#2 try for pic, it worked!! goofy old guy cruising down the road.....I wish it were now!!

Just checking to see how to add a photo to the blog...........................

Home again......got home about 5:30PM, 10 hours, stopped for a total of 2 hours, (1 hour at an antique store) It was a good ride, I was cruising at 80 for many miles with a 18 wheeler about a block behind me for the longest time. He finally stopped at a truck stop. I averaged 66 mph for the day (according to the GPS) with top speed of 84.5. The weather today was beautiful, cool and nice, until I hit rain south of Mpls!The trip was a total of 2768 miles, used 180 gallons of gas, a cost of $517.00. Minnesota has the highest gas price of the trip!
It was a really great time, met so many friendly Deuce people! I think I will have to go again next year, maybe in the roadster!

See ya later, got to get back in the shop on the Buick in the morning.

Sunday morning was cooler and much drier, no humidity! Awards were at 11 AM, I came away with "long distance" and "Best Commercial"....wow!! They had homemade trophies, really cool, the commercial was an antique tin truck with a Deuces Limited logo on it, and a metal plaque with "Best Commercial" engraved on it, much nicer that a store bought plaque!
We all left about noon, (7 hot rods) for a scenic drive thru the Texas hills to Norm's place. He is the one I bought the #42 car from. Checked out his projects. He just finished a deuce frame, had another set of rails there, a tudor body, a 4 door, a 5 window, 2 original frames, his 29 with a hemi and his 56 f100 with a big block Ford. He drives a steel roadster with a Hemi. He is a busy guy.
We got to Charlies house about 9 PM, had a good drive home, talked about deuces until midnight. I left this morning about 9:30, drove 9 hours, took a total of 1 hour10 minutes for all breaks, gas, lunch, etc. 560 miles. Tonight I am in KC. Plans are to get an early start about 6:30 and head on home. Hope to beat some traffic around KC. I'm on the south side, so will need to take 435 around the east side.
The car is running great, it is a real joy to drive it. It rides so soft, I think I will take a leaf or two out of the roadster's rear to soften it up before next summer comes.

See ya all soon...........................Dale
Damn, another trip is about over! It will be back to the shop on the Buick project.

What a great day today, about 100 Deuces in the lot, all nice, all drivers. Saw my old friend from Odessa, Tx,Ronnie Smith, have not seen him since we moved away in 1980! Norm is here, I bought the #42 tudor from him, he wants me to stop by his place Sunday afternoon to see a new project...a 4 door! Hmm. Three cars fom Colorado that I knew. Tom Prufer is here in his roadster, he lives here now. Scot Ingram from Austin, he tow bared his blown 3 window behind the 5 window. Rick Love and George Packard from Vintage Air. A really neat flat black roadster pickup...cool.
I brought a bag of key chains and some buckles....sold out!! We just hung out in the lot today, "talked deuces". The delivery has been a great hit...best comments of the whole summer, tons of great comments. Joe is here in Lonnie Besser's blue 3 window, I talked to him for a long time.
There is a dinner tonight. Awards in the morning and over by noon. I will go to Norm's in Austin and then stay with Charlie Sunday night in Willow Park. He has a pickup for sale. Hmmm. I will leave Monday AM and head towards home. I have been invited to stay in OKC with a deuce friend (black chopped tudor)might do that, then KC next night ? There is a "deuce open house" in Joliet, IL on Thursday night, before the Goodguys show, that could be fun and then come on home Friday. So many decisions.

Talk to y'all soon. (this Texan talk is contagious).........................Dale

I left KC at 7:30 headed for Willow Park TX (west of Ft Worth). 560 miles and I made it at 5:30. Straight down 35 at 75 MPH...took a few breaks for gas, lunch and to stretch. I was getting sleepy in the hot afternoon sun. Charlie was waiting for me, and his Aussie friend Greg too. We went out to a cajun cafe for dinner....good!
This morning we left about 9 AM met up with one other deuce, a black sedan, Charlie drives a black 3 window, later about noon another black sedan from OKC caught up with us. We are now the "black deuce club"
We ate lunch in Mineral Spgs, a little home town cafe...awesome food. About 3 PM we took a short side trip to Luckenbach Texas (looking for Willie, Waylon and the boys).....funny thing as we pulled into town (pop 3) my radio jumped from golden oldies to Roadhouse Country!! We had a nice cold beer , took some photos, listened to a couple of guys sing and strum.......fun time. Two Baptist church buses pulled in as we were leaving....???? wonder why? All that is there is a gift store, and a big beer joint! A fun place. Another thing that I can cross off the list...done that!
We arrived at the hotel about 4:30.....about 30 deuces here already, now a bunch more have arrived. I already saw friends from Colorado, and a friend from West Texas that I have not seen since I moved from there 30 years ago...really cool.
Its about time to go eat and have a beer or two....will write more in the morning.

Well I made it to Kansas City about 6 pm, Overland Park to be exact. I left about 8 AM, had a good drive, hit traffic at 494/94 for a few minutes. I made several gas stops, lunch, and a couple of breaks, no reason to kill myself, had plenty of time to get here.
As I arrived here the next exit up was pretty jam packed, I got off at the right exit!!
The mileage is looking better, it ws almost 17 each time. Gas ranged from a high (in MN) of 2.84 to a low of 2.69 in IA, most of the time it was 2.75, high but better. I drove 507 miles, another 500 + tomorrow to get to Willow Park, TX.
When I left it was a chilly 36 when I got here it was probably 80...nice and warm. Weatherunderground.com shows dry any mid 80's for the weekend...good!
No free food yet....got a free hotel room instead....those hotel point clubs pay off!
I'm on the south side of KC so traffic should not be a problem in the morning. I will stay at Charlie's house tomorrow night.

