Deep South Jersey Auto Rally ... Leaving Ocean City, New Jersey on 6/29/2009 following a rainout from several weeks ago.
My wife, Leslie, and I had an opportunity to participate in a road rally ... a day trip throughout Cumberland County (NJ) by car with a number of participants. We had 17 participants in 8 automobiles ... 7 convertibles and one hard top. That included 2 BMWs, 1 T-Bird, 2 Sebrings, 1 Mercedes, and 1 VW (all convertibles) and 1 Jaguar. One man drove alone because his wife was unable to attend. The rest were all couples except for 4 ladies in one larger convertible. A beautiful and informative day ... we started with a short meeting with an overview from our "rally leader," Hank Mazzoni. He briefed us on our ride overview ... 150 mile round trip and about a 6+ hour trip until an early dinner stop. It would be a very rural ride through about 35 towns and locales.
He needed a volunteer to coordinate as "the last car" in order to keep the caravan together. I received that job which was a minor responsiblity ... but would have been more difficult with 12-15 cars which would have required more coordination from both the leader and the last car driver.
We had 7 scheduled stops for bathroom breaks, some sight-seeing, and light lunch and early dinner ... but fortunately no emergency stops on this rally. We also had cell phones available for additional contact as necessary ... which were only used a couple of times between the front and back drivers.
The first 100 miles got us to our final stop ... the Centerton Inn, founded in 1706 and supposedly the oldest operating inn in New Jersey, and the second oldest continuously operating inn in the country. An ideal location, we were the first people to arrive there about 4:30-4:45 PM so we had the location to ourselves through early drinks and dinner. Located in Pittsgrove, New Jersey and as before, established in 1706, it is operated by Brian and Joanne Goode, Innkeepers. Open all year long, you can phone 856-358-3201 for reservations or visit the web-site at www.centertoninn.com
We also visited 7 or 8 historic landmarks (too detailed to mention in this blog posting), the historic community of Greenwich (NJ) founded in1701 which was once a busy port town along the Cohansey River. Leslie and I had an opportunity to take a great walk under the trees up and down the long center road of the beautiful town. Much of the ride along the New Jersey Heritage Trail took us through Cumberland County and South Jersey ... an interesting comparison between this rural area in the most densely populated state in the United States.
It provided us with an appreciation of our location, a challenge to get out and see more of what South Jersey has to offer, and an opporuntiy to participate in an interesting proces with lots of intersting people. What more can one expect from a lovely summer day!!! Dap
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