Back home. The car will need a deep cleaning in the next day or two.
Well, we made it home safely tonight about 7:15 PM, after 12 days, about 2101 miles, and about 54 gallons of gas. The day started in Murfreesboro, TN at the Hampton Inn. Paul was having some drivability issues that started yesterday. Very rough running. After some discussions via phone, we decided to make our way to Todd's Complete Auto Care, which is only a few miles away. This is the same place we stopped at on the way up, when Todd was nice enough to allow us to use an empty bay so we wouldn't have to work in the sun. He and Amy were just as accommodating today. The mechanic, Cliff, helped track down the problem, which looked like it was the wire from the coil to the distributor cap. After replacing that, and a few other items, including a rotor that we had just gotten from Jeff Schlemmer at a tech session, and some minor adjustments, the car was running fine and we headed home. We drove to Chattanooga, and both cars did fine climbing up and over Mont Eagle. Once in Chattanooga, we pulled into the Mt. Vernon Restaurant for lunch. It looked decent from the outside, but was even nicer on the inside. It looked like we may not have been exactly dressed for the place, but since it was a late lunch, they weren't very crowded. They just put us in a back room by ourselves where no one could see us! We just got salads, vegetables and fruit and plenty of liquids to rehydrate. After eating, we proceed on home, and back through the East Ridge Tunnel, where we blasted our horns through the single lane tube! On through Ringgold, Adairsville, and Canton, where we stopped for dessert (frozen custard at Bobby's Hamburgers!) before going our separate ways home. Even with the problems we had, it was a wonderful trip. We had a great time, saw a lot of interesting things and met a lot of nice people. We hope you enjoyed following us on our trip. We'd like to thank all those involved with organizing the Midget 50th get-together. You did a great job and we're looking forward to the next one, whenever and wherever it will be. . Now it's time to clean and check the car to see what it needs before the next trip. One thing I know is that we won't be going anywhere until it gets a little cooler!
If you need car help in Murfreesboro, TN, this is the place to go.
Cliff and Paul checking out the car.
Lunch in Chattanooga, in the back room! This is a very nice restaurant.
The end of the trail, we go our separate ways home after 12 days.
American LaFrance fire engine, circa 1928 - Madisonville, KY FD
MGs at the Lane Motor Museum
Noshville Deli, Nashville, TN
The Parthenon, Centennial Park, Nashville, TN
Vietnamese owned, Italian Bistro, Cajun specialties!
I seemed to have lost my post for today, but we drove from Madisonville, KY to Murfreesboro, TN, stopping in Adams at an old brick school house that had been turned into a flea market, then ate at the Noshville NY Style Deli in Nashville. We then visited the Parthenon at Centennial park, then went to the Lane Motor Museum before continuing to Murfreesboro to spend the night. We walked to a restaurant to eat - Cool Beans Italian Bistro, an Italian restaurant, featuring Cajun dishes, from a Vietnamese owner who fled from New Orleans after Katrina. It was all good. Will look at Paul's car tomorrow to see if we can adjust out a rough running engine. Then is will be on to Atlanta tomorrow night.
Today was another long day, but a very good one, as we drove through Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. After leaving the Hampton Inn this morning, we decided to do a little sight seeing on the way. We found out about a tour of the covered bridges of Indiana, so after a little research, found that 3 of them were sort of on our way. So, off we went in search of the bridges. Now, they didn't build these bridges near the Interstates. As we followed the directions, the roads became less and less well paved and more suited for pickup trucks than Midgets, but we forged on. After awhile, we came to the first one, and shortly after the other two. These are very old, wooden, covered bridges, two of which are still in use. Instructions tell you to cross them at walking speed! Construction is very interesting, with all the beams, trusses and decking made out of wood. At the last bridge, a fellow in a red pickup truck pulls up and says he just wanted to look at our cars. Turns out he is from Indianapolis, down in this area doing some work, and he just bought a '72 Midget for his wife and he has an old Triumph!
