On 26 October, Andrew McGinley and his wife, Beth, and son (known within the NCJOC as the “carburetor whisperer”), really outdid themselves in arranging our club’s Loudoun County Leaf Prowl.  Seventeen Jaguars (and almost thirty drivers and passengers!) met at their home in Purcellville as the starting point for a country drive through multiple towns and roads around Loudoun and neighboring counties.  We started off at the McGinley’s home, where his son and a friend took great care in arranging the parking of the cars across their front yard.  Beth treated us to homemade coffee cake, donuts and coffee, while we talked cars  until all members arrived, including a group from Maryland that drove down in a pack (I looked it up – a group of jaguars isn’t called anything more exceptional than a “group” or “pack”).  We held a short meeting where we talked about recent club activities and planned events, before loading up and heading out following Andrew’s lead (and well-documented written directions).  We drove along 57 miles through towns such as Bloomfield, Upperville, Paris, and Rectortown before making a brief stop at an antique dealer located in former railroad stop in Delaplane.  Andrew had laid out a great series of roads which allowed us to space ourselves out without getting split up, including some isolated roads that allowed us to press the pedal closer to the metal for those who desired to do so. Beth drove ahead separately to a couple of locations where she stopped to take photos and videos of the group of Jaguars as we drove past her.  It was great to see all the cars stretched out along these back roads.  After the stop, we headed out again driving across Mount Weather Road, through the government site there and along the road where a plane had crashed into the mountain in 1974.  We drove through Round Hill and ended up at Anthony’s restaurant in Purcellville, happily discovering we hadn’t lost anyone, where we had lunch and time to meet for great conversation about our cars, cars we had had, and cars we had not been able to acquire.  It was fun to drive through these small old towns, fields, and multiple wineries that my wife and I plan to visit in the future.   All in all, it was a great event, as you can see from the multiple photos posted to the website, and one which we plan to do again next year.   Thanks so much to the McGinley family for their tremendous planning!

I encourage any member to plan a similar event; it was a great social gathering and a chance for us to exercise our cars a bit more than most of us usually do.  I promise you will have help in making it successful.  If you think you can do it – give me a call and let’s get going again!  It is not too early to plan something for the Spring, and we are due for a great event or two in Maryland area too!

Check out the pictures from the event by going to the Gallery.: Gallery | NCJOC