mikespeed35

This is what an Auburn that has been driven looks like…. I was told that the reason the L29’S are so clean on the front is that the bugs can fly out of the way. Not so, with and Auburn speedster! Ethanol Fuel production plant in IL. Another car on a pole. Love these vintage barns! This morning we traveled from Kansas City to Canton, IL. It was a beautiful day. Most of the day the temperature was in the mid 70’s, the sun was shining and we traveled along the secondary roads. We are nearing the end of our tour, we should be home tomorrow.

Because the computer service was so slow last night, I did not post the day’s photos; therefore I added them to today’s post. There are many huge grain elevators in this part of the country. This is not a photo of the largest! It is interesting how these vehicles got up here. There were many areas with interesting geological formations. As we were driving yesterday, Mike noticed the reflection in the speedometer and thought it made a cool picture. Today we drove to Kansas City, and we visited a couple of good friends. The temperature is in the 90’s today.

We were told the plane was a Beech 18 military trainer. It was owned by a crop dusting company , the owner is planning to restore it. Kudos to all of you that guessed! We traveled to Enid and visited with friends there. They showed us their car collection, gave us a tour of the town and took us for a fabulous lunch. We ended the day in Winfield, KS. Tonight was wash day for car and clothes. The computer server is very slow, so my post will be short tonight. (no Photos tonight) The Auburn cruises at 60 very comfortably. We usual stop and take a break every hour or so, not for the car but for the passengers. We are from Hudsonville, MI near Grand Rapids.

We saw a huge variety of scenery today. We continued through the mountains and the most remainder of the scenic loop around Taos, then continued east through the farmlands of New Mexico into Texas and finally into Oklahoma. There were oil and natural gas compression wells, cattle lots and dairies, huge irrigation rigs, and a variety of crop farming. Many of the irrigation rigs were 18 to 20 sections long. They were drilling at least four new oil wells along the route. We saw crop dusting planes, and numerous cattle ranches. One dairy had 17 tanker trucks and went for miles. They were constructing some new dairy barns. We saw a variety of different crop farms. They were already bailing the first cutting of hay. We drove for miles without seeing a town and had to be very careful to get gas and bathroom breaks when available. Coincidentally we stopped a one of the same towns for lunch as we did on the way here, and stopped at the same Subway. The weather change is drastic. Last night’s low was 26 and tonight’s low is supposed to be 64. This morning there were ice crystals on the car cover. By noon we had shed our coats. Tommorrow’s high is supposed to be 96. I have included a picture of a plane that we saw today; Can you identify the plane? We will give the answer tomorrow. We drove by a couple of windmill farms as well as a windmill museum. One of the windmill farms was close to the road and we were able to get close up pictures and could hear the hum of the blades. Our stop for the night is in Woodward, OK. This is one of the towns that was hit by a tornado about a week ago. There were six people killed in it. We will be driving by the damage tomorrow on our way out of town.

We left Santa Fe around 9:30 this morning after saying our goodbyes. We traveled north to Taos, NM. There were many familiar sites for most of the morning, adobe houses, coyote fences, and the camel mountains. As we neared Taos, there were increasing artist’s galleries and casinos. We traveled on winding, mountainous roads. Once in Taos we asked some locals at lunch what there was to do. They directed us to the nearby plaza where we shopped for a little while. We returned to our parking lot to be shoed away from our car by the guard, who wasn’t aware it was our car he was watching. After thanking us for parking there and attracting customers for him, he gave us a map and directed us to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge (called the Bridge to Nowhere when it was built in 1965, because there was not enough funding to continue the road on the other side). This bridge is 650’ above the Rio Grande and 1200’ across. There were street vendors parked to the side of the road. It was just like a little Hershey, only they were selling Indian Jewelry instead of car parts, we negotiated for a lesser price just like Hershey. We back tracked to Taos under angry skies, and decided to take the Enchanted Circle to the east. As we climbed and wound through the mountains, we were rained on and the temperature got drastically colder, but we continued without putting the top up. We finally approached a hotel at Eagles Nest Lake and decided we should stop for the night. There was a car at the hotel, but the door was locked, but there was a sign that said to ring the bell. We are the only ones staying at the hotel other than the attendant. (and he just left) We then backtracked to find a restaurant; that was closed as well. We saw a pizza sign and decided that would do. We entered the small restaurant, another couple was sitting at a table and there was one other table left so we sat there. The owner took our order and talked to us continuously while making our order. She let us know that the temperature drops drastically at night here in the mountains and that it would probably be in the mid twenties tonight…so Mike drained the radiator into the hotel wastebaskets as soon as we returned to our hotel. She also let us know that if we had continued to the next town we would have been at a much lower elevation and won’t have froze.

