speed

Day 34, Wednesday, May 13, 2009 We started this morning in the rain, and it continued most of the day. We began by driving Southeast to Keokuk, IO. We crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois and set the Garmin to avoid highways. I figured she would just follow 136 across to Urbana…NO! We traveled the little roads that don’t even show on the map. Occasionally, I would figure out where we were, and even though it was a pleasant drive in the right direction, we were making many turns and stops and starts. We stopped for lunch at a Subway in Havana, IL. After lunch, we decided to reset the Garmin, this time she lead us to 136 and eventually Urbana. We visited Allen Strong at possibly the worst possible time. He has several restaurants, and this is graduation weekend in Urbana. Also, he was expecting a bus tour from Chicago to stop and see his car collection, and to top it off, it rained 3” in 20 minutes, flooding his offices. Despite this, he was very gracious to meet with us, show us his collection, and treat us to sodas at his restaurant. He has some beautiful Packards, and ACD cars among others, and a great showroom to house them. After leaving Allen, we decided to drive a little further before stopping for the night. As we were driving, a car following us signaled for us to stop. He got out and talked to Mike about a box he had with water pump packings. We followed him a short distance to his home and he got a box with a bunch of different car related stuff and offered to sell the contents to Mike for $25 and a picture with Mike’s car. A deal was made! The problem was fitting it in the car. I just held onto it until we got to our hotel. We ended the night is Watseka, IL.; and we walked across the street for dinner. There is a tornado watch out for this area tonight.

Day 33, Tuesday, May 12, 2009 Today, we got a late start, we sat in the breakfast room at the hotel and talked until 10, then we went out to the parking lot and talked some more. We drove east to Creston, IA where there is a wonderfully restored old gas station. We took a few pictures and continued east, stopping at Osceola, IA. Jay and Shawn drove along with us and stopped with us for lunch. We got a little more car talk in, and then we were on our way. We drove east through most of the remainder of Iowa, stopping at Mt Pleasant, IA for the night. I can’t tell you enough what a great trip this has been. We have met and gotten to know many wonderful club members throughout. Mike has learned so much about his car and has picked up many new ideas for improvements. The hospitality everyone has shown us has been overwhelming. Mike just lubed the CV joints again. He has seen the results of insufficient lubing and doesn’t want to go there again. We have now traveled a total of 6227 miles on this trip. Totals as of 5/12/09 Gallons Gas food hotels misc 515.452 1170.68 999.84 2287.58 346.5 Overall gas mileage 12.08 mpg

Day 32, Monday, May 11, 2009 We left this morning from Holdrege, NE. It’s been a great day! The sun was shining and the road was nice and smooth, without much traffic. We passed many large farms, lots of John Deere dealerships, and huge grain coops. There was a grand old toll bridge near Plattsmouth, NE and the border of Iowa. We continued east to Red Oak. Jonathon (Jack) Richards made plans for a group of Cord enthusiasts (Jay De Young, Shawn De Bruin, Kay Fox, her daughter – Deb Brass, and her grandson Zack, Jack and his wife, Jackie Richards) to meet us at our hotel for an “L29 summit” meeting. We all sat and kicked tires, etc., had a nice dinner at the local restaurant, and rejoined back at the hotel and continued our summit. Jack shared pictures from his long association with the old car hobby and pictures of the L29 Cord his dad owned in 1933. What a nice gesture for them to drive for 3 ½ and 4 hours to meet with us! Thank you! A very special thank you to Jack for planning this and getting everything coordinated, and his suggestions for routing and things to see along the way. Tomorrow, Jay De Young and Shawn De Bruin will accompany us for part of our journey

