Home Again

I left KC this morning at 7 AM, arriving home at 4:30. It was a good drive, Just a tad over 500 miles. The total trip home from Kerrville was 1550 miles. The drive there was 1405, so a total of 2955, just shy of 3000 miles. I need to add up the gallons of gas used. Just did that.....178 gallons. That avg's 17 mpg, days like today really takes the mpg down, (not so good at 80 to 85 mph!!) I35 is such a boring ride I had a hard time not speeding. Check the picture of the GPS! I passed a Walgreen warehouse truck to day, always a good sight to see...means more merchandise coming to make more sales! (see Pic) It seems good to be home, I am tired tonight. It was a great time, so many friends, new and old, neat cars, great scenery, good times!

photos

Found gas cheap in MO......$2.16
a tunnel somewhere in Arkansas,
Pete & Jakes and Magnum Axle Co too bad they were closed, I have been there several times but always fun to see again.

I was going to pick up a couple of parts, but the big brown truck can bring them to me

Monday/Tuesday

I got to Hot Springs Village about 2 PM.after a 500+ mile trip. They live in a beautiful gated community, right on a golf course.There is 30,000 lots there and only about 7,000 built, full of trees, big lots, cannot hardly see any homes because of the trees...nice!! He took me over to an area of metal buildings, full of project cars being built by other guys that live there. It is their "private toy box". Nice place. I had a great time there, a fantastic meal last night, and many hours of talking about Walgreen memories. He has been my friend for 40 years, my boss for many of those years. He retired 22 years ago, beat me out a long time ago.
I woke up to a flat tire, I feel I got the screw in my tire from the u-turn I made on his street by a new construction home, the head of the screw was not even scratched up, so it was not in there long.
We took the tire for a patch and then I left at about 11 AM for Kansas City. I arrived here at 7PM, got a room (at LaQuinta) and found a great little tavern for dinner. I drove 485 miles today. I stopped at Pete & Jakes, got there after closing so just took a picture and drove on.
Monday I drove by Hope, AR, home of Bill Clinton....I did not stop or take a picture there!
It has been two great days. I will leave in the morning for the final 500 miles.

photos

Saturday/Sunday

Saturday was a great day, weather was beautiful. One hundred Deuces were there. They were from Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, and of course Texas and Minnesota. The day was spent in the parking lot visiting with the Deuce owners and checking out their rides. Many many nice cars.
Saturday night was the banquet and awards. A great meal, roast beef, chicken, fish, salad, veggies, pasta dishes, and some awesome desserts.
At the awards I came out pretty well. I won "Long Distance" and "Hard Luck". I was a little embarrassed to get the "hard luck" trophy. They all felt my Alternator failure, wiper motor failure in the 300 miles of rain, losing two bolts from the header collector and then burning out the gasket was enough to earn the award. I also won a door prize of two 6-packs of Dr Pepper pop in glass bottles. It is special Pepper, made with Cane sugar and only made in Dublin, TX! Many Texans were jealous that I won that.
Sunday morning at 8AM, six of us drove out to Jeff's home to view his "Deuce Stuff". He has three 4 doors, a 3window, 5window, a tudor, about 15 sets of fenders, several hoop tops and sides, running boards, bumpers, over a dozen grille shells and inserts and a bunch of other parts......wow!
Charlie decided to stay in Kerrville later to visit his friend, he offered me to go ahead to his home and stay there, make myself at home, I also had a offer from Paul Fort and his dad to spend the night at their place in Weathersford. I thought about both offers but decided to go to plan B and drive towards Arkansas and spend the night at the LaQuinta in Tyler, TX instead. Didn't make sense to drive northwest and then in the morning drive back east towards AR. I left about noon and arrived in Tyler at 6PM. Tomorrows trip will be only four hours now.
I offered to make two trophies for next years event. I picked Best coupe and ladies pick. I already have them all planned, I will make them as soon as I get home so I won't forget!! The offer was the least I could do after taking home five awards in three years, time for some giving back.
I will attach a few photos of some of the cars there.

still more

more photos

Made it ti Kerrville!!

Got up at 4:40 AM, left town at 5:30....traveled with 6 other deuces and had a great trip. I listened to Sirius "Outlaw Country" to Jerry Jeff Walker singing "Pissing in the wind" and many other great old songs. It was a beautiful drive her. Johnson City, home of LBJ, passed by Lay Bird Johnson's park, Lukenbach, (we'll stop there Sunday for a beer)passed many neat old buildings/stores. Check the photos.

Windshield bugs in KS
Southtown Street rods in ? KS
Junk yard in Ft Worth
Charlies new Victoria and shop
Kickin Street rod shop and projects
Maurice and Dee's shop at 5AM
Neat buildings on the way.
More to come on Saturday from the show

Day 3......Austin

We left this morning, guess what, it was raining again. By the time we got close to Austin (200 miles) it was clearing and the sun came out. It was a nice drive. We stopped in Lampassa at Kicken Street rods for a shop tour. Lots of nice cars being built there. I will attach photos tomorrow.
Austin is a big town. Many huge beautiful houses. We are staying tonight at Maurice's home. We had a great home cooked meal here. We washed our cars. I had to replace two bolts in the header collector that had fallen out. Sounds better now!!
In the morning we are leaving at 5:30 to meet for breakfast and then head out of town by 7. It is a couple of hours drive to Kerrville.
We also visited a neighbor down the road. He is building a 39 convertible and has a nice 32 Tudor and two vettes. A real nice shop. He does everything, paint, interior, body, metal fab...all home built and very nice.
Maurice has a beautiful 32 3W, bright red. A very garage with room for all three
32's.
that's it for the night..............Dale

Day.......Texas!!

