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Event Coverage The CADILLAC of Travelogues! Canada ROAD TRIP

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by 40StudeDude, Sep 15, 2014.

  1. 40StudeDude
    Joined: Sep 19, 2002
    Posts: 9,536

    40StudeDude
    Member

    Our “never stay home” 2014 trip – the wettest ever, from Denver to Canada to Spokane.

    For the second time in as many years, a couple of “crazy Americans” (as the Canadians named us) - my brother Dan, and I took our Cadillacs (Dan’s ’54 and my ’55) and joined 57 Canadians on a “road trip”- theirs and our, ultimate destination being GoodGuy’s 13th Annual Great Northwest event in Spokane , Washington. The Second Annual Western Canada Power Cruise was, to say the least, very short (for a few Canadian drivers) and very, very wet for most of us.

    Our trip started in Denver, ColoRODo, Monday, August 11th, a little over a month ago. Our final destination was Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, to connect with the WCPC Cruisers. We left home at 6:00 AM because we needed some cool weather to traverse hot Wyoming. It would take two full days of driving to get to Medicine Hat and we had a couple of stops planned on the way to break it up. On our first day out, we drove old two-lane Highway 85 to Cheyenne simply because one has to be stone cold crazy to want to drive I-25 between Denver and Cheyenne…and I’m not that crazy…I like the fenders/body in one straight piece on my Cadillac and my bro feels the same about his car. Besides, I don’t like running 90 mph on a 75 mph speed limit just to “keep up with traffic.”

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    However, In Wyoming the limit has been raised to 80 mph…

    On Monday we were looking at 434 miles Denver to Sheridan, Wyoming…North of Cheyenne we caught the interstate because our next stop was Casper and there really was no two–lane that went that way and we wanted to get to our evening stop of Sheridan, Wyoming, that afternoon.

    I hate interstates but from Cheyenne north there is very little traffic. It was about lunch time when we rolled into Casper and called an old friend, Stan Goodwin, told him I’d buy lunch if he’d come over to McD’s. He was helping paint a friend’s Dodge coop but quit and drove over…we BS’d for a while and then we followed him over to Rick’s Rod Shop. We hadn’t seen Rick and his wife LeeAnn for a few years so we chatted with them for awhile and checked out a few of his projects.

    We left Casper and headed north. I’d sent our next stop, HAMBer Stutz, a PM before we left home and told him when we thot we’d arrive. About 15 minutes out of Sheridan, I called and told him we’d be there about 5PM and would he still be there? “Certainly,” he said. “Looking forward to it.” Coming into Sheridan, we got our first ‘taste’ of road construction…something I guess HAS to happen in the summer except Wyoming doesn’t block up the whole road and tell you to wait…!!! We got some directions to his place and found a motel not too far from Stutz’s shop. Stutz (Scott Stalick) was watching for us and we pulled our Caddys into his driveway.

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    We spent some time chatting and looking at a couple of his projects and his shop while he was silk-screening shirts for the Absaroka rod run which he puts on in August.

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    Here's Scott's 'newest' project...with a Caddy engine...!!!

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    The '54 Buick he has had for a very long time...

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    Here's Scott in his silk-screening shop...

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    The front of his shop/store...he has some nice collectibles...

    Stutz, it was my pleasure meeting and chatting with you, seeing your shop, cars and general stuff…thanx for the Absaroka items…!!!

    A pizza in the room later that night took care of our hunger after we’d tossed the car covers on the Cadillacs. Tuesday morn, we left early and wanted to visit another HAMBer - Scott Dobbs (Verbal Kint), in Billings, Montana. He’d told me to call about 20 minutes out of Billings and he’d meet us at his friend’s Rod Shop.


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    We got there late morning and visited him at Augie Bentz’s rod shop south of Billings - Augie showed us around his shop, stuffed full of Pontiacs, of all years but neither Dan nor I remembered our cameras so no pics of Augie’s shop. Scott, it was a pleasure meeting you…and please tell Augie that I call guys that don’t drive their cars anywhere “Zip Code Rodders” because they NEVER leave their zip code. Fortunately, not every “rodder” in the U.S. is that way…there are those of us that USE our cars and please encourage him to bring his ’35 Pontiac Coop to Loveland, I’ll be there…!!!

    After lunch we two-laned north for the small town of Havre, Montana, our second overnight. Havre is just a few miles south of the Canadian border. On the way, we got a huge taste of Montana’s road construction. I think Montana’s two lane roads are in a perpetual state of road construction…we have never stopped for so many construction projects in any other state and I’ve driven through a lot of states.


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    Waiting...waiting...waiting...!!!