See y'all soon (gotta talk Texan)................................Dale

Woke up this morning to more rain, like they said it would, drove to House on the Rock in the pouring rain, spent 2 hours there and then headed for home. It rained for most all of the way, quite hard, the car leaks so it is really wet inside, will get it in the shop tomorrow and turn on the fans to dry her up. Made it for about 2500 mles, no problems, did burn out a headlight tonight, proably got wet inside and killed the bulb because both beams are gone. This racks up 10,000 miles on the delivery since April......not bad, and 5500 in the roadster, and still have September to go! Plans call for Joliet Good guys the third week of September and MAYBE Kerrville Texas????
I hear the Buick is all painted, going there in the morning to see, exciting!
Time to kick back and go to bed real soon.....(almost) too much fun!!!

Arrived in Madison on Wednesday, drove by the old house. Thursday we antiqued and registered for the show. Friday was a perfect day, warm, not hot at all, clear sky dry, no humidity, spent the day at the fairgrounds. Friday night had dinner with old neighbors, had not seen them for 24 years.
Saturday was cloudy, by 10 AM the rain had started, by noon it was raining hard. We left about 1 PM went to hotel and partied with Langes,Gohmans, and Luckings. Saturday night had dinner with old car friends from here, had not seen them for 24 or more years. He is out of the car hobby and now does large metal art sculptures, really nice pieces.
We all are leaving for home Sunday morning at 8 AM. It is still raining and is to rain all day Sunday...bummer. Will be home Sunday evening.

Sorry for no contact for a few days. It was a busy time in Dearborn and then we went to the Amish land...no internet connections, hardly had a cell service....but lots of horses, buggies and flies!!
Saturday in Dearborn started with a lap around the Ford test track in the Deuce, then 2 laps around the road course in a hot Mustang with a pro driver at the wheel. 110 down the straight a way then a hard right and a left and so on.....cool!!
The rest of the day was spent at Greenfield Village, we got to park on the grass inside the Village. Saturday night was a dinner hosted by Bob Drake at Ford World Hdqs.....(more free food) Later that night they had two blowup movie screens set up for Drive in Night...showed the movie American Graffiti on both screens, that was fun!
Sunday we got an early start to pack the car and then head to The Edsel Ford Estate for a tour and brunch, that was an awesome place. Photos were taken of each car at the front door and a guided tour of each room, they knew how to live!
After brunch we headed for Auburn IN with Jack and Gayle from Hawaii with their Deuce roadster. We have stayed at the Auburn Inn one day in each of the last three months, it has become my favorite hotel. It is a Victorian style with photos of Auburns and Duessies in the hallways, free drinks at 5 PM, free milk and cookies at 8, and breakfast in the morning. Monday morning Jack and Gayle headed for the west coast, sad to see them go, I have been with them almost every day since June in LA. They are fun people. We headed for Shipshewanna IN, the land of the Amish. Monday night we had dinner with an Amish family in their home, then stayed at a B&B both Monday and Tuesday nights. Wednesday morning we headed for Madison WI, arrived here about 5 PM. We will go by our old home visit some neighbors that are still around.

Goodguys start on Friday, should be a fun weekend. see ya all later.

We're in Dearborn. Met up with Jack and Gayle from Hawaii outside of Auburn, IN and drove with them. We stayed in Auburn Hills, MI Wednesday night, went to the Chrysler Museum Thursday morning, a really nice museum. Lots of concept cars, muscle cars, and old cars.
We drove into Dearborn Thursday, registered for the Deuce Show at the Hyatt. They overbooked the room, so they moved me to the Ritz across the street for Thursday night at their treat! A much nicer hotel and free too! (no free food) This morning we drove to Rausch Racing museum, what a place, all Fords, all types. Lots of racing sheetmetal for sale. (no room in the delivery). We then went to the Fair Lane Estate of Henry Ford for a tour, what a neat place.

Tonight is the "Gala Dinner" here at the Hyatt. Lots of Deuces, hot rods and restored. Two other steel deliveries, lots of Vickys and of course roadsters, 5 windows, 3 windows. Several vendors and swappers. Tomorrow we all go to the the Greenfield Village for the a tour and the test track drive. Should be lots of fun. Weather is warm, almost hot. See ya later.

Picked up Elvis at the airport and headed to Auburn, IN. Staying at a neat hotel, The Auburn Hotel, its a victorian style hotel. Free snacks and drinks at 5 each night and at 8 PM....free cookies and milk!!!
We will head for Dearborn in the morning after shopping at some "cutsie"shops she spotted going to dinner tonight. Easy day tomorrow again, 180 miles or so.

We got Reggie's car to the tranny shop at 8:30 this morning, picked it up at 3PM all done. The trans cooler rubber line had split and pumped the fluid out and burned it up. They had a 350 built on the shelf, swapped pans (his was shiney chrome) swapped it out, also found rear u joint was burned up, dry and stuck so replaced that also. The bill came to $695.00, paid him off and Reggie is good to go. What a great trans shop, clean, big 7 lifts, he is a street rodder too.
He will leave in the morning early to beat some heat, really hot here, 99 degrees with heat index of 105.
Elvis flies in tomorrow at noon at Indy, we will head north to get out of some heat. Dearborn is only 300 miles away. We will stay some where south of Dearborn, the deal does not start until Thursday.

Well the Nats are history! its all over for another year. The three of us, the Aussie Ute and the two couples in the suburban from Australia took off together heading north. I planned on spending the night in Seymour, IN about 60 miles north of Louisville. About 50 miles out
Reggies transmission in his 34 Ford roadster, decided to konk out! Spewed some fluid, smoked and started to slip. We all pulled over, added some trans fluid....did not help. A young guy and his wife from Northeast Indiana in their pickup with his car on a trailer (a rat rod type, really crude, rusty, etc) pulled over and offered to take his car off the trailer and load Reggies on. We took him up on that in a minute. We decided that it would be best to trailer him into Seymour to the same body shop that had Ralph's car last week. While we were unloading it in the lot, the owner showed up and offered his home garage that was next door. He then gave us a trans shop name and number. I to;e the rest to go on, I was staying here any way, Reggie can hang out with me, I can drive him around, hopefully they can get the trans fixed in a day or two. Reggie then can drive on home to Staples. I am here until noon on Tuesday when Elvis flies into Indy. More bad luck that turns into good luck!
Alan with the 38 Ute from Australia won long distance...beat out a 32 5 window from Sweden and friend Jack from Hawaii.
It was so hot today...101 on the billboard at the fairgrounds. I was not outside much, spent most of the day in the vendor building and of course the awards arena at 3 PM.
I bought extra long battery cables and a grounding strip for the Buick, and a steering column trim for the Deuce Delivery. Got a real cool t shirt and poster from Holley carbs featuring 32 fords...what else!
Hopefully we will get more good luck tomorrow at the trans shop, then it is off to Dearborn for the Deuce Deal.