Well I changed the alternator this morning in about 15 minutes, that seems to fix the problem. This was a long day, I left about 8:00, no problem, the first 200 miles were fine. The last 300 was in pouring rain, about 50 miles into the rain the wiper decided to crap out, so I drove with out wipers. It was too wet to use rainx, so I just drove.I arrived at Charlie's house about 8 PM.
I think every idiot in Kansas and Oklahoma was on the road today. They are all afraid of the turn lanes, right or left, seems they get the front wheels in the lane but keep the rear of the car in the driving lane! The others turn out of a side street into the first lane right in front of me and poop along at 40 mph. Their friends drive in the inside lane with the cruise set at 45 or 50 and can't pass anyone so they block the road............maybe I was just tired today??
Lola the GPS gal guided me from KC off of I35 and onto 169, nice road mostly 4 lane but not interstate, some 2 lanes. I could still cruise at 70 or so until the idiots would get in front of me. It was a good route.She did good.
Someplace in Kansas, at a gas station, a guy came over to talk about the car. He said there was a guy in town that builds 32's, but glass ones. I said close? he said about 4 blocks, want to go? I said yes. We drove to see him, a place called Southtowm Street Rods. Nice shop, 2 big buildings, had 2 corvettes and a 57 Chevy truck under construction. In his garage across the street was his 32 3w coupe, black with flames and his roadster. Nice cars, nice guy. That whole thing cost about an hour, but oh well.It was fun.
I had the Sirius radio blasting country music all day,have to listen to country in Texas right? The car ran good. The rain sucked! The day was good.
WE packed the back of the delivery tonight with boxes of t shirts and stuff for the run. We will drive to Austin tomorrow to meet with Maurice and Bea, stuff some goodie bags or something, spend the night at their house and then onto Kerrville on Friday.
I am on Charlies computer tonight so I cannot add the photos. If I can use the laptop tomorrow, I will post so pictures. If not when I hit the hotel I will.

Stay tuned.talk to y'all tomorrow ! (Texas talk)

Day 1...made it to Kansas City

After a late start this morning, I made it to KC about 6:30. The roofer guy came by for a final inspection, had to go by the bank to cash a check, dropped off the exhaust manifolds at RP...all took time. I made it on the road at 9:30. I stopped for gas in Lakeville, Clear Water, IA, an 2 other places. I was getting a bit over 18 MPG..I'm happy with that!!
My avg speed was 66.7...top speed was 84.9 drove 530 miles.
About 50 miles out of KC the volt meter started acting up.....going up to 16 volts then back to the normal 14...the AC blower was surging, I turned on the headlights, that seemed to hold it even for a while, then it started again...the gauge lights would sort of go bright and dim.....I think its a regulator problem.
I checked in to the hotel, my new favorite brand...La Quinta ( I can use the Walgreen corp rate there, almost like free food) and across the lot is a Advance Auto. I drove there and had them check the charging system with their little computer thing. Battery good, starter good, alternator ..no volts, even tho the gauge shows 13.9 at idle and at 2500 rpms....the guy said I don't have a clue!! I still think the regulator is going bad. I bought a new alt....$44, not bad insurance. I will change it in the morning. It is dark now.
Right across the street is an Applebees.....so I had a salad and two beer specials., life is good.
Plans are in the morning change the alt, then hit the road, 500 miles to go to get to Weathersford, TX, just west of Ft Worth. I will spend the night there with friend Charlie then drive to Austin on Thursday.
It was a good day................................Dale

Home again

We left Madison about 8:30 this morning, just Nystrom's and us. Eddie stayed back with Ralph and Barb to wait for the dreaded trailer. We were stopped on I94 for almost an hour, a van hit the wall in a one lane construction zone. Ralph called me about noon and said he was on the road, in fact just 30 miles behind us...until they got stuck in another wreck stopped incident. They were there for over an hour and had to detour back to go around the wreck. That one was a car that rear ended a semiand a fatality. A hard day on I94.
We arrived home about 5 PM...had a good trip. My car and Terry's ran flawlessly...that always makes for a better time.
As I said last night I will be home now until the Deuce Reunion in Texas. I will be leaving Sept 16th...that will be a fun trip...like they all are!

Louisville Nationals

It was a fabulous 4 days at the Nats. The weather was great, mid 80's. Sunday was a bit muggy and warmer. There were 11,003 registered vehicles there. We left about 2 PM on Sunday, four cars of us, Nystrom's, Maki's,Eddie P. and us. We spent the night in Lafayette, IN. Monday night was planned for a stay over in Madison, WI. We arrived there about 5 PM, sat in the parking lot on chairs and had a cocktail or two. Then it off to Friday's for dinner. After dinner on the short drive back to the hotel, thru a street under construction, Ralph's car snagged a small but tough and strong man hole cover....it won, he lost. It tore the transmission cross member out, ripped the trans wires apart, really did a number. A roll back was needed to get him to the hotel. The plan is for a friend from "up north" bring his truck and trailer tomorrow to pick him up. It is 400 miles from here so he will not be here until noon at the earliest. Kind of a blunt end to a very fun week!
Terry N and us will leave about 9 AM to get home, I think Eddie will wait for Ralph and Barb. I hate to leave them but nothing we can do now, we helped with what we could tonight.
The show was a lot of fun, we saw so many friends...vendors and rodders. I really disagree with the new year cut off thing, there were many many unhappy people there. I am planning on not going next year or renewing my membership that expires this month.I have been a member since 1975. There were many form letters filled out, but will make no difference. The only way I can make a difference is not to show up. If enough rodders don't show it will drive the point home. I'm going to miss the fun....may be go to the "Frog Follies" instead.
If all goes well, we should be home tomorrow evening. One more trp in September to Kerrville, TX for the "Deuce Reunion", hard to believe the trips are almost over.

