So I wake up this morning all excited to head over to Hamilton, Montana to attend the gunshow there and do the gunshops north of there.
Its 130 miles each way and as I peek out my window I see its snowing!
Hard!
And it was just 80 degrees here two days ago.
Oh well.
I shift my gear from my high mileage car to my 4x4 VarmintMobile and head out at 9:30 A.M. and its now snowing harder.
65 miles later I arrive at the tiny town of Wisdom, Montana (elevation 6,000'+!) and its still snowing - and its cold.
This is all very welcome because there are 40 some wildfires in western Montana still active.
Anyway I am two blocks away from town central and the only gas station for over 65 miles in any direction comes in to view.
What do I see but 21 (twenty one!) Cobras - not the snake animals but the high performance race cars from the mid 1960's!
I am astounded - I mean how did they get there without four wheel drive, how many have been wrecked on their way to this remote, forlorn and now snowed in tiny corner of the world?
All the cars are either in line to gas up or just in front of the station aimed west (the direction I am headed).
All the Cobras have California license plates and all the Cobras but one have a man driving and a woman passenger!
The other Cobra only has a man in it and a cover over the passengers seat.
I am dumbfounded, maybe incredulous is a better description.
I wheel the VarmintMobile over to the curb and turn off my Cummins diesel engine.
I roll down my window and the sound coming from the eight or ten Cobras running and revving then was erotic, mesmerizing and amazing!
I still could not believe what I am seeing and exit the VarmintMobile to see what I can see up close.
Cobras are roaring and squealing tires and peeling out and jockeying for position at the tiny two pump gas station.
Many of the women are inside a small store buying coffee and warming their hands and faces.
If you are not familiar with Cobras (and I am NO expert!) they are convertibles - or should I say open cockpitted cars with NO roof capabilities - at least NONE of these Cobras had tops!
Its still snowing and I assume these folks are out for some kind of road trip/tour and things weather wise have gone wrong, REALLY WRONG!
There is no where in this tiny burg to get a Cobra under cover unless they drive to a barn or something like that.
I just can not imagine what these folks are gonna do in this snow storm?
I am on a time schedule to be in Hamilton for the show at 1:00 P.M. for the door opening so I must leave despite the amazing allure of nearly two dozen beautiful cars with engines making such a sublime and captivating roaring chorus - I just did not want to leave.
But alas I did and as I am loading up so it seems are most of the Cobras and their now bundled up to the max occupants!
I head out on the long west bound stretch of the Bighole Valley with visibility at no more than half a mile - when I get about 5 miles west of Wisdom I see in my rear view mirror a line of Cobras coming up behind me.
Wowsers I say, these folks are now heading for two high Rocky Mountain passes (one is 7,420 feet high!) in a snow storm, in convertible cars, without four wheel drive and they are doing so at about 70 miles per hour!
I decide to pull over and let them pass at a long pullout near the Bighole Battlefield - I also decide to renew my love of the sound of these cars by shutting down the diesel again and rolling down my window.
It was worth it - it was so cool!
15 (fifteen) Cobras pass me by and the sound was just mesmerizing!
I notice as I am counting them that 13 out of the 15 Cobras to pass me, at speed, have their hoods ajar (not fully closed at the rear but maybe two inches ajar)?
A sixteenth Cobra pulls in behind me and I watch the driver get out and close down the hood on his California plated Cobra (personalized plate "REAL 65").
I am watching him from two hundred yards distant and he jumps back into his ultra cool ride and on that perfectly flat stretch of highway covered with slush this fella puts the hammer down!
I mean his rig was squalling and he hit second gear just before he got to me and incredulously he power shifted into third gear with barely a fishtail as he went out of sight!
I started crying and coming at the same time - it was THE coolest thing I have seen in about 50 years - WOW.
Well I wait several minutes and no more Cobras come from the east to catch up with their friends heading west.
I decide to head out and on up to Chief Joseph Pass and watch for Cobra cars in the burrow pits and willows.
I am literally trembling from the excitement and the cold and watching all the way for distressed Californians - alas and thankfully I saw nary an off road sports car or driver.
Once over Chief Joseph pass and on down to Lost trail Pass I was getting control of myself and wondered which direction the now most certainly numb tourists may have gone - south to Salmon, Idaho and Sun Valley or North to Missoula.
If I would have come across them again I would have thanked each and every one of them for the show and wished them safe travels in their expensive rides.
WOW what a happening.
And me with NO camera along.
I will have some high performance dreams tonight I am sure.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy