A Gathering of Gearheads

According to the Urban Dictionary, a gearhead is a person who is very knowledgeable about how to modify and fix vehicles. This past weekend Tim and I, plus hundreds of other car enthusiasts, were at the Auto Fest, a gearhead's version of paradise, held semi-annually in Lakeland, FL.

A rally with other Provost owners drew us here. Otherwise, I'm not sure we would have learned of this event. But it was wonderful to meet other owners who graciously shared their experiences and expertise with us. Maybe one day we'll qualify as gearheads, too.  Ha!  That would be a real stretch for me!

Auto Fest is a combination car show,

automotive flea market 

and an auction.  

There were vintage cars, 

luxury cars,

celebrity cars, 

Tom Wopat, star of The Dukes of Hazard television show signed autographs.

classic cars 

and cars that are now defunct. 

Two airplane hangers acted as the prep areas where potential buyers could kick the tires, raise car hoods, check out engines and even climb behind the wheel of the car they hoped to acquire.

But it was in the third hanger where the real action took place.  There the auctioneer's patter between the current bid and the asking price to outbid mixed together in a chant that sounded very like the rat-ta-tat-tat of an assault weapon.  

Spotting the raised hand/finger/eyebrow of a bidder, his ringmen added their own banshee cries to the pandemonium.  I found it so mesmerizing to watch that I had to sit on my hands to keep from entering the fray.

Elsewhere on the grounds were vendors who displayed hub caps, steering wheels, bucket seats, custom rims and every possible gear and lever known to man.  

There were vintage road signs

and signs that appealed to a very discriminating fan; 

Traffic lights that a crafty person could repurpose   

and wheels that have already been recycled as one-of-a-kind clocks.

There was something to please even the most bored wife.

Our son Richard and his friend Montana flew down from DC to join us for the weekend.  

Richard found a Ferrari that I feared he would buy, but even he agreed that his bank account could not afford it.  Still, it was worth an extended look. 

But the only gears we purchased Saturday were the gyros ("Gyear-ose" or is it pronounced "Gy-row" as in gyroscope?) we bought for our lunch.  

The Wright School

"Which college should I attend?"  That's a question that has many seniors tied up in knots as the end of their high school days draws near. They're concerned that they make it into the right school. 

What isn't on the favored college list of most seniors is Florida Southern College, a Methodist-affiliated school of approximately 2,800 students in Lakeland, FL.  Yet, it is the Wright school--the school that noted American architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed.  

This weekend Tim and I are in Lakeland for Auto Fest, a show of vintage and classic automobiles. At least Tim is here for the car show. I'm more interested in spending time with Patty, a friend from my college days who now resides in Lakeland. And what could be more right for two college buddies than to check out the Wright campus! 

Florida Southern College boasts the largest collection of Wright's work in the world. Between 1938 and 1958, twelve of the college's structures were built from Wright's designs and under his guidance.  The 13th building, the Usonian House, was completed according to Wright's blueprints in 2013.  

We knew we were in the Wright place when we saw so many of his signature features in the buildings: 

Stained glass made up of squares and elongated rectangles,

The Annie Pfeiffer Chapel

Cantilevered wings that give the impression the building is about to take flight,

Compression and release where narrow entrances with extremely low ceilings make you feel squeezed and slightly uncomfortable before you move into the main room,

Light boxes that flood interiors with sunlight,

Colored glass chips embedded in walls,

Geometric shapes like circles and triangles,

And curves--lots of curves!

The Thad Buckner Building

The Thad Buckner Building was once the E. T. Roux Library.  It still contains the original curved desks of the reading room.  Positioning linear book shelves within its circular confines must have been challenging for the librarians.

In addition to the Annie Pfeiffer Chapel shown above, there's also a small chapel on campus named the William H. Danforth Chapel. 

That made us think of our alma mater, Kansas State University, because its campus, too, has a Danforth Chapel built with funds from The William H. Danforth Foundation. 

We felt Wright at home!