Made it home!

6/24/2018

We left the hotel a little earlier today, 8:00 AM, since this will be a longer day.  Some of our group were getting antsy to get back, so they left earlier and took a faster route.  But, we weren't in that much of a hurry and enjoyed the drive.  We made it to Waynesville, NC for lunch at Bogart's.  This is a popular, local cafe and they had a table for our group.  After a good meal, we were on the road home!  One couple was staying in Waynesville with some friends, so we headed out with another couple and had an uneventful drive back.  Near Clayton, GA, the other couple turned off headed to the other side of Atlanta.

After 10 days and about 1500 miles, we were home.  Now, all we have to do is unload the car, wash the clothes and car, go to the grocery store and get the dog.  Looking forward to  my own bed....  

Homeward bound - part two!

6/23/2018

We left Staunton, VA around 9:00 AM.  After stops to empty our tanks and fill the car's, we had a fantastic drive on some great mountain roads into Blacksburg, VA to the Hokie House for lunch.  Blacksburg is home to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly known as Virginia Tech and the Hokie House is right across the street from the campus.  After lunch, we headed out toward Bristol, VA, our stop for the night.  After an uneventful drive, we ran into some rain just outside of Bristol.  Normally, we would just drive through a light rain, but because we kept having to stop at all the traffic lights, we decided to pull under a Lowe's loading dock and put the top up.  After a quick stop, it was back on the road to Bristol.  Most of the group went to eat near the hotel, but we decided to see what downtown was like and eat there.  Bristol, a town of about 35,000 people, is very interesting as there is a stripe down the middle of main street and one side is in VA and the other is in TN.  Half the people live in Virginia and half in Tennessee.  And, it seems like a very dynamic place.  Main street is very viable, with few empty storefronts.  We ate at 620 State, a local restaurant specializing in sushi, Asian and American fare, located on the first floor of a nicely renovated historic building.  The food and service were excellent and we went across the street (from TN to VA) for dessert at an ice cream store.  We passed by the very hopping Quaker Steak and Lube Restaurant that had live music on its packed patio.  You could hear the music all up and down the street.  Luckily, it was good, classic rock!

 

Bristol - VA on the left, TN on the right.

Great music from the patio of the Quaker Steak and Lube restaurant

  

Homeward bound!

6/22/2018

The show is over, its now time to head home.  We'll be taking a slightly different route home so we can see some different scenery.  We left Gettysburg about 9:00 AM with 11 other cars and our lunch stop is the Main St. Mill Restaurant in Front Royal, VA.  It was raining when we arrived at the restaurant, but we were able to park close to the building.  This stop turned out to be quite a memorable one.  There was a gentleman eating lunch and saw us all drive up.  He  introduced himself to us,  his name is Walt Moyer, and he said he has a shop and warehouse close by full of Rolls Royces and Bentleys and we were welcome to stop by after lunch to look around.

So, after lunch, we all drove about 2 miles to his shop, Moyer Motorcars, Inc.  Turns out he specializes exclusively in the service of Rolls and Bentleys, and has been for some time.  The service facility looks like any other shop with several lifts, except that every lift had a Rolls on it!  And, the parts cars in the back yard were all Rolls or Bentleys!  Plus, there was an attached warehouse full of all sorts of vintage Rolls and Bentleys in addition to a bunch of other special interest vehicles.  It was pretty jaw dropping to stroll around that many special vehicles. 

                                    I felt in good company when I parked at Moyer Motorcars!
   

We finally had to tear ourselves away and get back on the road.  Our destination for tonight is Staunton, VA.  After checking into our hotel, several couples headed downtown to the Mill Street Grill for dinner.  This is located on the first floor of an old flour mill building.  The interior was nice and the food excellent, but the waiter was terrible.  Very unfriendly and brusque.  But, the company and food were good!  Afterwards, we gassed up and got ready for tomorrow's trip.

Mill Street Grill - Staunton, VA

Showtime - MG 2018!

6/21/2018

After breakfast, we drove the car to the show field about 200 yards in front of the hotel.  After putting the car in our assigned space, we cleaned it up and then walked around looking at the approximately 250, or so, other cars.  In the sea of about 200 MGBs, there were about 15 Midgets.  But, we're used to that.  That is what makes us "special"!

Panoramic view of part of the show field.

Panoramic view of the Midgets.

One of the more interesting MGs on display, was an electric model.  This was a (non-running) project from an engineering school, whose name I forgot, that was built in the '70s!  Quite a lot of technological improvements in the last 40 years!

Its not only entertaining to see all the cars, but also educational.  I always see new ways to do things, and always learn something about these marvelous little cars that I didn't know before.  And, of course, its always nice to meet new MG friends.  MG is truly "the marque of friendship".