    Funny story here: we were the first in line at the road construction site on Highway 66 off of 191 North after we’d left Highway 87 coming out of Billings (confused now…???) and …yeah, we HAD to wait, for the pilot car. You’d think most people would slow thru a construction area but I guess there’s always that person that has total disregard for construction zones and a pilot car won’t let anyone speed thru it. Anyway, this guy in a new black Mustang convert pulled up behind us. He got out of his car and walked up to us, asked if we know where Lewistown was? Dan, who is never without a map, said, “Yeah, you’ve missed it by about 80 miles, you should have taken Highway 200, west, at Grass Range, 50 miles behind you.” He looked flabbergasted. The next question he asked was “Do you know if there’s any gas stations this way?” Dan remarked, “I doubt it, we’re in the middle of nowhere and the first decent sized town is Harlem or Ft. Belknap Agency, about 65 miles up the road, why?” He replied, “I’m about out of gas.” He turned and walked back to his car. I looked at Dan and asked “How can anyone go anywhere without a map?” Dan said “Too many people rely on on-board navigation units and not all of them are as reliable as a paper map.” About the only thing we could say was ‘good luck.’ Don’t know if he ever made it to a gas station or ran out…

    Our destination that afternoon had a population of 10,000 - thought it wouldn’t be a problem finding a motel. Boy, were we wrong…!!! The first motel we encountered on the way in was filled with about 233 motorcycles…and a “No Vacancy” sign. No prob, find another…well, every motel in that town had ‘No Vacancy’ signs lit up. Why? The desk person at the Town House Inn, a 150 room motel, with casino and restaurant, told us it was because of several construction projects around the town and area…we finally found an old 1950’s Mom and Pop motel, with just 12 rooms, and virtually no parking, off main street…spent $64.00 to rent two beds – give you any idea what the place was like…???


    To be continued…
     
    Last edited: Sep 18, 2014
    loudbang, gotta56forme and low budget like this.
  2. low budget
    Joined: Nov 15, 2006
    Posts: 5,566

    low budget
    Member
    from Central Ky

    I will be checking back in on this one, It reminds me of back when hotrodladycruiser would post her adventures on here in these type threads, I enjoyed those as well.
     
  3. Subscribed..love road trip story's. HRP
     
  4. mgtstumpy
    Joined: Jul 20, 2006
    Posts: 9,214

    mgtstumpy
    Member

    Enjoyed the last road trip, time to kick back and enjoy another
     

  5. wreckfixer
    Joined: Jun 15, 2009
    Posts: 320

    wreckfixer
    Member

    Man I love those caddy's, my brother and I are heading out next wed. From Garden City, Ks to Gas City, In. In this 56 Caddy we figure 1000 miles one way. ImageUploadedByH.A.M.B.1410818827.008162.jpg


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  6. 40StudeDude
    Joined: Sep 19, 2002
    Posts: 9,536

    40StudeDude
    Member

    You're prolly close to that, we did that trip in June, went to the Custom Car Revival and from Denver it's just over 1100 miles one way...we ran Highway 36 all the way to Indy, and that's not far from Gas City. I don't know which way you're going but 36 is a good route...

    Nice looking '56...

    R-
     
  7. motoandy
    Joined: Sep 19, 2007
    Posts: 3,334

    motoandy
    Member
    from MB, SC

    Love a road trip.
     
  8. crob1
    Joined: Dec 6, 2013
    Posts: 57

    crob1
    Member
    from Colorado

    Geez man! How long we gotta wait until the next chapter?
     
  9. 40StudeDude
    Joined: Sep 19, 2002
    Posts: 9,536

    40StudeDude
    Member

    Until I get the next portion written and get all the pictures in place...after all, it was a two week, four day trip...

    R-
     
  10. Sutho
    Joined: Sep 12, 2014
    Posts: 12

    Sutho
    Member

    I want to come to the states and crash this cruise with you guys. Looks like an awesome time.
     
  11. low budget
    Joined: Nov 15, 2006
    Posts: 5,566

    low budget
    Member
    from Central Ky

    Wasnt their a movie about 3 brothers traveling across country to deliver a nice old caddy to their dad?.....found it.
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    Last edited: Sep 15, 2014
  12. Fun stuff right there!

    Carry on fellas!

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  13. Fender1325
    Joined: Aug 31, 2014
    Posts: 729

    Fender1325

    Love it. I have a '50 series 61 sedan which is my first classic car that im rebuilding and learning with, but I really want a '54 series 62 one day. More pics of those caddies!
     
  14. wreckfixer
    Joined: Jun 15, 2009
    Posts: 320

    wreckfixer
    Member



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  15. wreckfixer
    Joined: Jun 15, 2009
    Posts: 320

    wreckfixer
    Member

    I didn't mean to hijack your thread, but it just seamed like the right place to mention this cruze. Yes we are planning to run 36 hi way. I will start a new thread next week asking for suggestions on places to stop, eat or crash for the nite.