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: speed</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Day 31, Sunday, May 10, 2009 What an exciting morning we had! First the phone rings at about 5:45 AM. It’s Grace Village, Mike’s Mom has fallen, and has a head and neck injury, and they need his OK to take her to the hospital. That’s just the start! We’re all packed up and ready to put our stuff in the car. Mike goes to start the car and it doesn’t start. This is front of an audience of onlookers. It always starts first time; so he thinks, well, either it’s flooded or it’s not getting gas. He puts up the hood, and removes the sparkplug and looks at it. Dry. Looks into the gas tank…Dry also. Out of Gas! What are the chances that you would run out of gas when you pulled in and parked at a hotel? I don’t know, but maybe that could be considered lucky? The hotel loaned him a gas can and he walked about a quarter of a mile down the street to the gas station, bought gas and put it in his tank. He discovered the car runs a lot better with gas! Of course, Blue Boy started right up and no crowd of onlookers to see! We packed up the car and we are off. It’s a cold and rainy day. We drive out of town with the mountains in our rear view mirror. As soon as we are out of town the farmland begins. There are acres and acres of grazing land or huge fields of crops, with large irrigation rigs lining both sides of the street. It’s about 80 miles between towns; most names on the map are hardly recognizable as towns, no gas, no restaurants, just a couple houses and a grain mill. We traveled on 14 to Sterling, CO., where we had lunch at McDonalds and put gas in the car. The Garmin had told us to turn before we got into town, but after our stops in town, she continued to a small street and had us turn north. I questioned what she was telling us to do, but figured the map doesn’t always tell you enough details, so we followed her on about what I think was at least a 50 mile detour …if we would have stayed on 6 as I thought we could we would have saved at least 20 miles. Oh well, scenic route! I got checking the Garmin’s programming and noticed she was programmed to avoid U turns! Oops! I had planned for a rather long day of driving, ending in Cambridge, NE. I had done a hotel search on the computer before we left, so I was sure this town had a Super 8. We got close to Cambridge, and I checked the Garmin for hotels nearby…NO. Choice was to go on east or go north to 80. Well, we continued on east to a Super 8 in Holdrege, NE. So after getting a late start due to the gas shortage, enjoying a day of “top up” weather, and adding another 40+ miles to our already long route, we are looking forward to a better day tomorrow! </div></div>

Day 31, Sunday, May 10, 2009 What an exciting morning we had! First the phone rings at about 5:45 AM. It’s Grace Village, Mike’s Mom has fallen, and has a head and neck injury, and they need his OK to take her to the hospital. That’s just the start! We’re all packed up and ready to put our stuff in the car. Mike goes to start the car and it doesn’t start. This is front of an audience of onlookers. It always starts first time; so he thinks, well, either it’s flooded or it’s not getting gas. He puts up the hood, and removes the sparkplug and looks at it. Dry. Looks into the gas tank…Dry also. Out of Gas! What are the chances that you would run out of gas when you pulled in and parked at a hotel? I don’t know, but maybe that could be considered lucky? The hotel loaned him a gas can and he walked about a quarter of a mile down the street to the gas station, bought gas and put it in his tank. He discovered the car runs a lot better with gas! Of course, Blue Boy started right up and no crowd of onlookers to see! We packed up the car and we are off. It’s a cold and rainy day. We drive out of town with the mountains in our rear view mirror. As soon as we are out of town the farmland begins. There are acres and acres of grazing land or huge fields of crops, with large irrigation rigs lining both sides of the street. It’s about 80 miles between towns; most names on the map are hardly recognizable as towns, no gas, no restaurants, just a couple houses and a grain mill. We traveled on 14 to Sterling, CO., where we had lunch at McDonalds and put gas in the car. The Garmin had told us to turn before we got into town, but after our stops in town, she continued to a small street and had us turn north. I questioned what she was telling us to do, but figured the map doesn’t always tell you enough details, so we followed her on about what I think was at least a 50 mile detour …if we would have stayed on 6 as I thought we could we would have saved at least 20 miles. Oh well, scenic route! I got checking the Garmin’s programming and noticed she was programmed to avoid U turns! I had planned for a rather long day of driving, ending in Cambridge, NE. I had done a hotel search on the computer before we left, so I was sure this town had a Super 8. We got close to Cambridge, and I checked the Garmin for hotels nearby…NO. Choice was to go on east or go north to 80. Well, we continued on east to a Super 8 in Holdrege, NE. So after getting a late start due to the gas shortage, enjoying a day of “top up” weather, and adding another 40+ miles to our already long route, we are looking forward to a better day tomorrow!

For all of those who have been checking the ACD website for the pictures posted on this tour, Bill has now updated the post for me. I have been having trouble posting on their site but hopefully that is fixed now.

