Archive for the Vette Trip category
Due to some problems at the hotel, we arrived a couple minutes late for our scheduled volunteer shifts at the Museum, but the volunteer coordinator had already left, and it was apparent that they would not be busy enough to need us. We headed out early for Tuscaloosa, with a stop in Athens, AL for lunch. We're getting a little road-weary when we arrived, so we watched a couple of movies while I did the laundry. Miss Congeniality and Ella Enchanted.
Carole caught up with her e-mail while I watched the NASCAR race from Fontana. We both enjoyed seeing the mountains and sunset from home.
posted 3 Sep 2006 in
Doing
Cool. Nice lunch.
posted 2 Sep 2006 in
Doing
A short driving day. The Ramada Inn in Bowling Green is kind of dumpy — in spite of their claims to being "newly renovated". We "explored" the Kentucky countryside northeast of the museum - it was fun.
posted 1 Sep 2006 in
Doing
We left a little later than we planned. In spite of the V-1, Carole got a performance award from a pair of Henryetta, OK locals who set up a watch-and-pop on I-40. The V-1 probably kept her out of the hoosegow, at least.
posted 31 Aug 2006 in
Doing
We left at 10:45pm on Tuesday, for an overnight drive to Oklahoma City. After a quick stop at Rob's to drop off a refi check, we got gas on I-15, then hit the road for real. I dozed while Carole drove to Kingman, AZ. She slept while I did a too-short two hour shift to Flagstaff, then she took over again. I drove from Gallup, NM to Tucumcari, NM, then she finished up the drive to OKC.
The new tunes worked well, I think. We mostly listened to my new CDs, with a little XM on the side. A long night/day of driving, but it was the best alternative.
posted 30 Aug 2006 in
Doing
I had a good time, or as good a time as can reasonably be expected. My main goal was for Carole to have a good time, and I think she did. She told me she "had a very good time."
I told her a couple of times that we were meant for each other, and that she's making a terible mistake. The memories are the hardest part.
posted 3 Jul 2003 in
Vette Trip
Utah, Nevada, and back home.
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I slept while C drove through western Colorado, and we stopped in Thompson Springs, Utah at 1:30am MDT for gas, water, and a driver change. Carole slept while I finished up the I-70 run, and we hit I-15 about 3:30am.
I was stopped by a very nice sheriff from Iron County, Utah at about 4:45am. He said he gunned me at 96 in the 75mph zone, and I couldn't dispute him. I had actually started slowing down about 10-15 seconds before he got me, as we came up on a small city (Cedar, UT - I think), so it could have been much worse. Here's a nice record of the blessed event.
The ticket
The bail notice
The DHL waybill
I was craving protein, so we stopped in St. George, UT for an Egg McMuffin and a driver switch. The McD's was still closed at 5:45, so C took over the drive and we grabbed some snacks to tide us over until the next gas stop, which looked to be just outside of Vegas. We hit the UT/AZ line at 5:50am.
The section of I-15 through the Virgin River Gorge was cool in the early morning twilight. We got to the Nevada state line at Mesquite at 6:12MDT/5:12PDT.
Stopped for gas, just in time, at 6:22PDT in downtown Vegas, and after some needed visits to the conveniences, we're back on the road at 6:35. C was getting dozey (dozier?), so I took over at Primm at 7:10.
We jumped off I-15 in Victorville for a couple of brain freezes and some CJ breakfast. C wanted to drive, so she rigged up a shirt in the driver's window to block the sun from her scorched left arm.
posted 2 Jul 2003 in
Vette Trip
Leave KC, heading home.
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I went up the street to a Walgreen's to pick up Carole's allergy prescription and some water, then got some gas and went back to the motel to pack up. We left late, a little after 11:00am, and stopped at the first offramp for breakfast at a Waffle House. The food was nice enough, but the bathroom still haunts me. We finally hit the road towards KC a little before noon.
We stopped in Abiline, Kansas at 2:25 for a snack to keep C awake. The McDonald's doesn't make cookies anymore, so we got sodas (C must have her Coke) and went next door to the Subway (a Pepsi house) for a few cookies.
We put the top down, and headed west. I read a couple of Sherlock Holmes' shorts under the blazing Kansas sun.
After about 75 miles or so, C was getting dozey, so I took over until Colby - about 50 miles east of the Colorado state line. We stopped in Colby for gas, cups of ice, and some Sun Chips, and C went back to driving. When we hit the Colorado state line about 5:10, we broke out the chips and shared a snack.
We pulled into Denver about 7:10, and found a Chili's to the west of the city to satisfy Carole's craving. We proceded to have a (too) leisurely dinner and shared dessert. After filling up, we hit I-70 westbound at 9:00MDT, with C at the wheel. A day of driving through Kansas with the top down has given Carole a pretty good sunburn on her upper left arm. I hate to think of what it would look like if I hadn't told her to put on sunscreen half-way through the Abilene-Colby run.
posted 1 Jul 2003 in
Vette Trip
We leave Bowling Green heading home, and wind up in Missouri.
