Sunday....made it home

I left Brookings about 7AM Sunday morning in thick fog. The more I drove the thicker it got. I finally drove out of it. I took 14 to state 23 into MN.It was a nice drive, little traffic. It had rained just before me, puddles in the road. In Granite Falls I stopped for gas and it started to rain a bit. The windshield and my goggles were very wet but I kept dry.
I arrived home about 11 AM......4499 miles..tons of fun.............a great trip

Thursday/Saturday

Thursday I left the tour and headed to my hometown to visit my sister. It was a 500 mile ride. Going over the mountains west of Denver was exciting. Several miles of one lane construction. The elevation topped out at 11,000 feet, that's a long way up. The Johnson tunnel is about 5 miles long and all down hill, that was exciting. I hit Denver at noon, it was I70 to I76 across Denver, when I hit the far east side I stopped for gas and a quick lunch...and a breather. I was glad that part was over.
The remaining miles were uneventful, just cruised at 80 and clicked the miles off.

I arrived at my sisters at 4:30, she had planned a dinner for her family and me. Nephew Brad, wife Joan and their kids were all there. Nice to see them all. There was prime rib, salad, real mashed potatoes and a real tasty ice cream bar desert, those farm gals know how to cook! Oh yes there were never ending margaritas in my hand, thanks Joan!! She made that fabulous desert too.
Friday it was off to the car wash, time to get a million bugs off. Next I visited an old school buddy, Randy. He makes cowboy buckles, spurs and saddle decorations, real nice stuff.....but cowboy stuff.You can check him out at www.Randygarrettcustoms.com

Saturday morning I headed north and east. It was a nice day. It is 670 miles to home from there. I made it to Brookings, SD, about 470 miles, that's enough, found a good hotel with a bar and a cafe. In the morning I'll head for home...the last 200 miles.

My friend Dave from CA at speed in his 34 Phaeton
A few bugs
Mike, Dave and me in the Moab park
A chrome bumper buffalo in zgrand Junction

Wednesday

Finally..... a new post. Monday night we were in Las Vegas, Internet was $15..no dice. Last night, besides getting to the hotel at 10 PM I could not get on the Internet.
We had a great trip to Vegas. We got to see Art Goldstrum's private collection, wow a great place. Three buildings of cars and neat stuff.Real nice people too.
Tuesday it was of to Richfield, UT. First we stopped at Las Vegas Speedway for a tour and then over to Shelby's factory. A nice time. Then it was off towards Vegas and onto Richfield. The only problem was that we left Vegas at 11 AM to drive across the desert...with no top. It was quite warm. Just outside of St George the guys that I was driving with in a neat 34 Phaeton had electric fuel pump problems...like it stopped! We messed with it for a bit then gave up, he had a spare, put that on on the roadside, drove 5 miles and it died, this time on a small shoulder part of the highway, going up a long hill, half way up. I drove to the top to park out of harms way. We jacked the car up, messed with it, could not get it to work. I walked up the hill to my car and got my spare pump, we mounted it on with some tie wraps that I had, it worked. It all sounds easy but took us a couple of hours.
We drove on and drove thru Zion Nat'l Park north on 89 and finally got to the hotel at 10 AM. I was tired and beat, it was 100 degrees on the road side, that is HOT !
Today it was off to Grand Junction by the way of Moab Utah by the arches...very pretty...warm but not as hot, maybe only 90.
In Grand Junction we visited Tammy Allen car collection, she is the blonde that sits in the front row of the BJ auction and buys cars. Nice place,loys of nice cars, no pictures allowed!!
The red 40 convert is my buddy Mike from Texas.

Wednesday

more photos

More photos from the show..................