Day 30, Saturday, May 9, 2009 Our plans for the remainder of the trip are as follows: Leave Fort Collins, Sunday, May 10 – destination Cambridge, NE Monday, May 11 leave Cambridge, NE – destination Red Oak, IA Tuesday, May 12 leave Red Oak, IA – destination Burlington, IA Wednesday, May 13 leave Burlington, IA – destination east of Kankakee, IL Thursday, May 14 hope to be at Warsaw, IN to visit Mike’s Mom. Friday, May 15 Plan to arrive at Auburn (ACD Museum) around noon We have made plans with Jonathan Richards to meet them for supper in Red Oak on Monday night. He is making plans with other Iowa members to meet us for a lunch stop Tuesday in route to Burlington, IA., and another stop at Peoria, IL. We have decided that we will probably go directly from Auburn to the Eastern meet. Today, we are spending some time with our daughter. She cooked for us last night. We are driving to see her work place in Longmont, CO. then we will tour Celestial Seasonings in Boulder. We have decided not to go to Estes National Park, because we plan to be back in July on a Pike’s Peak tour with the VMCCA. We plan to give both her and her boyfriend rides in the car today. Since the rumble seat is out they will have to take turns. He has to work today so his will be a later ride. One of the interesting things about this part of CO is you always know which way is West; the mountains don’t leave any question. There are swift weather changes because of the mountains. The weather has been very pleasant, not hot, but the sun is shining and we don’t need more than a sweater or long sleeved shirt. It has looked like rain was on the way, but it didn’t rain.

Day 29, Friday, May 08, 2009 We are at Fort Collins, CO. today. It was so nice to be able to relax and not have to worry about packing up and getting on the road before the sun got too hot and the traffic too heavy. Mike got up and cleaned his car. He has it parked in back of the hotel where he could work without an audience. I guess my pills are starting to kick in, I’m feeling much better today. We are going to lunch today with the President of the VMCCA and his wife, Dennis & Sue Holland. They live here in Fort Collins and we know them from a few of the tours we have been on with them. I’ve had some time to look at the remainder of our itinerary and figure we will be back in Auburn on Friday afternoon, May 15th. Mike talked to Bill Hummel; he says he will have some time this afternoon to work on fixing the ACD website and will get us up to date on the posts, and pictures. I guess that didn’t get fixed yet, I don’t see the post yet. No new pictures today; nothing to take pictures of.

It is a small world. We keep running into people everywhere we go that are from near our hometown. Hope you have a great trip in Arcadia.

Day 28, Thursday, May 8, 2009 We drove north up highway 25 to Ft. Collins today. Our plan is to stay here until Monday, then head east toward home. There is not much to tell about today. Highway traffic was nasty, especially around Denver. We stopped at Woody’s Wheels, however he was unable to true Mike’s spare. It takes specialized equipment that he did not have. We took our daughter Lori, and her boyfriend out to dinner. I’m still not feeling well. Weather is great! We didn’t take any pictures although the snow covered mountains ran to the west of us the entire distance today.

Day 27, Wednesday, May 06, 2009 Today, we drove 40 from Grants, NM to 14 (Tijeras, NM) to 25 (Sante Fe) NM to Raton, NM. I was a warm day right from the start, not a cloud in the sky. I have a lousy cold or sinus infection, and felt miserable all day. There were volcanic tunnels as we left Grants, NM. Traffic was heavy on the interstate. We did not stop to take pictures. Hwy 14 N to Sante Fe is also known as the Turquoise Trail; it was a very scenic route. We could see a snow capped mountain in a distance. Highway 25 is known as the historic Sante Fe Trail. It was full of curves and a couple of short steep climbs. We drove around 310 miles today; and would have loved to have stopped about and hour earlier, but there was no hotels. We were hot, thirsty, and tired, so that last hour seemed to drag. Raton is at an elevation of 5000 feet, and as we leave tomorrow to go north there is a steep climb to 9500 feet in 12 miles. (It didn’t show on the map). Mike lubed the Cord tonight. He could actually work on it without a group of by standers. Tomorrow we cross into Colorado. If we have time we will have the spare tire trued in Denver. I think we should be at Lori’s (our daughter in FT Collins, CO) sometime Friday. As of yesterday, we used 405.2 G of gas Total Cost of 929.19 Food expenses total 751.63 Hotel Expenses total 2119.35 Misc. expenses 291.32 Total expense after 26 days $4091.59 Miles according to odometer totals 4784 Gas milage = 11.81235 Keep in mind that a lot of this has been on steep climbs.

Day 26, Tuesday, May 05, 2009 Today we drove from Tuba City, AZ to Grants, NM. The majority of the day, we were in remote, Indian Reservations. It was a beautiful drive, much more interesting than I thought it might be. There were quite a few changes in landscape, the pavement was good, the temperature was comfortable, and there wasn’t much traffic. We really had to watch for bathroom and gas stops; but there were a few interesting stops. There were jewelry, craft, and pottery shops scattered along the way. At one of them Mike talked to the artist, while I picked out a necklace. Another stop was the historic Hubbell trading post (Museum, arts and crafts store now). We stopped and had lunch at the border, and then drove a mile north of town to Window Rock. It is a gorgeous natural landmark; however they wrecked it, by putting up a bunch of office buildings close to it. We were able to line up a few photo shots without all the buildings and parking lot in them, but the most beautiful angles were destroyed. We continued to 40, and the remainder of the day, we traveled on 40; no more photo opportunities, lots more traffic. We had another time change, so we lost an hour. Mike and I are both fighting a cold, so we were glad to stop for the day. Mike is doing the laundry tonight. He has done this chore throughout this trip.

