So I drag my sorry butt out of bed at about 4:30 this morning so I have time to get ready to go downtown for the invitation only GM get-together at the Philadelphia Auto Show. It takes quite a while to deal with the dogs in the morning so I wanted to get an early start as we had to be at the show at 7:00A.M. First order of business is to let Zora out. While he is outside I start to do my normal morning ritual which includes feeding Arkus. I want to get this done before I hop in the shower.
Well, it comes time to switch dogs and Arkus bursts through the open door with his usual lack of grace as Zora comes back in. I look down at Zora and his face is sopping wet and he is squinting his eyes looking pretty freaked out. Just as I am puzzling over this the smell hits me like WMD.
He's been skunked - badly.
The next thing I know, I'm gagging and he is rubbing his face on the rug.
OH Joy!
By now, Arkus has been outside unsupervised for way too long - he has a habit of running right through the invisible fence. I decide to risk it and leave him out there alone for a few minutes. So I grab the paper towels and try to get the worst of the mess off of Zora's face, and herd him and his food bowl into the bathroom. By this time, I know I need to rush outside to secure Arkus so I do. Thankfully he doesn't decide to take a tour of the neighborhood and I get him back inside and secured in his crate so I can let Zora out.
By now, I'm running late so I grab my suit (required for the event) and go to take a shower. When I open the bathroom door the smell hits me all over again, so I do a quick wipe down of the floor so I can shower in there.
Finally I am dressed and ready to go. I open the door and now the entire house reeks, but I have to go RIGHT NOW and I'm wearing a suit, so I was out of options. I close the door behind me and hope for the best.
Luckily, Batman GTO is waiting in the driveway and we arriive at the show with a few minutes to spare.
This is all before sunrise and I have had no coffee yet.
So we sign in and proceed to the exhibit hall, meeting GMTG74 and his wife along the way.
A buffet table of breakfast food and Coffee is set up just inside the door, but the line is long so we wander around a bit first. As we are looking at the Camaro convertible concept, I hear someone call my name. As I turn, I am very surprised to see Dave Hamburger of SLP fame standing off to the side of the Camaro.
We are having a good conversation when I feel somone grab my shoulder and say into my ear, "El Caminos Suck!". I turn to face my assailant and there is Scott Settlemire grinning at me. Got a good laugh out of that.
So we poke around the cars for a bit and eyeball the car under cover on the raised platform in the center of the Chevy area - its shape is unmistakable.
After a short time, Scott climbs the platform and gives a good talk about all that is going on in the world of GM and especially Chevrolet. He touches on the points raised in Bob Lutz' recent "thinking" speech (posted in our GM news section) and then its' time...
He gives Dave Hamburger his cue to pull the cover off of the car on the dias and there it is...
An absolutely gorgeous Magnetic Grey ZR1!
There's more to say about the ZR1, the other cars , and the show, and I did take some pics which I may wait until tomorrow to post. For now,I wanted to get this much of the story posted before the fumes from my still reeking Zora dog overcome me.