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I didn't sleep so good - worried about Carole's phone alarm waking us up. I heard it beep at 5:30am, and got C out of bed and into the shower. I dozed until 6:45, then got ready. We packed up everything, and left Russellville for good at 7:50am. The plan is to do the cake cutting and postmarks at the NCM, then leave for St. Louis around 10 or 11.
We picked up some commerative bourbon cups that we being given out by Makers Mark, and took some pictures at the cake cutting ceremony. C waited in line for the comemorative postmarks while I took pictures of personalized plates. We left the NCM at 11:15am.
C drove for about 30 minutes, than I took over until St. Louis. We dorked around for 45 minutes looking for Lorena after getting gas. Once we tracked her down, we had a nice visit with a surprised Lorena, on Wallace St. in St. Louis. Lorena is the daughter of Carole's friend Terry, and she had just come to St. Louis to visit her boyfriend a couple of weeks earlier. She's doing good, thinking about staying there long-term, and going back to school.
We left her about 6:45, and headed out I-70 towards Kansas City/Topeka.
There was a big road construction delay just west of the airport - at 7:00pm they had taken the main east-west freeway down to 1 lane of traffic - but we got back up to speed about 7:35.
As we drove through Missouri, C had a hankering for some Long John Silvers, so I kept my eyes open, but didn't find one. As we came up on Columbia, I called Jeremy and asked him to look up a Long John Silver's on their website. He laughed, then told us where to go (1/2 mile south of I-70 at exit 125). I had fish and chicken, and C had four chickens - she really likes them, and LJS's are few and far between in So. California.
We pulled back onto I-70 at 10:00pm (CDT), and C decided to stop at a Motel 6 in Blue Springs, MO (about 20 miles east of Kansas City) around 11:15.
posted 30 Jun 2003 in
Vette Trip
NCM festivities in Bowling Green.
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I woke up around 7:30, and finished up with "Sharpe's Regiment".
C re-heated our leftovers in the microwave - it was actually pretty good. We got ready very leisurely, watched an episode and a half of Bob Vila on Home Again, then I watched a little Kindergarten Cop while C got ready. We headed out for Bowling Green around 11:45.
We stopped at a coin-op carwash and gave it a once-over - it turned out pretty nice, if I say so myself. We headed up to the Corvette Plant for the all-comer's Caravan. C chatted up the nice couple just ahead of us - they were from Wisconsin. During the chat, the woman told C about an extended warranty website - www.warrantybynet.com.
The lead car in the caravan left the lot at 1:30, and we started up at 1:47. The first 45 minutes was great, but then we came to an abrubt stop - apparently, the caravan leaders were lost. After 20 minutes or so, we started up again, and wandered through some less scenic area to the northeast of the NCM. After 30-40 minutes of driving, we hit the I-65 about 30 miles north of the NCM, and hit it for a high-speed run back to the museum.
We strolled the vendor booths for a while, and about 4:45 we headed over to the amphitheater for hot dogs and apple pie - it turned out to be those packaged single pies from Dolly Madison.
The first block of entertainment was more of a revival meeting, but not too heavy. Later, they had Caravan participants show off their talents, and they were all good enough that it was fun. Some, like the drum soloist, were really good.
We stayed to the end for the Gold Vette raffle drawing at 9:00pm. I said all the right things to improve C's karma, but some guy in Georgia took the prize. We got slightly lost on the way back to the motel - the Best Buy we used as a landmark had turned it's sign off - but we rolled into the motel lot about 10:15pm. We watched the new Ellen special on HBO, then went to sleep.
posted 29 Jun 2003 in
Vette Trip
Anniversary Saturday.
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We got a late start back to the NCM, with me driving so C could catch up on some sleep. When we got there, I bought a lapel pin, and we got some info on the 1:00pm Caravan that we wanted to go on. After a nasty lunch/breakfast at the Hardee's across from the NCM, we went to the Caravan start and C talked her way into the group. It was a fun loop through some typically rural roads to the north and west of the NCM. Here's the route map handout.
We headed back to Russelville, and C dropped me off to read and sleep off a headache. She went to the library up the street to check out an alternate route home. (When we had stopped for lunch in Memphis on the way in, a nice guy named Ted from Long Beach mentioned that he was going to go back to California by the St. Louis/Denver route, so C wanted to check out exactly how much longer that way would be.) Afterwards, she did some laundry at the local laundromat, and got back around 6:00pm.
We swam for a while, and talked to the motel owners and some of their family for a half-hour or so, then got dressed and headed back to Bowling Green for an "Anniversary" dinner. The dinner, at the Lonestar on Scottsville Rd., was good. I had a New York steak (medium, thank you), baked sweet potato, a lettuce wedge with blue cheese and tomato bits, and some mushrooms. C had a big prime rib, with a baked potato and potato cheese soup. We split some cheese fries (C's favorite) as an appetizer. We over-ordered so we'd have leftovers for Sunday brunch. Dinner receipt
C fell asleep again on the way back to Russellville, but again we survived.
posted 28 Jun 2003 in
Vette Trip
From Russellville to Bowling Green, then all day in Nashville, and back to Russellville.