Tuesday

We arrived at the Indy 500 museum at 9AM when they opened. We took photos of the cars in front of the big gate and the museum building, then went inside. In minutes the skies opened up and it poured for the next 2 hours. It slowed off a bit finally and we jumped into the cars and headed south towards Seymour. Within 20 minutes we had driven into the storm again. We pulled off and took shelter under a gas station canopy, it was like driving thru a car wash! After about an hour it slowed so we left again, same thing happened. We did make it to the antique store where we spent the next several hours. We finally arrived at Seymour around 5 PM. We went to the party, had some great food, meet old friends. It was a fine evening.
We will leave in the morning for the short drive to Louisville. Hopefully all of the water will be down by the time we arrive there. They had 6 inches of rain in an hour, some terrible flooding.The car is quite wet inside, carpet, door panels, rear panels....it will dry out this weekend I hope.

Monday

We left Madison about 8 AM, drove to ElPaso, IL stopped at an antique store for a while. The next stop was Fairbury, IL. We dropped the wives off for some shopping and Terry and I went to see my friend Tom, he runs an auto repair shop. I needed the AC recharged on the delivery. He took care of that and then we found the heater valve was stuck open.....got that fixed, now it blows ice cubes! Elvis has to cover her feet and legs, she was cold.
We arrived in Indy about 7 PM, checked into the hotel and had dinner. We are just 120 miles from L'ville. We will go to the indy 500 museum in the morning, the big antique store and then the kick off party tomorrow night in Seymour, IN

Saturday was a fun day at the flea market. We left about 3 PM for the drive to Chippewa Falls, a good drive. We had a quick supper then went to the fairgrounds to drive in the cruise. The drive had about n60 cars, went on for 1 and 1/2 hours, very scenic, good time. We ended at the Culvers for half price dessert. From there we were invited to Paul Oman's private collection...wow what a collection. He had four buildings full of cars, parts and cool stuff. I think there were something like 33 cars and tons of parts...all old Ford stuff. There was a Lincoln Zephyr, several Model A's, a couple of shoe box Fords, several 40's, a convert, 4 door, pickup. Several 37's a 36 a 40 Chevy, a 58, 55, 56 chevy, a F100, Ford tractor, 35 p/up, a sprint car, Henry Ford's 35 school bus and more. Several 34's one Deuce...finally! Tons of parts, just hard to describe it all. We were there almost 2 hours!!
Sunday we went to the fairgrounds to the swap and show, over 400 cars, lots of vendors, another fun day.
At 3 PM we drove to Madison, 170 miles, nice drive. Both cars are running great. It has been a good trip so far, I think Nystrom's are having a good time too. We are in a La Quinta tonight, a really NICE hotel. Tomorrow we will be heading to Indy, staying at another LaQuinta there, plans are to go to the Indy 500 museum and take some photos by the front gate.

Louisville Nats...here we come

Next weekend is the 40th Annual Street Rod Nationals......and the last one as we know it. Next year the cutoff date for cars is 1980...can you believe that??

Anyway we are leaving in the morning, Saturday 8/1. First stop is the "Hoodlums" breakfast in St Cloud, then Cambridge to a antique flea market, onto Chippewa Falls WI to a cruise night and Sunday morning a swap meet and car show. That should make a full day one.
I hope to get to Chip Falls early enough to visit Paul Oman's private collection of cars. Terry and Shirley Nystrom will be traveling with us in their new 40 Ford coupe. I am driving the 32 Deuce Delivery. This should be a great trip. Madison WI will be Sunday night, Indy Monday night, a trip to the Indy 500 museum, another big antique store in Seymour IN, a kick off party at T&T body shop Tuesday night,also in Seymour, then Wednesday we hit Louisville and spend a few hours at HDQS looking at rods. The show officially starts on Thursday......fun time.

Saturday/Sunday/Monday

Saturday morning was a cloudy sky day, it was misting a little as went drove into the park about 7:30. It rained slightly on and off several times in the morning, it kept it on the cooler side. I did not mind wiping off the car a few times. It was a very enjoyable day weather wise and car looking wise. I bought a Starbird book, a Pat Ganahal book on Custom cars, two Roger Jetter story books, a new trend magazine on custom cars all autographed by the authors. I watch Bill Hines chop the 47 Ford with Alex Gambino's help. At 1 PM all of the attending "Hall of Fame" members sat together to sign autographs, I got them all. Cool! The music was great, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison pretenders were awesome.
The pinstripers Panel Jam auction was fun, I bought a favorite panel Friday so I kept my hands in my pocket and bought nothing. There were some good buys and some high priced buys.
Saturday night was more entertainment at the hotel, fun time.
We left Sunday about noon and headed home, drove to Council Bluffs for the night. We took the hotel shuttle to the casino for dinner then hit the sack, tired. Monday we left about 9 AM and arrived at the Hoodlum's cruise night about 6PM, had dinner talked to friends, looked at cars and got home about 9 AM. Time for bed, I am tired. In the morning its getting the "Deuce Delivery" ready for the trip Saturday to Louisville, KY. It was a fun time driving with Jerry and Doris Johnson, I thank them for including us in their circle of friends, sure made a bunch of new friends this trip!!

Friday at the show

Got to the park at 8 AM, beautiful grassy, many trees, lots of shade...good thing because it was 100 today! We parked on the southwest corner where we could get a breeze all day. The interior of the park was very still, no breeze at all.
Beautiful customs all over. Many celebs, Barris, Bill Hines, Starbird, John D'agistino,just to name a few. Many famous customs. This is really kool show.
There are quite a few vendors, mostly custom stuff, several pinstripers striping cars and selling panels. I bought a really neat panel with a rat fink on it, striping and all of Big Daddy's car's names. I bought the two newest Roger Jetter's story books, I had his first one already.
Tomorrow they are expecting another couple of hundred cars, there were many cars already today.
Tonight was "run what you brung" drags at the old air strip, we chose not to go, went to eat instead. It was hot, we were tired.
I watched them chop a 47 Ford coupe for a while. They had a great band playing all day, lots of things going on.
It was a fun day.