Saturday is over, the time goes so fast. It was hot today like the other days, high nineties with high humidity, the AC in the big halls felt really good. They gave the car away today, they drew number 5078, my number is 5028...close but no cigar! There were 11,441 registered participants...big show!
I will go back out in the morning, but will wait until about 9 AM, enough of the 6:30 arrivals,I am tired. too much fun!!

Wow, another fun day at the Nats! It was hot again, but such a great time. We arrived there at 6:30 this morning and left at 7:30 tonight! Walked the lot and the cool vendor building the whole day. Had the deuce weighed at the UPS scale......guess how many pounds.........3205 !! The side is lettered GWT 3200. We sat at the gate for several hours early this morning and watched them drive in....just never stops....a solid stream of hot rods for hours. I saw a window sticker today for 10941, a big number. Time for bed, its 11:30, 5AM will come early again.

The first day of the Nats is over......we arrived at the fairgrounds at 6:30 AM, Ray had marked out some spots the day before, set up the ez-ups and went to the swap meet. Lots of neat stuff, I bought a lokar t400 kick down switch, Ralph scored a nice Moon air cleaner. Lots of cars today, A friend told me his registration number this afternoon was 10,540...cool and this is only Thursday!
It was HOT, like 102 degrees, so after walking and looking at cars, I went to the big vendor bldg to cool off, then back outside again.
Tonight we had dinner with the Aussie friends (6 of them) and John and Julie from IN, had a great time and lots of laughs. The Aussies are fun people!!
Plans for tomorrow is the same....6:30 at the grounds, then take the chairs to the front gate and watch 1000's of hot rods cruise in......funny how easy it is to get in the show....nothing like the 50's.....they should take lessons!!
Pros pick parking is tomorrow, always neat to see the big buck "Queens".
I think I will purchase the American Autowire panel tomorrow for the Buick.
Talk to all tomorrow night............................Dale

Made it to Louisville today about 1 PM. Last night we were 5 miles from the T&T Body Shop party when Ralph's car at a red light take off, suddenly went full throttle, he hit the key to stop it. The throttle was stuck open and the radiator hose was split. After a trip to the parts store we thought it was all fixed. He started up and at the next red light the same thing. At that time it was almost 10 PM, so a rollback was called and it went to the body shop for the night.
.This morning the inspection showed up a broken motor mount was the problem, so fixed that, new radiator hose again, fixed the throttle cable again and we were good to go.
In the morning we will leave the hotel at 6:30 AM...no sense in wasting time!! Looking for a great day and week end. The roll back driver was the son of the body shop owner, the use of the shop and the rollback was a big "no charge"......aren't hot rod people great?!!

Round 4 Louisvill Nat,Dearborn, Goodguys Madison

I made it to Rockford IL, tonight, 400 miles, everything ran well. I dropped Elvis off at MSP this morning to fly to see her folks, luckily the Northwest flight was flying. They have been canceling 100's of flights a day! The "buddies from up north" got a late start so we planned to meet at Rockford hotel. I had dinner with friends from here, good to see them again. Friend Don has a nice 32 pickup. His wife Carolyn has had several strokes so it is real hard for her to get out. They enjoyed the dinner very much, we went to their favorite place, while we were there, another Deuce friend came in...cool! Its neat to have friends all over the country.
Ralph, Barb, Eddie, and Reggie just called, they have arrived here, 8 PM not too bad. We will leave in the morning for Seymour, IN, for the "pre Nats" party at T&T body shop. Talk to you tomorrow night!

We worked on Ralph's oil leak from 7 to 9 AM, then left in some rain. We drove out of that in about 45 minutes. Stopped for lunch in Eau Claire, the oil leak is still there. Ralph and Barb went north on 53 toward Duluth, we came on into the cities on 94. My vibration is still there, and the clunk is a bit harder. We had dinner with the family at MOA and hit the house about 10 PM. We made it!
This morning I checked out the delivery on the lift and found the rear ujoint hammered. That was the noise and now to find the "why" for it. New ujoint is on order, will be ready this afternoon, I am going to adjust the pitman angle, it appears to be way off. That should fix the problem. I ordered 2 ujoints, one for a spare in the too bag. Oil change, check all the nuts amd bolts, clean her up good and get ready to leave for Louisville on the 30th.

Tonight we are in Rockford, IL. Ralph is having an oil leak problem, we stop at friends house this morning early and replaced the valve cover gaskets, tonight still leaking somewhere. We now think it is the oil sending unit, will tackle that in the morning. I have some strange noises coming from I think the trans, will check that when I get home at the trans shop. It rained for a while this afternoon. nothing else to report on this day, should be home tomorrow night. We are planning birthday dinner with Michelle in the cities tomorrow night, so will be at the house late. Will be god to be home for a few days. I have lots of things to do before I leave on the 30th!

A beautiful day on Saturday, mid 80's again no humidity, tons of great cars. Lots of deuces in the Deuces Wild parking. What a great day. We had dinner with Jake and Pearl from Columbus, Larry and Paula, Barb and Ralph and 6 other people, friends of Jakes. Good time. We sat on the street side and watched them all cruise by, not many burn outs, too many cops!!
Sunday we all went back to the fairgrounds, nice day but warmer and more humid. We left at 2 PM, drove to north of Indy for the night. We checked into a hotel and was going to dinner. Wes Rydel and his wife drove in also, driving their Foose built 54 Chevy...nice car. Had a nice steak dinner, time to hit the bed, tired...too much fun! We plan to leave in the morning for Madison, WI probably for the night.

