June
3-5 Orlando, FL to Madison, WI (1,320 miles)
Finally, after nearly a year, at
6:00 am June 3, it was time to leave again for the Hot Rod Power Tour. Tara and
I in the Acadian and my dad in my 2014 Corvette. This is the Corvette's maiden
long haul and all I can hope is that it fares better than the Challenger did.
My parents made an "In Memoriam" poster that they are proudly
displaying on the Vette's dash.
Anyhow, we met my sister for
breakfast in Gainesville and continued en route for Nashville, TN. Of Course,
we had to eat, so we stopped for a very late lunch at the Marietta Diner. The
food is good, and the desserts are works of art. The building is cool and made
a great backdrop for a photo of the Acadian.
We made Nashville after 15 hours on
the road. It's only 12 or so actual driving hours, but when you have to stop
for gas every 2 hours or so, it adds a lot of time.
The next morning, we left bright and
early for our next stopover, Bloomington, IL. We all learned something;
Illinois is like the Napa Valley of the Midwest. Apparently, there are over 200
wineries and vineyards. Tara found a really nice one called Blue Sky where we
stopped for an early lunch (and wine tasting). We pulled into our hotel in
Bloomington and discovered that there was a charity "wine, cheese and
chocolate" event in the hotel ballroom. Of course, we bought tickets and
ate our fill of gourmet cheeses, Italian food and chocolate, not to mention,
sampled some more Illinois wine. After all, it was only a three-hour drive to
Madison.
After driving through 6 states in
two and a half days we reached our destination at 10:30 am. We had enough time
to wash both cars before picking my mom up at the airport in Madison. We then
ate at Ella's Deli. You couldn't miss this place. It had a huge carousel
outside and inside was full of mechanical toys and characters hanging from the
ceiling and moving on a pulley system. We always try to avoid chain restaurants
on the Tour. Often, we try to find places that have been featured on a Food
Network show, like Diners, Drive ins, and Dives. This time, we were a bit
early. Turns out, the Food Network was shooting for a future feature. They
would not tell us what show, but after confirming it was not Kitchen Nightmares
or Restaurant Impossible, we decided to stay for lunch. Our table had a working
model train embedded in it and Mighty Mouse flew back and forth over our booth
as we ate.
Afterward, we went picked up our
registration packets at the Aliant Center and checked into our hotel. We got a
prime spot for the Acadian right in front of the Hotel and it got pictured on
Hot Rod's website. My dad found a perfect spot for the Corvette. Right between
supercharged ones by Magnuson Performance and Lingengfelter. We caught up to the
rest of our crew Tim and Lori (1957 Chevrolet "Buck Baker tribute"),
Jake (1967 Chevrolet Truck, now sporting a big block 396) and Fred (1955 custom
Chevrolet) in the hotel bar. Somehow between there and dinner, Tara managed to
get pooped on by a bird-at least it was only a small bird.
Can't wait for all that Day 1 has in
store.
June
6 Madison, WI (0 miles)
The first day of Power Tour is
always exciting and today was no exception. The weather was nice and cool most
of the day. This morning it was in the 50's-- IN JUNE!!! The sun was out, and
it warmed to 76. We had no issues getting into the venue and getting parked. It
was conveniently located across the street from our hotel. We got parked and
ran into Jacob (Pontiac G8) another of our group from Orlando. This is his
first Power Tour so, we walked with him to the vendor's midway and main stage
to punch our credentials get some of the freebies that come along with being a
Long Hauler. We even ran into Hollywood Howard (In his words: "Bright Ass
Green" Monte Carlo) Then it was back to checking out the cars.
My dad
mentioned that there seemed to be fewer cars than at other Tour stops- then we
found out there were another thousand or so cars on the other side of the venue
that we couldn't see. Rumor has it there were 5,800 cars. It's hard to describe
the spectacle. Every car you can imagine, even a Tucker!!!, and some you
probably couldn't (check out the pictures of "Tow Mater"; the 88 door
1957 Chevy; the "upside down" F150 and the GMC truck with the vintage
V12 in the pictures) are on display and many are planning to make the full run
to Baton Rouge.
