Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Great American Race, Paragould Ar.

Leader of the race with the microphone. Many of you will recognize him.

And his car.
Got up and was getting ready to roll when I got a text from my daughter. They were meeting the cars coming from Cape Girardeau running south on I-55. That is not supposed to happen. Should be on a back road and I thought I had the roads figured out. they will not let you in on the route before they travel. I guess they don't want too many spectators lining the hiways. So, change of plans. There are several good back roads they can head west on. I rolled down 25 waiting at various intersections, knowing I was early. Nothing. On to Kennett where I sat for an hour. Several of the support vehicles were passing by so I thought I had it figured out. After a little while I got anxious and jumped in behind some support vehicles. They were lost and I knew it so I decided to just head on down to Paragould on my own and wait for them.
Downtown Paragould was all blocked off for the big event. A local car show was going on. About 1145 Mr. Coker rolled in. He talked for 30 minutes to the crowd then here came the cars.


A movie car.

This guy is from Searcy, Ar. The crowd went wild when he was announced.

And here they come, about a minute apart. This is not only an endurance race but it is a timed race.

Yep, looked up and this is where I was standing.

And here they keep coming. All were parking on the main street for one hour after arrival.

The town fed the drivers in a large building behind where I was standing to get this shot.

All makes.

The guy standing on the running board is filming for the tv show that will be on Speed or the Travel Channel.

Look at dat, look at dat.

I stayed for the first 25 cars to arrive . They will start leaving at 1:10 pm heading back across the Ms. River at Dyersburg.

On my way out I found the route and met at least 60 of the vehicles coming down 139, a very rural back road running down the west side of the St. Francis River.



Something for everyonefrom 1918 to 1969. There were 89 in all that started the race in Mn. I think a few have died along the way, but not many. Met an older Vdub coming in with the bunch. Every brand you can think of seemed to be in this run. There was even an old fire truck. Would hate to be buying his gas.


One of the support group that passed by me in Kennett.
They will end up in Mobile, Al. in a few days. Today they will park near Memphis on Hiway 51, near The river.
What a day. I had fun. The vdub had fun. Longest run for the old vdub since I have owned it. Was about 175 miles and it never missed a lick. It brought back lots of memories of driving old vehicles back and forth to Paragould, where I lived once, while attending college. I don't want to do a 500 mile day in the vdub but today was ok.
Hope you like seeing the old cars.
Dan

posted by Dan & Teri Gregg @ 1:03 PM 1 Comments

Monday, June 3, 2013

Great Weekend Trip in the GMC Motor Home

Colsyn and I had a great time this weeknd and a good trip home Sunday morning. I set the alarm for 5 am. At 515 I woke up. Alarm never went off. I did not think it would. Seems only Teri can set it so it works. Anyway, we rolled at 530 am down I-57 toward Sikeston. At 7 am Colsyn rolled out of bed. At 830 we pulled into the church parking lot, early. I like being early so I can visit with folks before class. Of course Colsyn had to tell his siblings all about his new Nike tennis shoes. I really got some looks from them. Rylan asked what it would take for me to get him a pair.  Left after services and rolled the last 20 miles home. We did about 450 miles up and back. No rain either way. Love having the Accuweather app on the Iphone. Sure helps plan trips between storms.
So, are you wondering about that foto? Well, I just took the GMC to gas it up for this weekend. I pulled the gas cap and remembered what a headache it is to keep up with. Don't want to drive off and leave it at the station. Then, while the pump was running, I remembered one of the GMCers on the net talking about how he used a magnet to hang onto his cap. Out in Quartzsite I bought a roll of magnets about the size of quarters. Had no idea what I was going to use them for so I just stuck them on the metal frame of our blinds, behind the driver seat. Bingo! Ran inside, pealed one of the magnets from the roll, using my pocket knife, and out I came. Works great.

Cap sticks right to it while gassing the coach.

My old magnet is no good. When I shut the door this one sticks to the metal of the old magnet, holding the door closed.

See there, perfect.
Can not recall who had this bright idea but it is a good one.

One last Vdub. Hope the Vdub folks enjoyed the pictures. Colsyn and I sure enjoyed our long weekend. Can't wait for next year. Mike Yeager puts on a really good show. He has the friendliest employees, of such a buisness, that I have ever dealt with.
Coach is full and we are ready for the weekend. Hang around and I will shoot a few photos.
Dan

posted by Dan & Teri Gregg @ 11:00 AM 1 Comments

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Saturday Afternoon With Friends and Vdubs

This has been a very relaxing time. Colsyn and I have enjoyed our time here.

Hanging out with Ashley and Jeff has been icing on the cake. Ask Colsyn about us test driving a new Volkswagen.

My friend Lou showed up and has his stuff out for sale today. He got here during the rain so this afternoon has been his time to sell. Think he is heading back to Chicago early in the morning. Lou helps me with problems from time to time, vial emails.

This afternoon has been great. The rain stopped about noon or a little before. We have actually had sun shine this afternoon.

You can buy anything for a vdub here.

Bugatti for sale. Yes, it is a vdub.

See the clouds in this picture. Kept things cool this afternoon. It was actually cold this morning when Colsyn and I started wandering around.

This is the prettiest blue I have seen on a vehicle. I wish you could see the depth of it in the photo.

Several nice Ghias here.

Lowered.

Took this shot for my buddy Jerry.



Lots of very nice buses here this year.

Check out this driver.

Patina

On a small pickup chasis.



Not sure of the count this year. It is down and I am sure because of the weather. Certainly glad we could come. Mike has done everything possible to accomodate for the rain and wind. I have never seen employees as nice as the folks, even while standing in the rain. I spent some time making sure I told Mike that. Made him smile. The more he makes the more he gives. I like that. Easy to tell the city of Effingham likes him and his buisness. Of course events like this bring a lot of money into town. Every where you go there are vdubs in town.
We have more to do tonight. Hope to leave very early in the morning. Weather will play into when we leave. I am not into driving in the wind and rain if I can wait it out, so we may postpone our departure.
As always, thanks for coming with Colsyn and me. We enjoy posting all the photos.
Dan and Colsyn

posted by Dan & Teri Gregg @ 2:10 PM 0 Comments

Grandpa's Buddy

Oh yea, Colsyn shares grandpa's love of good cream. I say train "Train them up in the way they should go". Oh, that's not my quote, but I love it.

There is always a truck or two here. I like the ones that are done right. This one looks good.

Not my kind of paint job, but hey, I know the owner loves it. That is all that counts.

These early models are kinda neat.

My favorite buss. Double door, no windows.

Work being done this morning. They have just pulled an engine from a bus, not in picture, and are readying this brand new one to go back in the hole. I love watching this kind of stuff. My "list" for next year is growing. Done spent enough for this trip.

Bad to the bone.

Another paint job I am not fond of but I do like that they have readied this thing for the kids to enjoy.

There are about a half dozen of these here. All of them look great.
Well, the rain has moved south. Colsyn and I drank coffee at Mc Donald's after cruising the site this morning, looking at cars just now arriving. Then we ran to Walmart for the cream. It's not "death by chocolate" but very close. Colsyn picked it out. He did good.
Heading back out for more pictures. There is a couple in a bus parked next to our coach. They have small kids and are doing a lot of hollaring. Not my cup of tea. I told Colsyn about never hearing my parents hollar or even have a cross word. I was a sheltered kid when it came to that stuff. The only hollaring in our house was me when the belt hit my back side.
Catch you after while. We are gone.
Colsyn and Dan

posted by Dan & Teri Gregg @ 11:08 AM 0 Comments