Wednesday

I have been waiting for the FedEx tracking number for the tires, no email. I decided to call Coker this morning. Guess what....their computers went down yesterday before the tires were shipped and was down all night. So they are still in Tennesse. The good news....I think, is that they will go out today at the higher freight charge for next day shipping. They should still be here on Thursday. Yes Coker is picking up the extra freight, that was a nice surprise. I will feel better when I see them here. Tomorrow I will register for the show, actually pick up my pre-registration, and wait for the call from Rky Mtn that the tires are here. Thanks to all that have left comments on the previous blogs.

Monday

Monday morning I drove out to see the world famous "Car Henge" It is copied after stone henge, but done with old autos. It was first made years ago out of bordom I think, but now is a pretty neat tourist event. Its marked on my road atlas, thats pretty cool. Right there in my home town! I'm from a famous place. I stopped to visit an old high school friend for a bit, back to my sisters for lunch and hit the road about 1 PM for Colorful Colorado. I noticed on the trip to Alliance my front tires had continued to scuff off. I thought I had it corrected but I guess not. Friday afternoon I found Miller Bros garage, run by two guys about my age, maybe not quite. Anyway, they were packing the truck and trailer up to go racing about an hour away. I talked them into checking the toe on the RPU. It was off, like I thought. They hooked it to their electronic machine, it measured 2.02 degrees, it should be .112 degress...no wonder they were scuffing! They got it set right, all better now. The tires don't seem to be wearing any more, but they do make me a tad worried. They are so tiny....135r15's not much rubber there to begin with. I called Coker tires when I got here and ordered a pair shipped 2cd day, should be here Thursday. They are being shipped to Rocky Mtn Street Rods, they will help to get them mounted. I would need new ones any way, if I shipped them home and have them waiting or ship them here 2cd day for a few dollars nore.......that makes piece of mind pretty cheap. Doing nothing the next couple of days, just waiting for Good guys to start.

Forgot the pictures!!

I forgot to post the pics before I hit the publish key.

Saturday/Sunday

Saturday was the car show at the city park. "Thunder on the Praire". There were 200 or so cars, all kinds. There also was a group of originals and antiques on a raod rally called Sugar Valley Run, they stopped by at lunch time. Some real interesting cars. I saw many many people that I knew when I lived here 50 years ago. The show sign had my name on it in quite large print, so several peolple would walk up and say something to me, I did not have a clue who they were until they told me. It was alot of fun to talk to all of them about the "old days" I met a little 6 year old kid from Omaha, NE, he fell in love with the RPU. He first saw it at dinner Friday night at the pizza place, then found me on Saturday, I think he wore his camara out taking pictures. He came back at about closing time, so I asked his mom if I could drive him to his Grandmothers house where they were visiting, she agreed. That really made his day. That was fun for me too. Sunday was a poker run, a nice tour around town, nice ride but a bad hand. After the poker run was the awards, I got money for long distance and a cool plaque with my car picture on it for street rod class......cool. Sunday afternoon we had a great steak dinner at my nephews home, they always have lots of great food. Nice family time.

Friday

I woke up to rain on Friday. It came down pretty heavy for the first 40 miles, as long as I was driving I did not get wet. I did not stop!! I drove west to Kodoka, SD, then turned south to US18, that was a big mistake. The first 20 or so miles of blacktop was rough as a cob, ruts and bumps, then construction, or maybe destruction is a better word. There was no road, just dirt, mud, gravel, bumps, at one point I had to stop and wait for a pilot truck to guide me thru the mess. This all went on for 20 long miles. But I made it thru. I stopped in Martin SD for gas. A guy pulled up and started talking about 32's, told me one just sold from an old guy from my hometown, darn one got away. After doing some research at home, I found out there was one there, a 5w with the rear quarters cut off and a dump box added. I knew who the owner was. An interesting thought, my dad and I had a coupe like that in the 60's, we dug it out of the sandhills, took the parts we needed and sold it to someone, I don't remember who, I wonder if it is the same car. Oh well, its gone. I stopped in Rushville, NE to visit my cousin and have lunch. We went to his friends shop and saw his 62 Pontiac restoration, real nice...and a neat 50 Hudson custom being built. I arrived in hometown about 2 PM and headed for the car wash.

On the road to LA

I left this morning at 8:30. A perfect roadster day, temp was 66 degrees. A sweatshirt was all I needed. The drive went well. A little south of Cold Springs, on highway 23, I was following a big truck, we were meeting another big truck, when a canadian goose and her little ones decided to cross the highway....bad timing. Both trucks hit some of them, feathers and guts everywhere, I ducked and kept going. I arrived in Pierre, SD, my stopping place for the night about 5 PM, took a little longer than planned because of a long visit with a guy at a gas station in some little no name town, nice visit and I had no real schedule. I arrived at the Super 8 motel where I had reservations. I checked in, received my room key....guess what room number....232. How cool is that?? There is a Mexican place next door, so that will be dinner, won't even have to drive anywhere. That's it for today, not much excitment, thats a good thing

B400 done for now

Saturday we have a garage tour scheduled to arrive here. We are expecting somewhere around 70 to 75 people. So today was clean the shop day and mock up some more on the B400. Since I am leaving next week for the summer trips, the work on the B400 will be on hold pretty much untill September, at least my work. The body will go to Ben at Custom Stuff by Neu for the body work and paint on Tuesday. By the time I come home she should be all pretty in satin blue. I think I will call her "Blue Suede Deuce" As you can see in the pictures, the radiator, grille shell and headlights are in postion as are the tail lights and rear license plate. The body has the tank and filler cap and the seat and dash, just to give it a look. All that will come back off before the body leaves on Tuesday. Tomorow I need to mop the house garage floor and give the Deuce Garage a quick spruce job. I will post some pics from the tour on Sunday night. Check back soon.