We set out on this hot humid Sunday for Cruisin Hines 2018, a local classic car cruise and show. We’ve missed the last few years and decided to go through and see how it’s grown.
For my dear blogger friends outside Michigan, Edward Hines Drive, affectionately known as “Hines” is an approximate 20 mile stretch of parkway that runs along the Rouge River. I grew up walking distance from this park, and have tons of memories riding bikes along the shoulder (before the bike path!) and playing in the woods along the river.
So we packed a cooler full of bottled water (into the 90s on this god awful humid day) gathered up all my photo and video equipment, hopped in the Impala and headed out.
This year, there was only one entrance for cruisers, in Dearborn at the east entrance to Hines. I was also happy to see that they limit the cruise to vehicles 25 years and older, not like the mayhem of the Woodward Dream Cruise a few weeks earlier. We sat in traffic a bit, which was to be expected, but it got moving pretty quick.
What a ball! I was so glad we came and braved the heat and humidity. It was especially awesome because it brought back memories of what Hines used to be. Back in the mid 80s (and before, but I’m only referring to my memories here), Hines would be HOPPING in the summer. On a beautiful summer day, cars were lined up on both sides of the road, blankets out, coolers out, people walking, playing frisbee, hacky sack, Van Halen blasting from our state of the art boomboxes, the smell of smoke and tanning oil in the air.
I remember on many an occasion I’d wake up to a blue sky with puffy clouds and immediately call my best friend. “Hines!” was all we needed to say. We’d hop in her car or mine and off we’d go. Guys and girls would meet, and I know at least one of my friends met her husband there.
That’s what today was like, a step back in time to a summer where things were so much less complicated. Those days are gone but at least we have this annual cruise to remind of us of Hines in its hey day, because that is just what it was like. People in lawn chairs, EZ Ups, grilling, blankets out, kids playing. And for that I’m grateful.
We drove the entire length of the five mile stretch they had reserved for the cruise (all entrances in between closed) turned at the end and went back before parking to get out for a bit. We walked down a ways to some celebrity cars that we saw parked.
Bill is a huge Monkees fan, so I was SO happy to be able to get close ups of the car.
There were several others parked together.
And my day was MADE when I saw Christine.
After these close ups, I climbed the hill by the overpass to get another angle of the roadway below. I saw several folks on the overpasses as we went by, and the view was great! I’ll also have video up soon on my YouTube channel.
We never did catch up with our friends, but I was lucky to be watching from the overpass as they cruised under in their dune buggy!
What a great day. Next year we’ll be more prepared to make a day of it and stay longer. Kudos to everyone that made this happen!
Awesome! We drove by last night and saw a couple cars driving down merriman & then remembered it was cruise day! I’ve seen a couple of those up close when we had an oldie Car Show at my work ~ very cool! Nice post!!
Thanks for reading! I’m so glad we went.. Looking forward to next year!
Thanks for writing about our event. Always a pleasure to see how people love the event. We are always working to make it as good as we can.
Thank you Don! And apologies for the delay in response. My blog has gone through a bit of a hiatus. Looking forward to the next cruise!