A great day at the NATS over 5,000 so far, beautiful weather, mid 80's, no humidity, a nice breeze all day. I sold several key fobs and buckles today. Tomorrow is "Deuces Wild" special parking.....cool. A nice swap meet, I bought a new travel tool box, a little redo and it will be super. Back to the fairgrounds in the morning at 7 AM again.

Our friend Lonnie called home for a truck and trailer, he has given up and is going home. The rest of us drove to Cleveland to tour the Lincoln Welding plant. We were treated to coffee and cookies, an employee car show, a plant tour and a free lunch. The biker build off builder winner Scott Webster was there to sign autographs and show off his winning bike. We all then drove to Columbus about 150 miles away. After registering we all drove to Headquartes hotel to a free dinner and a special preferred parking area. This is going to be a big show, my number is 4545 and it is only Thursday!! We meet up with Massachusets friends Paula and Larry in their 32 roadster, they are at the same hotel. We will go to the fairgrounds at 7AM.....a fun weekend is beginning.

We went to the National auto and truck museum and the Auburn Museum this morning. A short trip to Calles crankshaft factory for a free catered lunch.....tons of food. After lunch the plan was to drive 150 miles to Flaming River for a tour and a dinner tonight. We got about 70 miles from there and then Lonnie from IA car decided to die in the one lane construction zone right in front of me. I threw mine into park and jumped out to push him out of the way, then moved my car into the middle, by that time about 50 cars were stacked up behind us. Two more of our cars stopped, the rest were all in front of us. We spent the next 6 hours, yes 6 trying to get it to run. Finally at 7:30 we called a flatbed to take her away. We got his bags and stuff and went onto the motel 70 miles away. It is an ignition problem, will hardly run. Now the decision, go back and work some more or have his dad bring the trailer. You know my vote...no trailer! It will be up to him. It is 1:45 AM, I am going to bed.

We all went to Gary McCormick's garage this morning for coffee and donuts. Saw his collection, 32 vicky, 3 window, 20,000 mile 5window with original mohair interior, 50 woodie, 29 roadster, an extra 32 chassis, 2 new Ford motors on stands, a 34 woodie under construction.......cool! While we were there I used his lift to change an exhaust gasket, check u joints, and check the front wheel bearings. With all that we were about 2 hours behind of the group. We caught up at 6PM at the Kruse/James Dean/WWII/Carl Casper car museum, what a great place. There was a buffet dinner for us there. Tonight we are at the Auburn Hotel, a neat 1930's style hotel, all car decorated. Tomorrow its off to the National auto and truck museum and then onto Flaming River. I am tired, time to sleep.

A great 3 days at Goodguys Des Moines , record number of 3524 entries, hot but it is July!! We all had a great time. I helped park the Deuces at the Deuce Doins Saturday morning. We were at the groujnds at 6:15. Friday night was the meeting and dinner for the deuce club. I came in second place for "favorite Deuce" at the Saturday show.....damn! I would have made alot od "shiney" paint guys upset. We had lots of good comments about the delivery

We had a photo shoot for the delivery for Street Rodder Mag Sunday evening. That was a fun time, now if they print it!!

We left Monday morning with the cruise, 40 cars, about 12 were repeats from years past. We toured and were fed (free food) at Chassis Engineering Monday noon,saw Lewis' Bonneville car, got his photo and autograph, tonight we are in East Peoria IL. There was a local cruise of about 100 cars...cool. We were given goodie, bags, gift cards for dinner $30.00 worth, (free food) what a deal. We ate at the oyster bar overlooking the cars and the river, band, several vendors, hot rods all over, lots of fun.
In the morning we leave at 7:30 for Gary McCormicks garage, he is a "Deuce Friend" with several killer deuces, for coffee and donuts and then on down the road. Will write more tomorrow.

July 5th.................first day of the Goodguys trip. We met Ralph and Barb in Lakeville at 10:30, stopped in Albert Lea for lunch. Had a good drive, it was warm so had the AC on most of the way. This car sure runs nice!! Ralph's valve covers are leaking at the adapter seal, he ordered a new set of o rings, will arrive here in the morning, should fix that. We registerd and went to the hotel, saw many deuce friends. The Wahls and the Blacks and us had dinner then went to the kick off party at the hdq's hotel, nice turnout, saw many more friends. We headed back to the hotel at about 10:30, time for bed. Weather says tomorrow will be HOT...always is, nothing new there. A good day, very uneventful...good deal.

I left this morning at 7:30.....450 miles later I got home at 4:15. Good trip all worked well, nice temps, I saw 80 on one corner, a little windy in MN, but a good ride. Be sure to check in Thursday night, I should be in Des Moines if all goes well. I have to download about 500 + photos, get some prints and cd's made at WAGS, change oil in the delivery, do some laundry, pack the car and away we go!! See Ya..............................

Another perfect day ay thye show, beautiful weather, 80's, slight breeze. I got there at 9AM (late for me) but with special parking for the "cruise" cars I did not have to worry about a parling spot.
I was interviewed on film and tape from an internet car program, should air in a month or so....www.speedsecrets.info , they walked up to me and asked if I would be willing to do it....cool.

I had most all of the cruise guys sign my metal Americruise license plate, will make a nice garage wall hanger. Tonite I went to the Speedway ice cream social, toured the museum, got Speey Bills photo and autograph and gave him a keychain. About 7PM I went to "10 cent Joes" Folsom Street Speed shop party at his private "museum'. Another free dinner, toured his place saw many Deuce friends there. We were entertained by Elvis singing and performing on stage....fun time.
In the morning I will head north for home...about 500 miles, not bad. Can't believe its almost over.....oh yea almost forgot, I leave Thursday morning for 2 weeks in Des Moines and Columbus, it's not over yet, just a different car! We will be in the Deuce Delivery on this "leg" of the trip.
The "Deuce Cruise across America" continues......................talk to ya soon!

