VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION Meets, Tours & Events Seattle to Flint - my journal

WOW - six 1934 cabriolets!

Was the maroon one DJ's from PSR?

Roger

Any chance you shot some pics of 41's ?

Enjoy,
Michael41

Yep.

At least there is at least 1 Australian representative there, I dont feel so left out now.
Tony

Pics of 41's! Cool. Well when you get a chance, post em....

In the mean time, enjoy & have a safe drive home.
Michael41

A really nice meet.......I,m glad I came. Thank you to all.

DAY TEN

Plaque Tour to Crossroads Village - a recreation of a historical old-time town. Included a railroad and boat ride. Weather was "horribly hot" as reported by one of the attendees. (I'm not going to name him since I have to ride all the way back home with him.)

I didn't go. I stayed at the hotel and worked on the overhead images for the banquet program.

Later that evening was the car display on THE BRICKS - aka Saginaw Street!




DAY ELEVEN

Banquet.
It was the best facility that I've ever been to for a VCCA event!! It was sized PERFECTLY for our group of 1,000+ people. The place was newly refurbished and looked fantastic. Equally important, the STAFF were very helpful, prompt and courteous. Overall, an outstanding venue and an outstanding experience.

Here's a photo of only part of the main banquet hall. The room had FIVE of these large screens in it!!



I have dozens of these photos from my navigator on the trip (Bob)... but I'll only show one, since you'll see tons more in the special Anniversary issue of the G&D.



Oh, speaking of my navigator - while I was WORKING the entire night running the overhead projector, he was cavorting around the room... I found these photos on his camera!!!







And finally, some of the things that were shown during the night are below here.

a) Here is one of the commercials that we showed.
Chevy Commercial for Levi's

b) While the VCCA President, Don Williams, announced that the next 2016 meet was going to be in Medford, Oregon, I displayed this small clip of the downtown area.
Downtown Medford Oregon

Good day from Sioux Falls, Minnesota. Tomorrow - Wall Drug and then Sturgis!!!!
ETA Seattle - another 3 or 4 days.


Note: Bob is the banana.

Bill,

Thanks for getting back to your daily journal thread. Your writing is
very entertaining; but beyond that it gives those of us who didn’t go
to Flint a great look at your journey and then the actual events in
Flint. VERY interesting and informative. Thnx again for doing this.
It's obvious you've had a GREAT time. Best wishes for a safe trip home.

Bill.

PS: Altho you didn’t mention it as you traveled to Flint, I presume you
noticed signs in Mandan, ND (Just across the Missouri River from Bismarck, ND)
about Mandan being the “Birthplace of noted Oregon car guy Bill Fuller.”

CORRECTION!!

When we traveled to Flint two weeks ago, we were warned not to venture into Mandan, ND. Someone said that it was a rough town and that we'd be better off going to Sturgis, SD and asking for sarsaparilla at any of the bars there.

So, we decided to bypass Mandan (Sorry Bill, we we hoping to see your birth home - and get our picture taken next to your statue), and tomorrow we'll get our asses kicked in Sturgis!!

Bill, If you were on I-94 going East thru ND, as your writing indicates, I'm
pretty sure you go thru Mandan about 5 minits before you arrive in
Bismarck. Maybe not "right thru" Mandan. That would be the 'old'
highway. The "interstate" runs along the outskirts of Mandan.

Nonetheless, I understand your concern about going into Mandan. What
the hay, look what happened to Custer!!!

As for Sturgis, you two are definitely on your own. Suggest you be careful
who you wink at...

Bill.

Hey Billy Boy Barker!

Great photos once again!

Now that Flint is over are you going to delete the "Flint or Bust" at the top of Chevy Chatter II and then replace it with a new countdown for Medford, Oregon in 2016? As we speak there are only 1,823 days to the next Anniversary Meet in Medford!

By the way, I checked out the link above for the clip on Medford, and I really hate to tell ya this...but...that ain't Medford, Oregon!!

Great pics and story Bill. Thanks for sharing.

