Well, what can I say... words cannot express this trip, but I'll try!  It all begins when I woke up to head from NH to Southington, CT, to join John (TripleWhiteFox.com) and his '93 Triple White Feature Mustang.  Having only exchanged a few PM's and e-mails, I'd never met John in person and was quite excited to meet him for a mini-Mustang convoy to PA!  After having lunch and talking for a bit, we set out for PA together.  We were excited to see a red Foxbody Mustang GT convertible, hoping that it would join us on our journey, but a few exits later, we found it was only a short ride with another Mustang!  Continuing on in our journey, we passed a few really nice street rods and a '67 Shelby GT500 on a trailer (later to find out that he parked behind us at the event).  Since I spent some additional time in PA visiting family, in Harrisburg, John went west to Carlisle and I went south towards York.  Just before the split, we were accompanied by a black Foxbody hatchback from Ontario.  Even though it was just a few minute ride for me, I was VERY excited to be joined by another Mustang, but sad that I had to split.  Atleast John had some extra company!  Little did I know that when I went to Carlisle on Friday, just minutes after parking, who comes strolling by us in the same judging class?  Yes, the black hatch from Ontario!  It was kind of ironic.  When I purchased my TX DPS, I was originally looking for an all black hatch to trick out (my only non-stock vehicle), so I was extra excited also for that reason!  I met the owner and his girlfriend.  Both wonderful people!  Hope to see them down in the states again for some more shows!

On Friday, it was pretty much raining all day, so I spent my time socializing with a few other Limited Edition "Feature" Mustangs at their club tent.  Every person I met from that group was truly awesome!  We were exchanging stories and facts about the SSP's and Limited Edition "Feature" Mustangs.  I've been hoping for a yellow Mustang, but was unsure as to what I wanted.  After seeing a few of the '93 Canary Yellow's, I'm very tempted to find one with black interior and a 5-speed.  Thanks a lot guys!  You added another Mustang to my "Wanted List!"  It will take a bit though... need to finish paying for the SSP's to get them to top quality!  Other than that, I browsed around the vendor area and wanted to save all the good stuff for Saturday.  I met some great people over at the magazine tents, one of which has an awesome Mustang that was all custom airbrushed.  I was fortunate enough to catch up with a few of the SSMOA members and put some names with faces.  I met Bill and his '86 FHP marked, Lisa, her husband and their '93 FHP unmarked and '91 Geogia State Patrol, and a Santa Clara SSP.

On Saturday, I woke up bright and early to arrive for the festivities!  Upon arriving, I spotted Lisa's FHP unmarked SSP, so I had to take advantage of the empty parking spot next to her!  It was great to have two SSP's next to each other!  I went around, spent more time with some SSMOA members, some Limited Edition Feature club members, and a wide variety of people I met randomly by just talking about our cars. It was really muddy in many areas of the show field, one being next to the Limited Edition Feature Mustang tent.  When they finally delivered straw after almost three hours to help dry it up, we put it down and moved two yellow and a red Feature Mustang.  Although it was something we all wish had never happened, it made it look like those three ponies were playing in the hay next to the stable!  At the other side of my starting about fifteen cars up, people were almost blinded by the site of around 50+ yellow Mustangs, all which are members of the Yellow Mustang Registry.  For me, I thought I was in heaven!  Other than that, I watched some rock crawling, an awesome burnout (no pictures) and a truck tug-of-war (no pictures).  Reason for no pictures is that I forgot to take the 4GB card with me, so I only had the 1GB card and I already had a full camera!  I could go on endlessly about Saturday, but I'm not because it is simply something that you'd have to experience for yourself.  One thing I will go a little more into is the burnout contest.  It was simply awesome!  We had a great first few cars, than an old Cougar that looked like it rolled out of the junkyard, having been pieced together from several different cars.  It had a real hard time getting going, as the posi-track didn't kick in right away.  We also had a T-bird (if I recall correctly) that was last year's and this year's champion, officially nicknamed "Uncle Buck" for his amazing feat to blow two tires and a bumper!  Another close competitor was an '87-'93-style Mustang LX 5.0 convertible.  It came rolling around the corner being driven by "Chief Tomahock," as he was nicknamed for his large Indian-style hat that randomly appeared on his head after a night of drinking with his buddies.  Needless to say, his run was quite a crowd pleaser, even though he blew only one tire.  The best part... the "Chief" just purchased that car hours before in the corral (the "For Sale" section) specifically for the burnout competition!  The burnout competition ended with the 2010 Shelby Mustang GT500 Pace Car burning it up with all the lights on!

On Sunday, it was a wrap-up day.  Not much for competitions.  I didn't even win the '69 T-Bird they were giving away.  I spent some time with my sister, niece (who was one day short of being one year old), and family friends.  They wanted to see the SSP's, so I brought them around, showed them the cars, and even got to meet their owners.  Thanks again Bill for allowing the photo shoot with your car!  They were VERY excited!  Other than that, I went to leave and it took me an hour-and-a-half to pack up the car due to the continued spectators that I was talking to about my TX DPS.  That is one of the joys of owning a SSP.  Since there aren't that many of them, they are quite the conversation piece.  If you are like me and would rather bring a car to meet people than to try to win a trophy, these are really the cars to own!  All in all, I met a lot of great people and I can't wait to meet up with everyone again, whether it be at a closer-to-home car show or at Carlisle next year!

VIEW CARLISLE 2009 PHOTO GALLERY