Goodguys 2013 trip Des Mines to Columbus

We left July 4th morning to cruise to Albert Lea,MN and meet three other cars. The Nystroms and the Neus left St Cloud with us. We decided to drive highway 23 to avoid the cities, it takes a bit longer but is a fun drive down the 2 lane. We were in no hurry, we had plans to meet the others at 11:30, we made it a few minutes before...right on time, the others arrived within 5 minutes...perfect. After a good but slow service breakfast/lunch we headed on to Des Moines. We usually stop at a little bar called "Chips" just outside of Des Moines.....they were closed because of the fourth!  Damn!! We went onto the fairgrounds to register for the event. After visiting with MANY friends we headed for a bar that I found on my phone, Big Dawgs Bar, just a few blocks away. We all walked in and found it was happy hour...buck fifty beers...what a deal!!

The show was great...the weather was great...mid 80's...LOW humidity.....tons of QUALITY hot rods...what a great weekend. We received the "One Fine Deuce" award...what an honor. Our award was a really cool louvered metal sign, all lettered and pinstriped..really cool.

Sunday night was the kickoff party at my friend Dave's shop...what a great host he and wife Sandy are. Pork sandwiches, salads, cookies, beer, pop, water.....wow..thanks Dave and Sandy. At the party we got to meet all that were going on the cruise the next morning. 34 cars to start and a few more to join in on the way. We were being lead by Gazette editor Kirk in the Goodguys give away deuce sedan...how cool is that?
There were several repeats and a lot of newbies. This was our 10th consecutive official cruise, they are so much fun.
Our first stop Monday was Knoxville IA sprint car hall of fame museum and race track. That was neat. I had not been there for 10 years, good to see again. After a short visit there we were off to Mt Vernon, Il for the night. A great drive....35 old cars all in a row going down the high way...cool site.

 One Fine Deuce window sign

 Tour leader...Goodguys give away car                    Sprint car Hall of Fame