Tara and I left the venue for a bit
to fill the tank and cruise around Madison. But we didn't get far before the
smell of burning brakes hit us. We were already heading back to the venue, so
we pulled into a spot and realized there was an issue with one of the rear
brakes. It was 5:00 p.m. and we must leave for Champaign tomorrow!! Lori
reminded us about the GM Motor Medics. I've written about them in previous
years' blogs but this is the first time we've had to visit them. They are from
GM Performance who work tirelessly to repair participants' cars. If you bring
them the parts, they have all the tools you can imagine and will do the labor
for free. They had already worked on 40 cars before us and it was only Day 1.
We got the Acadian up in the air removed the wheel and the drum and the brake
shoe had completely disintegrated. Great....now what? We can't drive the car
and we still needed brake shoes. Fortunately, Autozone is one of the vendors on
tour and has arranged with the local store to make parts deliveries every
thirty minutes. I ran over to their display semi-trailer, ordered as set of
brake shoes, and they were delivered to us in 20 minutes. The Motor Medics got
everything buttoned back up and we were good to go in about an hour total.
After getting the car fixed up, we
headed to Salvatore's Tomato Pie for dinner with a bunch of our friends. The
pizza was great. Then it was back to the hotel to enjoy the evening in the
parking lot and check out more cars. That's when we met Matt from Milford, MI
and his buddies with their modified GMC Sonoma in the air and the transmission lying
beside it. They were changing their clutch slave cylinder and throwout bearing
in the parking lot (the truck couldn't get to the Medics). Another guy in
another truck had his valve covers off and was adjusting an issue in his
valvetrain. TOUR ON!!!
Tomorrow we leave bright and early
for Champaign, IL
June
7- Madison, WI to Champaign, IL (239 miles)
This morning's weather started the
opposite of what we had yesterday. Instead of blue skies and 70-degree
temperature, it was cold and rainy. Due to a bicycle event closing the road in
front of our hotel, our group of Tim & Lori, my mom and dad, Jake, Jacob,
Fred and the guys from Gibson performance in their 900 hp gold/black 2015
Mustang left at 6:30 this morning. Our breakfast stop was a great place in
Janesville, WI called the Citrus Cafe. Leave it to Floridians to find a place
with fresh squeezed OJ in Wisconsin. The food was great, and we ate more than
our fill.
After the brief breakfast detour, we
joined back up on the scheduled route and the weather started to clear up, or
so we thought. It rained off and on through most of the run. Despite the
weather, many people still lined the roads to wave and watch as the Power Tour
came through. We went through some quaint towns and through Lake Geneva, where
there were some awesome lake houses.
The first half of the route was
mostly backroads and a long stretch of 45 mph surface street. The most scenic
route was along the Kankakee River. It was also at a sharp right turn that I
realized I can drift the Acadian. I went into the turn a little too hot and
with the slightly wet road and wet brakes, I managed to do a nice slide around
the corner. Of course, It would have been better had I meant to do it. Between
the weather and traffic lights, it took 5 hours (including breakfast and 2 gas
stops) to go halfway. But, the second half of the route was mainly highway with
clear skies, so we made up the second half in short order.
As we approached the venue at
Parkland College, we met up with our frequent long-haul buddy Scott in his 1970
Hemi Challenger Convertible. Basically, to quote Jake Blues, "We're
putting the band back together."
The venue itself was packed with
cars in 5 or 6 segmented parking lots when we arrived, and we were some of the
first Long Haulers to get there. The venue was great. It had lots of shade and
grassy areas. We grabbed an end spot where the majority of our group could park
together. Lori of course used her "schmoozin' and shmearin'"
technique and scored an upfront spot near the vendors.
We got clocked in and picked up our
second day freebies before grabbing a bite to eat. One thing that never seems
to fail is that there are never enough food vendors and the lines can get long.
We went with the shortest line- a taco truck. The food was very good, but they
couldn't seem to get anyone's orders right. It was a spectacle. Some people got
so frustrated that whatever came out the window was "close enough."