Made it to Salina

We had a couple of great days in Wichita...made many new friends, saw neat cars. We met Hub and Gloria, friends of Jerry and Doris Johnsons. Their friends Ken and Nora invited us to stay at their house...nice of them!
Last night was a huge BBQ hot rod and custom party at Rocky's. About 50 or so cars and many many people and tons of food (free food)
I met Lynn Moore (a deuce guy) and the world famous Dave Stuckey. (builder of many old customs, including the famous Lil Coffin) Frank Livingston from CA builder of many many neat fastback customs.
This morning we drove to Salina with 8 other cars. Today we are just hanging out at the headquarters motel lot. There was a combined lunch in front of the rooms, everyone brought some food and we all shared (almost free) I met Mark Morierty from Mound MN, owner of the Car Craft Dream Car, previous owner and restorer of several Big Daddy Roth cars. Cool! Tonight there is a open house at Brite's Hot Rod shop...with a FREE BBQ!!
The big show starts in the morning....its gotta be fun. Oh yea...it is warm here, forcast says for tomorrow a "cool" 97 degrees! Hot weather and hot rods!!

On the road to "Leadsled Spectacular" show

We left Sunday for Wichita KS and then to the KKOA show in Salina, KS. As we arrived in Des Moines we had a bad noise in the rear end. I called my Buddy Dave and asked to use his shop. He has a great "toy" shop, 3 lifts, every tool you could think of. After a bit of checking we discovered the problem...rear wheel bearings were shot. Luckily O'Riley's are open till 8 PM on Sunday. We switched the bearings, added new lub and put it all back together. Runs real quiet now. Dave and Sandy invited us to spend the night at their house...nice! We had dinner and several Margueritas at the local cafe and then headed to their place.
Today we antiqued all the way to Lincoln....several shops, few miles. In the morning its off to Wichita. Will be a short 200 miles or so.

Home again.....for a while

We made it home at 4:30PM, only about 12 drops of rain, but the highway was wet from St Cloud to home. By 5:30 or so the skies opened up...glad we were home already!. The car ran good. 2500 miles....around 17 mph...good time. I do have a long list of mostly little things to do before next week. The P/S hose fitting came loose again, can't figure why!! There is also a strange bad noise under neath as I hit the drive way. That is on top of the list to check out and fix.
Salina KKOA Leadsled Spectacular is the next stop.....leaving next Monday AM if all goes as planned. It is a show of about 800 customs and hot rods, drags,top chopping exhibation and all kinds of fun stuff.

Catch up post

Saturday......a great day until the rain started. It poured for several hours. The drains backed up in the lot and we pushed several cars to higher ground. My friend Ron from NY with a very nice 32 highboy coupe, drank a bunch of water. When he tried to start it it broke teeth off of the fly wheel...could have been worse.Pulled the plugs, turned the engine over to push the water out and all is good. My car leaks big time by the windshield, its on the list to fix when I get home.

Sunday...a beautiful day. Clear blue skies. After a quick pass thru the vendor building, we headed out about 1 o'clock. 3 cars, Maki's, Johnson's and us. We spent the night in Lafayette, IN. It was a good day.

Monday.......We left about 9 AM. Tonight we are in Madison, WI. Johnson's went on home, so we are back to 2 cars, I had to re tighten the power steering fittings again. No other problems. We will leave at 9 in the morning and finish the trip. No rush...we are on vacation.

I found my AC leak, its the fitting behind the dash, the one you can't get to! I will remove the dash when I get home fix it so we can go to Kansas next week. Right now it takes a can of freon a day. I have made a small "to do" list to get it all set to go again.

Friday

Wow! a beautiful day....tons of hot rods, looked more like Saturday. We hit the grounds at 7AM...many many cars were there already. Lots of vendors outside and inside. We walked and walked then went inside to cool off. We left at 6PM, went to the hotel to clean up then met friends Jake and Pearl who live here for dinner. Jake picked a little Chinese place in the "hood". It was delicious! The prices were cheap!
The same plan for tomorrow, leave at 7AM, park in the "you gotta drive'em" section. Walk and check out the cars.
The quality of cars here is just outstanding. The current Ridler winner was in pro's pick area, and driving around, what a sight to see.I told him it looked better here than in the Detroit show! They crown the street machine of the year here and they have to make 3 passes in the suto cross, you should see them go. They may be trailer queens, but they go all out on the auto cross track.

Thursday

We left this morning at 8AM for Hagen Street Rods. It was about 120 miles. We arrived at 11 AM. After a shop tour we had a fabulous BBQ pulled pork lunch with all the trimmings and lots of fresh fruits. The Hagen shop was full of metal working tools, English wheels,plenishing hammers, pulmax, sheers, brakes a bunch a cool stuff. He is building a "coupster" a retractable hard top coupe/roadster,pretty cool.
We left there about 1PM for the last leg of the trip to Columbus, another 120 miles or so. The day went off without a hitch, a fun time. At the afternoon gas stop, I even left the hood closed, the fans off, and did not hit the switch on the new electric pump and the car started and I drove off.....I think it is fixed! We arrived at the Expo center in time to register and then onto the kick off party at the headquarters hotel. There we received dash plaques, t shirt and 2 free beers and dinner. The lot was full of hot rods, customs and friends. We finally left there about 9:30 to head to our hotel....what a fun trip!
Tomorrow it is off to the frairgrounds at 7AM to find a parking spot and look at more rods and visit friends.

Wednesday

I was back at the NAPA store at 6:30 AM, buying an electric fuel pump, I thought I would put it on tonight at the hotel. Our plans were to drive to Jasper IN for a tour at Air Ride Tech. On the way I decided I would ask them to use their shop. I asked they said Yes. Greg from Air Ride and I installed the new pump. We then found several leaks in the gas line. After tightening them up it was good to go. I added some more freon to the AC tightened the power steering fittings again. The car ran like a top all the way to the next stop. I think it is fixed this time.
Air Ride fed us a fantastic pork chop lunch...unreal! We added another car, actually a pickup from Lafayette...Ed he has been with use many times. Good to see him again.
We drove onto Greenwood In to the Ray Skillman collection. Millions of dollars of fantastic cars, all kinds. Rods, muscles, sprinters etc and many many neon signs. A real cool place.
We arrived at the hotel about 7:30, checked in, went to Texas Road House r a steak and a beer or two.
This has been a real fun time. It will be even more fun if the car continues to perform as it did this afternoon.
We will be visiting Hagens tomorrow for another FREE lunch and then onto the kick off party in Columbus.

