HRPT 2018- Day 4: June 12- Hoover, AL to Hampton, GA (197.0 miles)

At night we fall asleep to the low burble of V8s coming into the parking lot after a night of cruising around town for dinner and various tours through the other hotel lots.  In the morning, our alarm clock is the sound of those same V8 cars firing up in the hotel parking lot.  We leave at 7 am which is plenty early in the morning, but there's always a contingent that leaves even earlier.

Today's route was another really good one.  We wended our way alongside the Talladega National Forest and the hill country of Alabama and Georgia.


For the most part, traffic was light.  We had some Power Tour induced traffic at one left turn, but it only took a few light cycles for our group to finally get through and we were able to regroup at the end of a nice winding two lane road and head to a gas stop.

Just about every gas station along the route has a car show- these 2 1960 Impalas had serious motors by the sound of them

After a crowded gas stop at the only 2 gas stations in sight, Tara and I let Tim and Lori take over the lead and cruised along at the tail of our group.  It's a little pressure relief not being in the lead.  You're always questioning whether you are going too fast or too slow for the group, whether you should change lanes or stay together.  Worse yet, the fear of missing a turn and taking the group and often a bunch of other Power Tour cars off the route with us.  This happens a lot because people figure if they are in a pack of Power Tour cars, they can just follow along.  When we detoured into Newnan, GA for our lunch stop, about 10 other cars followed us off the route and into downtown traffic.

Before getting to lunch, we passed a Haunted Chicken Ranch, which had a bunch of hearses stacked up on the side of the road.  We also ended up on a great twisty stretch of scenic byway, but were stuck behind a Prius that puttered along at 35-40 mph and slowed down more for the curves.  Each time we hit a passing zone, a few of us were able to pass him with extreme prejudice.  We really felt bad for the 6 brand new Corvettes that were stuck behind him with us.  This would have been a great stretch of road to open up and carve through the corners at what proper people call an elevated speed.

Too clucking scary for me

We stopped in downtown Newnan for lunch.  It's a neat town and they have some art project where there are painted barnyard animals on each corner.  It reminded me of the geckos or whatever they were that were put up in Orlando.  There were a bunch of restaurants on the square around the courthouse.  Some of our group ate at Mother's restaurant which was a soul food place down an alley.  I, Tara, Tim, Timmy, and my folks ate at Meat and Greet which was a really good burger place, with several other options.  Tara's still raving about her food.

Newnan's Art Scene

Happy as a pig in flowers.

Pollo de Los Muertas

Street frontage is overrated 

Once we finished lunch, Tara found a way back to the route that avoided having to backtrack through town.  It's a good thing she did.   When she checked the Power Tour Facebook page to see if there were any issues along our path, she read accounts of a police officer outside of Newnan who was sitting by a very short left turn arrow and ticketing any Power Tour cars that "blocked the intersection."  In a lot of the towns we go through the cops are helpful and will actually control traffic to keep the Power Tour cars from stacking up and snarling traffic.  This officer decided to be a jerk rather than help.

Our venue today was the infield of Atlanta Motor Speedway.

There was no traffic getting inside and we went straight to the Motor Medics to get the ball joints replaced.   We even ran into our buddy Hollywood Howard and his green Monte Carlo being checked out by the Medics for a vibration at higher speeds.  They adjusted his pinion angle and found he had a bad wheel and tire, but after rotating the tires it reduced the vibration some.

At this venue, the Motor Medics were right by the entrance to the Speedway. So, while we waited for them to have an open spot to work on the Acadian, we sat out front and watched the cars roll in.  My dad picked up our credentials and got us clocked in and picked up our magnets for us.

Hellcat powered 1970 Challenger

Lead Sled

Once they got the Acadian wheel off the ground, they made short work of replacing the passenger side upper and lower ball joints.

Once they had it all buttoned back up, we headed into the show field and the squeaking and creaking was gone.  We parked with Scott (Orange G8) and Jacob, a Power Tour regular with his white G8 who couldn't take the week off of work but came up from Orlando just for the day.  There wasn't any shade to be found, but we parked on the grass and there was a decent breeze, so it was comfortable.  We picked a good spot to just watch the show roll past as the cars either left the speedway or got in line for the "parade laps" on the oval.  Unfortunately, we missed the chance to sign up.  On the other hand, while the laps looked fun and some people really pushed it, the line waiting to get onto the track was well over an hour and I was glad not to be sitting in it.

