Friday morning the crew that is the Jalopy Jockeys set out on I-5 toward Chehalis, Washington for Billetproof. In my dad’s ’29 Ford Model A roadster, the 200 mile journey was windy to say the least. I felt like a flag on a flag pole. I started out with a scarf, wanting to look stylish, but it didn’t turn out so well, and I resorted to my standby: a baseball cap. *sigh* Oh well. We arrived at our motel and checked in. I quickly discovered that wifi was only available in one of the motel’s two buildings, we were staying in the one without, of course. So I decided to just wait and blog once I got back to PDX.

I’d never been to Centralia or Chehalis before. Centralia is a quaint little town with a nice, old fashioned downtown and quite a few antique shops (more on that later). Friday night we at at the Mcmenamins’ Olympic Club, and we opted out of the roller derby instead to see what we could see in the small town.

Saturday was a car filled fiesta. With live bands and hot rod merch to buy and of course loads beautiful cars to take a look at, it was fun for all. I bought some fabulous pinstriped heels for only $25.00! I also happened to bump into fellow vintage blogger Twila Jean!

My dad and I bailed out a bit early to check out some of the antique shops and we walked away with some loot, including two Starburst pieces. Most of the shops were full of “real” antiques. Meaning they had many pieces that were at least 100 years old. There was also a lovely resale shop, The Shady Lady, that also had some vintage, where I bought some jewelry. There were also some thrift stores to check out. So if you are in the Centralia area, be sure to check it all out! By late afternoon , as my dad and I were walking around the shops, we began to notice that people were heading into downtown Centralia for the cruise. It was wonderful to see all of these old cars being driven.However, some people may have had a few too many Pabsts, since a couple of people were wooping for burnouts, some did, some tried, and one car ended up breaking its rear end.

Sunday was a lot slower, and boasted a swapmeet, which wasn’t much of one, since I counted only four dealers. Because three members of our group got notices on Saturday of being trophy winners, we stuck around for the awards ceremony at 2:30. My brother was voted “Real Mill” (translation: Best Engine) by the car club The Bishops.

Around 3:00 we broke and hit the road headed back home. My brother opted out of heading back along I-5, like the rest of the group, and we took the highway heading toward 99 to take it the rest of the way home, which proved both scenic and treacherous. We ended up with a flat tire (sorry, no pics, it was serious business!) but the rest of the trip was beautiful and I snapped a few Americana shots.

We tossed around the idea of going to Speed Week at Bonneville. Which would be really fun. For that, I’ll remember the sunscreen and parasol.