After seeing the last bridge, we headed south, stopping in the very interesting city of Vincennes, IN. which is the home of Red Skelton. This is the oldest city in Indiana. We went downtown looking for a place to eat lunch and were surprised at the downtown. Main street has many old, interesting, historical buildings. Being Saturday, there weren't many cafes open, but we did see a place called Zander's. It is an ice cream and sandwich shop and turned out to be a good find. We all had panini sandwiches, which were very good. And then, we had some of their ice cream for dessert. They had at least 20 flavors of ice cream and a small cup had three scoops (but the scoops were smaller than a normal scoop) of whichever flavor(s) you wanted. It was a very good find for lunch and dessert! After lunch, we walked down the main street looking at the buildings and came across Jewel Craft Jewelers. It is located in a 1913 building which was originally the First National Bank building. It is of Neoclassical design with a Corinthian temple front. But, the neatest part of it is that they have left a lot of the bank interior intact, including the original bank vault, with its intricately designed, 15 ton door! We finally left Vincennes and headed to Evansville. Just as we got into town, I started smelling that overheating brake smell again, so we pulled over into a nice shaded commercial fueling center. This time, the right front brake smelled, but there was no smoke and after a few minutes, we continued on and had no further problems. We drove around the Evansville downtown, which was bigger than Vincennes, but not as interesting. Before leaving, we drove down to the waterfront along the Ohio river. We then continued on to Madisonville, Kentucky where we stopped at our 5th Hampton Inn. (We should have cut a deal with the company before the trip!). After checking in, it was about 7:00 and we were ready to eat dinner. We called an Italian place but it was too busy, so we found a local Mediterranean restaurant and what a great find it was. The Cafe Fatemeh is locally owned and operated. It is a small place but with a big heart. Sam Shamsabadi, the owner and chef, was very appreciative of our visit and made every effort to make our meal great. We started with a spinach dip with pita bread and it was delicious. That was followed by a Mediterranean salad with was also very good. The next course was a small bowl of chicken soup, compliments of the chef, which, again, was very tasty. But wait, there's more! The main course was Persian Delight (see picture), also very good. And, finally, there was dessert (on the house!) which was Persian ice cream with rose petal extract. A delicious, sweet finish. The service was excellent and the chef personally thanked us for coming. If you are ever in Madisonville, the Cafe Fatemeh is worth looking for. We made it back to the hotel for a good night's sleep. After two long days, tomorrow should be a little easier. We plan on going to Murfreesboro, TN and maybe eating at the Kleer Vu Cafe again!!
Covered bridge in Indiana
Another covered bridge
Original vault in jewelry store
Exterior of Jewel Craft Jewelers
The ice cream choices at Zander's
Zander's Ice Cream and Sandwiches
Our dessert!
Persian Delight
Spinach dip
Our hosts, Sam and Abbas Shamsabadi at Cafe Fatemeh
MG weatherization. Towels should be standard equipment on every MG!
Sunny Side Up Family Restaurant in Dousman, WI
Start the day with a hearty breakfast - Huevos Rancheros! (This is for you Melinda)
We left the Victorian Village in Elkhart Lake about 7:00 this morning and since they didn't have breakfast ready, we decided to drive a little while and find somewhere to eat on the road. It was overcast this morning and actually pretty cool. Great weather for top down driving. However, a few miles out of town, the overcast turned into some small sprinkles, so we kept going. Unfortunately, it started sprinkling a little harder. We hoped that as the front was going north and east and we were traveling south, we would cross it and would be in nicer weather pretty quickly. It didn't quite work out that way. It started raining a little harder so we finally stopped in Mayville, WI under a gas station awning and put our tops up. However, it wasn't raining hard enough at the time for Paul to put up his side curtains. So, off we went hoping for the rain to stop. A short while later, after several large truck passed us throwing up large plumes of water, and with the continuing rain, Paul and Barbara were getting a little wet, so we stopped so they could put up the side curtains. Then, on we went. The rain continued most of the way through Wisconsin and finally stopped in northern Illinois. You can see in the picture why we carry rolled up towels under our seats - they are to catch rain that drips in the not quite weatherproof MGs! We stopped at the Sunny Side Up Family Restaurant in Dousman, WI for a late breakfast. This is a nice restaurant run by Mexicans that is connected to a BP station. I had standard eggs, pancakes and sausage, but everyone else got Huevos Rancheros with corn tortillas and said they were excellent. The waitress was very nice and we all left full. We continued on to Dwight, the interesting town with the windmill that we stopped at on the way up. We headed east and went to Kankakee, IL where we stopped at the Blues Cafe for a late lunch. This is an institution that has been there since 1954. We had basic sandwiches and soup - basic fare and good but nothing special. We all had a piece of their homemade pie which was better than the sandwiches! After lunch, we continued on the Danville, IL where we stayed for the night. On the way to the hotel, we stopped at Jarling's Custard Cup for dinner. Since we ate late and didn't feel like a big meal, we just decided that we would eat dessert. This place has been here since 1949! They have a very extensive menu with all kinds of combinations of custard and toppings. While we were trying to decide what we wanted, a guy, that was obviously a regular, walks up and orders a female turtle. A regular turtle has vanilla custard with caramel and fudge topping plus nuts on top. Well, we saw "turtle" on the menu but not "female turtle", so we asked the guy, "what's a female turtle?" He answers, "it's a turtle without any nuts". We got a big laugh out of that. The turtle sounded good to me, so I ordered, but I wanted a macho turtle - with lots of pecans!! And, it was quite good. We then drove to the hotel for the night. Tomorrow might be a shorter day, so we may plan to do a little sightseeing tomorrow.