Tuesday

We all left at 8AM for a nice drive to St Louis to visit Old dog Stret Rods. A full service shop with a fully stocked retail store. A great set up. They fed us a great FREE lunch.
The next stop was the NAPA distribution center in Mt Vernon Il. We got a grand tour of the place and then a wonderful FREE dinner.
My car vapor locked only once. We charged the AC this morning so had cool air all day. Had to stop once and tighten the power steering hose connections again. I bought several more cans of freon at NAPA, it was on sale for 3.99...deal!
We hit the Fair Field Inn and cleaned the cars, got gas tonight, filled the ice cooler. We will leave at 7:45 in the morning. The stop is Air Ride Tech in Jasper IN, we loose an hour in the time zone some have to get going in the morning.
A camero that broke yesterday caught back up tonight, that was good. Old Dogs work on the fuelie pickup.All the other little problems were overcome.
It was a great day today, lots if fun.

Monday

The weekend show was a great time. This morning we left on the cruise for Columbus, Ohio. We met at 8AM and on the road by 8:30. The first stop was only 20 miles to JR Motorsports, a builder of race and street engines. They had a small block on the dyno for us to see...fun. Next was a short 5 miles to Dennis Albauch private collection of Chevies. He has one of every year convertable, Corvette that was made. Also 3 Yenkos one worth 800,000 !! A 53 Corvette, one of 300 made, worth more than the Yenko.It is a fabulous huge garage with a parking ramp on top, next to a 18 hole golf course all owned by him.
The next stop was the Amana colonies for lunch and wine tasting. A good time.
The ole Buick decided to act up again....vapor locks every time I stop or go slow...disgusting! I thought I had it worked out. I think the next step is an electric fuel pump. Aotho there is a 54 truck with fuel injection and an electric pump having problems also. so who knows!?
I went to WalMart and bought a big cooler to carry lots of ice water to pour on the carb to cool it down.
In the morning it is off to St Louis to "Old Dog Street Rods"

Thursday

We left the house at 7AM, picked up the Nystroms and headed south.Arriving at Lakeville at 9AM as planned. Ralph and Barb arrived shortly after and we all continued the drive. We always stop at Albert Lea for lunch. Terry had a minor problem with the carbs so the stop lasted about one and a half hours. We continued on to Akney where we stoped for a cool drink and some home made chips at a bar named chips. Off we went for the last 10 miles to the fairgrounds to register.As we were leaving Chips I noticed that I was leaking power steering fluid, I added some and continued.
We made it to the hotel,met with Yagers and Zanoths, cleaned the cars and I started messing with the power steering hoses, the pressure side was leaking. After about 3 hours and 4 of us trying to rethread the hose we got it done. I think it is all fixed now.
We had dinner at the machine shed and a couple of cold beers really tasted good.
We will leaving for the fairgrounds at 7AM. It should be a great day..looks like 80 degrees...nice.
The lot is full of Deuces as always. The Midwest Deuces meeting is held here tomorrow night.

Ready to go to Good Guys

Darrick reset the timing last night, hope that will make it run a little more cool. I changed the oil today, put on the new wheels. I had ordered some different offset wheels, gained about 3 inches on each side, gave it a more "wide track", looks better. I found that the AC had a freon leak so called friend Mark at Mark's Speed shop, he charged it up, now we are good to go.
We will meet with Terry and Shirkey Nystrom at 7:15 at the Copper Lantern and head south to Lakeville, join up with Ralph and Barb and another car from "up north". We make a 300 mile trip last all day, easy drive. Breakfast/lunch in Albert Lea, stop for a snack in Akely and onto registration. Talk to you all later

Home again

Well the "topless tour #5" is over...I arrived home safe and sound at 8:30 last night. I left Rushville at 8AM in the morning, it was a long drive. The weather was fine, started off cool about 63 degrees, turned warm like 83 in SD. In Marshall, MN I put a sweatshirt on. The total trip was just shy of 4500 miles. lots of fun! I saw many friends, met many more new friends, what a trip.
It felt good to sleep in my bed last night. Now the plan is to get the Buick ready for her trip. It will be only about 3500 miles and 2 weeks. soft seats, AC, windows all the comforts. It will be anyway.

Sunday night

I left Colorado Springs Sunday morning, a nice 350 mile trip to my sister's, had a late lunch with her. I traveled onto my cousins home in Rushville, NE. am spending the night here. I had a nice dinner and caught up on visiting. I had not seen him for several years. It was a warm drive, top down, I got a little burnt. Tomorrow is to be hotter....oh good!
It is 650 miles to home from here, could be a long day. I hope to be at the Copper Lantern for the monthly cruise night tomorrow night. The trip is almost over............we wll be leaving Thursday morning in the Buick for DesMoines.

Friday

Got up early and headed for the show. Lots of swap meet vendors. A nice turn out of rods, I saw #1728, this is always a small very laid back show. It was a very nice weather day, sun, clouds, some breeze, a good day. I met the family inn the Springs tonight for dinner, will stay here tonight and return to Pueblo in the morning.
I plan to park in the "Pavement Pounders" section, I think I should qualify for that!!Not much else to report on today.