Somehow, Jacob, my dad and I all got what we ordered. We brought the food back
to the cars talked to people and watched the cars roll in. It was even more fun
watching them leave. Most everyone did a burnout down the street in both
directions. Some of the best smoke came from a Bandit Trans Am with a big
blower, slicks and wheelie bars.
Once the crowd thinned a little, we
took the Acadian on a driving tour through the parking lots to try and see more
cars. We saw a purple 1970 Charger that someone converted into a Daytona, I'm
not sure why they would do it, but it was kinda cool. We also saw a barn find
AAR 'Cuda. It's amazing how many classic hot rods and muscle cars are on the
Tour. We passed a row of Chevelles from 65 through 72 and even saw a 75 Road
Runner (not a good year). Of course, there is also plenty of modern muscle. Not
surprisingly, there are a lot of 2014-2015 Corvettes (in my unbiased opinion,
it is one of the best cars to drive). There were also lots of new Mustangs,
Camaros, and Challengers, including several Hellcats.
Finally, we had dinner at Houlihan's
in the Ihotel at the University of Illinois. While it seems counter to the
"no chain restaurant rule", this particular Houlihan's is different
from others. Plus, Tara has apparently been jonesing for another of their peach
Long Island Ice Teas since we were there three years ago. Another perk was that
they took a reservation for 14. The food and drinks were good, as was the
company. We were even joined by Elana Scherr, a writer for Hot Rod (she did a
ride-along with Scott a few years ago when his car was featured). Vic Edelbrock
and his family were also at the restaurant and Tara met the whole crew as she
was walking back to our table. They have similar tastes because they were also
at the pizza place we ate at in Madison.
While we ate and drank, the weather
got even worse and poured while we were eating. Many of the iPhone's got flood
warning alerts. Amazingly, it stopped raining just long enough for us to get to
the cars and back to the hotel. On the way, I missed a fork in the road and
ended up driving through a puddle deep enough to worry an Amphicar. The Acadian
sailed on through and we made it back to the hotel right before the really hard
stuff started.
Tomorrow we hit the road for St.
Louis, MO.
June
8- Champaign, IL to St. Louis, MO (190 miles)
Last night's torrential downpour let
up, but it was still wet and drizzly at 6:30 when we went down for breakfast.
Fortunately for everyone in our group, our windows all worked. Apparently,
there was a car in the lot with windows that didn't. I can't imagine how
uncomfortable a ride that will be. Ron, Dennis and Rory from Gibson Performance
Exhaust and Scott and his daughter, Cody met us at the hotel. Then, it was onto
St. Louis and sunnier skies. Today's route took us through farm country, but
first we had to work our way out of Champaign and its infinite traffic lights
that seemed timed to break up our group of cars.
We all were able to regroup and fill
up at a gas station before leaving civilization. One of my favorite sights on
the Power Tour are the gas stations packed with show cars. I tried to get a
good picture of all of our cars, plus a red GTO, Ford GT and even a Panoz
something-or-other.
We wended our way along some huge
cornfields and, in case anyone was worried, there does not appear to be any
shortage of corn this year. We passed a small town that had a "Chevrolet
Hall of Fame" museum. Even though the museum was supposed to be closed on
Mondays, Lori called, and I think the phone was routed to the curator's house.
She may or may not have woken him up. He was willing to open the museum for us,
but by the time we had called, we were already well past it. So we were stuck
with more corn. Since the scenery was nothing to write home (or a blog) about,
Tara tested her skills taking pictures using the Acadian's side the rearview
mirror.
When it came time to plan a lunch
stop, our reliance on Yelp failed. It turns out, Staunton, IL does not have
many Yelpers or foodies. Subway got 4 stars. Ever the resourceful one, Lori
called city hall and asked them where we should go. We were directed to R &
B's. The food was great, and the portions were huge.
By the time we finished lunch, the
sun was shining, and the forecast was clear. Scott and Cody, Tara and I, and my
parents decided to backtrack to a self-service car wash to clean the mud and
grime off our cars. We weren't the only ones with the same idea. It should come
as no surprise to anyone, that a mean sounding Chevy wagon with Florida plates
knew Tara.
