Don has arranged for us to start our day with an 8:00 am tour of the Speedway Museum in Lincoln. We are told to park our cars in front of the museum in the circular driveway and are provided with a very warm welcome. None of us have been here before and we absolutely amazed at the magnitude of "Speedy" Bill Smith's collections. If it has to do with Speed -- it's there. The museum bills itself as the World's Largest Collection of Vintage to Exotic Racing Engines & Speed Equipment and it is. We are provided with a private tour guide and spend over 2 hours working our way through 3 floors of beautifully arranged exhibits -- and even then we have only scratched the surface. At the end of the tour we have the opportunity to meet Bill Smith who is still actively involved in every aspect of the business. We each thank Bill for sharing his collection with us and say our good-byes to our guide.
It has started to rain while we were in the museum. We head to the nearby gas station to prepare for our drive in the rain. Don & Arlene pull out raingear, Gail & I pull out electrical tape to try to "waterproof" the windows. Electrical tape has become a standard "extra" we travel with. After all that work, we drive out from under the clouds in less than 20 miles. The sun is out as we pull into York NE for lunch.
York is the site of yet another parting. Don & Arlene have decided to leave the group and head north on their own. They are headed to North Dakota where they will visit with Arlene's brother before heading home next week. We are all sad -- it just doesn't feel right to split up the group. So with hugs and a few tears we say goodbye and promise to check-in with each other this evening.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Effingham to Kansas City (Labor Day)
We head west out of Effingham and are headed toward our old home town of Kansas City. The cars are all continuing to run under their own power. Don has developed an electrical problem (we think) that keeps him from being able to start his car the normal way. So Don leaves the car in 2nd gear and parks on a hill whenever possible. When there is no hill in sight, we all line up and push. Teamwork keeps the group moving.
We are a bit concerned about running into Labor Day Traffic caused by all the folks returning from a long week-end at the Lake of the Ozarks but thankfully this never materializes. We make a quick stop for gas and a bite to eat thinking that by skipping a lunch stop we might miss some of the traffic. Don forgets to leave the car in gear and after several tries we finally get the car started. We are back on the road and in Kansas City by 3:30.
Perhaps the major reason for choosing this route is that Gail read about the Steamboat Arabia Museum in National Geographic and is dying to see it. Barrie and I have seen it several times and it is a wonderful story and an amazing display of pre-Civil War artifacts recovered from a sunken Steamboat. I read on the internet that the last tour is at 4 pm -- so we head straight to the museum and make it just in time. Except -- since this is Labor Day they closed the museum at 2:30. The first tour tomorrow is at 10 am.
So instead of touring the museum, we head to our hotel and have time to enjoy the city. I have arranged for us to stay at the Raphael Hotel on the Kansas City Country Club Plaza. This boutique hotel has always been a favorite of mine and I was able to secure great rooms at a very reasonable rate. Tonight we stay in luxury.
We are a bit concerned about running into Labor Day Traffic caused by all the folks returning from a long week-end at the Lake of the Ozarks but thankfully this never materializes. We make a quick stop for gas and a bite to eat thinking that by skipping a lunch stop we might miss some of the traffic. Don forgets to leave the car in gear and after several tries we finally get the car started. We are back on the road and in Kansas City by 3:30.
Perhaps the major reason for choosing this route is that Gail read about the Steamboat Arabia Museum in National Geographic and is dying to see it. Barrie and I have seen it several times and it is a wonderful story and an amazing display of pre-Civil War artifacts recovered from a sunken Steamboat. I read on the internet that the last tour is at 4 pm -- so we head straight to the museum and make it just in time. Except -- since this is Labor Day they closed the museum at 2:30. The first tour tomorrow is at 10 am.
So instead of touring the museum, we head to our hotel and have time to enjoy the city. I have arranged for us to stay at the Raphael Hotel on the Kansas City Country Club Plaza. This boutique hotel has always been a favorite of mine and I was able to secure great rooms at a very reasonable rate. Tonight we stay in luxury.
Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow (Sunday)
When I tell folks we are headed to Auburn for the reunion the most common response I get is -- again? Why do you do it year after year? Haven't you been there? A few years ago, I looked at Barrie one day and said -- I've finally figured it out -- you have MAD CAR DISEASE. That is indeed true and it is the cars that started the whole adventure but the simplest reason for us to be returning to Auburn year after year is the people.
The last few years we have been staying at the home in Auburn. Loann and Charles greet us upon our return like we are family. George and Sheila have been staying with them for more than a decade. They open their hearts and their home and provide us a quiet respite to return to throughout the weekend. This morning we pack our bags and say our good-byes for this year.
We arrive at the Awards Brunch and are soon surrounded by many friends. We know that in a few hours we will be saying more good-byes. I head into the museum's banquet room to grab a table for the group we have been traveling with. This is the last time that the 8 of us will be together on this trip. Josh and Betty are shipping their car home and will fly out tomorrow. The rest of head west as a group and at some point Gail A& Joyce will continue to head west as we head north. So, for the banquet we will sit together and celebrate our trip.
The awards banquet is always well-done and this year is no exception. As president of the Club, Tim Gillmartin is master of ceremonies and does a great job. We are thankful for the efforts of everyone involved in putting the week-end together and we really do appreciate how much hard work goes into the event. The exciting news for our group is that Don Wohlwend is awarded the Wat Adams gold ring. This award is bestowed on a person who DRIVES their Cord Automobile. Don & Arlene are amazing. They drive their beautiful, rare 1937 Cord Convertible Coupe with the top down. We all marvel and most of us don't think we could pass the endurance test. But, they love it and their smiles show it. In just a few short years, they have logged 20,000 miles or more. But more importantly, Don is always at the ready to help when there is a problem. His effort to find a permanent solution to the problem of cracking wheels is likely to keep us driving. The Wat Adams award is a true honor and Don is the 70th person in the history of the club to receive this award. Looking around our table -- each of the men have received this award. First Josh, then Gail, then Barrie and now Don. The Four Cordsmen are intrepid driver's of their cars and fast friends.
From brunch we head out to the parking lot and I take a final look around. I know we'll be back. We head to the cars and begin our drive home. We head southwest through Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and Terre Haute. There is still enough daylight for driving so we press on to Effingham for the evening. We learn that Effingham is a mecca for Corvette owners and laugh about what might be for breakfast in the morning -- perhaps effingham and eggs. Tomorrow we are headed for Kansas City.
The last few years we have been staying at the home in Auburn. Loann and Charles greet us upon our return like we are family. George and Sheila have been staying with them for more than a decade. They open their hearts and their home and provide us a quiet respite to return to throughout the weekend. This morning we pack our bags and say our good-byes for this year.
We arrive at the Awards Brunch and are soon surrounded by many friends. We know that in a few hours we will be saying more good-byes. I head into the museum's banquet room to grab a table for the group we have been traveling with. This is the last time that the 8 of us will be together on this trip. Josh and Betty are shipping their car home and will fly out tomorrow. The rest of head west as a group and at some point Gail A& Joyce will continue to head west as we head north. So, for the banquet we will sit together and celebrate our trip.
The awards banquet is always well-done and this year is no exception. As president of the Club, Tim Gillmartin is master of ceremonies and does a great job. We are thankful for the efforts of everyone involved in putting the week-end together and we really do appreciate how much hard work goes into the event. The exciting news for our group is that Don Wohlwend is awarded the Wat Adams gold ring. This award is bestowed on a person who DRIVES their Cord Automobile. Don & Arlene are amazing. They drive their beautiful, rare 1937 Cord Convertible Coupe with the top down. We all marvel and most of us don't think we could pass the endurance test. But, they love it and their smiles show it. In just a few short years, they have logged 20,000 miles or more. But more importantly, Don is always at the ready to help when there is a problem. His effort to find a permanent solution to the problem of cracking wheels is likely to keep us driving. The Wat Adams award is a true honor and Don is the 70th person in the history of the club to receive this award. Looking around our table -- each of the men have received this award. First Josh, then Gail, then Barrie and now Don. The Four Cordsmen are intrepid driver's of their cars and fast friends.