Saturday/ Sunday

Two beautiful days at the roadster show. The weather was great, cloudy in the morning, sunny in the PM. Highs about 75, wonderful!! So many beautiful cars, tons of neat stuff at the swap, and many many vendors.
This year was a totally different layout, the vendors were inside the building, the roadsters were parked beside the building and in the main lot. A total different look, but a real nice change.
I saw so many friends, and made some more new ones. I just love doing this!
I had so many great comments about the RPU, really makes me happy that someone else likes it too. I always say, "I build them to make me happy, if someone else likes it too, its a bonus" There were lots of bonuses this week.
I had Dave Bell autograph one of his posters, nice to visit with him again. Gary from Cornhuskers (the guy that did the basis of the rpu) had some nice comments to share. I met a guy that was trying to buy it from Gary before I made the deal....lucky for me he thought too long. I am so happy I pulled the trigger while he was debating about it.
Hollywood Hot Rods, Old Crow Speed...two fabulous places. Too much fun!!
SoCal open house was awesome on Friday, had reserved parking in their lot....thanks Jim Landree. That is so cool. We visited the Early Ford store in San Dimas, unreal all the neat old Ford parts he has piled up. At noon it was over to Thumper's and Flo's for a BBQ at their house.......great people....and free food. BBQ, pop, water, margaritas and a delicious lemon cake...wow!!
Last night it was more free BBQ from the LA Roadsters, very nice.
Tonight I am in Chatsworth, CA with the Street Rodder tour guys, this will be a very fun next week.

Wednesday

Right after breakfast this morning we headed to Fred's Wiring and Custom Hot Rods. I called Frfed the night before, he is going to help figure out the gas problem. We got the car on the lift and started checking the gas line from the tank forward. Bingo! we found it. The rubber line from the tank runs thru tghe bed floor and connects to the mounted hard line. The vibration and gravity pulled the line down farther and when if hit the hard line, it looped a bit and then kinked it, there was the obstruction, it was kinked so much the hose was almost shut off. I just pushed it back up and then secured it so it could not slip down anymore. That should fix that.
We also noticed that one of the insulators on the exhaust had cut in half, replaced that and then added two more exhaust hangers, now it is even better.
The next stop was Marcel's metal Works. Foose was there planning Ron Brown's new car with Marcel and Luke. He was tapping the full size drawing to the wall as we walked in. After a nice visit with them, Foose wanted to go outside to see the RPU.....cool.
Next was Barry Whites shop and then a ride south to Foose's. Scandavian Street Rods, Wheelers, West Coast Street Rods, Squeek's and Art Chrisman's shop. Pretty full day.
We headed for home about 4 PM in the traffic. Using the commuter lane was great until we hit 91 and had to have a pass card to get in. Then it was 12 miles of 20 feet at a time, that was long.
We got to the hotel about 5:30. We all walked across the street to dinner and BS, always fun.

Monday/Tuesday

After 13 hours and 693 miles we arrived in St George, UT. It was a good day. We arrived at Rocky Mtn Street rods at 6:30, I used their jack and adjusted my brakes a couple of clicks. We all left at 7:15, plans were to meet Vern on the freeway, he had some last minute problems and did not show, so a quick stop and we were off. It was a beautiful drive down I70, thru Eisenhower tunnel, wow...snow at the entrance, it is a couple of miles long and goes downhill all the way. Lots of snow in the mountains. Lots of water in the rivers, almost overflowing.
Lunch was in Frisco where we picked up one more guy. After Grand Junction, it was Utah. Some big steep uphill grades, my RPU did not like the heat, elevation and the steep grades. It felt like a giant hand holding me back. We pulled over and everyone agreed it was vapor lock. Down the road somewhere we stopped at a NAPA, I bought some 1 inch heater hose, split it a covered the fuel line for insulation, did not help. I kept on going, struggling up the hills, I figured out if I let off on the gas, the fuel would catch up and it would run better for a bit. Made for a long day.
We got to the hotel about 8:30, checked into the room. I was tired.
This morning it was off again. At the gas stop in Vegas I decided I would buy a new fuel pump just in case mine was weak and might crap out in the middle of the desert.
It did not, but it still ran like crap. I also bought some insulation wrap, wrapped the fuel line over the heater line wrap,....no help. Somewhere in the desert, we stopped, I removed the hood side for more air flow...no help. The last 50 miles is downhill, I could run at 80 and ran well. Today's trip was 250 miles, the desert in the middle of the day is HOT, I think it was 95 degrees.
I bought an electric pump tonight and am going to Fred's Wiring to use his lift to install it in the morning. Nice to know people!! Fred builds some awesome cars and is only 15 minutes from the hotel.
Last night I lost both headlights, luckily it was in the hotel lot. I fixed them here tonight, the bulbs were loose in the sockets, they are tight now!!
The trip so far is 1968 miles, just a little aggrevation, no real troubles, real troubles are when you are on a flatbed. LOL
Vern got fixed and meet up at the hotel tonight. Tomorrows plan is to fix the car and then tour some shops.