We arrived at Gateway Motorsports
Park. Traffic control for all these venues so far has been great and we were
able to cruise right in. Inside the venue, was a bit more disorganized. When we
realized they were going to park us a mile from the stage and drag strip, we
passed up that space and worked our way out to better parking right near the
vendors and the drag strip where everything was going on. To get there, we had
to go a quarter lap on the oval which made for some good pictures.
We got parked and punched in and
collected our freebies. Then Jacob and I decided to take some fun runs down the
dragstrip and Tara got premium parking and shade in front of the Gibson
trailer.
As I was going into the staging
lanes, I made a girl named Ashley's day by saying "yes" when she ran
up to my car and asked if she could ride with me down the strip. She made me
call Tara and make sure it was OK. Tara laughed her head off an came and took
pictures. (Tara went with me on the second run. This was the first time I have
ever been on a dragstrip and I got lined up against a AMG turbo V8 Mercedes
that Ashley told me had been running 11's in the quarter mile. I hadn't even
unloaded the trunk. My only goal that first run was not to red light and embarrass
myself. The AMG was a full second and a half faster than me, but I finished
with a 12.961 at 112.17 mph. My second pass (this time with Tara in the car)
was against a bare steel Chevrolet pickup with a radical sounding motor. I
shaved a quarter second off my time and hit 112.91 mph. VICTORY!!! The truck
ran 13.856.
I was going to take my dad on a run, but they shut down the track
for the burnout contest. We didn't see the contest, but Hollywood Howard from
Sanford texted Tara afterward to say he blew up the rear end in his car. The
winner was a turbo LS powered S10 that blew his tire in dramatic fashion. Here
is a link to video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QYmRgLTqVmw I'm still looking
for video or pics of Howard. Good thing the prize for winning is a new set of
tires.
We left the venue and checked into
the hotel. The Drury Plaza across from the Arch. We stayed here three years ago
during the Detroit to Dallas Power Tour. The hotel is great and has a free
happy hour with food. It also has the parking garage from hell- you have to
make a sharp left at the entrance, then a sharp right to go up a 45-degree ramp
with a snap right turn at the top. I can't imagine driving up it with manual
transmission (at least not without hill assist). We decided to make it an early
night since the route to Memphis is one of the longer runs. Here are some pictures,
including a custom Turbo 4-cylinder Nova built by GM Performance which they
unveiled on the Power Tour.
June
9- St. Louis, MO to Memphis, TN (311 miles)
Today was the longest run of the
Power Tour, but also the most scenic. And, we had perfect weather to boot.
Finally, blue skies and sun for the whole day!! We left earlier than usual, but
due to a bad address, our rendezvous with the Gibson Performance crew was
delayed a bit. But, sitting in a gas station in Cahokia, Illinois along the
Power Tour route isn't too bad because awesome car after awesome car cruised on
by. Once our group was gathered, we turned right out of the gas station. Almost
immediately, things got interesting.
Suddenly, blue and red lights began
flashing. My dad and Ron Gibson, both driving flashy, powerful cars both began
the "don't be me, don't be me" mantra. It wasn't them though, it was
Jacob, in the inconspicuous 4 door G8. It seems he turned out of the gas
station and accelerated a little too aggressively and his car slid a little
sideways as he was changing gears. The officer was cool though. He told Jacob
he didn't need to see his license, warned him to save that type of driving for
the track, asked a few questions about the car, which he said he loved the car,
and told Jacob to "like him on Facebook." So, whoever and wherever
that Cahokia PD officer is, WE LIKE YOU!!!
The first town we came through after
Cahokia was Red Bud. It was a small town, but they love their cars. I'm pretty
sure the Mayor declared our transit through town a holiday. Everyone was on the
side of the road taking pictures, waving and there were a number of banners
welcoming the HRPT to Red Bud. There was also a scenic classic gas station full
of Red Bud's local Hot Rods and down the way, "Mr. Chevy" had his '57
Chevy gasser atop his matching '57 Chevy Truck hauler.
We also went through Chester, which
it turns out is the home of Popeye. There are statues and murals of Popeye
characters all over the town. It was like a scavenger hunt trying to take
pictures of them. It also was a major crossroads for coal hauling semi-trucks.
