first .3 of a mile, I
thought to myself, “Why did I want to do this? Is this worth paying $25 and
getting a t-shirt? Do I REALLY like running enough to do this?” But by the time
I got to the top and started making my way back down, I was proud of myself! I
came in 46th out of 54 people, and I finished in about 13 minutes!
Whew. So thankful for that downhill part—and free breakfast afterward! It was a
pretty run up through the trees and back down the path, but I wouldn’t want to
do it again soon. I’ll stick with a flat course and relatively small inclines,
thanks. =)
Saturday was pretty much the same as Friday. More racing and
cool cars to see! More contests for spa packages and more test drives. Another
girl and I got to go up to the Hershey Hotel and stuff gift bags for a dinner
and event that night at the hotel. We did 350+ bags all together! We caught a
couple of snags. At one point, I got a splinter stuck UNDER my fingernail from
one of the wooden tables, and then we had to move all the bags and supplies
from one room to another (stop stuffing, move stuff, rearrange, remove
splinter, start stuffing, stop for lunch so we didn’t injure anyone around us,
etc.). We got it all done around 4! Whew.
Then it was time to wash and move cars! I’ll be glad to tell
any and everyone that it’s NICE driving or riding in a Lincoln! One of the cars
actually has back massaging seats! Of course the outsides need to look as fancy
as the insides, so my coworker Brad and I took the display cars to the Hershey
Hotel, positioned them on the special carpets with lights pointing at them,
then we realized we needed to take one of them to the car wash and do a
thorough cleaning—with less than an hour before the event was to start! So off
we went! We made sure to do the best washing cycle, then dried it by hand, then
were on our way again! It took a while to do it all and get everything
spotless, but they looked good!
Next up, supper time! Me and the guys went to a really good
place on one of the Hershey golf courses for supper, and we ate well! And then
it was back at it. We needed to wash and move more cars over from the Hill
Climb area (gravel road—so dusty!) to the Hershey Hotel for the next day’s
event. And then it was bed time. I was SO pooped!
And Sunday was the cream of the crop—the very best, very
oldest, very coolest, most expensive cars were all out on display! The earliest
I saw was from 1905. Other earlier ones may have been there, but I didn’t see
them. So many of them were gorgeous! Several had been owned by actors, a couple
were one of a kind, and others had very interesting stories behind them! One
had been left in storage for over 70 years before it was discovered and sold, and
it only had around 20,000 miles on it! My 8 year-old car has almost 80,000 on
it!
The best car, however, hands-down in my opinion, was the one
that was a twin to the car that went down on Titanic! It was in pristine condition, and it had been restored to
look exactly as it had when it was built. WOW! See the picture!
The event was fun for me, and I’m praying that I’ll get to
do more events with them this summer! =) On my way home, I stopped at a church
in Marietta, PA, for worship that night, which was exactly what I needed! I
love how the church really is a family, especially in places where churches are
so few and far between. I ate at an historic tavern called Revere Tavern in
Paradise, PA, the heart of Amish country. It was very good! I plan to go back
to Amish country at some point this year. I’ve always been intrigued by it!
And then it was time to go home! It took me about 2.5 hours,
but finally I was home and in my bed around midnight! Woohoo!
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