We left Broken Bow t 10 AM headed to Central City NE, toured Valley Speed Shop, what a cool place, an old historical building down town, 2 story brick with an elevator. Upstairs was a full machine shop and a storage area. In the storage was a real full fendered deuce roadster, a 3 window body, an old Hemi on a pallet and another engine and stuff...Wow! On the main floor were several projects under construction, like around 9 or 10. They feed us roast beef sandwiches, pop,chips, beans...more free food!
On to Lincoln.....we arrived at Speedway Warehouse, they had a welcome group with water, pop, cookies...more free food...and a tour of the warehouse. They ship 80,000 items a week, it is 520,000 sq ft, 42 acres, 3 miles of conveyors (almost like a Walgreen Whse). Very interesting.
Lola, my GPS will not hold a charge, so off to Circuit City...they decide it is a defective docking station, not covered by warrenty, only 30 days and I have had her for 6 weeks. Only option is to buy a new docker for $55.00...I was not a happy guy. I asked them to put my defective part into the box and give me the new part, send back as an intial failure (I was in retail for 40 years), they said no, so I buy the new docker, go to the car, plug her into my old cord...no work! I use the new cord and it works, I go back and say I just want to buy a cord, no problem except they are out of cords...I say I want a refund and I will go to Best Buy and buy a cord...OK. I go back to the car to get all of the box and whatever, and then .....wait....I will put my defective piece in the box and keep the new stuff..and get my $55 back.......Bingo! Can't fool an old man all of the time!!
I stopped by Roger Nunn's shop Autografics, on the way to dinner....finally get to cafe at 10PM, but had a few beers and traded stories and lies with the guys, had fun. I met Roger's neighbor, Jerry,he invited me to his house Friday AM to use his lift to check for lose bolts, nice guy. I went there Friday morning, tightened up some bolts, new exhaust rubber cushion on hanger, little stuff. Then off to the show.
Nice show, nice fairgrounds, some vendors, great goodie bag. I got to park in the special area for the "cruisers", had a nice day.
I'm going to Carlos O'Kellys for dinner, Roger gave me a free meal ticket...more free food!!
Back to the show on Saturday, ice cream social at Speedway museum Saturday night, then I got an invition to Folsum Street Speed shop party Saturday night from friend Joe (10cent special)...a fun guy with lots of hotrods. Talk to ya tomorrow Dale

We left Hot Springs at 9 AM to drive 120 miles to Alliance NE, my hometown. We met the local car club at the world famous "Car Henge". The local paper was there for photos, music playing several local rods and customs...we are all celebrities. Next stop was a real Nebraske meal at the local VFW, chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, corn, salad, and dessert for lunch!!!!
Then it was off to Broken Bow a short 190 miles away. We arrived there about 5 PM. We stopped to change a fuel filter on a 34 Chevy from PA, helped but he still has problems. The locals here all came out, on the town square, had DJ playing music, the local's cars, signs and banners welcoming the "tour". We checked into the motel and went back to the square for the festivities. Rita and I ate at the Arrow Hotel bar and Grille, a great salad and a tall Bud light!! A good day, a little wind burned, red face. Tomorrow its on to Lincoln. See ya........

I'm in Hot Springs, a short trip, about 4 hours to get here, cool about 75 degrees...nice.We were held up in WY with construction, fresh oil and gravel, one way road.....fun. Since noon I have been driving thru the Black Hills, Crazy Horse, Rushmore, Keystone, Hill City, saw the Narrow gauge RR, beat it across several crossings, stopped to take photos of it and the passengers me.
Lots of fun people on this cruise, 3 cars from other cruise, 2 cars from Australia, Brizios new gold R&C mag cover car 55 chevy, left CA with 200 miles on the clock...my kind of car!! Also Brizios blue full fender 32 roadster, I will have photos when I get home. Around 25 or so cars.
Tomorrow its off to my home town for lunch, pick up my sister and onto Broken Bow NE.

Its Monday night, I'm in Casper WY. I took Rodney to the airport this morning to fly home. We spent the night in Denver. I got the roadster pinstriped yesterday, looks really good. Done by "Shartell" from CA.
We drove to Denver to have dinner with the inlaws, found mother in law in the ER room with a very bad bruise on her arm, she was released at 8PM then went to dinner. Mother, father, two brothers in law, was a good time, then onto Denver. Thank goodness for "Lola" thye GPS, I never would have found the hotel!! We got there at 11:30.
Arived in Casper at 4PM, put the dirty clothes in the laundry and went to see friend Rick of Rick's Rod Shop.Tonight I had dinner with niece and her 2 daughters, good time. We all went to the park where the local club had a fried chicken dinner for all of the Americruisers. We just had dessert because we had already had dinner. After the park thing I went back to Rick's to help fix two cars from CA. One is a truck with a leaking rear seal and a bad bearing, I just left there, it was not done yet, I did all I could do, and I am tired.
Drivers meeting in the morning and off to South Dakota. Talk to you all later.

A great day at the show. We saw old friends from New Mexico at breakfast. We parked in the Deuce Day section, walked around then grounds passing out flyers for key chains, got several calls on the cell for them, sold many at the car, set up 2 more vendors for wholesale accounts....good day! 2000 cars, but lots of nice ones.
Made some friends from the cruise, a couple from Hawaii, Jack and Gail, they will be on the Americruise with me and Lincoln, Des Moines, and the Columbus cruise, Louisville and Dearborn, neat!. Back to the show in the morning, we will stay all day, hoping to win a door prize in the afternoon and then off to Denver.

I think last nights blog dissappeared, so here it goes again. We drove over the Monarch Pass, what a beautiful site 11,000 ft high. On the other side we stopped at the Sonic drive in for lunch, neat deal, all full of hot rods. The mgr was very pleased, came out and took photos. We arrived in Pueblo, registered and went to the free BBQ at the lake, lots of cars.
This morning we went to the fairgrounds, nice place. Lots of quality cars. Lots of deuces. We sold several keychains. Made several new friends.
About 3 PM it decided to blow and rain....my covers were at the hotel!! Jerry Dixey let us pull under the Street Rodder tent to stay dry.
Tonight we went to the SoCal grand opening, had free food and looked at more cars. Tomorrow will be back to the fairgrounds for "Deuce Day"

Made it tp Pueblo at 4 PM today, went to registration to pick up the buttons and stuff. We drove over Monarch Pass, 11,000 plus ft high, pretty cool. We drove to Sonic drive in for lunch in Salida, we filled up the drive in with hotrods, the mgr camne out to thank us and take photos.
We drove on to Royal Gorge and then on in to Pueblo. I helped a guy patch his radiator last night, he took the short cut so I have not seen him here yet, I hope he made it. We will go to the show at 8 in the morning, parking at Street Rodder tent, so we dont have to go early.