At one particular stop sign, it was Hot Rod vs. Semi. We had the numbers, but
they had the size and, every so often one would muscle its way into our line of
cars. Fortunately, they turned off at a barge dock a few miles down the road.
Then it was clear riding along the Mississippi River and Shawnee National
Forest. Most of the way we had a 427 powered '69 Camaro behind us. The car was
badass and sounded awesome.
At one point, when the road in front
cleared up and we were able to get some speed, Ron Gibson came over the radio
and reported he was happy to finally shift into 6th gear. I pointed out that
Tara and I were doing 70+ mph and still in 2nd gear. We grabbed a quick lunch at Chubby's
BBQ in Caruthersville, MO. Go Yelp! The food was delicious. My dad thought the
brisket was too fatty, but I loved it.
The rest of the route ran us 60
miles down Route 51 which was a 4 lane road full of traffic lights. I was over
it after 20 miles and more than happy to turn off when we got to our hotel.
Since the Comp Cams cruise on Beale Street was limited to 100 cars and we could
only get passes for the classic cars we left the Corvette at the hotel (which
was a brand new Hampton Inn that was a bazillion times nicer than the shithole
where we stayed 2 years ago). My mom smartly decided stay at the hotel.
My dad, Tara and I jumped in the
Acadian and headed on to the day's destination, Memphis International Raceway.
At first, they wanted to park us in the back 40. I tried to get closer parking
by the track and told the guy we were with Gibson and our VIP passes were at
their trailer. He didn't bite. So, I went past him about 10 feet and was able
to make a U-turn and sneak past him. I parked the Acadian next to what can only
be described as Hot-Rod-a-Saurus (pictures below- for scale my dad is
6'1"). It was built on a Chevy 2500 chassis that was stretched 2 feet in
each direction. The body was custom made from steel that was formed using an
English wheel. It took 5 years for the owner to build it and it weighs 9,000
pounds. A Cummins engine drives the 4-wheel drive behemoth down the road.
It was brutally hot, and we clocked
in, purchased our daily "participant" shirts and got our freebies as
fast as possible before hiding under the Gibson tent until it was time to line
up for our police escorted ride to Beale Street. I know it must seem like I am
shamelessly plugging these guys, but they have been awesome and a fun group to
run with. They are really laid back and are enjoying the drive with us.
Finally, after sweating off 10
pounds in the heat, it was time to make our police escorted drive to Beale
Street in downtown Memphis. Tara decided she would drive. It's an unnatural
thing to blow through red light after red light and there were a few times when
the light turned yellow in front of Tara and she let off the throttle out of
habit. After a bit of a mix-up (the police took us the wrong way onto Beale, we
got parked. First stop was Wet Willie's for some super cold frozen alcoholic
beverages. Then off to dinner at Pig on Beale. I'd never been to a BBQ place
with a bouncer before today. Once we finished eating, we enjoyed the music and
relatively cool night on Beale and talked to tons of people about the car and the
experience of long hauling. Many people recognized us (mainly Tara and the car)
from previous years. Check out the pictures below.
As an aside, Hollywood Howard let us
know he got his car fixed and he "finally made the big time." His car
and burnout were pictured on Hot Rod's Instagram. Tara went and watched the
world record simultaneous burnout to see whether Howard was participating or
had learned his lesson on doing prolonged burnouts a thousand miles from home.
Looks like he did. Tour On Howard!!!
June
10- Memphis, TN to Hoover, AL (270 miles)
After an hour delay getting out of
Memphis due to construction, we met up with the Gibson Performance Exhaust guys
and hit the route. We had to do some synchronized driving to get all 7 cars out
of the gas station. Jacob pulled out and blocked traffic so we could all turn
and keep in line. Once we were on the route, it took us through rural road in Tennessee,
Mississippi and Alabama before a final 60-mile highway run to Hoover
Metropolitan Stadium.
