Subj: Bedford Hills (the story)+Want stories?
Date: 6/6/00

Hi All:
I've been asked by several members, why they haven't seen my stories on the net. This is the answer. 1) If you subscribe to the Northeast, Main, and Tech list (as I do), you have more E-mails than you can shake a stick at. I did not want to add to the congestion. 2) Due to wild spontaneous out of control flame E-mails that have erupted as of late (particularly out west), I did not want to become part of the feeding frenzy. I enjoy writing stories, and a lot of you enjoy them, so this is my solution. If you are interested in receiving them, please E-mail me and I'll add you to my NSX story group list. That way those who want them will receive them; those who don't, won't have to be bothered by them. I will occasionally post them on the NE list, but most will be in my group list. If you want previous stories, let me know. Thanks, Larry

Well, NSX fans:
It was another great NSX weekend for the first annual Bedford Hills event. For me, it started with an early morning drive on Saturday to meet with Peter Mills to help plan the driving route. I am becoming a regular in the Mills' household. The last several weekends I have made the 205 mile drive from Palmyra, PA to Bedford Falls, I mean Bedford Hills (It's still "A Wonderful Life"). Although I think my frequency at their household (Sylvia is now calling their guest room, Larry's room) is driving Peter and Sylvia to consider jumping off a bridge.
I usually make my trips with a clean car. But it seams that every time I wash my car, it rains; and every time I don't, it doesn't. This trip, I anticipated wet roads from the thunderstorm that passed in the night so I didn't wash my NSX. As usual, the road dried, but there would be time to wash the dirty car before the event on Sunday. Saturday was a beautiful day. Having arrived while the Mills were running errands, I waited for their return on the deck, feeding and talking to their 19 year old cats. Before long, they arrived. We exchanged pleasantries, and started to plan the day's events. Peter and Sylvia are always happy to see me come (and really happy to see me go). Peter had a route in mind for the drive, so we went in his 97 yellow NSX-T, (top off, of coarse) to make a detailed route plan. I rode shotgun with pen/paper in hand and wrote down route numbers, mileage, and landmarks. Due to storm damage, several planned routes had to be modified. One section of road had a sharp left turn with a rusted guide rail. I tried to talk Peter into taking washable chalk and writing "Wayne, turn left NOW!", but he ignored the idea. (Something about being in charge makes you more responsible than when you are not; like me)
Upon returning to Bedford Hills Acura, I typed the route while Peter took care of other details. Later that afternoon, Miled (pronounced Me lay) called to say he would be stopping by Peter's house with his brother for a visit (He misses me, I just know it). Sylvia prepared a nice meal that we ate on the deck in the warm and then hot sun. I started to get a sunburn so I shifted my chair every once in a while to follow the shadow. Miled, on the other hand, kept shifting his chair to stay in the sun. We talked of NSX stories, past and present, and as the sun started to sink below the tree line, it was time to clean the cars for the next day's event. Miled helped me wash my car and did an excellent job cleaning the windows. Peter cleaned his engine bay and saved the rest of the cleaning for Sunday morning. Sylvia spent most of the day taking care of business so that she would be available for the drive.