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  16. 40StudeDude
    Joined: Sep 19, 2002
    Posts: 9,536

    40StudeDude
    Member

    Yep, I'm aware...been watching your thread. More pix of those Caddies in the next installment...

    You didn't hijack it...36 is a great highway until you get close to Decatur, Illinois...it's a bit rough thru there but your Caddy will get thru it OK. We stayed overnight in St. Joseph, Missouri, which was about halfway for us... really not much to see on the trip other than the Mississippi River barges/boats.

    R-
     
  17. wreckfixer
    Joined: Jun 15, 2009
    Posts: 320

    wreckfixer
    Member

    We are planning to stop at JesseJames grave. Then try to get across Mo.


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  18. Is it update day yet? :) Fun trip so far.
     
  19. 40StudeDude
    Joined: Sep 19, 2002
    Posts: 9,536

    40StudeDude
    Member

    Yep, drdave, it is update day...so let's do it ---

    Part Two

    August up north was cool…

    Oh, if any of you want to read about last year’s 4,552 mile trip to Canada and Puyallup, WA, go here: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=823789&highlight=events 4552 miles two weeks three days

    Both days of this trip, with the exception of southern Wyoming, the windows were up and the tuneage played endlessly…needless to say it had been a ‘cool’ trip so far. Wednesday morning we pulled into the fenced off area of the Canadian/US border and I rolled the passenger’s side window down. I was greeted by two friendly border agents, a male and a female. They looked at passports, asked where we were going, how long we were staying in Canada, how much money we were bringing in and what kind of cars we were driving. Satisfied we weren’t terrorists or ColoRODo mules hauling in a trunkload of marijuana, they sent us on our way, didn’t even ask us to open the trunks. Hmmmmmm…!!! They were friendly to the point of joking with us…

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    As we left the enclosure, we figured we had only a couple of hours of driving before we got to Medicine Hat, but we stopped at the Alberta sign to shoot some pix.

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    Cruising literally straight north on the two lane, the flatlands of northern Montana flowed right into the Canadian Province. It was about 115 miles to Medicine Hat and we’d driven about 50 miles, wheat covered plains and zero trees on either side of us and the purple haze of the Canadian Rockies about 75 or so miles to the west of us. Watching the road curve toward some pine trees in the distance, I thot it unusual there’d be pine trees ahead when there were literally no other trees anywhere, nothing but ripened wheat as far as the eye could see. As we got closer to the pines, the road curved and disappeared behind a small hill. Almost immediately after the hill, the road angled down, dropped us and the roadway thru an awful lot of pine trees, on both sides of the road. As we went down, we could see we were going to go down a ways…it was like we were suddenly thrust into the mountains, except we were going down, not up. Lettered on the sign on the right side of the downward road was “Welcome to Cypress Hills.” Hills…??? No, this was more like a mountainous area, and there really weren’t any hills other than what we were going down. The road twisted and turned downward for several miles, genuine pine trees filled the windshield and everywhere else I looked…and that forest was thick. A few minutes later, while rounding a curve, I see a sign that reads: “Welcome to Hidden Valley Ski Area.” Skiing…??? Here…??? No way…!!! But I had to agree with the sign, this ‘valley” certainly was hidden…if the agents at the border had told me I’d be driving mountain roads an hour from their building, I would have certainly told my brother, via our CB’s that those two didn’t know Canada very well. But sure enuff, curving around a left turn, there it was, the ski area had been carved out of the trees. Looking up the now green ski run, I lost sight of it toward the top. I told Dan, via our CB’s that this ski area could rival some of ColoRODo’s ski areas. He was as shocked as I was that we’d stumbled into “mountains” going downhill and that there was a real ski area there in the pines…!!! Wait, there’s gotta be a science fiction story in there somewhere: Oh sure, here- stumbling into a valley ski area no one knew was there, the ‘hero,’ at first disoriented, finds a female skier hurt and bleeding 100 yards from a wrecked airplane. Human boot tracks led away from her. As he bends to tend to her, a shot rings out and ricochets off the bent propeller of the plane. He hurls himself over the top of a busted wing and buries himself in the snow. In the distance he hears a helicopter taking off. Hmmmmmmmmmm…!!! Sure, why not…??? Anyway, that’s the FIRST time I ever went down in a valley to a ski area. Forty-five minutes later, we were climbing out of Hidden Valley’s evergreens on the north side…looking in the rear view mirror a few miles past it, I couldn’t see a trace of it…it certainly was well “hidden.”