Photos

Wednesday

After 2 days without the Internet I am back in business! I spent the last 2 days with friend Vern in Colorado Springs, we had a great time. He took me to several shops and friends homes to see their cars. Last night we had some great Mexican food.
I drove to Pueblo today with another friend, Lane. We registered at the show and went to the kick off party for a FREE BBQ dinner ! In the morning I will head to the Fair grounds for a few hours and then drive to Colorado Springs to see Elvis and Michelle and Cooper. They are visiting Grandpa H.
Saturday I will return to Pueblo for the show and then plan on driving towards home early Sunday morning.
Its been a great trip, felt good to chill out the last 2 days. The trip from LA to here was long. We drove thru Zion Nat'l Park, Bryce Canyon, Dixie Forest, Vail, Dillon, all real pretty places, but made for some long days.
The show here will be a very easy laid back show, about 2000 cars, not a huge show.
I hope to post a couple of pictures tonight.

Monday

We left Vegas at 8AM headed north thru Nevada into Utah. We drove thru Zion Natl park, Bryce Caynon, Dixie Natl Forest, real beautiful country but a real long day. I think it was over 500 miles but on 2 lane roads thru the hills.
We stopped for lunch right before Zion, a guy walked over to me and said" hi Dale", he is from CT, lives about 10 miles from where I lived...but... I just met him 2 weeks ago In Indiana at an antique store. We talked there for an hour or so, he is camping and kayaking here. Its a small world. I was in the 46 Wild Turkey in Indiana, I had showed him a photo of the roadster only !
We are in Utah tonight, did not make it to Moab, we all were tired, found a hotel, had dinner and it was 9:30 PM.
I should be in Colorado Springs tomorrow night. I will stay with friend Vern, he has Wed planned for us, mostly a local speed shop full of old Ford parts. Thursday I will head for Pueblo.

Sunday and Change of plans

Sunday was a beautiful day at the show, warm and sunny. I walked and walked more. Rodney caught a ride to the airport with a friend of a friend, he should be home by now. We all left as soon as the pewter mugs were passed out, we were moving by 4PM. Tonight we are just north of Vegas.
I am traveling with 3 roadster friends from Colorado springs, I am going with them to the Springs and then onto Pueblo for the weekend...Rocky Mtn Nats. I think I will leave early Sunday (6/28) and be home by Monday night the 29th.
Tomorrow it is Zion Nat'l Park, Bryce Canyon....plan to spend the night in Moab Utah.
It is 10PM, I am tired, going to bed.

Saturday

We woke up Saturday to a cloudy grey day. The great thing was the temp....probably 72 for a high...what a great day for walking the swap meet, 100's of roadsters, 100's of other rods and customs and the vendor area. The swap meet was huge. Tons a great car parts, not rusty headers, lawn mowers, tires but good hot rod parts.
We saw many friends, a real good day. I think I sat by the car for 20 minutes while eating lunch only...I was walking and looking all day. My feet hurt tonight!
At 5PM there is a FREE BBQ for the roadster people, roast beef, chicken all the fixins, pop, water..a great feed. These guys know how to put on a show.All the club members are standing at the food line shaking our hands, thanking us for coming to their free show...that is how a show should be run, why do the cars have to pay to make the show people money??
The weather was just great, it is usually quite hot on the black top in the swap area, not this year. Tomorrow we will go back to the fairgrounds and walk some more. Rodney flies home in the afternoon, I will be on my own for the rest of the time. I will post some more pictures soon.
The pewter mugs are given out Sunday at 3, after that I will hit the road and drive 6 hours to Mesquite, NV.

Friday

Today was laundry day, now we have all clean clothes again, that took an hour and a half, so right after lunch we headed to SoCal open house. Jim Landree pulled strings again and got us inside the gates parking at SoCal. It pulls hundreds of rods and customs. We parked in our assigned spot, grabed the chairs and headed for the shady grass. About an hour later my 3 friends from Colo Springs showed up, Jim got passes for then also, so they parked right next to us.
I met a great couple from AZ while walking around, Denise and Bruce, she is a real estate broker that specializes in houses with multiple car parking...I'm keep her card so when I am ready for a condo with a 4 car garage I will call her!!
About 5PM we drove over to Bobby Waldens Speed shop's open house, another HUGE party. Lots of fun. A fun easy day.......................

Photo 1...Megan's red deuce roadster,
Marcel and me
My dream car...Kugal Steel roadster
the 36 hand built coupe

Thursday

Today was another great day. More shop tours. The first stop was Fred's Wiring, he not only wires cars, but builds complete turnkey rods. He had a 56 Chevy, 35 pickup, 62 Chevy, a complete hand built 36 Ford steel bodied car,(by Marcel's) 53 Chevy and many more. It was a really neat place.
Second up was Marcel's Metal works. Luc was on vacation but Marcel and Marc was there. It was good to see them again. They were finishing another Kugal full fendered deuce roadster....someday maybe I will have one of those. I will post a picture of it. There are only 2 more available.
Across the street was Barry White's speed shop. His shop was full of projects too. He remembered helping me with a bad tie rod end a few years ago.
The next stop was the Open House at Limeworks...cool place. We saw Deuce friends from Nebraska, AZ, SD and Utah there, Roger Nunn, Jerry Malady, Larry Setzer, Jack Linden, Dick Rodwell, it was great to see them all again. Megan aka "Chevygirlrox" from the HAMB, from Ohio drove with her friend in their roadster powered with an old flattie, the car was built in the 50's in CA...it came back home......cool!
We had one more stop planned but ran out of time. On the drive back to the hotel, the 34 sedan broke the trans crossmember, that let the engine drop and jambed the distributor and broke it, the good news was that it happened on an off ramp that had a break down area...good luck again. The same flatbed came to the rescue.
When we got back to the hotel we saw the Colorado Springs friends, Lane, Marty and Vern and their wives, they just drove in with their roadsters.
This was a fun day. Barryfrom CT called to check on me, Jakefrom Ohio called to check in...nice to hear from friends.

Wednesday part 2

Howard from Colorado had a bad day today. At the last stop yesterday he left his gas cap at the station, we improvised with a pop bottle and my duct tape. He was the same one with the transmission problem. Poor guy! He just bought the car last month, it was a brand new build. He took it all in stride. A real cool guy, 73 years old and having fun!!