Judgement Day

Peter and I were up early Sunday morning preparing our cars. Finding out that Peter was to be one of the judges for the NSX/Integra judging, I felt the proper thing was to stack the voting in my favor by helping him clean his car. This, "I'm going to be a judge", turned out to be only a clever rouge by Peter, as he had nothing to do with the judging. One topic that arose, was disturbing news explaining Sylvia's behavior. Sylvia has been riding in my NSX when we travel to track events and the like. I took it as a friendly gesture, you know, being single and all. It was nice to have friendly conversation with a female companion. Other times, she claimed the need to ride with me because riding with Peter made her nervous. This made me feel proud of my driving skills. The real truth came from Peter. Seems the lovely Sylvia has been riding with me because "my" NSX is……….Expendable!!! That's right, she gets very nervous about rocks and other debris hitting their car. But with my car, because it's expendddablllee, she not only doesn't worry about rocks, she finds the impact and following trajectory very entertaining (all the while I thought it was my clever conversation). Then visions of Sylvia in action started to race into my head. I visualized this happening. "Hey Peter, did you see the flying squirrel?" "We don't have flying squirrels Sylvia", would be the reply. "We do after Larry hits them; wee, look, there goes another one!" Sylvia denied being that insensitive about my car. She said she would let me check the car for damage before saying, "Hurry up, the other cars are leaving us behind!" (so considerate)
Event cars started to arrive at the dealership around 0945. NSXs were put in front of the dealership; Integras on the side. I stuck up my "NSX Parking" sign while cars started to file in. It was uplifting to greet long time club members and meet new, first event members. Some new members had questions about how the event would develop, about their NSX and a little anxiety about "fitting in" with such an illustrious group (ya, right). As we talked, I couldn't help from digressing back to when I joined. It was only last fall, but the outgoing personalities from people like Don Gallo, Wayne Miller, Dave Davis, Larry Bastanza, Miled, and countless others, made me feel like a long time member the first day. My first boast about the club is always the great members, followed by our VTEC marvel.
Casual conversation was followed by a demonstration from Zymol on the proper way to care for your NSX's finish. Which could have been titled, "Watch Larry G. and do the exact opposite". The demonstration was informative, and watching Chuck Bennett eat his own product reminded us it was time for lunch. Bedford Hills Acura hosted the event with food, T-shirts, and some nice contest prizes.
Finding the "REAL" judges, I proceeded to do my best to sway their thoughts. I caused white cotton like seeds to blow over everyone's car (which had zero effect on my 92 white, excuse me Miled, our 92 white). I suggested that a prize should be awarded to the best car in color groups (I had the only contest white). I followed the judges and insured them that no matter what defect they found I could fix it. Heck, I went as far as stating that there was no monetary reason why I shouldn't win the coveted jacket. My best skills had no effect on their assessment and they awarded the jacket to Joe, who had a great looking car with many mods. I thought sure my car with the highly sought after Comptech license plate frame was a shoe in. If not that, then the dents, dings, and road kill markings should have clinched it! (go figure?)

The Drive

When the time came for the drive, there was talk as to who would give the Don Gallo speech (coined after Don's River Run safety talk). The immediate reaction was; Don Gallo. Because Peter Mills was largely responsible for insuring the event happened, he gave the speech, followed by Mohit's disclaimer. When Mohit stated that this was not a NSXCA event, it caught me off guard. I looked around; they all looked liked NSXCA members; what did he mean? His point was to legally inform us that if we did something stupid on the drive, the NSXCA could not be held accountable. OK, now it made sense. I stepped out to explain what my abbreviated symbols meant on the driving directions, but most people started to head for their cars (Rodney Dangerfield has nothing on me).
I was to lead the second group of drivers with the lovely Sylvia reading the driving directions and manning the club radio. She seemed a little shy about using the radio, but the shyness went away as the drive progressed. I waited for other people to get into their cars but discovered they weren't going on the drive. I proceeded to the form up area with only one NSX and one Integra behind. Sylvia called on the radio and learned that the rest had followed Peter and were already on the route. As we followed the route, I was looking for signs (as a hunter would) that other members had passed. These signs would include the following: 1) Freshly killed animals (mostly from me), 2) Black skid marks into barriers, 3) Gravel thrown on to lawns or a dust cloud (if close), 4) Police lights flashing or in pursuit. 5) People stopped in the road frozen with that deer in the headlight stare, 6) Women and elders clutching their chest as if having a heart attack.
Seeing none of the above signs, (other than one police car, with lights flashing, traveling in the opposite direction), I became concerned that maybe I had missed a turn. Sylvia's call on the radio was unanswered (hmm). After a while the radio started to crackle and before long, voices could be recognized and the cars came into view. The club radios are fun. The banter that can be heard adds another dimension to the drive. As the caravan became separated due to traffic lights, Sylvia noticed the new leader missed a turn and radioed for them to hold up. We regrouped, with my car in the lead. As we drove through town, the conversation went something like this.
"Sylvia, where do we turn next?" "Oh, I know where we are" "Ok, but what do the directions say" " I don't need directions!" "Maybe so, but we need to follow the route so it doesn't confuse the people behind us." "I don't understand the directions!" "But I do, Read the directions!!" Then I got this "Don't get tiffy with me" look. (ieeee!) Sylvia looked at the directions again and this time they made sense. We made the correct turns and I made the rest of the trip unscathed. (whew!) We turned on to Saw Mill Pky and everyone took off like high school kids on the last day of school. The end of the drive found us at Pete's work, where he treated us with refreshments.

Thanks to Bedford Hills Acura and the Mills, a good time was had by all.
PS. Sylvia and I laughed at our tiff and thought of it as a brother/sister squabble. We continued the day as best of friends. :-)))
Larry G. & Miled's
92 Wht/Blk