For most people, a two hour drive for a car meet in the early hours of the evening sounds ridiculous, and I’ll concede that it isn’t an every week event. But sure enough, the Angry Grandpa Chrysler was snaking it’s way through the rain-soaked highways of Nashville, heading to a little storage garage a bit further south, spurred on by the promise of food, drink, cars and conversation. It might seem irrational at first, but there is a reason why I needed to leave my house at a quarter after five, knowing full well I wasn’t going to be home until after midnight.

To start, I want to make it clear: I see two different situations between a “car show” and a “car meet”. Yes, both involve cars parked and people checking them out. But a car show is kind of impersonal: it’s all about the cars, chances are high that most conversations are between strangers and tend to be question and answer limited (“Is this your car?” “Yep.”) and that’s pretty much that. A car meet, on the other hand, is smaller, more personal, isn’t always just about the cars, and is designed more for interaction than a show-and shine.

I enjoy car meets solely because of what they do: they bring people together in person and build relationships. It’s kind of like inviting your car friends over for a barbecue, but with an open invitation. And it doesn’t have to be stationary…when I lived in Arizona, we had car meets that would go on a thirty-mile drive through canyon roads to a hamburger joint in a cliffside town about once a month. With two-way radios scattered throughout the cars to make sure nobody was lost…and to make sure that anyone who was monitoring our conversations was laughing as hard as we were. Or, there was the group of Subaru owners from my time in Washington State, who would meet every Friday at a long-defunct coffee shop for food, drinks and of all things, karaoke night. I was brought in as an outsider and in short time, I became good friends with several people in the group and had a bevy of acquaintances who I could lean on if I needed to. And that’s the way things should ideally be.

So, was driving 188 miles total, through rain and some of the thickest fog I’ve seen in years worth it? Was sneaking into my house at a quarter after one in the morning so I didn’t wake my wife up a good trade-off? Absolutely. This was a bring-your-own-food kind of deal, with the caveat that you “bring enough to feed your face, and then maybe bring a little extra for those unfortunates who either cant read or can’t afford any dead of their own.” What ended up happening was that there was an awesome selection of tasty vittles fresh off of the barbecue (set up outside under an easy-up because weather in Tennessee was not cooperating one bit). Rain? Nobody gave a shit. The music and conversation from that garage poured out until I had to pack it in and leave. There were guys fixing cars in the parking lot. There was a friendly puppy sniffing around, looking for a morsel of food with those pleading eyes few can resist. There was a keg for those inclined to have a brew with beer, and most of all, the only idiot with their phone out was…me, and only to check in with my wife, who had been working all day on the house and decided that she wasn’t up to the trip herself. For anyone who bemoans the smartphone’s existence, you’ll be glad to know that usage was minimal and only for good: to try to get people to come out and enjoy the good times.

Yes, there were cars present. But the focus, for once, isn’t so much on the rolling stock, but on the people who were there. Musicians, artists, mechanics, friends, family and a cop…all in a garage having a good time together, talking, laughing, all because of the machines parked out in the rain. Will it turn into a regular event? I hope so. For what good a meet like this does for your well-being, the trip is certainly worth the drive.