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Carole woke up Friday morning at 4:15 - she said she had "I'm going to Disneyland" syndrome, and couldn't sleep. We left the motel in Russellville around 7:20am, and got to the NCM exit just before 8:00am, where we found a 3/4 mile backup onto I-65. A little creative lane management helped us get our parking sticker around 9:40, then we headed down I-65 to Nashville with a bunch of other Vette's.
We parked at the Coliseum and walked on the Woodland St. bridge over the Cumberland River into Downtown Nashville. We wandered a little, then popped into Demo's for chicken and rice (C) and spaghetti (me). C wanted to check out the bank balance, so we went to the Chamber of Commerce to ask about Internet Cafe's. The nice man recommended the Library - which I had suggested, but C balked at the uphill walk. With the recommendation, she toughed it out, and we made it to the library with energy to spare.
The downtown library in Nashville has to be the best library I've ever seen. It was clean, well stocked, had a lot of quiet reading areas, and a bunch of Internet terminals. C did her thing on the computer and read a People magazine while I finished up "Sharpe's Honor".
We left the library around 3:00pm, and headed down to Riverside Park to wait for the concert. I left C there and hiked back to the car to get the Cabo bag, specifically for the blanket and the game bag. When I got back, we abandoned C's location in the (now) homeless camp, and found a nice shady spot on a terrace. I beat C at Farkle (big time), but then let C win at Boggle. We ate the cookies that C had gotten at the little bakery in the library building - they were really good.
The show started at 6:00pm, but after 3 songs everyone went up to the street to watch the year-by-year parade of Vettes. The '67 overheated just as it passed our spot, and had to park to cool down. After the parade, we returned for more music. We left about 7:20 - C was hungry, and we had a longish walk back over the bridge to the car. (Plus, we had heard a lot of the Temptation's set during their soundcheck around 4:15.)
We headed back towards Russellville hoping to find a Chili's off the freeway, but discovered that 5 miles north of downtown Nashville, all signs of civilization disappear. We finally stopped at an Applebee's in Springfield, TN.
C fell asleep while driving thru Adairville, KY, but she sang and whistled (oh, my) enough for us to make it back to the motel in one piece.
posted 27 Jun 2003 in
Vette Trip
We join the caravan for the trip to the NCM in Bowling Green, with stops in Memphis and Nashville.
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My efforts to set the crummy alarm clock in the hotel didn't work out, but we managed to get back to Bale Chevrolet around 8:15 for coffee and donuts, and for caravan instructions.
The first car in the caravan left Bale at 9:00am - the police in Little Rock did a great job directing traffic, and we wound up on the I-40 going east towards Memphis.
We pulled into the NCM around 6:00pm - in the rain, of all things. I picked up the caravan t-shirts, then we used C's NCM membership to walk around the museum. The section under the yellow tower was closed in January, but we got to see it this time.
We got a truly crummy dinner at the Shoney's on Scottsville Rd., then drove the 30 miles to the Town Motel in Russellville.
posted 26 Jun 2003 in
Vette Trip
OKC to Little Rock for barbeque and a good night's sleep.
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At the end of the last entry, Carole had taken over driving about 70 miles west of OKC at about 5:30am, and I dozed some more. We stopped for gas and a driver switch in Sallisaw, OK at about 8:45am (now CDT). I pulled into the hotel parking lot in North Little Rock about noon.
While C snoozed at the hotel, I took the car to Bale Chevrolet to have them check on the dash rattle and to get the car washed. They ran out of time, so I had to take the car to a coin-op car wash place down the road, but even that helped a lot. I got back to the hotel about 4:30, and told C that the guys at the dealer strongly suggested we get there around 6:00. We left the hotel at 6:15 (which wasn't bad - for Carole at least).
The food was pretty good - fresh BBQ pork and beef sloppy's, slaw, pickles, and pink frosted cookies for dessert. We had a good time checking out all the cars and taking pictures - they said there were about 1200 'Vettes on the lot.
posted 25 Jun 2003 in
Vette Trip
Home to Oklahoma, with stops in Victorville, Williams (sort of), Flagstaff, and Albuquerque.
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We finally packed up the car and left around 8:15am. We stopped at Shelley's in Victorville for breakfast, then gassed up and hit I-15 again about 10:00am.
We got off the I-40 in Williams, but Carole couldn't find the advertised McDonald's, so we got back on the highway and headed towards Flagstaff, where C found her McD's. This section of Northern Arizona is really nice - woodsy and cool, but a little windy. We gassed up and got back on the highway about 4:15pm.
An Eagle's song was on the CD changer as we passed through Winslow, AZ - it wasn't "Takin' it Easy", but close enough.
I took over the driving at 5:45, and C slept. Hit 130mph on a nice, empty downhill section with great visibility. We stopped in Albuquerque about 8:30pm (now MDT) for gas and food, and C took over the driving. I dozed for a while, and we gassed up and switched drivers in beautiful Amarillo about 3:30am.
I made it until 5:30am, about 70 miles before OKC.
posted 24 Jun 2003 in
Vette Trip