From brunch we head out to the parking lot and I take a final look around. I know we'll be back. We head to the cars and begin our drive home. We head southwest through Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and Terre Haute. There is still enough daylight for driving so we press on to Effingham for the evening. We learn that Effingham is a mecca for Corvette owners and laugh about what might be for breakfast in the morning -- perhaps effingham and eggs. Tomorrow we are headed for Kansas City.
The Reunion & The Repair (Friday & Saturday)
I am way behind on this post and will come back to this. I want to catch you up on our travels. For the moment what you need to know is the repair to our car was completed with much help from many folks -- especially Bill Richardson and FedEx. Barrie & Gail managed to complete the repair at 11:45 and we were in the 1:00 parade through town. More later.
Friday, September 4, 2009
The Home Stretch (Thursday)
We are up this morning with just over 200 miles to drive today. We'll be glad to get to Auburn so we can get the car off the trailer. Barrie says he will have it on the field on Saturday. Josh & Betty take off early to be in Auburn in time for a meeting. Gail & Joyce opt to sleep in and take a leisurely start. That leaves the Wohlwend's and the Hutchinson's traveling together this morning. We head for the tri-state and hope to get around the bottom of Chicago without finding any real traffic jams. Our morning commute is amazingly smooth. All that worry about Chicago traffic turned out to be for naught.
Don calls on the cell phone and says he forget to fuel up. The needle is on EMPTY and we are on the freeway. We look up gas on the GPS and head for a fuel stop. If it isn't one thing on this trip, it is another. We decide to take the northerly route so we can stop at the Studebaker Museum in South Bend. We spend an hour or so. The museum is quite terrific. Then we walk 3 blocks to have lunch at the Studebaker Mansion. An amazing place that has been converted into a beautiful restaurant. Three of the four stories have been lovingly restored and the restaurant rambles from room to room on all three floors. After lunch we walk back to the cars (well - Don's car and our "rig") and head off for the last 100 miles. Yikes, what should have been an easy afternoon turns into a relative nightmare. First we find bad roads, then miserable detours and tons and stoplights. We are ever so glad to reach Auburn at 4:00. The first half of our trip is over.
We first stop at the Holiday Inn Express where Don & Arlene are staying. We bring in the infamous traveling box of wine and raise a glass to toast the "success" of our trip. At least we are all here!! We head over to the private home where we will be staying for the weekend. Ahhhhh. Finally an opportunity to relax. We end the evening at a birthday party.
Tomorrow is the swap meet and then Barrie has the challenge of tearing the car apart and putting it back together again. Cross your fingers, we'll need some luck.
Don calls on the cell phone and says he forget to fuel up. The needle is on EMPTY and we are on the freeway. We look up gas on the GPS and head for a fuel stop. If it isn't one thing on this trip, it is another. We decide to take the northerly route so we can stop at the Studebaker Museum in South Bend. We spend an hour or so. The museum is quite terrific. Then we walk 3 blocks to have lunch at the Studebaker Mansion. An amazing place that has been converted into a beautiful restaurant. Three of the four stories have been lovingly restored and the restaurant rambles from room to room on all three floors. After lunch we walk back to the cars (well - Don's car and our "rig") and head off for the last 100 miles. Yikes, what should have been an easy afternoon turns into a relative nightmare. First we find bad roads, then miserable detours and tons and stoplights. We are ever so glad to reach Auburn at 4:00. The first half of our trip is over.
We first stop at the Holiday Inn Express where Don & Arlene are staying. We bring in the infamous traveling box of wine and raise a glass to toast the "success" of our trip. At least we are all here!! We head over to the private home where we will be staying for the weekend. Ahhhhh. Finally an opportunity to relax. We end the evening at a birthday party.
Tomorrow is the swap meet and then Barrie has the challenge of tearing the car apart and putting it back together again. Cross your fingers, we'll need some luck.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Automatic Transmission & Air Conditioning (Wednesday)
Another day, another challenge. Good news is that we are all making the best of the situation. Arlene's nephew-in-law drove 2 1/2 hours this morning to have breakfast with us. Clearly he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to see his Aunt Arlene and it didn't hurt that his dad lives near Cedar Falls. We were thankful that he was willing to drive us to Waterloo in his vintage Mustang so we could pick up a rental truck and trailer.