    Half hour later, we literally dropped into the city of Medicine Hat from atop a large plateau. There were a couple of WCPC cruisers already parked at our motel. so we did the same and checked in, then went to find a bank to change out some American money for Canadian (we made out well -$53.10 Canadian for $50.00 American) so we could find a car wash, clean up the cars, grab some lunch and then head over to Preston Towle’s “Rodder’s Roost” shop about 3 PM for the welcoming BBQ. Preston’s lovely wife, Lana, greeted each person coming thru the shop door and about half of the WCPC entourage showed up to rekindle past friendships.

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    Preston spent most of the afternoon behind the BBQ’er. cooking burgers and dogs while his wife and friends tended to all the fixin’s.

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    His flat black “just-finished-it-last-night” Ford Falcon convert was sitting out back ready to make its first long-distance trip…it had zero miles on it but Preston said he was confident it’d make the trip.

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    Last year, Preston and Lana drove the whole two week trip in his Model A sedan…said this year he needed some leg room.

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    As you can see, Preston has a few other projects out in his back yard.

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    Organized, driven, but wet.

    Later that day, organizer Chris McMillan had set up the Medicine Hat Come n' Go Show n' Shine for the WCPC participants Wednesday evening and over 100 vehicles attended, about half of them local.

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    Once again, our Cadillacs were right in the middle of it and we renewed some friendships and made a few more. Since the sun didn’t set in Canada until about 9:30, we hung around watching people cruise in and out. By then, we were hungry again, took our Caddys to the motel but had a hard time finding a parking spot that late, but we finally did and covered them up. It was going to be an early morning for us since Chris announced the Thursday morning departure at 8AM at the A & W Root Beer stand on Highway 3 …

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    Waiting, waiting…I went to get a cup of coffee…it was too early…!!!

    I asked Chris how many cars were going with us and about the other tours and he told me he’d organized three tours (with a nod to Rob Shuba for his help) from other regions of Canada - Tier 1: From Grande Prairie, Alberta, to Medicine Hat. This tour had the most registered with 31 cruisers. Tier 2: Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Medicine Hat with 22 cruisers. Tier 3: Merritt. British Columbia, to Medicine Hat had only 4 cruisers. A total of 57 cruisers would leave Medicine Hat with us in the morning. From the A & W, the tour would continue to Cranbrook, British Columbia, and was 301 miles to our overnight stay. The next day we’d go into Spokane –short but sweet. Most of the cruisers joined us Thursday morning in a great long line on Canadian Highway 3....

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    ...and a few others headed back home, having enjoyed the driving trip to Medicine Hat with rodding friends.

    The day started out warm, not hot and fairly nice but as we approached the Canadian Rockies late morning, the sky became darker and darker…I was certain we were going to get wet…I just didn’t know how wet it was going to be.


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    Driving mountain roads in the rain is not something I look forward to…but we had to get to Cranbrook all the same and about the only thing we could hope for is the rain would stop. Some 190 miles into the journey we came upon a view area known as Frank’s slide - seems in 1903 the entire side of a mountain came crashing down on the mining town in the valley. A wedge of limestone nearly a mile wide let go at the top of the mountain at 4:10 AM, and millions of tons of rock slid into the valley. Like an ocean wave, it swept up the other side of the valley, uprooting pines, bouncing boulders the size of houses up the mountain, wiping out half the town, burying half the residents and destroying the roadway and railroad tracks and most of the lower mine shacks. The nightshift miners that were working the mine at the time had to tunnel themselves out to the surface only to find their livelihood completely gone.

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    It’s been speculated the coal mine under the wedge was the cause.

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    In this shot you can see the Reno Rodder’s cars…the two Buicks at the left side of the pic belong to Chris McMillan, the event organizer and his Dad, Larry. Little did they know there was trouble brewing…!!!

    The rain had let up a bit as we left the view area and my fuel gauge said I needed gas…I can get a little more than 200 miles on a tank and at this point, I wasn’t going to take any chances, rain or not. After fueling up and adding some Rain-X to the windshield, we headed for Crowsnest Pass. The dry didn’t last long. Dan shot this pic of the partial sign as he was moving
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    It really wasn’t much of a ‘pass” as we ColoRODans are used to, only 4,450 feet high but the rain was cold and felt like it was going to snow. Most of the tour stopped in the small mountain town of Blairmore for lunch but Dan and I weren’t hungry so we went on to Sparwood to view the world’s largest Titan 33-19 truck.

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    The off-highway ‘one and only’ truck was built in 1978 during the coal mining boom…Kaiser Resources bought it specifically for hauling coal out of the mines…its bed is capable of hauling 350 tons and it worked 24 hours a day. The truck stands 22.7 feet tall, has a 16 cylinder engine that produces 3300 horsepower and a top speed of 43 mph. It was retired in 1990.