On one of the Mississippi back roads
we saw some police lights and a bright red second generation Corvette off the
road in a ditch after a blind curve going down a dip. We all began speculating
-did he go too fast?, did his brakes or steering fail? The actual answer is
"only in Mississippi..." The guy following behind the Vette posted
the explanation and a picture of the culprit. [that photo is included below]. A
local stopped his truck in the road to pick up a roadkill squirrel for dinner.
When the Vette came around the curve, he had nowhere to go but right- into the
ditch.
We then got stuck in a 20-minute
traffic jam due to 3 traffic lights in Amory, AL. It was brutally hot again and
we had to shut off the AC because the Acadian's temperature began to climb from
idling so long. I can't imagine what it was like when the bulk of the Power
Tour cars began to roll through. Often a single 4-way stop sign or short turn
arrow can cause an hour-long jam. Once we were clear of that mess, we made our
lunch stop at the Happy Days Cafe in Sulligent, AL. It was in an old row of
shops a block off the main road and facing the railroad tracks. I can only
assume the building was there before the road. Other than a lighted
"Open" sign above the door, there was no way you would know from the
outside that the place wasn't out of business. Inside, it was a different
story. The place was full of locals. We had our choice of a cafeteria style set
up or ordering grill items from the counter. The food was decent. I played it
safe and had 2 grilled cheese sandwiches and fries.
We got back on the route and it was
smooth sailing until Tara got her left and right confused. Our group and a
whole line of Power Tour cars just following behind us had to make a left turn
from a middle straight-ahead lane. We made the move so quickly and there were
so many of us that the regular cars in the actual turn lane couldn't go. But
this is Power Tour and sacrifices have to be made. We hit our final snarl at a
left side gas station (we usually try and only use ones on the right side of
the road and this one proved the reason for the rule. It was a big Flying J
station, but there was only one way in and one way out. Between car trying to
turn left into the station and trying to turn left out of it, not to mention
cross traffic, it was a total cluster. Someone finally held up traffic and let
a bunch of cars out before making their own turn.
Up until today, it was relatively
smooth getting into the venues. Today, they unnecessarily shut the main parking
lot claiming "it was full." They diverted us into a lot that was not
really part of the show. To say the least, we were not happy. It was made worse
by the fact that the entire stadium parking lot was dark blacktop. It was
roasting. Fortunately, we borrowed a set of VIP vendor
Even with the heat, there were
thousands of cars, some of which were only around for the day. Lots of Mopars
showed up, including a Superbird and a pro-touring early 60's Dart with a
Magnuson supercharger. Those Darts are some of the ugliest cars to come out of
Detroit, but this one was an exception. The color, wheels, stance, and custom
work really made it look sweet.
Finally, we couldn't take any more
sub-Saharan temperatures and left for the hotel. Tara, Jacob, Dwight (53
Lincoln Capri- though he's driving a rental Mustang to preserve marital
harmony) and I had an early dinner at a Japanese steakhouse by the hotel before
calling it a day.
June
11- Hoover, AL to Gulfport, MS (299 miles)
Today's route was probably one of
the prettiest so far. It started out highway, but we exited onto a two-lane
road that paralleled it. It had some small winding patches and was shaded by
trees on either side. There were also some cool looking bayou/swamp areas on the
side of the road in one patch.
A few hours into the drive while
trying to plan a lunch stop, Tara and I were startled completely out of our
minds when an oncoming train blew its horn and barreled head on past us on
tracks hidden by the woods. It was so fast and loud I thought for sure that a semi-truck
I somehow didn't see was about to smash us to bits.
Once our heart rates went down to
normal, we rejoined the radio discussion about where to stop. The group decided
on lunch at Charlie's Catfish House. It took us a bit to get there because we
missed one of the turns on the route. When we stopped to get our bearings, a
local guy offered to escort us back to the route.
The Catfish House was frozen in
time. The "menu" was on the wall and consisted of 6 options. The
Gibson crew, this time with Summer Gibson in tow, are from California and were
at a bit of a loss about what to order. They settled on either fried shrimp or
a burger. Tara went for the catfish and was not expecting whole fried fish-
tails and fins included. I had to fillet them for her. Overall, the food was
pretty good. The hushpuppies, coleslaw and fries were served family style.