The gang gathered for breakfast and lingered until after 9:00 before getting on the road. It was nice of them to keep us company until we could contact the rental company -- but in truth a little organization chaos may have been the cause of their delay.
We called the rental company to see what time we could pick up the truck -- and learned that we could head over right away. We had rented the truck and were on the road by 11:00. Pretty good recovery from yesterday's disaster. Barrie called Bill Richardson with a list of needed parts and Bill promised to get it in the overnight FedEX. Amazing how the pieces are falling together. We arrange for a place to work in Auburn and a place to have the parts shipped. Our next two days will be spent hauling the car to Auburn. We have a pretty comfortable ride with air conditioning.
We are making good progress and see no reason why we can't catch up with our group outside of Chicago this evening. We stop a time or two to check the load. These rental trailers were not really made for 125" wheelbase (the car hangs out fore and aft) but all seems to be secure. We stop for lunch in Iowa City and are swarmed by a group of old men who want us to know that there is an antique car museum in town. We grab a quick bite and stop by the museum to see the collection. Amazing collection of early (late 1800s - early 1900s unrestored cars). The folks at the museum offer to help us fix our car. Since we have parts ready to great us in Auburn, we thank them for the offer but decline. We still have more than 100 miles before we make our evening stop.
The afternoon rolls along relatively smoothly. I say relatively because an empty moving truck pulling a trailer on an old interstate is not exactly smooth. Never-the-less, we arrive at the hotel in Tinely Park before the rest of the gang. I take this as an opportunity for a quick workout. The group arrives just as were are finishing up our workout and we learn of Josh's trials over the course of the day. Evidendtly a combination of bad roads, high winds and big trucks resulted in Josh's hood flying open. The good news is that the people (Josh & Betty) are fine and the car suffered relatively minor damage. I don't even want to think about what might have happened. We all gather for dinner around 8 and head off to our rooms tired but glad that the team in still traveling together
The gang gathered for breakfast and lingered until after 9:00 before getting on the road. It was nice of them to keep us company until we could contact the rental company -- but in truth a little organization chaos may have been the cause of their delay.
We called the rental company to see what time we could pick up the truck -- and learned that we could head over right away. We had rented the truck and were on the road by 11:00. Pretty good recovery from yesterday's disaster. Barrie called Bill Richardson with a list of needed parts and Bill promised to get it in the overnight FedEX. Amazing how the pieces are falling together. We arrange for a place to work in Auburn and a place to have the parts shipped. Our next two days will be spent hauling the car to Auburn. We have a pretty comfortable ride with air conditioning.
We are making good progress and see no reason why we can't catch up with our group outside of Chicago this evening. We stop a time or two to check the load. These rental trailers were not really made for 125" wheelbase (the car hangs out fore and aft) but all seems to be secure. We stop for lunch in Iowa City and are swarmed by a group of old men who want us to know that there is an antique car museum in town. We grab a quick bite and stop by the museum to see the collection. Amazing collection of early (late 1800s - early 1900s unrestored cars). The folks at the museum offer to help us fix our car. Since we have parts ready to great us in Auburn, we thank them for the offer but decline. We still have more than 100 miles before we make our evening stop.
The afternoon rolls along relatively smoothly. I say relatively because an empty moving truck pulling a trailer on an old interstate is not exactly smooth. Never-the-less, we arrive at the hotel in Tinely Park before the rest of the gang. I take this as an opportunity for a quick workout. The group arrives just as were are finishing up our workout and we learn of Josh's trials over the course of the day. Evidendtly a combination of bad roads, high winds and big trucks resulted in Josh's hood flying open. The good news is that the people (Josh & Betty) are fine and the car suffered relatively minor damage. I don't even want to think about what might have happened. We all gather for dinner around 8 and head off to our rooms tired but glad that the team in still traveling together
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