Friday, June 8, 2018

HRPT 2018- Getting There: June 7-8- Orlando, FL to Bowling Green, KY (761 miles)

Regardless of the starting point, it seems every Power Tour trip begins with us going up I-75 through Georgia into Tennessee. It's gotten to the point where I know where each gas/restroom stop is (at least until we get out of GA).

This year a new Long Hauler from Orlando, Scott with his Orange G8 met up with us at my house and our three car caravan: Tara and me in the Acadian, my parents in my Corvette and Scott hit the road bright and early so that we could be through Atlanta before traffic got bad.  We made a quick breakfast stop at the Cracker Barrel in Gainesville.  This is the only time we stop at a chain restaurant and it's pretty much a carryover from when my sister lived there and we'd meet her.  On the plus side, there's a gas station right next to it, so it's a two-fer since the Acadian averages 15 mpg.


There's not a ton of scenery going up I-75, but we passed this Richard Petty Experience car hauler full of NASCAR goodness.



We got to Atlanta around 3 and still spent some time watching brake lights through Downtown.  The payoff was a late lunch/early dinner at the Marietta Diner in Marietta, GA.  They have everything you can imagine, from breakfast all day, to sandwiches, Greek food, Italian, you name it, they've probably got it.  They also have some amazing desserts.  The cakes are at least 8 inches tall.  They had a brownie cheesecake that looked like it had whole tray of brownies dumped on top and full brownies in the middle of the cake.


Plenty of parking- away from regular cars
Yes, please.







































After stuffing our bellies, we slow crawled along I-75 for a bit longer then began the best part of the drive: the twists and turns up and down the mountains of north Georgia and Tennessee.  The scenery is gorgeous with the mountains on one side and the river and lakes on the other.  Plus, sweeping along winding highways always puts a smile on my face.  It was probably a good thing Tara and I were in the lead with the Acadian.  The troopers were out in full force along the mountains and it's so very tempting to really rip along those type of roads with my Corvette.  My dad did a good job resisting temptation.

Finally, after 15 hours on the road, passing through 4 states and about 5 gas stops, we pulled in to the Hotel in Bowling Green.

This morning, we had breakfast at the Corner Bakery CafĂ© and then off to the car wash.  Apparently, we weren't the only ones with that idea.  Every bay was filled with Power Tour arrivals getting the road grime off.  There were a bunch of Corvettes, one guy has a matching set of maroon convertibles, one a 1967, the other a 6th Generation), a 1970 Chevelle SS, a really nice 1964 or 65 heavily modified Nova to name a few.  Car washes full of show cars is a staple sight on the Power Tour.

The A/C in the Acadian started making some odd noises towards the end of the drive to Bowling Green, so we hit Advance Auto Parts for some potential supplies, but it looks like it may just be a loose belt.  I tightened it down and hopefully, that's that.
There's never enough room under the hood to work easily
Then it was off to the convention center to pick up our registration packets and put the "2018" stickers on the rear windows. 


Even with thousands of cars on the Power Tour, it's amazing how small a world it can be.  In the hotel parking lot, a guy named Brett comes up to us and introduced himself, but he already knew our names and said his Uncle Moe told him to keep an eye out for us with the Acadian.  Turns out, his dad and our friend Moe from Orlando are old military buddies.  As a further coincidence, his friend is driving a highly custom and really pretty 1969 Camaro that was built by Ultimate Auto in Orlando.
Brett, his buddy Scott and a really sick Camaro
Forget oceanfront, here's the spectacular view from our room 

The folks from Laid Back Garage had a welcome party/car show at the National Corvette Museum racetrack, so Tara and I headed over to see what was going on.  We ran into our friends Tim, Lori and Scott, but it was extremely hot and we decided to head back to the hotel after just a few minutes.  When we got back, there was a Callaway Aerowagon parked next to my Corvette.  Talk about an odd car, it's basically a beefed up Z06 Corvette with a "station wagon back end."  I don't know how many they made, but I know there aren't many (I think the reason why is pretty obvious).

Dinner was at 440 Main in downtown Bowling Green.  The food, not so much the service, last year was so good, we definitely knew we were going back.  This year, both the service and food were perfect.  Everyone raved over the food.

With our bellies filled, we drove back to the hotel and then walked between the lots of the surrounding hotels to check out the cars.  It was especially nice since the weather cooled off significantly after the sun went down.  Based upon the cars in the parking lots, the Power Tour is mostly Chevelles, Camaros and Corvettes.  Mopars were few and far between.  We saw a 1972 Challenger and one really nice 1969 Road Runner.  There was a black Demon in one parking lot.  With three dragstrips for tour stops this year, my guess is it won't be the only one.

Beep Beep

"I like to call him, Mini-Me."

840 horses- from the factory

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