    Our next stop for that rain soaked drive was the city of Cranbrook. We literally took over the hotel…at least the parking lot of it.


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    After the majority of the cruisers checked into the motel and went to find dinner, someone finally asked where Chris McMillan, his Dad and the rest of the Reno Rodder entourage were…seems just as Dan and I left the Frank’s slide area, Chris had trouble with his green Buick…the brand new distributor he put in prior to the tour had less than 200 miles on it and it decided to give out. It was in the electronics of it so it was not providing spark to the plugs. He ended up tracking down a used one at a radiator shop in Sparwood. The used one got him to Cranbrook, and then back to Medicine Hat. He and his Dad did not go on to Spokane. I found out later from him, via e-mail, the speed shop he bought the Mallory distributor from warrantied the part.

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    The “Reno Rodders,” Chris’s club and the official hosts for the WCPC, decided to “make a memory” that evening and finally got together about eight PM for this shot. Note it was inside, it was raining like crazy outside. Dan and I hoped the weather would clear simply because we didn’t get to see much of the southern Canadian Rockies. Worse part was we missed the local weather on the TV that night so had no idea what Friday would bring in Spokane or on the way there. We were to find out.

    To be continued…
     
    Last edited: Sep 18, 2014
    drdave, Model T1 and gotta56forme like this.
  20. crob1
    Joined: Dec 6, 2013
    Posts: 57

    crob1
    Member
    from Colorado

    Good stuff! Now I have to research the Frank's Slide tragedy.
     
  21. straykatkustoms
    Joined: Oct 30, 2001
    Posts: 22,324

    straykatkustoms
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Very Kool!! I love reading about your road trips. It would be kool to see the two Caddy's rolling down the highway.
    Looking forward to the next update.....
    IMG_3654_zps91d7d7d5.jpg

    This is still one of my favorite pictures taken during one of your adventures... Snow? Jetter Brothers are not afraid of snow...
    Happy Trails, Mick
     
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  22. 40StudeDude
    Joined: Sep 19, 2002
    Posts: 9,536

    40StudeDude
    Member

    LOL Mick...the above pic was a little wetter and slushier than we like it...slick too...and that was typical ColoRODo weather. That was shot from my Cadillac, following Dan on May 2nd or 3rd, about 10AM and we were driving to Oklahoma and your rod run...

    More on the Canada trip coming up...

    R-
     
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  23. Bring it on....it's been 4 days now since the last update. I need my road trip fix!! :)

    That's a great pic Mick posted. What a crazy May that was.


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  24. 40StudeDude
    Joined: Sep 19, 2002
    Posts: 9,536

    40StudeDude
    Member

    OK, OK... here it is...looks like I wrote more than I'd planned so now there will be four parts to this travelogue...

    Rain, rain go away, come back another day…

    No wait, not on this vacation, PLEASE…I’ve had enuff rain for awhile…!!!

    Wasn’t to be…I really had no clue IF it’d quit raining and I’m not sure the weather guys on TV did either…the only thing I knew was I was getting tired of it being wet outside all the time and my car being beyond filthy dirty. While in the Cranbrook motel, we had to leave the balcony door open because it was so hot in our room…and the worse part of the room was there was no A/C unit, only heat…I surmised they didn’t need A/C in the Canadian Rockies in the summers. So, we got to listen to it rain all nite…!!! Early morning Dan and I figured we’d make a bee line for Spokane since there wasn‘t a lot of sight-seeing we could do with clouds hanging over the mountains and the windshield covered with raindrops, besides, we wanted to get to the fairgrounds before noon Friday. We packed our cases, left the room’s balcony door open, loaded the trunk, wiped condensation off the inside of the windows, drove across the street and gassed up, Rain-X’d our windshields under the canopy and headed for Spokane, some 180 miles away.

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    As we got close to the U.S. border, we finally drove out of the rain altho the clouds were still low on the mountains. The officers at the U.S. border station were not friendly, not even cracking a smile…I guess they were watching for all the Canadian terrorists. Once thru the border station, the two-lane highway was dry and we got to kick up the speed a bit, still had to keep the windows up as it wasn’t very warm. As we traveled south, I finally had to take off my jacket and toss it in the back seat, but kept my sweatshirt on. The clouds had lifted to the point we could see quite a ways around us. Northern Idaho is nothing but mountains and pine trees.

