Today marks the start of this year’s Syracuse Nationals, which is the largest Hot Rod and Vintage car show on this side of the continent (this side of the Rockies, I think). Not only does that mean 7,000 tricked-out cars and trucks and some 80,000 visitors will be in town, but this year you can go out and meet the Fonz and Shirley Feeney (that’d be Henry Winkler and Cindy Williams, for you younger folks)!

I don’t generally go to the show, but, for the next few days, our streets will be filled with some of the coolest looking vehicles you’ll ever get a chance to see. A lot of the folks stay at the Econo-Lodge a block down the road, and the street behind my house (which was once the Erie Canal, but is now Erie Boulevard) is a divided six lane road where the cars traditionally love to strut their stuff (with enough nice straight stretches in between traffic lights to do a little drag racing, which of course is discouraged by the local Carabinieri).

Oh, I know. Cars burning gas and dumping CO₂ into the atmosphere is bad for the planet and contributes to global warming and all that, but, well, these cars are pretty cool, and a lot of fun to watch. So, screw it. It’s gonna be in the 90’s today anyway; might as well go for 100.

Have a good ‘un.