Cruise Night

(This was originally published July 5, 2008 at cybereconomics.blogspot.com)

July 5 was Cruise Night in Rensselaer, one of the events I have on my list of “Things to Do in the Rensselaer Area.” (See the Alternative for item 4.)

I wondered if there would be fewer cars driving the loop this year because of higher gas prices, and if there would be fewer spectators. People come from the surrounding towns, and with gas prices higher, attendance is more expensive. Nationally there are fewer miles being driven, though only by a couple percent from last year to this year. (You can find the data from http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/tvtw/tvtpage.htm.) I really could not tell if this year's event was any smaller than it had been in the past.

If only older cars cruised, there would not be many vehicles on the road. And I have always been a disappointed that there are not more really old cars. Now an old car is considered something 1975 and older. I once owned cars that would now be antiques.

If you were not there, here is a bit of what you missed.


The motorcycle shown above stood out.
Below is a shot of the crowd by the strip mall shopping center.

This blue vehicle was one of the older cars.


Here were a couple of vehicles that actually looked like they belonged in the parade:

This one was oddest of all. At first it just looks like an ordinary pickup truck. But look carefully at the people inside. Someone has reversed the seats and the steering wheel, so the front is now back and the back is now front. At first I thought it was a truck backing up, but it was not. I do not think this would be very safe to drive around--it would really confuse other drivers.