    We got as far as Sandpoint when we had to take a detour…there had been a serious fatal accident involving a passenger car and an eighteen wheeler (the eighteen wheeler usually wins in that type of encounter) on the bridge across Lake Pend Oreille (It’s French - pronounced Pon-der-ay…!!!) and all lanes were blocked…we had been warned via a digital sign just as we crossed the border into Idaho that there had been a major wreck ahead and to be prepared to take a detour. But at 8AM in the morning, and with nearly 70 miles to Sandpoint, we figured by the time we got there, the wreck would be cleaned up. Not so. When we got there the back-up was lengthy and soon enough, Dan and I had enough waiting, made a U-turn in the highway and headed back to an intersection we saw that would take us west, back up through the mountains. Dan’s map showed us we could drive into Spokane at the north side of town. Needless to say, the detour added an hour or so to our drive, but it certainly was better than waiting until late afternoon by the time they cleaned up the accident (saw the report that nite on the TV news, glad we able to turn around and not wait).

    We headed back up into the mountains west of Sandpoint and I told Dan I had 180 miles on the tank, time to find a gas station…in the little crossroads town of NewPort, Washington, we pulled into a Chevron station and I filled up. To the west it was quite dark – told Dan I wanted to Rain-X the windshield again as it looked like we might have to run in rain again. Sure enuff, just as I finished wiping off the Rain-X it started sprinkling. Back out on the highway and no more than 10 miles down the road, we ran into a downpour of major proportions…had to slow and watch the curves.


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    We rolled into North Spokane on dry roads just before 11AM and literally got lost, we lost our reference to west, east, north and south and Dan’s map didn’t offer help much as far as city streets. Worse yet, we asked where the fairgrounds were - on the south side of the city, and there was street construction (more waiting…!!!) between us and it. Besides, we were hungry, our cars were filthy and I wasn’t going to drive into a GG’s event with a dirty car. We eventually got southbound, found a car wash near the fairgrounds (altho we didn’t know it at the time) and spent better than two hours cleaning both cars. We rolled into the fairgrounds about 2:30PM. So much for wanting to get to the event before noon…happened to us last year too…we didn’t get into Puyallup until noon and then to the grounds just before 3. It’s a bitch when you don’t know the area.

    SORRY, NO CADILLACS ALLOWED…!!!

    The GoodGuy’s event was going full blast at the time as we pulled into the fairgrounds lot to register for the event …some guy walked up next to us at the registration line and said “Cadillacs are not allowed at this event.” What…??? I was taken aback…WHO is this guy? I had no idea who he was as I’d never seen him before. He held out his hand and said “My name is Bruce Glascock.” Ahhhhh, “Cabong” on the HAMB. He and I had chatted, via PM’s on the HAMB, about rebuilding a “historic” ’50 Chevy convert that Gene Winfield built some years ago and the choice of color it should be. Of course, I reminded him that nearly any shade of purple was a great color for a fifties kustom. I’d sent him pix of my lavender Cadillac so he knew right away who I was. He’d seen us drive in. We chatted for a few minutes and he introduced me to “Nick” the body man that did the bodywork on the Leland Grantz kustom. If you’d like to view the whole thread “Cabong” put up, go here: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/gene-winfield-custom-found.853874/

    Bruce, too bad we didn’t get more time to chat, my pleasure meeting you.

    After we’d gotten registered, Dan and I got in the Caddys and made a pass around the whole cruising loop and then found a place to park so we could check out the vendors and the inside “car show.


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    The fairgrounds was good sized and there were lots of places to park, including two large areas of grass on the north side and on the south side. One good thing about the grounds is that the food vendors were all in one place in the center of the grounds and the prices of food and drink weren’t that bad. While the Spokane grounds are decent, they really don’t hold a candle to the Puyallup fairgrounds. The Puyallup grounds are spacious, lots of “lanes” for cruising and a ton of places to park so everyone can see your car. FWIW, Dan and I like going to the western U.S…it’s a lot more scenic than back east (save maybe for the Smokies and the Appalachians), there is literally no humidity and even the temps are decent in the summers. Is it any wonder I moved to ColoRODo from Iowa when I was 23 years old…
    Next summer Dan and I may do the Yakima, Washington event…we were there in 1984 in our street rods, won the ”Long Distance” award but haven’t been back since…didn’t even know the event was still going on until we talked to someone from Yakima while at Spokane.

    [​IMG]
    Anyway, I’d say the GG’s Spokane show brought in about 1400 or so cars for the weekend, not nearly as large as Puyallup but I think the weather had a lot to do with it –Spokane had some severe wind and bad weather the Tuesday before the event and the rain threatened the weekend altho it never did.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    On Saturday, several Canadians caught up with us while we were parked in the “You Gotta Drive ‘em” special parking area. Most of them had parked in the “Canadian Corral” and one of our traveling mates, Clay Schweigert of Medicine Hat had won a GoodGuy’s ‘Pick’ with his ’57 Chevy… congrats Clay.
    [​IMG]
    I don’t know how long it took Clay to clean his car, and ’57 Chevy trailer, from driving in all that rain, but I’d bet it wasn’t a quick wash job!

