TooTer Run to Edenton, North Carolina

By Fran Manno

	The TooTer Gang
Bruce and Bob enjoy a stroll	Mike and JoAnn's new home on the river	Mike Searching for Food

The faint-hearted stayed home on Saturday June 7 as 8 intrepid (or foolish) souls met at the Angry Chef in the blazing morning heat for the season’s first Tooter Run to the quaint bayside town of Edenton NC.  We set off with Mike “I know the scenic route” Jones with Joann providing adult supervision. The followers were myself in the TR6, Rick and Karen Overbaugh in the sturdy Volvo P544, Dale Morgan in the Tweety Bird yellow TR6 and the twins Bob Ross and Bruce Jordan (in matching Clay Aiken tshirts) in Bruce’s 2nd new Lotus Elise.

I made 2 calls prior to leaving The Angry Chef. Bernie Imdahl had emailed me throughout the week that he was going to bring his red MGB to the Tooter Run and give us a show of class. I told him that would be fine – I didn’t think the others would mind too bad if we made the trip in 3rd gear so he could keep up.  He had not appeared by the departure time so I called him on his cell. The reception was bad but I caught the following phrases “yellow MG”, “Frank Linse” and “getting my legs waxed”. I tried to put the complete picture together but grew faint and stopped.

I also called President Marty because you can always count on Marty to appear for these events. I reached him at home. He reminded me that he told me at the meeting on Thursday that his development was having a community wide yard sale and he wanted to take the opportunity to get rid of some junk. He was pretty excited – he expected his complete collection of “Breakback Mountain Action Figures” to bring top dollar. I wished him luck with that.

We picked up RT 168 and headed toward the Outer Banks. From there we turned east and came into Elizabeth City from the west.  As we were motoring down RT 158 through the wilds of Currituck County I couldn’t help but notice that A lot of drivers were waving to Rick and he was waving back. At one point he fell quite a ways behind. We pulled into a gas station and waited. Rick and the others showed up after several minutes of patient waiting on the part of myself and Mike and Joann. I figured that he had hit a headwind in the Volvo and been slowed down quite a bit. He explained that all the waving I had noticed was related to the Hillary bumper sticker on his Volvo. The waving stopped once he removed it.

We continued on from there. We were on a section of 4 lane divided highway and my attention had drifted. I was in the right lane and quickly realized I was overtaking something enormous. It took me a second to realize that it was a monster combine trundling down the highway in the left lane. It was almost as big as the Death Star. I quickly passed it and looked in my review mirror. Rick was in the Volvo P544 running alongside of it, and running along side of it some more. They ran down the highway side by side for a mile or two. Finally, I could see Rick doing a victory pump with his arm as he slowly pulled away beaming like he had just won the Indy 500. I didn’t have the heart to tell him later that the combine had his left turn signal on and was downshifting to make the turn.
From there we motored on to Edenton uneventfully until Mike Jones “Pulled a Bob Bohannon” We are heading down the main road into Edenton. We see a highway sign – downtown Edenton straight ahead. We saw another highway sign “Waterfront and downtown Edenton” straight ahead. At this point Mike Jones, our designated leader, makes a left turn. Everyone faithfully follows. My mind is replaying the scene from the last Tooter Run in which Bob Bohannon merrily passed the sign that indicated RT 199 Williamsburg and led us into the main gate of Camp Peary. After several blocks of diminishing signs of civilization Mike realized his mistake, no doubt helped by a hearty elbow from Joann. At that point we turned around and made it to the waterfront.

We parked downtown on the waterfront. The heat was incredible. The next day we learned that a record in Norfolk from the 1890s had been broken by the 101+ degrees. The group buttoned up the cars and meandered towards the shops. The plan, such as it was, called for the group to tour the shops and then meet for lunch. The heat quickly changed that. Part of the group immediately peeled off and found the first air-conditioned restaurant. Lunch at Chero’s was excellent. Cold drinks were wolfed down and all the lunches were excellent.

After lunch I tried again to rally the group to look at the shops. We realized the futility of the effort after walking almost 2 blocks and not finding a single worthwhile shop open. At that point everyone was ready to head home and get some relief from the heat.

The return trip was uneventful. All the cars held up well and there were no mechanical problems.  I had convinced Dale to put his ½ sandwich in my cooler to keep it out of the heat and that we would stop somewhere in Chesapeake for a sandwich turnover before heading our separate ways. I led this time. Mike Jones said he had to be last because we was going to smoke a cigar on the way home. That made as much sense as my conversation with Bernie but I didn’t argue.

We were on the RT17 bypass heading north when Mike passed me to take the lead. I guess he was finished with the cigar. Anyway after 2-3 miles he peeled off at an unanticipated exit. I followed. The twins followed in the Lotus while Dale and the Overbaughs continued straight on RT17. Someone was honking. Then I realized it was Dale. He wanted his half sandwich. I continued on since I had no idea where Mike was leading us. I figured Dale would get over his sandwich.

All in all it was a nice run in spite of the heat.

Author’s note: Some of the events described in this article actually did happen. Other events are the product of my fertile imagination. 

Next Tooter Run – July to Onancock, the prettiest town on the Eastern Shore. One can only wonder what events will transpire – real or imagined when Triumphs cross the 18 mile long Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Will the same number that go into the tunnel come out? Will Bernie wear shorts so we can see if he really did get his legs waxed. Will Rick bring the trusty Volvo or the paragon of reliability GT6 that he restored? Will Dale ever trust me with his half sandwich again? Will someone else want to write up the article or I will continue to slander and undermine reputations for another month. Stay tuned.

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Updated July 7th, 2008