Wednesday

I got up early and cleaned the car real good, took the top off. We all left at 9:30 for Dean Jefferies shop in Hollywood. It was a 50 mile trip that took 2 hours. The big Lakers parade was being held in downtown LA and we had to go by there to get to Jefferies place.
We met Jims hot rod tours there, took photos, listened to stories and waited for 2 of the Colorado cars to show up. They finally arrived with a problem with the coupe. They had no reverse or neutral! We borrowed a jack, stands, some tools but could not get it fixed. After a while we found a trans shop, called a rollback. The two cars stayed there waiting for the roll back to come.
We headed on to Hollywood Hot Rods. That was a neat shop. Full of traditional rods with new ideas. We had a great visit there. It was decided that it was too late to go any where else so we headed back to the hotel during rush hour. It only took an hour and a half.
We walked to Friday's for dinner and met with John Buck, the promoter of the January AMBR Grand National roadster show. While we were eating the broken car guys walked in, all fixed. The bolts inside the trans holding the valve body in came loose and fell out, that jammed the shift shaft. He put them back in, tightened them up and good to go. $150 and a $85 tow....not too bad.

Tuesday

I did not post Monday night...they charge $10 for Internet service and I am too tight!
We met for breakfast at 7AM at the Casino cafe and were on the road by 7:45. My plans were to remove the top, but after checking the dark cloudy shies I decided to leave it on! Wouldn't you know it, it did not rain. I was cool, a very nice drive. A short day today only 250 miles. Even going thru the desert it was only 91 or so. It is usually about 100+ there. We had a quick lunch in Barstow and drove on into Ontario by 3 PM. Traffice get really heavy in LA on I15 and I10, some of the drivers are nuts, but we had no real problems. After a little break, will clean up the car, walk to Friday's for dinner and get some more rest. We meet Jims Hot Rod tours at 11AM at Dean Jefferies shop, then Hollywood Hot Rods and several private collections, should be a fun day.

Monday

We met at Rocky Mtn Street Rods at 6:30.There was still hail in the corners and against the fences...wow! We left with a 43 tudor, 39 coupe, 32 3w at 7:15. Right down I76 we met up with Vern in his 32 roadster and continued west over the mountains. What a nice drive thru Aspen, Avon, and the beautiful snow capped mountains. It was a bit chilly, but a great drive. We stopped in Frisco for gas and picked up Jim in his 53 F100. Lunch was a Fruita at a place called Rib City...great BBQ. There we picked up the 10th guy, Jack. So six cars and 10 guys heading west in hot rods.We had a few sprinkles but nothing bad. It was a great ride but a LONG day. We finally hit Mesquite, NV about 9PM their time. We got rooms at the Eureka Casino...$29...cool! Had a prime rib dinner for $4.99....almost free! We were all tired. Besides Rodney, I am the youngest guy on the trip! The drive was 700 miles.
As we were leaving Alliance Sunday we both mentioned to my sister that our butts husrt during the ride...well she came to the rescue, made us 3 pillows, covered in 32 Ford fabric in about 5 minutes....they really helped, sat on one, stuffed one behind our backs..good deal. She is really my favorite sister (my only sister, but still the favorite)

Sunday

After a nice Sunday visit with family we left at 11:30 for Denver. We stopped for lunch in Sterling, CO for lunch, that is about half way. As we got closer to Denver we could tell the dark clouds were hiding the mountains. Finally the sky opened up and it poured. The rain was going south to north, we were driving west, so the rain was coming in the side windows (the one that we don't have). We got a little wet.
As we arrived in Denver, there was piles of hail in the gutters, on the roofs, on the carfs, looked like snow. I am glad we left as late as we did. The clouds cleared out and it was a beautiful evening.
We me with Rodney's friend for dinner and headed for the hotel. We leave at 7AM in the morning so need to get to Rocky Mtn Street rod shop by 6:15 or so. It is time for bed. Good night! It is a 700 mile drive tomorrow to Nevada, only 260 today.

Day one part 2

Day one

Made it to Nebraska about 10PM tonight...a long ride...740 miles. I left at 7:15, picked up Rodney in Mpls about 8:30 and headed southwest. About Mankato is started to rain, the farther we went the heavier it got. When we hit I90 I stopped and called my sister in NE to check the weather map. She said it cleared out west of Mitchell, SD. We stopped for lunch in Sioux Falls, after lunch we could see a bit of light in the west, within 50 miles it had stopped raining...finally! It was really coming down east of Sioux Falls!! It rained a bit 3 more times on I90. At Murdo we headed south towards NE. I found out that it is 91 miles from Valentine, NE to Gordon NE with only 2 little towns in between with closed gas stations. We stopped at Cody for a break, gas station closed with 60 miles to go, check the gas...no way. We found 2 guys standing outside the bar, Rodney asked about gas and was told there is 1 station in town but closed for the night....but the owner lived right down the street, we could go ask him to open. Rodney said "I will go ask!" He said he would open and he did. We got 9 gallons in a 11 gal tank...at 16 mpg 2 gallons would have been short...felt like Jimmy Johnson in the nascar race!! Nice to have friendly mid west gas station owners around. It got cold with the sun going down, the seat heaters felt good. like I said we arrived about 10 PM, had some dinner, nice visit and went to bed, I slept good.
This morning I washed the car and fixed the cooling fan. After checking it out I found it had a bad ground, don't know why, I re grounded it to the motor mount and it all works again. We did not need it traveling, but I noticed it at a stop light in down town Mpls. Good to fix it now instead of in LA hot weather traffic. In the morning we will head to Denver. Will meet with Rodney's friend for dinner and then meet with more hot rods Monday morning.
Its is a fun time..............."A cold wet day in a roadster is better than any day at work"

Home again

We got home about 5 PM. We stopped for a late lunch with son Rodney in St Paul. He lost his best friend Riley the kitty last week to a huge brain tumor. He is still feeling the loss, rightfully so. They were buddies for 9 years.
The car ran fine the whole trip, it usually does,it is very reliable, but they all are!! Now got to wash the 100's of bugs off it and put her away for a while. It was good to be home and sleep in my own bed. Today and tomorrow is finish the "lists" here, car, yard, honey do etc.
The top is still on the roadster from Fargo, with the cool mornings and chance of showers all the way to NE, I am thinking about just leaving it on, this is not the "official" topless tour, so no real rules to follow, maybe I'm getting older and wiser.........no.
This will be the last post untill Friday night......from west Nebraska if all goes as planned. Talk to you then.