We had breakfast this morning at Tecolote Café followed by a drive into Santa Fe, parking around the square at the plaza. Several of us went on a guided bus tour of the city showing us the Historical buildings and the art district along with some contemporary homes. Lunch was at a highly recommended café, followed by some serious shopping. Limited space does not always limit shopping: most will ship. Watching my friend negotiate the price down on the treasures we found, was a real education. We walked to the Georgia O’Keefe Museum. By the time we were finished looking through the museum, all the cars had left the square. We drove back to the hotel and got ready for a trip to a private residence and the Country Club for our banquet. The guest of honor was Denise Mc Cluggage of early auto racing and journalism (Auto Week) fame. She spoke about some of her experiences in racing. On the way home, one of the cars ran out of gas, and our gracious hosts helped us get them back by siphoning gas out of one of their cars and bringing it back to us! Then, they lead us back to the hotel. We continued the evening in the hospitality suite, recalling fond memories of the day and biding each other farewell.

It great weather for today’s tour, which lead us to Bandelier National Monument with a boxed lunch. We continued to the Bradbury Museum and Los Alamos National Laboratory. There are six cars on tour, two Auburns , one L29 Cord and three 810 Cords, the remainder of the group is following driving modern. The oldest car on tour is a 1930 L29Cord. There are 2 speedsters, a 1931 speedster, and our 1935 speedster. It is an awesome looking parade going down the road.

It was a shopping day today. First, we went to Walmart. My poison ivy needs another dose of meds. So I went to check if I needed a new prescription or if they could get mine from home. After that was in motion we went to downtown Santa Fe and checked out the market place. When our time ran out at the meter, our shopping ran out. We scooted back to Walmart picked up the prescription and had lunch. We decided to check out our hotel to see if anyone else was in town yet. There were three Cords sitting with their hoods up in the parking lot, so we parked the car and joined the sidewalk mechanics. The meet gets underway late this afternoon, but it is pretty much a free day. The women are shopping and the guys are out telling stories. Bill Hummel tried out the fit of the Auburn, so I guess that will be his next acquisition….

I believe we are scheduled to park at the mall you are referring to.

We left around 8 AM this morning, continuing southwest . We stopped in a small town in OK for lunch at a Subway. A couple of guys from the neighboring business invited us to look at their cars. It was a nice break from a long boring drive , with straight roads, mainly flat land and nothing to see for miles. About the only things to see were us and the windmills. It was necessary to make sure we got gas and bathroom stops when they were available. We took US25 along the east side of the mountains to avoid the really steep grades. Snow capped mountains could be seen in a distance as we drove toward Santa Fe. We have arrived at our destination.

We drove on 160 until it ended at Coldwater, KS. The landscape changed from farming to mesas to rolling hills and farmland again. At Coldwater, we drove north and stopped at Greensburg, KS. for lunch. The town was almost totally destroyed by a tornado in 2009 and has quickly been rebuilt. There are several windmills leading into town and many nice new buildings where business is flourishing. There are large areas where you do not see a house for miles. Today, we have had several areas where traffic was halted for road construction. They were repaving large areas of highway and had only one lane open for traffic. Traffic alternated, taking turns on the lane that was open. There was not a cloud in the sky and the weather was cool. After lunch we continued southwest on 56 to Liberty, KS. There were a couple more areas of road construction. Because of the long expanse for travel, the construction sites had their own asphalt making facilities near the sites. We ended early today. It’s wash day for both the car and our clothes. In the 250 miles that we traveled today we did not see one fast food place!

Our attempts to navigate and miss the storms were successful. It was around 60 degrees when we took off this morning and didn’t get much warmer. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day for traveling. We are still directing our Garmin point to point to travel on secondary roads. We traveled many straight roads with little traffic. I have attached a couple of signs that we saw today; we especially enjoyed the flying manure spreader. We stopped at Walmart for lunch. A young man came excitedly up to our car. He was looking at the side pipes and said, “It reminded him of a car “Oh, I can’t think of the name of it”. What was it that it reminded him of? No, not a Cord or Duesenberg ....” An Excaliber, but yours is nice too! “We ended the day early, with a stop at Auburn Cord Parts, Inc. in Wellington, KS., and we had dinner with friends there. The local newspaper interviewed us and took pictures of the car. Repeatedly, we have been asked about the car, “What is it.” “Is it a Jaguar or a Rolls Royce.” Is that German? Most people have never heard of an Auburn, so we have been passing out lots of our cards and trying to educating the public.