Later, at the awards banquet, several of our Peachtree MG Registry from Atlanta won awards in their class.  Tomorrow we'll start the trip back to Atlanta, following a different route back.

Steve Ratcliffe - 1st

Larry Norton - 1st

Mike Cook - 3rd

Tim Gaffney - 1st

It's Alive!

6/20/2018

I got the car running this morning and everything seems to be fine.  We drove a short distance to the Gettysburg Family Restaurant for breakfast where many of the attendees have been going.  Its a local establishment with reasonably priced (and much less than the hotel!) and good food.  There are always several MGs in the parking lot!  After breakfast, Kathy went downtown with one of the other ladies while I finished up the car and went to one of the tech sessions in the afternoon.

For dinner, we went to Food 101, another one of the many, small local restaurants downtown where the food and service were good.

Food 101

After dinner, we went to the Ugly Mug Cafe and Coffee Bar for some coffee.  This is a cute, local coffee shop that is several blocks from the primary downtown area.  The baristas were very nice and the coffee good.  While we had decided to eat at Food 101downtown, a large contingent of our Atlanta group had gone to eat at the Gettysburg Family Restaurant.  There was going to be a surprise birthday party for one of the women in our group.  So, after coffee, we drove to the GFR for the birthday party and some cake!

Tomorrow is the big MG show on a large field in front of the hotel!

The Ugly Mug

Happy Birthday, Sue!

Exploring Gettysburg, part II

6/19/2018

The switch came by 10:00 AM, so I worked on replacing it until lunchtime and then decided to take a break and we took the bus downtown.  We ate at the Parrot cafe where we had tried to eat yesterday, but they were closed.  After lunch, we walked around Gettysburg, enjoying all the little shops in the downtown area.

 I found a hardware store nearby so went for a couple of tools while Kathy was checking out her stores.  I thought the name of the store was rather interesting!  And, we both made small contributions to the area's economy!  

After shopping downtown, we Uber'd to the Outlet Shoppes of Gettysburg.  It was a little disappointing, but we did find a couple of shirts for the trip back.  We hopped back on Uber to the hotel to visit with friends, check out the vendors selling all sorts of British and MG paraphernalia, bid on silent auction items and rest!

For dinner, we went to the Blue and Gray Bar and Grill.  It was crowded and noisy, but the beer and burgers were good.  We then walked to Mr. G's Ice Cream for dessert.  This is a very popular and very good ice cream parlor.

The Blue and Gray Bar and Grill

Mr. G's

Exploring Gettysburg

6/18/2018

This morning we picked up our registration packet, looked over the silent auction items and ran into old friends.  The hotel has reserved the entire rear parking lot for MGs.  We are on our own today, as there are no program events today.

We decided to drive downtown for lunch and then explore the battlefield park and the visitor's center.
The town of Gettysburg is fairly small and almost everything is centered around a central roundabout downtown.  It was fun seeing all the little MGs buzzing around the town.  We had lunch at The Pub & Restaurant right on the roundabout.

We then drove a short distance to the Gettysburg National Military Park where we started out with a self-driving tour.  They have tried to keep the battlefield looking as it did in 1863.  As you drive around, it is green, quiet and peaceful.  Its hard to imagine what it was like, the noisy, smoke-filled chaos during the 3 days of battle.  160,000 soldiers fought here and there were 51,000 causalities (dead, wounded and missing).

Georgia memorial

 

Mississippi memorial

Robert E. Lee memorial

After the driving tour, we went to the visitor center.  There was a very good movie that explained the battle.  After the movie, we viewed the Cyclorama painting, in the same building.  Shortly after the civil war, there were many "in the round" paintings made and displayed, but today, there are only two remaining - the one in Gettysburg and one in Atlanta.  The painting is about 42 feet tall and 377 feet in circumference and weighs about 22,000 pounds!  The painting is of one of the battles, and with the three dimensional artifacts and sculptures in the foreground, its difficult to tell where the canvas ends and the artifacts begin.

After visiting the museum for awhile, we left to go back to the hotel.  However, at this time, the car decided not to start!  It was obviously a problem with the ignition switch.  It was about 5:00 PM, so I called Moss Motors and had them overnight a switch to the hotel.  With the help of some other MGers there, we pushed the car to get it started and drove back to the hotel.  The nice thing about MGs is that even kids can push them!  At the hotel, I started disassembling the steering column to get ready for the new part, which should arrive tomorrow.

Luckily, Gettysburg has a bus system that runs a shuttle every hour from the hotel to downtown.  Since our car was not running and we weren't sure about parking, a group of us took the bus downtown for dinner.  We had a nice dinner at the Springhouse Tavern, which is in the basement of the Dobbin House, which is reported to be the oldest building in Gettysburg.  It looks like an old tavern and is lit by candles, making it very hard to read the menu!

The Springhouse Tavern