By Kathy Ahrendt

On the weekend of October 15 to 18 a group of nine CVBMC members (Ahrendt's, Guenther's, Ferguson's, Dean Sprague and guest, and Bill Baird) headed to Macon, GA to attend the Southeast MG T Register's Gathering of the Faithful. This is a gathering of MGs that is held every other year. Each year they pick a new spot in Georgia to visit and it gives us the chance to see many new areas of the south east.

While we had hoped to travel in large caravan but those plans didn't work out so the two TCs headed out on Thursday morning on our trip to Macon. After a quick breakfast stop -- it was pretty cold so we needed a warm up -- we headed down some really good MG roads through South Carolina in to Georgia.

As we cruised into the Macon area we saw a red MGA about half a mile ahead of us. We were in traffic so it wasn't possible to catch up but we did get close enough to see that they were part of our club -- The Ferguson's. Two more accounted for...

Arriving at the hotel we checked in and then headed to the GoF registration area. The theme for the weekend was Peace, Love & MG so the greeters, room and cars were decked out in 1969 "Woodstock" decor. Tie-dye shirts, mini skirts, groovy beads and lava lamps were just part of the look. The SEMGTR takes their themes seriously so the encourage participants to join in.

We had tickets for the bus tour that evening so we said bye to Guenther's and Ferguson's and joined the others on the tour busses for a sightseeing trip around Macon. We had no idea that there was so much music history in the town. The busses stopped along the way at a local pizza restaurant -- great idea by the way -- and after we finished we continued the tour. Each bus had a tour guide so we got a lot of great behind the scenes information.

On Friday morning there was an organized tour of the area around Macon. First we headed out to the Ocmulgee National Monument Park and did a grand parade of cars through the grounds. Great fun to see cars coming and going.

Then we headed off on some great back roads to Juliette, GA and a visit to the Whistle Stop Cafe. If you have ever seen the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" then you've seen the cafe. The movie was filmed here and there are lots of cute shops related to the movie to visit. Yes, part of the group did dine on the fried green tomatoes. They were declared excellent. The rest of the afternoon was spent attending the tech session, cleaning cars and spending time with old friends.

At six it was time for us to head out to the evening event "Picnic at the Big House." Dean and his guest, Dave Ault had arrived and we made our way over to the venue with all of the rest of the cars. "The Big House" is where the Allman Brothers band and their families lived in the early 1970s. It is now a museum and event space. We parked, grabbed our chairs and set up on the lawn to listen to music, indulge in sliders and a s'more station. The "Hippie garb" was in full force and the Ferguson's got an award for best hippie look.

Saturday morning was the car show. It was held in a park very close to the hotel so we had a bit of time to spiff up the cars before we drove over to the site. A very nice park with plenty of room for the cars and some shelters to go hang out in if the sun got to be too much. People had lots of time to look over the cars and vote and we were entertained by a singer (one of the SEMGTR members) who did '60s songs.

Saturday afternoon many attendees took time to explore Macon, play games in the park and relax. And to get ready for the banquet.

The Awards banquet was held in the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. We all drove over to the venue so there was quite the car show for the downtown strollers to view. Awards were handed out -- Guenther's took 2nd place in the TC class -- and then we headed downstairs to dinner and talk with some old friends. Others headed upstairs to visit the Hall of Fame exhibits and to check out the silent auction.

The trip home was a bit cool but uneventful. The kind of trip we like! We did about 700+ miles over that weekend with sunny skies and good friends... what more could you ask for.