Our friends Rick and Lisa on the Parade Lap

 I was in the mood for a good pizza so, we left the venue, collected my dad and Scott (Convertible
Nova) and the 6 of us went to Graffiti's Greek Taverna and Pizza. Jacob ordered a calzone that was massive.  Tara and I split a pizza and it really hit the spot.

This thing is huge!!

Having finished dinner, we went back to the hotel and spent a few hours talking with the other Long Haulers, some of whom we had met over the past few years, others over the past few days.  It seems that at least 3 or 4 other cars have the same tastes in hotels as we do.  A couple people were cleaning their cars, others doing some last minute repairs while their buddies drank beer and "advised."

I guess it beats watching a car repair TV show.

Radical Pro-Street Chevelle

PBR anyone?

Tomorrow is our longest leg and includes over 200 miles of interstate.  Tara spent a while trying to find a scenic detour, but nothing was workable, so we're just going to run the normal route.

HRPT 2018- Day 3: June 11- Chattanooga, TN to Hoover, AL (200.0 miles + a detour)

We left Chattanooga bright and early at 7 am eastern for Hoover (Birmingham).   Our group initially consisted of 10 cars: us, Tim and Lori (1980s Monte Carlo), Tim and Timmy (1957 Chevy), Scott  (1962 Nova Convertible) [Janice flew home to go to work], my parents (2014 Corvette), Ted and Lori (2000s GTO), and Jake (1960s pickup) .  Scott with the G8 met us at a gas stop. [Yes, I know we have a lot of duplicates- there's usually another Scott too, but he couldn't make it this year].  Somehow, we left Ken, Bryson and Nancy at the hotel.  What can I say, we are not the Marine Corps.

The morning weather was nice and cool again which is a plus compared to the last few years of heat all day, every day. Today's route was another really nice one and somewhat on the shorter side.  We also gained an hour traveling back into the central time zone, so we were most of the way through the route by 10 am.

First we went through the Chickamagua military park, which was a few mile stretch of 2 lane road with cannons and civil war markers and statues.  There were clear fields and wooded areas.  It wasn't hard to imagine the cannons firing and troops charging each other's lines.

The rest of the route was through hilly country of Georgia and Alabama.  We crossed some rivers and lakes and skirted along the Talladega National Forest.  During the trip, Ted and Lori broke an axle in the GTO.  Amazingly, Ken had a buddy in Huntsville who had a replacement rear end for the car, so they transported it there and spent the day fixing the GTO and it's good to go.  Tour on!

At a fork 3/4 of the way through the route, we, my parents and Scott with the G8 peeled off to head to the Wellborn Muscle Car Museum.  It's normally closed on Mondays.  Even though our friend Ron called and confirmed that they would open, Tara called too.  "Trust but verify."

This slice of Mopar Heaven used to be a Chevrolet dealership.

"How are we the only ones here?"

The Wellborn was incredible, even for non-Mopar people.  Still, we figured it would be a 45 minute- "look at the cars and go" stop.  Boy were we wrong.  Alton, the caretaker/mechanic of this most impressive collection of high end, rare Plymouth, Dodge, and even a Chevy and Pontiac, met us, locked the door and gave us and 3 other guys a private tour.  He took us through the history and significance of most of the cars in the museum.  He then took us through their parts rooms stocked floor to ceiling with NOS (New Old Stock) parts, most were in their original boxes.  It's hard to describe the collection as there were many extremely desirable cars.  There are 3 1971 Hemi 'Cudas worth well over $1M each, a 100 point perfectly restored 1968 Hemi Charger and original Mopar dealer neon signs.  One of the most interesting things was a 1970 'Cuda that they dubbed the "paint chip 'Cuda.  Half of the car was wrapped in white and then strips were painted of each color that was available for 1970.  The other half was left the original green.  We were there close to an hour and a half.

Alton giving the Tour.

The Paint Chip 'Cuda

A NASCAR 1969 Dodge Daytona and the "consumer version"

$5M worth of 1971 'Cudas.

Once we finished feasting on the Mopar magnificence, we asked Alton for a lunch recommendation and hit Big Bs BBQ.  In the parking lot, there was an AMC Pacer that was, for lack of a better word, adorable.  It was also for sale, but I think it'd be kind of like those novelty T-shirts in Key West that seem like a good idea in the store window, but you know you'll likely never really wear it.  The couple who owned it were Mopar fanatics from Eastern Alabama and we talked with them a bit about a show that Tara has been dying to go up this way.