We made it to Alamosa, CO. We went first to Moriarity, NM to what he calls Lewis Auto Muesem, it is a wrecking yard on gravel, no weeds and a huge building of old cars. Tons of stuff outside, all presixty, lots of model A's, a couple of 34's. Inside model A's. 4 t/birds, model T's, I took several photos.
From there itwas Santa Fe for lunch and onto Alamosa. We drove with 5 others, one 32 tudor had a radiator problem, so we stopped several times. Kept the cap loose and added water, ran cool, so he kept on going. We arived here about 6PM
It ws 93 in Santa Fe, 79 when we got here. Tomorrow we go over the 11,000 ft high mountain.
I hope all ther minnesota friends have fun at the 50's. Talk to you agsin tomorrow night.

Check out this link to the news article.......be sure to click on all 22 photos.........
http://valleynews.com/Burbank/Stories/Reviews/General-Reviews/Story~323940.aspx
We drove 400 miles again today but only in 90 degree temps, yesterdays temp as I said was 112 and it was 400 miles also. We went thru the antique town of Jerome and then thru Sedona in oak creek canyon. The last time I was there was in 77 in the Wild Turkey #1. We drove thru, did not stop more than 10 minutes, we knew we had lots of miles ahead of us. Had to be at the "Mild to Wild" rod shop for dinner at 6PM. We arrived in Albuquerque at 4:45, time for a quick shower, change of clothes and onto the rod shop. Most of our group were about 2 hours late. Rodney and I left there and drove across town to see our old house, pretty neat to see, we drove up as the young lady was pulling out of the drive way, so I told her that we lived there in 1970 and was just looking, not "casing" the joint. She looked releived. From there we headed to "old town" to eat at the 100 + year old "la Placetia". very good food and the margaritas were good too. I am tired tonight...too much fun or sun.......no not really.

We made it to Prescott, AZ. We all met at C W Moss store in Orange this AM @ 7:30 for coffe and bagels, left at 8:30...about 43 of us, all have maps, by the time we got to the edge oa LA there was 5 of us together, the first gas stop was 3, when.... we left the station we were alone.....
thank goodness for the maps "Lola" the GPS girl. Driving across the dessert in the middle of the dsy was HOT...112. We drank our blue gallon jug of ice water empty 5 times. We came across a model A sedan driving along at 20 MPH, helped him get to the rest area to cool off the computer/fuel injection system.
After leaving I10 and driving the 2 lane, I think it was Hope AZ we found several cars at a little station, there was a 32 steel phaeton with a 50 Olds motor, and a lone driver about 75 yrs old, no top, (I could just see me in that car looking like him in a few years) with fuel filter problems, helped him clean the filters and away we all went. The phaeton first then us, then the other 4, 70 MPH for several miles then again would starve for fuel and slow him down to 40, after several times of this, we all pulled over again, this time he found a hole in the gass line and thought the pump was collapsing the line, replaced the line and away we go.
We all (I think) arrived at the hotel and then drove to Bitchin Products for a BBQ beef dinner.
Another great day...heat and all.Our car is running fine.
Forget to tell you about Friday night, 3 of us filled up thre tanks ready for Saturday, parked at the hotel, I put my total cover on, the other two had tops, next morning they each had only a half of tank of gas! I think my cover saved me!
Time to take a shower and go to bed...all starts over in the morning with meeting at 7:30...Sedona AZ is thre first stop.

Well the LA Roadster show is history, what a great show, 1000 roadsters, 500 other rods and customs, sell out swap meet..awesome! We had bbq chicken, beef, slaw, beans, pop, ....cake for "free" dinner last night, no entry fee, dash plaque, pewter mug....what a great show. Sold lots of key chains Saturday and a few more today. Saw Randy Fish, old CT friend now living in CA and his roadster, he is in the magazine business here.
We were interviewed by the local paper for Father and son driving the roadster, photos...might be famous some day!!
Saturday I went directly to the t shirt booth and collectables booth, they always sell out of the neat stuff early.. Cool t shirt, tin 50th anv sign, pewter roadster, coffee mug, hat pin.
In the swap meet I bought a hand painted Big Daddy Roth shift knob...really neat!!
Tonight we are in Orange, we meet up with the Street Rodder Tour in the morning and head for Prescott AZ , tour Bitchin Metal co, free BBQ, more fun.
Happy Fathers Day to all the dads....talk to you tomorrow.

What another great day. We drove to Long Beach to see Hot Wheels designer Larry Woods' private garage. Full of neat stuff, hot wheels, 34 coupe with a Buick v6 in the trunk, a COE truck to pull his camp trailer (Steve would like this one)his 32 Nash. He took us to Jessie James West Coast Choppers, then to Steve Penningtons I thnk was his name, personal home, cool trucks, machine shop, nice place. Next was Foose's shop, lunch and California Street Rods. Then it was time to head to SoCal open house in Pamona. We started with 8 roadsters, all got lost, took wrong turns , luckily I had Lola with me, she guided me right to SoCal. As I drove down the street, I was flagged to pull over, the guy said do you want to park here? Right in the front row, in the middle of the street, first car......Duh!! You bet!!! Later 2 of the roadsters made it there, the rest I never saw until tonight at the hotel. I saw lots of old friends from VT, SD, AZ, CT, SC, CO, Fl,.......cool!
We will leave at 630 AM to go to the fairgrounds, it is only 9 miles away. Will be fun again! Rodney flies in tomorrow at 530PM.