Day 25, Monday, May 04, 2009 Since we stopped early last night Mike was able to do some maintenance on the car. He changed the oil, washed the car, and scrubbed the tires. There were a couple of car guys with in the hotel parking lot and they got to know each other and kicked tires. Mike found one of his tire spring rings was cracked so he dismounted the spare and made the exchange. We left from Kingman, AZ going east on Route 66 to Seligman. Route 66 was desolate; there were long periods where you didn’t see another car. We stopped for gas around Yampai, a place where the gas station, souvenir shop, hotel, laundry, and canyon rides were all offered at the same establishment. It was a little cool when we started; we both were glad for out lightweight jackets. When we drove by Seligman, there were about 6 buses stopped in front of the lunch place we stopped at on the way across. Cameras flashed as we drove by. We continued to Williams, AZ on Hwy 40, stopping there to have lunch. After lunch we continued North on 64 to the Grand Canyon. There was a group of exotic cars there with graphics all over them that said Gumball 3000. We met many of their cars as we were drove to the Grand Canyon, and they were parked all over once we got there. We got out at most of the pullouts and took a few pictures. It is beginning to feel like we have scenic overload. Everything is beautiful! I was afraid we going to see someone go over the cliff today, there are some real fools out there. We began at the south entrance, too bad Mike isn’t a few days older. His birthday is May 16, and he will be 62, old enough to buy the senior National Parks Pass. Since he hasn’t had his Birthday yet, we get to pay the full entry fee. We parked near the village, took a couple pictures and decided it was too congested. We got back into the car and drove Desert View Dr. (64 E) to the other scenic vistas. We tried to take a few pictures with the car in the foreground; but for most of the best views, you have to walk up to the path. It wasn’t nearly as congested at the turnouts, and it was much more pleasurable. We talked to a couple of young girls that are traveling and taking pictures, trying to sell them to pay for their trip. After leaving at the East entrance, we continued on 64 to 89N to 160 NE to Tuba City. Once there, we checked into a Quality Inn for the night and walked over to the restaurant next door and had supper. Mike is getting a cold, so he took some medication and is out for the night.

Does any one know of some one who can true wire wheel in the Denver area? If not what about any one else between Denver and Auburn IN. CORDially Mike

Day 24, Sunday, May 03, 2009 This morning we drove NW from Henderson on Lakeshore Dr. around Lake Mead. It is beautiful. The sun was shinning; it was warm outside right from the start of day. Temperature got up to around 86 today. We pulled in at nearly every scenic pullout. The water was low for this time of year, so many of the boat launch sites were closed, but there were still some boats on the lake. We should have some good pictures; there will be lots to choose from. After Lakeshore Dr. the scenic route continues on Hwy 169. That area reminded me of the Painted Desert. We drove about half way to Overton, then turned around and retraced our route back to Henderson. We continued on Hwy 93 to across the Hoover dam and SE to Kingman. There was a long line at the Hoover Dam to have your vehicle checked. A lot of construction is happening there, as they are making a new road to allow traffic. The construction is a massive undertaking and their equipment hides much of the Hoover dam. Because of the congestion, we missed our exit for the tours. We did not want to walk back from the other parking, viewing areas, so we just parked at a couple of spots, took pictures, and continued on. Mike asked me earlier today if I wanted to go to the casinos. I told him “No, I would rather save my luck for the trip back home. Hwy 93 south was very desolate. It is mainly desert and mountains. We did not have long, steep inclines or descents. It looked like someone just moved huge mounds of dirt and dumped them around in the desert. There was a snow covered mountain in a distance but most of them were just dirt or rocks without much growth of any kind. About half way to Kingman, there was a gas station standing all by itself. There was a sign in the bathroom saying they have 10,000 visitors each week, please purchase something from their store. By the cash register, they had $1,000,000 bills that could be bought for a dollar. We quit early today, 2:30PM. We had lunch/supper at Cracker Barrel, and then got a hotel. Mike is changing the oil in the car as I write today’s post. I haven’t been able to post for a couple of days; it keeps giving me an error message.