Sunday

We left Lusk this morning to clear skies and only a sweatshirt on. It was 50 or so degrees. We took a different from usual 2 lane south and west rte 270, to finally get to I25. Nice smooth road hardly any traffic, a good choice. Then it was I25 south to Cheyenne and onto Denver. Lots of traffic and all rolling at 80 or so. Speed limit is 75. We arrived at the hotel about 1PM, checked in and Rodney called his friend to meet for lunch. After lunch we cleaned the car and chilled.
We meet the other rods in the morning about 7AM, not far from here and off to St George, Utah for the night. Maxine, (my new GPS) says it is almost 700 miles, so a longer day for sure.
Check the photo, we are "official tourists" now!! LOL

Saturday

We left Pierre this morning, had to get as, was welcomed by "full service at self service prices", this cute little chick came over to pump the gas. A real South Dakota gal, had her can of snuff in the back pocket of her jeans, I didn't look, Rodney told me.
We drove by McDonalds all sand bagged like the other stores. Even Dino the dinosaur had a life vest on, a little humor in a bad situation.
We headed down hwy 14 towards Wall to visit the famous Wall Drug, the road was great, 2 lane but really smooth, caught myself several times going over 80. We parked in front of Wall Drug for a photo op, went inside a got a bumper sticker and looked around quickly.
Mt Rushmore was next, then to Crazy Horse, Sylvan Lake and onto Lusk WY for the night. A good day, chilly until afternoon, we had our sweatshirts and jackets on.
We found a car wash and a motel in Lusk, had a good dinner. A short 330 miles but a fun day.

Friday part two

Forgot some things.............We left Friday morning, it was 48 degrees, it was chilly. A sweatshirt and our "Vintique car show" jackets and we hit the seat heater buttons, then it was cozy.
At the stop light in Clara City, MN, I saw this guy in my rear view mirror running up to the car, it was my friend Ken, aka Gus, Gustafson from Litchfield. We were stopping to check for gas so we had a nice visit for a bit. He did not expect to see me in the car, that was a fun time.
In Pierre most of the businesses have sand bags all around there stores, a strange sight. We had to walk over a wooded bridge over the sand bags so we could get inside to eat.

Friday

Got the car home from Wally's shop at 9 PM last night. Trans gone thru, fixed a couple of things , re installed the trans, heat shield by the exhaust and the slave cylinder, new bearing instead of a bushing on the main shaft to the engine crank, fixed a leak in a heater hose, and now all is ready to go.
I changed oil this morning at 7AM, repacked the trunk (bed) took out the lawn chairs to make our stuff fit. Rodney and I left at 9 AM. Tonight we are in Pierre, SD as planned, just a short 400 miles. An easy day to start with, need to get back in the "roadster mode", my rear is tired tonight.!! The car ran great, we hit a couple of light showers in SD, but nothing bad.
We got a room at the Super 8, next door to a Mexican place, so we had tacos and margaritas to night!! Tasted good.
In the morning we will wash the car and head for the Black Hills, see Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse and stay in Lusk, WY.
A great first day of the 2 week trip.

Almost time to leave

Today is Wednesday, the plan is to leave for LA Friday morning. Right now the RPU is at Walts Rod and Custom on jack stands and the 5 speed is at the tranny shop. I could not get it to shift into reverse when it was hot. Also wanted to "crunch" into 2cd. After we readjusted the clutch several times, we decided to jack the body back up and remove the tranny. In our conversion, I mentioned the oillite bushing that I put in the crank end, Wally says it is supposed to be a bearing on a T5. That was part of the decision to pull the tranny also. The bushing fit a little loose, that might be part of the problem, the tranny shop says heat from the exhaust could also causing the slave not to work right, that could be part of the problem too. Since the tranny was out, it was decided to have them look inside. Wally pulled some strings and got it in the shop right away, like at noon today. I am waiting for a phone call with an update. Hopefully it will go back to Wally's tonight and we can put it back in tomorrow morning.
Last year, the blue roadster's 350 automatic came out about 4 days before we left too, Lumpy and I did that, and the shop squeezed us in at once too. Different shop, but both guys are great. This shop does only manual gearboxes and are real good at it. The bearing is to be at O'Rileys this afternoon. stay tuned for updates. We'll make it yet!!