It's sooo cute.

 After lunch, we zipped back up 280 to the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.  As we got there it looked like it was going to pour and the temperature dropped, but the clouds broke up and it ended up being really nice.  We got there around 3:30.  On our way in, we saw many cars leaving, but there were plenty still at the venue and more coming in on a fairly steady basis. 

Aerial view of only part of the venue. Courtesy of someone on Facebook

We got parked and while my dad, Scott and I got clocked in and picked up the day's magnets, Tara headed over to the GM Motor Medics to have the ball joint in the Acadian looked at.  The Motor Medics are GM engineers from Milford who take the week to travel with the Power Tour and help diagnose and fix cars that otherwise might be sidelined.  All you need to do is bring them the car and the parts and they'll install them for free.  It's really cool.  They helped us with a brake shoe issue back in Madison on the 2015 Power Tour and one of the guys remembered the car.  We had hoped it would just be a ball joint needing grease, but it looks like a lower ball joint is bad and putting stress on the upper ball joint.  They offered to fix it tomorrow.   All we need are the parts.

Once we had a diagnosis, we spent some more time checking out the cars, talking to people and wiping the Alabama clay dust off the cars.  Before we knew it, it was time to head to the hotel for the free wine and beer happy hour.  We got a great spot for the Acadian at the hotel, so we hopped in my Corvette and it was off to Advance Auto Parts to buy two ball joints to take with us to the Medics.   For dinner, Tara and I met up with Ron and Dustin with the 1969 RoadRunner.

Two Pesos, the Mexican restaurant they picked for dinner, was conveniently located literally around the corner from the parts store.   The food was good and we talked cars until well into the evening.  Then it was time to head back to the hotel and gear up for tomorrow's run.  We snagged the last parking space in the hotel lot.

Here are some other interesting pictures from the day:

Horseless carriage.  

You should always have a road flare in case of emergency

I have no idea what this is, but I like it.

1970 GTO Judge Ram Air IV Convertible, one of the few non-Mopars in the Museum

"In Violet" 1971 Hemi 'Cuda at the Wellborn

HRPT 2018- Day 2: June 10- Bowling Green, KY to Chattanooga, TN (201.7 miles)

We left the hotel about 8 am this morning, which is a later start than usual.  We were joined by a  Kendra of the "Cruisin with Kendra" blog and her photographer.  They rode with our friends Scott and Janice in Scott's custom 1962 convertible Nova.  It didn't take but 5 minutes for us to miss our first turn.  We left the hotel without really doing a radio check and many of our group's 2 way radios were on sub-channels which meant some of us could hear, but not communicate with each other.   We got that resolved pretty quick and were on the route.

Today's route was a great one.  At first we wound through 2 lane farm roads with some wide curves and small hills.  The weather was cool and the views were nice.  Some of the trees formed a canopy tunnel covering both sides of the road. 

As always, people were along the route on the side of the road just watching the cars and waving.  A Hot Rod magazine guy walked across our path with his camera.  Maybe we made the magazine or at least the website.

We hit our first Power Tour induced traffic snarl about an hour into the route.  We all had to make a left turn at a 4 way stop in Scottsville (Home of Dollar General...for real). 

Unusual?  These things are everywhere

With hundreds of cars coming through, a 4 way stop can, and did, lead to at least a 45 minute snarl.  We watched as Lori and Janice made a beverage exchange by Lori putting drinks on the side of the road and Janice picking them up as traffic slowly rolled by.  Pretty entertaining, and convenient too.

The drop off

The pickup

After getting through Scottsville, we began snaking through the mountains.  There was a small rain shower that dropped the temperatures even more and it seemed like it was in the 60s most of the way.  I love the mountain roads and all of the curves.  Even at normal speeds, they're a lot of fun in a blue box with 50 year old suspension technology.

Wet mountain roads are slightly less than fun.

The "rear view mirror shot" is a Power Tour staple and Tara's getting pretty good at it

Our lunch stop was in Baxter, TN at the All American Diner.  It was a restaurant in a steel warehouse.   It didn't offer much for décor, but the food was excellent.  There were several locals eating there and assured us we couldn't go wrong with whatever we ordered.  Since we passed a catfish farm, Tara decided to get catfish.  She said it was excellent and, unlike the place we stopped at a few years ago, it was already filleted.