After stuffing our faces, it was
back on the route to Centennial Park in Gulfport, MS. Traffic into the venue was
getting bad, so Tara used the phone GPS and a little local knowledge from her
time Cruisin' the Coast to get us around the back way. From what we heard, just
going around the block like we did may have saved us an hour.
The venue setting was great. It was
a park with several abandoned buildings and lots of shade trees. Apparently, it
was built in 1916 solely to celebrate Mississippi's centennial, but WWI broke
out. The property was given to the VA and after Katrina, the VA gave it back to
the City. It has been sold to Holiday Inn to build a resort, but so far, nothing’s been
done. We clocked in and then had some beers and watched the never-ending stream
of cars roll by. There were some good looking cars. A '73 Super Duty Trans Am,
tons of Camaros and Chevelles and the Power Tour staple: suped up station
wagons.
Jacob, Tara and I ate dinner at
Shady's in Biloxi. Tara and I had been there before and recalled it being a
good Cajun place. Either our memories were false, or this place has gone
downhill. It was very disappointing, and the menu had little that was Cajun.
The name says it all. In hindsight, we should have braved the long wait and
eaten at one of the places overlooking the Gulf.
I'm doing this post early because we
are in Biloxi and going to play some blackjack. Hopefully I can get back the
money I left here when my Challenger snapped it's timing chain on the way home
from the 2012 Power Tour.
June
12- Gulfport, MS to Gonzales, LA (169 miles)
Today was the last and shortest
driving leg of the Tour. This was fortunate since last night was a late night
in the casino. A few members Tara, Jacob, my parents and I decided to sleep in
a little. Lori and the rest of the crew, including the Gibson folks who decided
to drive their badass C/10 pickup as well as the Mustang were an hour ahead of
us.
The route took us out of
Biloxi/Gulfport along the Gulf of Mexico on Beach Boulevard before turning
inland. We passed through Kiln, MS- the home of Brett Favre. The driving
directions recommended in capital letters "ENJOY THE CITY OF PICAYUNE,
MS." The town had arranged for what looked to be a big deal event in the
park for the Power Tour cars. There was a stage and some local vendors setting
up in the historic downtown area. But someone failed to communicate with the
Police who were directing traffic. They must have been told to keep traffic
moving, but not where to send it. They directed us right past the downtown area
and out the other side of town. I began to wonder if the driving directions now
included sarcasm. We turned around and headed back to the route. On our way
back into town, the police officer told us he was directed to send us a
different way (through downtown). We did a quick lap of the area and rejoined
the Power Tour route. 
The middle part of the route was not
exciting. There was lots of local traffic (regular boring cars) and it began to
rain. Then, Jacob told us he needed to pull over because his "check
engine" light came on. We pulled into a parking area and he grabbed his
scanner and read the code. It was for a faulty O2 sensor- no issue- Tour On!!
We had initially planned to skip
lunch and eat at the venue. But, as traffic got worse in one spot and the day
got later, we knew a lunch stop was in order. Lori told us they ate at Paul's
Cafe in Ponchatoula, LA and it was great. We decided to follow suit.
Ponchatoula had a cool old downtown area and Paul's Cafe was in a corner
storefront. We got a table up front where we could see the Power Tour cars come
through town and ordered lunch. The food was authentic Louisiana cooking and
incredibly reasonably priced- an entree with dessert was $5.35. One oddity were
the restrooms. I think the more correct term is water closet. They were so
narrow and small; you literally did not have room to turn around.
One of Ponchatoula's big crops is
strawberries and every place in town sold daquiris among other strawberry
goods. Tara bought 2 bottles of strawberry wine and Jacob an I each bought a
bottle of "Strawberry Lightning", a strawberry infused whiskey.
After leaving Ponchatoula, we ran
into the Gibson C/10 being loaded on a flatbed. We found out they had been
having issues all day- fuel pump overheated, there was an issue with a belt. But
the final straw was when the teeth on the flywheel broke off. WELCOME TO THE
POWER TOUR!!! As a result of the issues with the truck, we were now only a few
minutes behind Lori, Jake and Fred.