    We were asked where we were headed after this event and told them we’d found a couple of local week nite cruises we’d planned on attending and then back up into Canada since there was another car show the next weekend in Waterton Lakes National Park. But the immediate plan was just to do some sight-seeing around the area and on the way back north.

    J.F. Launier had brought his 2014 Ridler award winning Buick Riviera down from Osoyoos, British Columbia, Canada, to award his “pick” to ten vehicles in the ‘Builder’s Choice’ display. Not one to let his Riviera be a static show piece, he loaded it up with friends, fired it up and cruised the grounds more than once showing off the intense yellow paint on the chopped Riv.

    [​IMG]
    Saturday afternoon we ran in to Russ Freund. Russ and Darrel Peterson own River City Speed & Kustom and had brought their award winning “Take-out T’….
    [​IMG]
    ...plus a Model A over from Post Falls, Idaho, to show them off. While chatting with Russ, I asked if we could come out to his shop on Monday to shoot some photos and add it to the Spokane article I was writing for Rod Authority…you do know I’m now writing articles for Rod Authority, don’t you…??? IF not, please add a www in front of the name and a dot com at the end and you can pull it up. It’s an electronic magazine and it’s free to subscribe to…they cover most of the GG’s events, some NSRA events and various rod runs across the nation and there are plenty of featured vehicles and other stuff of interest.

    Russ asked us if we had an invitation to his “private BBQ” at 6:00 PM Saturday nite, we said no and he then handed us one…Thanx Russ…!!! After giving us directions to his Mom’s Ranch, Dan and I said we’d be there . About 6:30 we headed east, about 10 miles east of Spokane, right next to the Idaho border…we pulled in and were shocked at the amount of cars already there…I think half of the GG’s event was there…
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    Russ and Darrell’s BBQ is an annual affair “for 200 of their closest friends.” They weren’t kidding about 200 of their closest friends as the ranch was wall to wall cars and people, including some that hadn’t attended the GG’s event. The food had been donated by Otis Grille, Pryer’s Café and Artistic Towing and Russ has been doing this “private” BBQ for 23 years. The very best part of the BBQ is that donation jars are set out and Russ and Darrel donate the proceeds to their favorite charity: Inland NW Car Club Scholarship Fund.

    Sunday, after the awards which officially ended the 2nd Western Canada Power Cruise, Dan and I drove to downtown Spokane to see the Spokane Falls.

    [​IMG]
    The city was initially named Spokane Falls but changed later.

    [​IMG]
    At the Riverfront Park, the world’s largest Radio Flyer wagon sits there.

    That evening we took a driving tour to the dam on the Spokane River....
    [​IMG]
    and spotted Sasquatch hanging out in the forests…Dan shot this pic just before we moved on...didn't want to hang around and chat with him..
    [​IMG]

    To be continued…
     
    Last edited: Sep 23, 2014
    drdave and straykatkustoms like this.
  25. 40StudeDude
    Joined: Sep 19, 2002
    Posts: 9,536

    40StudeDude
    Member

    Top Three

    Since I’m writing for Rod Authority now, and since I was writing the article for the event, I was asked by their management if I’d pick the “Top Three” in Spokane…best part of these picks is these cars were MY choice, not anyone else’s and there certainly was no criteria for picking them…they were simply what I liked…so without further adieu, here’s my Top Three at the Spokane event:

    First up was a ‘kustom’…but not just any kustom…

    A Gene Winfield chopped Merc.

    Ike Reisenauer

    1950 Mercury

    Dickinson, ND

    Ike has owned this Merc for over 10 years. He bought it as a half-finished project simply because Gene Winfield had chopped the top and he knew it was done correctly.

    Ike’s the kinda guy that goes rod running all summer…from June First to Sept First. This is his 6th year of going to events all summer. Such a deal! He’s 73 years old but still 16. His wife, Rita, goes with him every summer and they go to five or six states, attending 13-16 events a summer.

    Ike was a crusher foreman for 45 years, retired now but worked for Fisher Sand and Gravel company and they provided gravel road base for highway departments.

    His Merc runs a 351” Cleveland and a C-4 tranny. John Larson, Mandan, ND did the flames over the Brandywine red paint. The gray leather interior was done several years ago and the car has cruise control, a back-up camera, Power Steering, Power Brakes and A/C.