Lunch at the Blues Cafe - in Kankakee, IL since 1954
Well, this morning Kathy explored downtown Elkhart Lake while I participated in a sort of rolling tech session. Several cars were worked on to get them ready for their trip back home. Because of the fuel issue, and the brake issue, we decided to move the emergency fuel pump to the rear where it's supposed to be and where it will be cooler and also pushing fuel to the front rather than sucking it from the rear. And, we decided to replace the left, front caliper rather than try to rebuild it in the parking lot. So, Peter's wife made a parts run from Madison for everybody that needed parts. Since we had a few hours until the parts arrived, we decided to go see Lake Michigan. We drove about 18 miles to Sheboygan where we ate lunch and viewed Lake Michigan. It is a very large lake. In fact, it is so big that you could call it a grand lake, or maybe a Great Lake! After we got back, the parts had arrived so we moved the fuel filter and replaced the caliper. There were many people that offered tips, suggestions and just moral support. We finished up just in time for the banquet and awards, and Burt Levy, author of The Last Open Road was the speaker. I won an award - the Hard Luck Award, and Paul, who had the only birthday car there, a '61 Midget, won an award of distinction. After dinner, I took the car for a quick spin to make sure it was ready for the trip back tomorrow. It ran fine, and stopped fine, but I will probably bleed the brakes some more tomorrow night. We plan on leaving early and our goal is Kankakee, IL. We will come back a slightly different route, so we can see something different, Indiana corn and soybeans!
The video shows one lap of Road America. The first few seconds are pulling onto the track on the front straight and into turn one. Then, there is one complete lap, which took me about 5 minutes to get around the 4 mile course, which works out to an approximate 48 MPH average speed. I don't know the names of all the turns, but the never-ending right hand turn after the Speedville bridge is the aptly named Carousel. We were required to follow a Corvette pace car, but he was doing about 70 MPH, so that was fine for all except a couple of race prepared cars that stayed with him. We got 4-5 laps and everyone had a great time and only a few minor problems, and everyone was able to drive home!
You don't want no stinkin' ethanol? The only gas station in Elkhart Lake sells 110 octane, leaded gas for only $6.79/gallon!!
Well, race fans, this is the day we've been waiting for. We all left the hotel this morning for a group drive to Road America for our track time. But, first, we took a tour of the original road course that was used around 1952. This winds around Elkhart Lake and some of it is now residential and commercial areas of downtown Elkhart Lake. The organizers did a great job and the local police had intersections blocked off for us so we could stay in a group without getting split up. There were about 40 cars that toured the 3+ mile course around town and we all stayed together. Around 1955 the racing was moved from the street to the Road America course a few miles outside of town. After touring the road course, we continued out of town to the Road America complex. After arriving, we parked and waited for our time on the track. Today was "test and tune" day and several people had rented track time to prepare their race cars. So, we got to watch some of the cars , both open wheel and closed wheel cars, go by at speed right by the front stretch. At 12:00, the testing sessions were over for lunch and we took over. There were a few rules, no passing in corners,and keep it under 70 MPH. There was a Corvette pace car that we followed, but he went fast enough that only a couple of race prepared Midgets could keep up with him. We were able to go about as fast as we wanted to push our cars, some with older, "nice" cars just cruised, and some were a little more aggressive. (Bill and Larry, I actually passed several cars and have proof on video!!) My only problem was above 4500 RPM it kept cutting out. I wonder if the auxiliary fuel pump mounted under the bonnet and sucking fuel just wasn't delivering enough fuel. Anyway, we got to drive about 5 laps, each of which took me about 5 minutes. Hey, it's a long track!! That averages to about 48 MPH. After that, there was an autocross on a different part of the track, but I didn't participate because I didn't want to break the car this far from home! It was still very hot. Temp. today was 93 degrees. I noticed in Atlanta in was only 78! Everyone had a great day at the track. Tomorrow will be a scenic drive and some other fun events and then the final banquet.
Here is a video of me on my warm-up lap. The car looks darker due to optical shifting due to the speed.
Midgets stretching to the horizon on the way to Road America
And, I thought I was retired. Maureen, you can see I still wear my PPE everyday!
Tues., July 19, 2011
We started the day with a group drive to a nearby cheese factory. We got a very informative and interesting lecture on cheese making and tour of the facility by Mr. Henning, the grandson of the founder. This family has been making cheese here for almost 100 years. Afterwards, we spent some time in the store tasting cheeses and we all left with some cheese trying to figure out how to keep it from melting!