It started raining again so, we left
Rory with the tow truck and continued on to Gonzales. The route took us down
the best stretch of road of the whole Tour. It followed a river and was full of
twists and slight banked turns. I really wished I had the Corvette rather than
the Acadian to carve the corners.
The venue for today was the Lamar
Dixon expo center. It consisted of a paved parking lot, a large grassy area
where the stage and exhibitors were, as well as many large covered livestock pavilions.
We immediately made for the shade of one of the pavilions. It was a good thing
too. The rain turned the grassy area into a swamp and more rain was coming. We
hurried to get clocked in and back to the cars. Boy did the rain come. It was
preceded by strong wind which blew sand from the pavilions
everywhere. We went from swamp, to desert sandstorm, to pouring rain in the span of a few minutes. However, because of the covered pavilions, we could still enjoy the show, We broke out the strawberry wine and Lightning and waited out the rain. While walking around, I noticed a 50's Cadillac with twin spark plug flamethrowers in each exhaust tip and "FYR MKR" for a license plate. When he went to leave, I asked him if he would use the throwers. Unfortunately, the flamethower fuel tanks were empty. Hopefully, we catch him tomorrow.
All of the restaurants near the
hotel were packed, so we went to "The Cabin" restaurant which was one
exit up the freeway. It had 4.5 stars on Yelp. It was made up of several
140-180 year old buildings. We ran into our friends Bruce and Harry and the
rest of the Bangshift Forum folks and tagged along on their guided tour of the
property from the Chef. I'm certain our waiter thought we bailed on him.
After dinner, we spent some time in
the parking lot which was packed with show cars. We swapped Power Tour stories
from this trip and years past. Then some people started doing burnouts on a
side street right in front of our hotel. It had been going on for nearly 2
hours and is music to my ears.
Tomorrow is the Long Hauler ceremony
and then the long drive home. I can't believe how fast this week has gone by.
June
13- Long Hauler Ceremony and trip home (708 miles)
As I woke up Saturday, June 13, I
couldn't believe we had been on the road for 10 days. It seemed like we had
just left Florida. I wasn't ready for the Tour to end. I certainly wasn't
looking forward to the drive home along the most boring road in the USA: I-10.
Fortunately, before the drive home,
we had the Long Hauler Ceremony. It's not much of a ceremony and more of a
farewell to all the Long Haulers. There were 2,042 Long Haul vehicles this
year!! We all gathered at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center where Clarence an Jeff,
the MC's on stage for the entire Tour entertained the crowd one last time. Jeff
is new to the Tour this year, but Clarence has been a staple for far more than
the 5 years we have been Long Hauling. What they do is amazing. They put on
what is essentially a 7 hour improv stage show every day regardless of weather,
crowd size or venue. I watched them play to a crowd of 4 people and about 20
empty tailgate chairs during the heat of the afternoon in Gulfport. It must be
grueling, but they clearly enjoy it. Even after the show ends, they are
"on" at the hotel. They talk and greet everyone. Every year we run
into Clarence somewhere along the way and he tells Tara how much he loves
stumping the magazine guys who "know everything" with the Acadian.
The drive home was far better than
when we left Dallas three years ago. First, my car didn't destroy its motor.
Score one for the Chevrolet guys who built it! Second, we didn't have to drive
home in a hurricane. Seriously, the weather 3 years ago was the worst I ever
drove through. New Power Tour rule- when the pool deck chairs fly past the
windows, don't drive home.
What never ceases to amaze me is how
quickly 2,000 cars scatter to the winds after the Tour. After spending a week
surrounded by Power Tour cars, it seems odd not to see any on the road. We saw
a few cars here and there and nothing after New Orleans. Chet in his blue C7
caught up to us around the Florida line and ran with us for a while until we
stopped for a gas stop.
After eleven hours on the road and
some deft detouring around Mobile, AL traffic by Tara and Jacob, we made it to
my house at 11:30 last night.
Only 357 days until next year's
Power Tour. I'm pretty sure it will start in Baton Rouge and hope it will work
back toward Virginia or somewhere in the Carolinas. Lori and Scott already have
their Baton Rouge hotel rooms booked.
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