We left Lake Havasu at 6AM to beat the dessert heat. It was 300 miles acros the Majave dessert and did not want to be out there in the afternoon sun. We stopped for gas in Needles, saw the coolest bike, a 3 wheeler powered by a VW rabbit engine, not air cooled, all 3 wheels had pod covers, painted flat army green, with a white star on the rear ones. The fenders were pieced together metal with unground weld seams, sort of a rat rod bike. Behind the seat was a pile of bags about 3 feet high all tied down. A older woman was driving/riding it about 65 or so, she told me she was from the state of Washington, "the kids are gone away, I sold the house and I'm going to Maine" She said you have your childhood there, I have mine!
We had a late breakfast in Barstow.
I drank 2 cups of coffee at the hotel, 2 more, 2 big glasses of water and a large glass of milk at Barstoe breakfast. I must have been about 3 quarts low, because I did not pea untill I had 2 bottles of pop here at the hotel!!
We arrived at the hotel about noon, nice ride, only about 90 in the dessert, much cooler than yesterday, and several hours earlier. There were several totaly black trucks and vans drving thru the dessert, dark glass, big black boxes on the back, they had a periscope type thing on top, must be some sort of narc trucks, weird!
We checked in, washed the cars, I swam, relaxed. Nice to wind down.
Gordy drove to Kugels to get his rear springs replaced and a new rear gear section installed, he is all happy now!
Kenny Larson is here with his roadster too. We have been in the parking lot BSing since dinner.
Tommorow at noon is the SoCal open house. That is always a fun time with hundreds of rods showing up.
Saturday we will be heading for the Fairplex at 6:30 or so, I hope. At least that is my plan. They did not seem to keen on leaving that early. I may go alone.

We left Albq at 7AM, it was sweatshirt weather.....by noon I was in a tank top!! Ate lunch in Flagstaff, I found a Sprint store there and bought a new phone. Now I need all of you to email me or call and leave a message so I can rebuild my phonebook. Email me at thewildturkey46@aol.com or thedeuceguy3@aol.com
. My phone number is the same as before.
It was HOT the last 3 hours of driving, the temp was 108. My negative cable on the battery worked loose and with the intense heat, the battery cooked itself to death. At the last gas stop it would not start at all, not even a click, the battery was red hot!! Ronnie made a call to Ed Ebach in Lake Havasu, he picked up a new battery and brought it to me. It startered right up with the new battery. Gordy caught a rock in the construction zone and broke his mirror. His AC compressor froze up too for some reason. He took his top off the last 3 hours and became a "real roadster pilot" like me.
We went to Ebachs house for a great steak dinner, lots of food, very good. On the way there stopped at a guys house...awesome huge garage, a 406 ford, 3 deuces, a 34, 36, 29, 48 olds woodie, 55 safaria wagon, beautiful tiled floors a party room with full bar. His house supposedly built for 6 million $. He is having Steve Moal build him a new deuce roadster, to be done by Christnas. This town lookes very expensive!! Many many million $ houses.
We leave in the morning at 6AM to beat the dessert heat, only 300 miles to go. Drove 500 today. We started seeing other roadsters in NM this morning, makes it even more exciting. Saw Jerry Dixey from Street Rodder Mag on the road side taking photos, saw Bart from VT that I met in York, cars from IN, makes it real neat to see others on the highway.

Don't forget to send me phone numbers, I have none in my phone book right now.

Talk to you all tomorrow from LA

We left about 7AM, cloudy skies, I watched them all morning, finally after luch it started to rain, after driving for about an hour in on and off rasin, I decided to put the top on. Within 30 minutes the sky was clear blue!! Go figure. I left the top on but it is hot with it on, and very windy, the top kept lifting at the right windshield post, finally I got tired of stopping and resecuring the top and having the guys wait, I took it off and threw it in the seat!
Late this afternoon in Tecumcari NM at the Loves truck stop, some a/hole stole my cell from the front seat!! I got Sprint called with Elvis's help, actually she did it all, and cancelled the signal to my phone, now I am "phoneless" Hopefully we will get to Lake Havasu AZ tommorow early enough to find the Sprint store and get a new one.
We ate dinner in Morarity, 40 miles east of Albuquerque, we got to the hotel at 9PM local time, that's 10 PM our time, 600 miles, lots of wind, lost the phone but still a good day. Oh yea, Gordy had the engine cover blow off of his LS1 engine somewhere, no one saw it go, maybe the same little Sh-t got it that got my phone, he lost it about the same place. He has been running without hood sides only a top.
We drove thru the town of Greenfield,KS, the town that the twister hit...amazing....everything gone, even brick buildings blown apart, huge oak trees with no branches and leaves, National Guard guys all over, FEMA trailers, thinking back on that site makes the phone loss seem really minute!!! I took photos as we drove thru town, just cannot describe the destruction, like a war zone.
We will leave at 7AM for the steak fry in Lake Havasu with car guys, some garage tours if we get there in time, mthe GPS says 450 miles, so another good day of driving. I am tired...bvut this is fun
Talk to you all tomorrow

We left Belle Plaine at 8AM picked up 2 roadsters on a trailer in Mankato, makes 4 on the road and 2 on the trailer. It rained overnight but by the time breakfast is over the sky had cleared. We made it to Salina KS, 530 miles arrived at 7:30, got a hotel went to Chilis for dinner. Tomorrows plan is Albuquerque, 630 miles. Wednesday night is now Lake Havasu AZ for a styeak fry by some local rodders...cool. 530 miles in a topless roadster, a couple of tall beers and a rack of ribs...life doesnt get much better!! Gotta go to bed now, I am tired, leaving at 6:30 for more fun.

Start of the West Coast Trip

I'm in Belle Plaine, MN tonight, I meet the other roadsters tomorrow morning at the cafe across the street. I did not want to drive for 2 hours in the morning to meet them at 7AM so I am staying the night here. The car ran fine, I adjusted the throttle spring so now the throttle pedal is not so hard. The sirus radio works great and the Garmin is a nice addition. Always nice to have a female voice to the right of me telling me where to go!! I am looking forward to a great 3 weeks or so. I would guess we will stay around Omaha Monday, Liberal KS Tuesday, and Albq, NM Wed....... or something like that. Talk to you all tomorrow night.

