Friday/Saturday

Friday was off to breakfast at Roadies in San Dimas. Its a great little cafe just a couple of doors from Early Ford Store. After we ate we drove over to the Ford store. It is always neat to see all the old parts and to see all the guys there. It is a real social event. I talked with many friends as always. Always a good time there. There was a van load of kiwis from New Zeland,they were fun to talk to. I told them about Thumpers and Flos back yard BBQ and gave them the address. Thunpers was our next stop....many many hot rods all over the neighborhood and a great BBQ with a marqurita bar in the back yard by the pool. More friends there. Finally met some facebook friends in real life....always fun! 1 o'clock and we were off to SoCal open house...we had VIP parking inside the gate...really cool. At 5 PM it was a short drive to Waldens open house...they always have a crowd and a freezer of ice cream bars...refreshing on a hot day. After Waldens we found a neat little BBQ joint in a so-so neighborhood....the food was outstanding! We will make that a repeat stop for years to come. ***************************************************************** Saturday....the big show. went to the fairgrounds about 7ish. Drove in, found a parking spot under a shady palm tree right by the main building. We headed to the swap meet...its huge, walked until we were hot and then back to the main building. Saw many more friends.....funny how most all knew about the broken spring....news travels fast! At 5PM it was another free BBQ beef dinner on the hill...all free from the roadster club. A real nice deal. It was warm but a fun day. Tomorrow it is Dennys for breakfast and then to the show for the day. As soon as we get the famous pewter mug it's off for Mesquite NV....320 miles 5 1/2 hours and the weather man says 110 degrees. Don't need no stikin top!" **********************************************

Thursday

WE LEFT Blythe at 6:30,right after breakfast. Plan was to stop in Indigo, 100 miles for gas, half way and we would hit town with gas yet. We pulled into a very nice station, gassed up, checked the oil, got more ice. It was getting hot. Dave reset the timing slightly on the purple roadster, when he restarted it it started, backfired and he shut it off. When we were ready to roll, it would not start. He put the timing back, still no start. We could tell he was getting gas becauce the fuel pressure gauge showed right. We checked the spark...twice...had good spark. Pulled #2 plug....gas pourded out of the hole. we cranked it over, crank crank, then more gas poured out.We pulled all of the plugs...cranked it over to dry it out. Went to the store and bought new plugs....put them in....no start. Finally we said....pull the hood off. Its just a hood top but sort of a pain to remove. Pulled the air cleaner top and ........the choke was stuck closed...from the back fire! Popped it opened...hit the key and fire! After 2 hours, what a dumb thing to find. Away we went. The first stop was to be Marcels Metal Works. About 15 miles from there, Dave came roaring up beside me to see if I could see the alternator was turning or not..it was but also squealing. I told him to just continue to Marcels. When we arrived at Marcels, we quickly found the problem...the bracket was broken in three places and was missing a piece from one of the breaks. We pulled it off and went into see Luc at Marcels. He welded it together, and made a new piece to replace the broken piece. We had a nice visit as always and then was off to see the guys at Fred's Custom Wiring in Onterio. Fred was gone but we got to visit with Jake. He also fed us several donuts and cold drinks. The next stop was SoCal to pick up the VIP parking passes for their open house on Friday. Next was the hotel to check in....we made it!!

Monday/Tuesday/Wed

We left Holbrook early Monday morning for Prescott AZ. We had a great drive and arrived about noonish. Jack Linden showed us several local rodders garages...some real nice cars and projects. Texas Road house was the dinner spot for Monday. Some photos are on Facebook of the garage tours. Tuesday was more garage tours....several more great place and a great lunch at a Mexican place. Taco Tuesday....taco for $2 !! Tuesday night it was go downtown for dinner night. As we were driving down main street my real main leaf spring on my 1/4 elepitcal spring broke, dropped down and acted as a pole vault, jumped me up and crashed down. Damn!! I called Jack to help me out. He and four other friends came down with the truck and trailer and hauled me to his house. They called a couple of the guys that we visited and decided one of them could weld the spring in the morning. I was up at 5AM, calling Posie's in PA to order a new set of springs and had them shipped to the hotel in Pomona. I willchange them out at hme...hopefully NOT before! The guys had the springs welded and reinstalled by about 10 AM when we got there. I added a safety chain so if the spring should break again the chin will hold it up so it won't be the pole vault effect again. I also had to replace a tail pipe hanger. By the time we went to the parts stors and finished the safety chain it was time for lunch. There was 15 of us at Five Guys burgers...I treated...the least that I could do! We hit the road at 1PM and headed for Blythe, CA for the night. We arrived at the hotel at 5 PM...the outside temp was 115 degrees....it was HOT!! We all thought we were going to die. Drank water, had wet towels around our neck...it was HOT!! We cooled off and then ordered pizza to eat in the lobby. We did not want to go outside again. Tomorrow we plan to leave at 6:30...right after breakfast. Pomona her we come...a short 200 miles to go.

Sunday

We left early Sunday morning for Durango for a late breakfast with a friend of Greg's. It was 42 degrees as we left...the heater, seat heaters, sweatshirt and windbreaker felt good. We drove up and over Wolf Creek Pass at 11,000 feet. Some pretty views.We got to Durango, had breakfast and continued on to Holbrook AZ. On I40 just outside of Holbrook we caught up with friend Randy from Texas in his red roadster...good timing! We found our motel...the WigWam Motel....old concrete teepees. A fun place to stay. Found a steak house, had a good dinner and went to bed.