As a side bar, I have been to Sturgis and had a great time. While there were some rough looking big-as* guys, they were actually very friendly & fun. But as 42Bill says I don't think I'd wink at any of them.

Enjoy the ride home,
Michael41

Gee......LOL......how come he got to pose with those nice ladies??? .......Super pictures.

i took a day off from the NCRS national convention in Novi, Mi and drove up to the VCCA meet in Flint. i viewed the cars at the sloan museum and was real impressed with the quality of the VCCA restorations. most were on par with the Corvettes we judged in Novi. mike

Mike, Mike, Mike.... Our restorations are not on par with yours... Your restorations are on par with ours! I think we were restoring them, while you were picking them up new at the dealership!! Glad you made the drive up... Obviously our club made it worth the journey!

DAY TWELVE

While passing through Hastings Minnesota, we stopped to check out my great, great, great grandfather's house.



The house was built in approx 1835.



Then we traveled today through South Dakota. No trip through these corn fields is complete without stopping at the CORN PALACE. We went inside and tasted corn balls (didn't buy any), bought some hot coffee and popping-corn-cobs for the grand-kids.



Stopped at a rest area that was pretty fantastic. Could see the Missouri River from there and there was a GREAT exhibit of the Lewis and Clark expedition. They camped in the exact same spot on the way TO the Pacific Ocean, and then again on the return trip home. PS. Their trip lasted 2 years and 4 months.





Stopped at the Pioneer Auto Museum.


1937 Cord



Over 250 cars located in the Musuem. Some were really great (and the rest were Fords.) ha ha... Seriously, the variety is fantastic. Moon, REO, Scripps-Booth, Chrysler Airflow, Kaiser, Nash, RB, Cadillac V16, Auburn, Cord, Murray, Overland, Maxwell, Brush, Saxon, Chalmers, Grant, Stoddard-Dayton, and a bunch more that I forgot. Also Elis 1958 motorcycle, and the original General Lee 01.


Oh, yes, we also saw our SECOND cooper-cooled Chevy engine on this trip. Ho-hum.


Continued in the next posting.

Day Twelve - Continued


Also made the obligatory stop later this afternoon at WALL DRUG.






And, of course, Bob found ANOTHER lovely to have his picture taken with. (She seemed "stiff" and kind of "wooden" to me.)



Left Wall, SD and ran into another severe rain storm with lightening. Had to slow to 40 MPH with my 4-way flashers on. The wind was easily 50 to 70 mph. I was afraid that it was going to blow my trailer into the ditch - or to Oklahoma!!!??!!

Saw 6 motorcyclists all huddled on the side of the road under an overpass. They were scared sh**less from the lightening bolts.

One advantage that I've discovered on this trip when traveling with another guy - is that the toilet seat is ALWAYS up. This is really cool. After drinking a couple of brewski's, you can wait until the very last second before you dash for the bathroom. Since the seat is always in the UP position, it saves precious seconds when you're in a hurry.

Gotta love that!

Bill... not to nit pick, but if you had done the trip correctly, it would have been your third Copper Cooled... you may have to go back! Thanks for posting the blog... it was fun to travel with you, while I sort of traveled with you! Is it wrong that I went back to the hotel room every night, and thought "I wonder how Bill's day went?" !!

Hey Billy Boy Barker!

Who owns your great, great, great grandfather's house now? Is it still in the family by chance?

Sure enjoy your journal.
Were the restrooms open in Minnesota this time?

DAY THIRTHEEN

Yes, the restrooms in Minnesota were open. But they had signs posted that said "Do Not drink the water since the lines have been shut down for three weeks." That was okay with us, since we were on a strict Budweiser diet.

Woke up in South Dakota this morning.
Drove through Sturgis at 8 am.



In case you weren't aware, this is the WEEK BEFORE the big annual motorcycle rally. As you can tell by the photos, most of the bikes run on alcohol too.







Bob wanted to look at the building with the pretty mural paintings on it.


But then he saw these two guys WINDOW SHOPPING for a Harley at 8 in the friggin' morning!!!?!?! :-)



We reluctantly left Sturgis (since neither of us wanted to get a tattoo), and we moved on to Montana. It put on a cool weather storm for us to drive through.