Left Rockford IL this morning at 7:30, rained for a couple of hours off and on. We stopped in Wisconsin Dells for some photos (drive by shootings) and a snack. We stopped to see Rodney at his work for a few minutes, sat in rush hour traffic for ever, finally got to St Cloud about 6 PM. We stopped to see Michelle, Le, and Cooper, had dinner and now we are home. A great trip, 2600 miles,about 180 gallons of gas. Gas was down to 2.94 in the cities, back to 3.09 here, tops was still 3.49 in IL. The average price per gallon came out to 3.23 gallon. The gas bill came to around 560.00 for the trip Ouch! but the fun was worth every penny of it.
This leg one is over, leg two starts officially at 7AM Monday,altho I am leaving home Sunday PM to stay overnight in Belle Plaine to save leaving here at 3AM!! It looks like about 2100 miles to LA, who knows how many miles to Pueblo and Lincoln and home.
Talk to you all later............................Dale aka the deuce guy/wild turkey

We left this morning at 7:30, nice day until afternoon. It rained off and on all afternoon, a real "gully washer" for about 10 minutes, found some new windshield leaks!!The last few hours was very windy. After stopping a couple of antique stores, we arrived in Rockford, IL at 7:30. A good day, no problems with the car.
Will be home tomorrow afternoon, a day early, at least that is the plan for now. I need a couple of days to repack the suitcase, do a few items on a list and leave Sunday afternoon for the "Topless" part of the trip with the roadster....on to LA!! (I was glad that today was in the delivery during the rain storm)
I just added a side trip in August right after the Nats in Louisville. There is a big Deuce deal in Dearborn, at Ford Headquarters, sounds really neat, drive the test track, visit Greenfield Village, Sunday brunch at Edsel Ford estate and a tour of the Ford Estate Mansion and more. I got rooms tonight at headquarters hotel. This should be cool.

We slept in this morning, did not go to the fairgrounds untill 9 AM. Had to go back to get a T shirt that I decided I could not live with out! We left town about 10:30, spending the night in Zanesville, OH, 316 miles, nice easy day. The car is running very nicely. Really rides and drives nice. Tons of cops in Ohio today, luckily they did not see me when the Garmin said I was going 83...opps! The sky is very dark blue tonight, looks like rain, it sprinkled for a couple of hours today, just enough to have the wipers on. I would guea that Indy will be the stop for tomorrow night. You ought to see the peoples faces when we pass them on the highway, I'm sure they think they are seeing things, this "old raggy" car passing them!!!...funny! Have a good night.

Spent 2 great days at the fairgrounds. Very hot but had a great time. The Wild Turkey was a real "hit". Parked today in the Deuce Day parking. talked to many deuce guys, and sold several key chains and buckles. Showed the delivery to a guy that owns an original deuce delivery, he looked it over real close, could not tell it was not Henry built!! I did not tell him either way.
We will leave in the morning for home will arrive probably Wednesday afternoon, not going to hurry.

We made it to York about 1 PM today. We took rte 30 thru Gettysburg instead of I76 all the way. It was hot, high 90's, the AC felt good. We spent the afternoon at headquarters meeting new and old friends. The new "Turkey Delivery" was a big hit!
We will meet with Paula and Larry from MA and Ray and Claire from TN in the morning for breakfast. We will meet at 7 AM at the fairgrounds and walk to favorite spot to eat, this has been a tradition for years. This is our 20th year at this show, kinda cool. The weather report says hot and humid...but no rain! Great! it has rained at least one whole day here the last 4 years! Lots of cars so far and many many deuces..hope to sell lots of key chains and buckles to all of the "Deuce Crazies". Time for bed, will post again tomorrow night.

Made it to Somerset, PA tonight, only 130 miles to go tomorrow.Easy day today, late startand some long stops. All went well, car is running fine, gas is cheap......$3.09, well not cheap but less than it has been. Spent a couple of hours in the big antique store, and also another one down the road, makes for a good break. Went past a wrecked truck, that took about 45 minutes to go 5 miles, but at least it was not us.
Will stop in Gettysburg tomorrow and onto York, should be there by noon.

We left Rockford, IL this morning at 7:30. Got hot about 11 AM, turned on the AC, the Vintage Air was kicking out ice cubes, kept us very comfy! This is the first Vintage Air AC for me, I have used Airtique and Old Air, this unit really works good! We drove 400 miles and made 4 antique stores, not a bad day. Tonight we are in Richmond, IN about 80 miles east of Indy. Got a room at my favorite hotel, The Knights Inn, nice rooms, non smoking, king bed, can park right by the door, coffee pot, microwave, fridge, continental breakfast and all for $50.00, my kind of place!!
Down the road about 80 miles is a HUGE antique store, called Heart of Ohio, we will spend some time there in the morning. The car is running great, a pleasure to drive.Gas is running 3.45/gal. Talk to you all later.

Left this morning at 8am, tonight we are in Rockford, Il, 400 miles, all went well. Lots of traffic from the Dells into Madison, I knew that was going to happen. Twenty mph for about 50 miles, but we made it anyway. The new engine is working well. Tomorrows plan is Springfield OH or there abouts.

AlmostTime to go

Will be leaving Monday morning. The new engine and rear are installed, ready to go. We plan on stopping in Rockford, Il the first night, then onto Indy the second night, Wheeling WV the third night and arrive in York Thursday in time for the parking lot party at Headquarters. I will be posting nightly if possible. Talk to you all later. Dale & Elvis

Cross country in a Deuce

Count down has begun, leaving May 29th, driving the nre Deuce Delivery to York Nats East, will return June 5th just in time to do laundry and jump i the roadster and leave on the 11th for LA. Will be with 6 other roadsters on this trip. Ordered new tires tonite for the roadster. Ordered new engine and rear end for the delivery yesterday. Will pick this up next week, install and leave for York. Will be fun! Only 32 days to go!