Hot Rod Dirt Drags

The first Hot Rod Drags was a success! We arrived about 10. I had a slow start after a bad night and early morning. A cup of coffee and seeing all the neat hot rods quickly pushed out the rotten feeling in my body. Amazing how that can help. There was probably 60 or so cars that were racing. All shapes and styles. All really cool. I saw Craig and Trevor from Denver, Darryl from Colorado Springs...had a nice visit with them. We got to park on the show car area on the grass. Several vendors, beer tent, a rockabilly band, Hop Up magazine, event T shirt tent to name a few. The cars just paired up and ran. It was almost an eighth mile dirt track. A flag girl starter and twin towers with flag guys to show the winning lane at the end. Ron had his top off (it broke the day before) then removed the windshield, taped numbers on the side, put on his helmet and away he went. He paired up with a rolling bones built car, both had SBC with tri carbs. Ron came out ahead. There is a neat video I posted on my facebook page of the race. He made another pass against a lightweight T bucket and lost that one. He was in line for another run when a radiator hose blew of of a little fiat race car burning the girl driver with the hot water. The ambulence took her for medical care so the cars could not race. It was getting close to the ending time any way so it was called off for the day. Ron was bummed that he could not make another run. We leave at 7AM in the morning for Holbrook, AZ...staying at the WigWam Motel there. It is a cool old motel on I40 which is also rte 66. The cabins are concrete Indian tepees. Should be a neat photo op. It is a 400 mile trip so an easy day. I hope wolf Creek Pass is not too cool, it is 11,00 ft high...then its downtown Pagosa Springs...I'll be singing C W McCall's song Wolf Creek Pass all day!

Friday

We got up at 5AM, breakfast at 6AM and on the road at 6:30. We had 500 miles to get to Monte Vista CO. It was chilly...mid 50's so the heater, heated seats and sweatshirts felt good. By the time we got to Brush, CO it was raining. Ron's top broke and blew apart, so he har to go topless too. He got no sympathy from me! LOL!! We gassed up in Brush, Ron borowwed raincoat from Dave and away we wnet. There is a sign at the junction of I76 and state 71...no gas stations for 75 miles. I knew that, that's why we topped off in Brush. 71 is a straight, flat 2 lane 166 miles to Rocky Ford. It rained quite hard and then would go to light rain then back tohard. It was hard to see sometimes. It was cold and the rain was getting old. Finally about 20 miles from Rocky Ford it stopped raining we pulled into a little cafe for lunch and to dry off. I almost had to eat my favorite saying..."don't need no stikin top " We had a good lunch and was off again to finish the trip. It rained lightly again for a while, but was a beautiful drive...up to 9600 feet over the pass and back down to 7600 in Monte Vista. We found our motel, checked in and washed the cars. We drove to a Mexican place for dinner. Good food, STRONG marquritas and HOT hot sauce. It was great..altho I was sick most of the night!! All and all it was a GREAT day!

LARS 2015

Wednesday morning I left about 8AM to drive to Mpls to pick up my son Rodney for the annual roadster trip. I have been driving to LA since 2004 and Rodney has been with me each year. It is a great father/son time. From Rodney's place we drove south to Lakeville to hook up with friend Greg from Wisconsin in his roadster and then it was off to Des Moines, IA. In Des Moines we met up with Dave, Don and Ron. Dave is from Iowa, Don from Ill and Ron from Florida. Our meeting spot was Bennigans Cruise night. A good start to the 18 day trip...a car show!! 6 AM this morning, Wednesday we hit the road with cloudy skies above us and headed west. The stopping spot was North Platte, NE. Within 30 miles it started to rain. Greg and me had the tops off...well Greg did, I don't have one to put up! It rained hard till we passed Omaha... a couple of hundred miles. Then it was on and off every few minutes. We had a lunch invitation at Dennis Saum's garage in Marquette. He and his wife had burgers, brats, fruit salad and drinks for us. Thanks!! Dennis is the mayor of Marquette, so we had a special holiday day! After lunch and back to the interstate for the night at North Platte. I had made reservations at my favorite hotel, LaQuinta. We checked in and proceeded to go to Whiskey Creek steak house. A couple of cold beers and a good steak was in order. In the morning it's up and out by 6:30 for a 500 mile jaunt to Monte Vista Co. Hopefully the rain will be over...if not we will just punt on the raincoats again and hammer down anyway. I wore for the first time a Cabelas windbreaker that worked well as a rain coat. I have had it for several years and used it for wind but this was the first time I used it for rain...worked well!

cell test

Test from my cell

GNRS 2015

We leave in the morning for the Grand National Roadster Show. Catch the plane at 11 AM and arrive in warm sunny CA about 4PM. I have eight shops on the visit list for Wednesday and eight more for Thursday. Two are official open houses the rest are just visits. There will be three couples and three or four guys in the group. I hope to post each night, hopefully some photos too. Sometimes I can't get this little notebook to work with pictures...if I can't the photos will go up when I get home. I will be posting on Facebook during the day too. My facebook page is just my name. Dale Grau If we aren't friends there yet...send me a request. Let the fun begin!!