As I've always said, the Driftwood parade is probably the shortest parade we do next to McDade or possibly Manor.  However, that doesn't diminish from what a good time we have.

Danny and Madison both trailered their M37's over to the Albertsons at the "Y" in Oak Hill and were unloading about the time I pulled into the parking lot driving my M38A1.  Within a few minutes, Herb showed up in his '44 GPW.  After a few minutes, we had a crowd gathered with people coming over asking what kind of vehicles we had, where we got them etc.  Then my dad arrived and the party was almost complete.  About 7:45am, Rory driving his Unimog and Jeff L driving his M35A2 arrived and now were were ready to make the trek to Driftwood.

Promptly at 8:00am, the six of us headed out with the 'crunchies' as Rory calls them, leading the pack, followed by the pair of M37's and then the big trucks picking up the rear.  We hopped on 290W for a few miles then hit Camp Ben McCullough road for the 15 mile or so trip through the hill country.

The drive was uneventful except for the one vehicle that sometime during the night prior to our passing has failed to negotiate a curve and skidded into the trees where the car still rested.  The temperatures were cool, and the sun shining.

We arrived at the pre-staging area and immediately were bombarded by people asking all sorts of questions about the vehicles.  After a bit, John K and his two daughters arrived with John pulling his '45 MB.  At 8:45 we took our assigned spot of #14 and waited.  Dan W, a local Driftwood photographer joined our group dressed in a gliders uniform and a Cushman scooter that was very nice.  A teenager came up to Jeff and Rory and all but begged for a ride in the parade and Jeff was more than happy to accommodate.  The usual compliment of politicians were there along with a fair number of other entries.  Much more than in years past were present.

About 9:30 the parade started and we drove the whopping 1000 or so yards where we were instructed to turn into the arts and crafts area and setup a static display on the new blacktop.  Well, the guy who was supposed to direct us didn't so we followed the rest of the participants and wound up in a large field trying to navigate the POV crunchies.  We all made it safe and the best part was, we had an egress route.

About a half hour later, we were marshalled out of the the field and setup camp where we should have been in the first place.  There wasn't a lot of foot traffic for us, but we all hung around and had a good time anyway.  About noon, we loaded up and departed for the Salt Lick in Driftwood.  What a sight to have all our military vehicles parked in their parking lot.

As we all went in, the aroma was overwhelming.  We were promptly seated at a table too small for our group, then very shortly moved to a much larger table.  Drink orders were placed and then food orders and before we knew it, the food had arrived.  What a FEAST!  We all chowed down on some of the best BBQ around central Texas.  We all also agreed that next year we could just meet at the "Y" and drive to the Salt Lick for lunch and just skip the parade.  Naw.....  we'll probably do the parade, but the Salt Lick will for sure be a part of the day.

With our bellies full, we made our way back to the vehicles which were just as we left them.  The good-byes were said and we all departed for our home bases.