Mike was talking to a young girl that worked at the hotel this morning. She like the car and said “If that car were a person, it would be Marilyn Monroe.” Thought that was very astute and appropriate! The sky was overcast but the rain and storms appeared to be far enough west that we began today’s journey with the top down. We drove west on 60 but wanting to avoid the divided highways we began programming the Garmin for specific towns. This made it possible for us to drive secondary roads and wander through the Ozarks. The roses, peonies and azaleas are in full bloom. There were tree canopy covered roads and sweet little car lots. We especially thought this VW was an interesting little car. Mike thought it looked like a friend of Johnny Cash might have owned it. We didn’t get rain until 2:30 pm. It was just a sprinkle but we pulled into a shade covered street and put up the top. By the time we got the top up, the rain was stopping, but before long we had plenty of rain. It was never so bad that we needed the side curtains. We stopped early tonight, Had dinner at Lambert’s again and found a hotel.

The trip in the L29 was 3 years ago. Last year we drove this Auburn from MI to FL to CA and back home to MI about 9600 miles. The Auburn has radial tires and a much smoother easier ride. The Auburn is faster (about 5 MPH) and more modern, in a time period where many innovations were being made rapidly. The gears are synchronized in the Auburn, and it has a 2 speed rear end, making the mountains easier but the L29 windows roll up and the top is easier to put up. It is easier to see out of the L29 when the weather is inclement and the top is up. There is much less room in the Auburn for packing because we removed the rumbleseat cushions when we took the L29. The L29 got a lot of looks because the color and style is so beautiful. It seems like the women like the speedster better, and often say I don't know cars, but the styling of that car is WOW!

Here are the photos to go with today's post 4/14/12

It rained during the night, and was in the low 60’s this morning. We left around 9:30 this morning, traveling south toward Hayti, MO. It was cloudy and threatening rain, the top was up. As we continued to the south, the weather continues to warm. We saw many oil rigs pumping away, thought this hit and miss powered one was unique. We stopped for lunch at Subway in southern IN. It was a car show in the parking lot, then a car show in the gas station. Just after we crossed into IL we saw this “Grocery Getter” and thought it was a must have. We had almost decided to take the top down, but the sky darkened and we decided to wait. A few drops of rain fell, but no downpour. The temperature creept up to the low 80’s and around 2 PM, we stopped at a Burger King for a bathroom break; it was time to put the top down. Not long after that we crossed the bridge to Cape Girardeau, MO. We decided to take the river walk and examine the murals along the sea wall. It is interesting to see all the Historic people from the area. We continued south and stopped at Sikeston, MO. Dinner was at Lambert’s, “Home of throwed rolls”. We are concerned about the weather ahead, and are watching the forecast to plan our trip for tomorrow.

Mike and I are driving our 35 Auburn Speedster from MI to Santa Fe, NM. for an ACD meet to be held there. I will try to post daily to give you an update on our travels. We waited until 9 a.m. this morning (4/13/12) to leave, (in hopes that it would warm up), for Santa Fe in the Auburn. The top was down but it was cold about high 40’s. Since tornados and thunderstorms appeared to be in a line west of IN. We decided to set the Garmin on a path toward Cape Girardeau and checked no highways. We followed “Sofie”, our Garmin, as she lead us south through MI. and on to Terra Haute, IN. The weather warmed ,and we were beginning to peel off a few layers by noon. We have traveled many of these roads on other tours so it was familiar territory. We stopped to take a couple pictures. The first picture is combine on a pole. (we didn’t see any cars on poles) the second is the fair barn where we stopped to put the top up when it began to sprinkle. It didn’t rain hard but it was still (low 60’s) cold and we didn’t want to get caught in a sudden shower. We are still very concerned about the tornadoes and storms so we will continue south toward Memphis before turning west.

1935 Auburns had metal covers both front and rear with grease points. CORDially Mike

Is there a list of the winners of National awards on the site some where? CORDially Mike