Got a free windshield washing, but had to listen to Bob complain that it made him want to pee.

DAY THIRTEEN Continued:

When we stopped at numerous Rest Areas in Montana (don't ask why - just read the previous posting)... we saw lots of signs.

This one grabbed our attention!!!


Wow... can you imagine getting bit by one of those when you're at mile marker 347 in the middle of nowhere? And you're the only people at the Rest Area?


And to make matters worse, they forbid you from administering proper medical aid?!?!?



When we finally stopped for the night, in a town called Big Timber, Montana, the motel recommended that we go down the road to the Frosty Freeze. Did that. The food was good. The waitresses very young. Cute, but VERY young. I don't know why Bob left such a large tip for just a hamburger and chocolate shake. Oh, well.



When we walked outside to our truck, this pooch was having his own afternoon delight!




Remember the sign that we saw in "another state" that said:


Well, in Montana, they have their own opinions:




On the way back to the motel, we saw this truck. I hope that they weren't advertising the quality of their work.


And just as we rounded the last curve in the road, there was this Chevy Dealer:



This was the first day that we didn't set our watches back an hour. Bob said that we only had the normal 24 hours for "happy hour" instead of the 25 hours that we were becoming accustomed to. I think that we both would have preferred to have remained in Sturgis for a week, month, etc.

Tomorrow: More Montana (they don't call it the Big Sky State for nuthin') - and then on to Idaho and Washington.

By what I have heard rattlesnakes give a warning before they bite, snakes down here bite first then get away as fast as they can. Most are just as deadly if not more so.
Tony

DAY FOURTEEN or FIFTEEN

Okay, I lost count. Sue me.

On the road again. Here is a photo that has become all too common on our trip. Those dang orange dividers. It sure is tempting to knock about a hundred of them over. My trailer is 8 feet 6 inches wide. I swear that some of the lanes are 7 feet wide!!?!?!?



And since we're in the middle of nowhere - we only had ONE stop today. At the Montana Prison (and car museum).


The walls are high and thick. Actually they look pretty nice.


Inside, we spent most of our time at the museum.


The cars are almost all in excellent condition. You could drive any one of them in a parade and it would turn heads.


Lots of Chevs. 1926, 27, 28, 29, 34, etc

We ventured into the prison. Saw the gallows where guys walked up the 13 steps to the top and then dropped. In the courtyard was this contraption. I tried to get Bob to take a drink, but he wouldn't.


Drove all the rest of the day. Finally came to another state. Whew... they are sure far apart out-west.


Then just as we crossed over into Washington State, I saw an exit that I didn't know was there -- Barker Road.

Cool... it must have been a sign from "above". We decided to take it, since it was 7:30 pm and we were due to stop for the evening.

--> read the following posting.

DAY WHATEVER

After 12 hours on the road, we take the exit. It goes two blocks to a dead-end. But at the end is a BRAND NEW hotel (Hampton Inn). Bob waddles in and and they have ONE room left. Great.

While he's there, I check my 2011 Chev navigation system and see a funny "owl" symbol for the establishment next door. Could it be?? Really??

We take our bags up to the room and then venture back outside. Next door we see this building:


Before I get too far into this story, I want to post this photo from two days ago that I forgot about. While driving across South Dakota, it shows the outside temperature as 99 degrees. And, yes, my speed was 65 MPH, towing my trailer and '31. Love my Duramax.


So, back to tonight... I had to hold Bob back from running across the parking lot to our "dinner establishment". Maybe it was the CASINO that was attracting him? Nahhh.....


We had a burger and beer. Then pie and another beer. Then, silver-tongued Bob asked the waitress for a picture. Naturally I ended up with the camera.


It was a great dinner along with even great ambiance. Or whatever the euphemism is for "good looking gals".

On the way out, I got a photo of another waitress on a shot glass. She was a cutie - and very friendly. And, hey!, I really needed a new shot glass.





Check back tomorrow for our LAST DAY ON THE ROAD.