After lunch, it was back on the road.  We had to make a detour because the road ahead was closed due to a regular truck rear-ending an Orange 1973 Camaro and pushing it into a gold Dodge Dart.  The car was smashed up pretty good.  From news reports, it sounds like none of the Power Tour folks were hurt.  They were both at the gas station with us a few miles down the way.  If it hadn't been for a long bathroom line, we could have been in the thick of it.

Gas stop.  The orange '73 Camaro is on the right.  Tara was standing next to the Dart.

Once we were back on the route, we had some more mountains to climb.

Going Up!

Going Down!

We pulled off at a really cool scenic overlook that was chock full of Power Tour cars.  Tara saw it at the last minute and we, and most the group were able to slow down enough to get in.  My parents were in the left lane, so we just met them a little farther down the road.

Adding Power Tour scenery to a scenic overlook

It was a really nice trip, right until we got to the off-ramp and turn into our venue: Chattanooga State Community College.  Traffic was stacked up and it was not moving.  We also lost an hour by re-entering the eastern time zone and it was nearly 4:30.  After sitting for 20 minutes in a left turn lane, we skirted back onto the road, went right, hung a U-ey and went straight across the street into the venue and even more traffic.  They were trying to merge 4 lanes of show cars into a single meandering lane with nowhere to go.  Cars (and people) were overheating like crazy.  The 1970's Corvette in front of us stalled out and wouldn't restart, so I switched seats with Tara and got out to push.  The Acadian engine temp began to climb to worrisome levels, but I popped open the hood a decent amount and it cooled down a lot.

Traffic into the venue was so bad that after another half hour, I ended up jumping out grabbing our and my parents' credentials and running down the hill to make sure we got punched in and get our magnets.  This year they have done away with the punch clocks and instead are using different shape hole punchers each day.  They are trying to cut down on "cheaters", but it's ridiculous and I'm certain there are going to be some pissed off Long Haulers if they got so stuck in traffic getting into the venue that they missed a punch.  There are already plenty of frustrated people who had trouble getting into both venues so far.

I missed the Holley tent to pick up my magnet because I was so distracted by the gorgeous B5 Blue and white 1969 Charger Daytona, a super rare and amazing car.  I don't know if it's making the long haul, but we saw it going down the road in Bowling Green.

Richard Petty drove for Ford 1 year because Plymouth didn't have one of these.

It's a lot like my GTX, but rarer and wilder.

Tara and my dad finally worked their way into the venue and found guerilla parallel parking along the river and with shade and picnic tables.  When they pulled up, the place was wide open, but once the parked, everyone else jumped on the bandwagon and it filled up fast.

This venue wasn't a great one to walk around and see cars since they were scattered over many different parking lots throughout campus.  Instead, we looked a the cars near us and then sat and watched the cars slowly roll by.  You can actually see a lot of the Power Tour by sitting along the entrance or exit and where we were parked was basically in the middle of both.

1969 Z/28 Camaro

1956 Chevy drive by

The Magnuson Camaro that was ripping up the track yesterday.

This guy must be from Texas! 

We left the venue around 7 and headed to our hotel in Downtown Chattanooga. It's a Sunday, so not much was going on, but we had a great dinner at Hi Fi Clyde's, a big bar and music venue.  While we were there, we ran into Ron and Dustin with the 1969 RoadRunner that we met in Bowling Green and also some guys with a 1967 Nova that saw us back in 2012 and recognized the Acadian.  Their Nova didn't make the trip (hole in the radiator), but they were there.

After dinner, we parked at the hotel and jacked up the Acadian to see if we couldn't address a squeaking ball joint.  We couldn't do much in the parking lot, but are going to run it by the Motor Medics and see if we can't get it off the ground a little more and squeeze some more grease in.  It's not a big issue, but the creaking is bugging the hell out of Tara.

Posing in front of Honest Charley Garage in Chattanooga

It's an early night tonight since we lost an hour and are planning to leave by 7 am for Birmingham.  We are going to detour off the route at Gadsden City and head a bit out of the way and check out  the Wellborn Muscle Car Museum in Alexander City, AL.  It's a Mopar Fanatic's heaven and since we are this far, what the heck.  Ron even called and made sure they'd be open since they are usually closed on Mondays (We'll double check on the way).