Group shot at the park
After the cheese factory, we then drove en masse to a local park where we ate lunch and had our car show and a group shot. Then it was back to the hotel for dinner on our own. We walked to a small cafe in downtown Elkhart Lake, where the food was OK, but not much to write home about, so I won't. Tomorrow will be a tour of Road America, drives around the track, lunch and an autocross.
The Burkes, Orkins and Flexners at the famous Siebkin's Stop Inn Tavern
View of Elkhart Lake from our balconey
Phil Burke joins us in Mayville, WI
Stopping at Widmer's Cheese Cellar in Theresa, WI
Damn! Whatever you drop always rolls to the center of the car.
Changing the throttle cable
We finally arrived at Elkhart Lake with only a minor breakdown and it wasn't me!!! It sprinkled lightly in Elkhorn last night and some this morning before we left. However, by the time we left, it had stopped and the ride today was probably the most pleasant so far. It was overcast most of the time so it wasn't as hot. The ride up Hwy. 67 was more scenic and enjoyable. About 4-5 miles from Mayville, it started to rain lightly. It wasn't too bad, so we just kept going and we stayed pretty dry. At one point, it started to rain a little harder so we started looking for someplace with an overhang that we could pull into to put our tops up. We just sped up a little to try to stay dry and started to look for some place to pull over. But, before we knew it, we were in Mayville. We pulled into a gas station and about that time it stopped raining. We waited a few minutes and were joined by Phil Burke from Jupiter, FL. After a short visit, we all left Mayville and about 5 miles down the road, we stopped at Widmer's Cheese Cellar, a small cheese factory in Theresa, WI. After sampling cheeses, we all bought some cheese and continued on. It was a very nice drive until about 25 miles from Elkhart Lake, Paul radioed that we need to pull over as he was having some car problems. We found a wide spot in the road and pulled over and Paul informed us that his throttle cable had just broken. We had lots of parts, but no cable. It just so happened that we stopped right by a state park welcome center. I went into the center to see how far the nearest town with a parts store or bicycle shop was where we could get another cable. In the meantime, Paul called Peter Caldwell who offered to bring us a cable. Paul and Phil removed the old cable and got ready for the new one. About 25 minutes later, Peter C. and David Woerpel drove up with a cable. Less than 30 minutes later, we all left and were escorted to Elkhart Lake by Peter and David. We arrived about 2:00, checked in for the car event and the hotel, then left to go wash clothes. We found a laundromat next to a restaurant, car wash and gas station. So, we put clothes in, ate lunch, washed the cars and filled up with gas. We headed back to the room and then went across the street to Siebkins famous Stop-Inn Tavern for drinks and socializing. It's been a long day, and tomorrow there is a tour of a cheese factory and then lunch and the car show, so it's off for some sleep now.
Here is a travelogue for the state of Illinois. If you look at about 6 hours of this video, that will give you an idea of what you will see in Illinois traveling from south to north!
First fire truck in Dwight - 1914 American LaFrance
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Station break on Route 66 - Dwight, IL
We got off to a good start today. We had gassed up yesterday, so we just hit the road, straight up Hwy. 47. After passing the very interesting sight of a windmill farm, our first pit stop was the interesting town of Dwight, pop. 4400. Here, the town has started renovating a windmill, that at 110 feet, was one of the largest in the country when it was built in 1896 and is on the Register of Historic Places. Right around the corner, is a restored 1930's gas station that serves as the city's welcome center. Historic Route 66 goes through Dwight right in front of the station. So, we took a drive down Route 66 back to Hwy.47 and then continued our trip north. Part of the roadway was OK and part not so great. As usual, the scenery was the same - corn and beans! We stopped in Sugar Grove for gas, food and bathroom and Barbara met and old school friend that she hasn't seen in years. As we were getting gas, a guy in a Corvette drives up and asks if we know about some event going on at Road America?!! Turns out he is going to meet his brother from Cleveland who is driving over in a Sprite! Shortly after leaving Sugar Grove, I noticed a burning smell and pulled over to see smoke coming from the left, front wheel well. Couldn't see anything obvious, suspect a sticking brake caliper. After a few minutes cool down, we tried it again, with Paul behind to let me know if he saw any more smoke or flames! Everything seemed fine, until it happened again further down the road. After cooling off, we drove the rest of the way to Elkhorn with no further problem. A quick call to Peter C. and he reassured me that we could get it taken care of at Elkhart Lake, pump and caliper. It's only about 2-3 hours tomorrow, so hopefully we will have no problems. We got to Elkhorn, checked in the hotel, then went downtown to Moy's restaurant for some excellent Chinese food. Came back and washed most of the road grime off the cars called it a day. Phil from Florida called and plans to meet us tomorrow along the way. Should be at the Victorian Village tomorrow and maybe have a cold one at Siebkins.