"Deuce Guy Dale"

Monday

We made it to Madison this evening. It was something like 500 miles, sort of a long day, arrived at 7:30, maybe it was the antique stop!! HaHa. Less than 400 miles to get home now. There is several things I need to do before the roadster trip, will be good to get home. The car is running fine. That's all for tonight.

Sunday

Another beautiful day...clear blue skies, bright sun and a bunch of hot rods. We arrived at the fairgrounds about 9:30 and stayed until about noon. I walked the vendor building and said good bye to many friends. We drove 420 miles to Springfield, OH, farther than planned. The longer day today will help the next two. We arrived here about 7, found a hotel, ate and called it a day. Tomorrow will probably land us in Madison. Tuesday night we will be home, thats a day early, more time to do laundry, change oil in the roadster, pack a new bag, plus some other chores around home. Friday morning it is off to sunny California! Topless Tour #5 is about to start.

Saturday

The sun came out, the rain stopped, it was a great day, 84 degrees. I walked for miles looking at rods, many cool cars here. The swap meet was pretty good even if I did not buy anything.I am not sure how many cars are here, but looked less than last time. I think the rain scared off some of the locals.
I will go to the fair grounds again in the morning for a while, will probably leave about noon. Plan to drive for 2-300 miles then find a motel. That will leave two 500 mile days to make it home by Wednesday evening. Thursday will be laundry, repack a suitcase, change oil in the roadster. I will be leaving Friday morning with Rodney for the west coast.

More rain!!

Well it rained all day today again. I spent the day inside the vendor buildings looking at the parts. I bought some wiring supplies, talked to the chassis guy, got a deal on a tach, had a good time. I attended the wiring seminar by Wire Works also. It was a good day even with all the rain. Tomorrow forecast is sunny and 80...yea!
We are meeting in the hotel lobby at 6:30, heading to the grounds and to the favorite breakfast place, should be a good day. I will spend the day outside looking at rods.

York, PA

We made it to York about 2 PM today, another day of driving in the rain.
Jake and Pearl could not meet us this morning so we drove alone. I registered and walked the parking lot with an umbrella, had to check out the rods!I saw several old friends from the area, good to see them again. Our friends from MA, Larry and Paula arrived about 4 PM, we had a good dinner with them at Smokey Bones. They drove their 32 roadster...crazy roadster people!!
The weather looks wet agin for Friday. We are meeting at 7AM, park the cars then all go to Alexanders for breakfast, this has become a tradition the last several years. They have a great breakfast for a great price. Our friend Ray from TN has already marked out the parking spots with tarps. We always park in the same spot, have for 15 years or so.
If the rain continues tomorrow I will spend most of the day in the big vendor building shopping for 3W parts, I have my list all ready.

St Claiesville, OH

After several hours shopping for antiques in two different stores, we made it all the way to St Clairsville, OH (Wheeling WV is just across the bridge from here) We enjoyed a tall cold beer and a dinner at the West Texas Roadhouse tonight. In the morning we meet up with Jake and Pearl from Columbus in their black and flamed 39 Chevy.

We have been friends for at least 15 years, good people. Tomorrows drive is 320 miles. It rained all day today, it is still cloudy and misty outside, I hope it blows thru overnight.

Thursday is a big kickoff party in the host hotel parking lot, that is always fun. We will see all of the east coast friends there.
Not much else to report, hope for some fun newa once we get to the show.

Springfield OH

Well we are right on schedule, arrived tonight in Springfield, OH somewhere around 550 miles. We stopped at the favorite antique store in El Paso, IL this morning. Looked at some fun stuff, bought nothing. It was raining when we left Rockford, in about 80 miles it went away, turned sunny with clear blue skies.....for a couple of hundred miles! We hit Indy at rush hour in the pouring rain....fun!! I took the 465 south loop around to the east and then got on I70 east. It rained off and on all the way to Springfield, sort of glad we were in the 46 and not the roadster!
At one point the semi right in front of us hit his brakes hard, the trailer skidded to the ditch side, looked lke a dirt racer....he caught it and all was well...wow!
The car is turning 20mpg, not bad for a big block chevy. The GPS shows the speedo off by 8 mph and of course the odometert is off too. I've been figureing mpg off of the GPS miles so has to be right. Gas is 2.69 for regular somewhat higher in IL as always, of course I burn 92 octane so it is $3/gal...helping out Obama's stimulus plan!!Tonight there is thunderstorm warning till midnight...oh well, the car is dirty any way. Tomorrow morning is a 5 mile drive to a HUGE antique store, I might sneek out and wash the car. The rear view camera screen went out today, think I will figure that out too, I really miss it. Talk to you all tomorrow Dale

Rockford, IL

We made it to Rockford tonight, a short 400 miles. We made a couple of antique store stops. We arrived here in the middle of a thunderstorm, lightning, rain, lots of fun. We are staying at the BaymontInn, like always, this time we went next door for dinner at the Cracker Barrel, I was tired of driving in the rain.
Tomorrow will be Springfield, OH for the night, there is a huge antique store there, might make part of it in the afternoon, for sure the next morning for a few hours. nothing really exciting, all seems to be working fine...this ole car is always a good one. Talk to you all tomorrow Dale