    When Ike got the car he had to finish the rest of it…redoing the chassis and engine compartment, rechroming the bumpers. The Salt Lake City chromers did the mold-out on the tailpipes from Ike’s design .

    The Merc has won approximately 75 awards over the past six years he’s been rod running including Best Paint, People’s Choice, Best Leadsled, Coolest Kustom and several long distance awards because Ike likes showing off his Merc.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Next up is this ’55 Canadian Pontiac…

    Rick Rilling

    1955 Pontiac

    Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada


    Canadian Pontiacs are ‘unusual’ vehicles.

    Why, you ask? They’re built on Chevy frames/suspension and are not the same length as a U.S. built Pontiac. Compare a Canadian Pontiac to an American Pontiac and the very first thing you’ll notice is the “shorter” front clip (fenders and hood). General Motors of Canada Limited confirmed this 1955 Pontiac Pathfinder Station Wagon as body number 312 of 1410 produced in Canada.


    The side trim is Pontiac, the headlights and taillights are Pontiac and the tailgate opens similar to a Chevy.

    Rick‘s ’55 Pathfinder was an off the frame restoration completed in 2002 but looks as fresh as the day it was completed. He reports it’s been driven 25,000 miles so far. Wait, did he say kilometers? “No, you heard correctly. The odometer reads miles,” Rick said. That’s lots of trying to avoid road rash! After the Spokane event, he and his wife headed for Pleasanton on this trip.


    The wagon is powered by a 350” (Chevy) and a 700 R-4 trans. The front suspension consists of an ’87 Grand Prix (another Pontiac) subframe. It fit well enough but Rick said making the inner panels fit was the bigger job. With that accomplished, body and paint was next – Sunset Orange Metallic was applied by Bud’s Classic Restoration and Paint shop. Modern gauges fill the stock Pontiac dash and a B&M shifter was added to the floor. Gray soft leather and tweed fabric covers a split bench seat up front. The rear seat folds flat and the cargo area fully carpeted in gray and a rear-mounted CD player provides the tunes.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    The last and certainly the most TRADITIONAL of the three is this Model A…and most of you know I just don’t get into square bodied cars but this one just grabbed my attention…it doesn’t get much more traditional than this:

    Ron Zike

    1930 Ford Model A

    Yakima, Washington

    A R-E-A-L hot rod

    Sometimes certain cars just jump out at you…case in point - this 1930 Ford coupe…a genuine “hot rod” in the true sense of the word.

    Ron Zike built this car…did all the work, including the interior…and paint. However, Ron’s wife picked out the paint colors…and when building a car you should include your wife in those decisions - a woman’s sense of color is nothing to scoff at.


    The engine is R-E-A-L hot rod…a ’51 Oldsmobile Ron purchased in the car…it’d been overhauled, replaced in the ‘51 Olds convertible and then the convert got wrecked…the owner decided not to rebuild so Ron purchased it and set in the Model A’s rails. A bit of searching turned up the manifold and three two’s. Ron left the generator on to convince folks the car is a genuine survivor directly from the golden age of rodding. A three speed/overdrive works well behind the engine and adds to the old timey look.

    Alongside the ’32 Ford grille resides ’36 Guide headlights. Steering is done by a ’36 Chevy box. Inside, Ron used a ’32 Chevy dash simply because he had one and it fit the width perfectly. Staying with the ‘old school look’ is the venerable ’40 Ford steering wheel and not wanting to detract from that, Ron didn’t want any kind of late model seat so he pulled the “buckets” out of ’50 school bus and cut them down - Perfect.

    Ron and his brother-in-law, Terry Cannon, chopped and filled the soft top roof and the deck lid was hand formed since he couldn’t find one during the 8 year build…when it can’t be fount, you do the next best thing. Inside the “trunk” resides two six volt batteries, placed end to end in sequence since the gas tank takes up the room. Once the bodywork was finished, Ron’s friend, Mike, sprayed the car and added the off-white scallops.

    The shake down run was to Santa Maria, California, and back home never missing a beat…Ron’s been driving the car for a couple years and enjoys every minute of it.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    No doubt there were high dollar cars at the event that overshadowed these and were built with the best parts and paint and interiors were immaculate, but I doubt any of them had been driven like these three were…and after talking to the owners, those other high dollar cars were simply show pieces. These three cars are used…and since I believe in using my Cadillac (and any other car I’ve built - read that miles under the tires) then I felt cars that are used are the Tops at any event.


    To be continued…
     
    gotta56forme likes this.
  26. loudbang
    Joined: Jul 23, 2013
    Posts: 40,276

    loudbang
    Member

    Some good choices there.
     
  27. crob1
    Joined: Dec 6, 2013
    Posts: 57

    crob1
    Member
    from Colorado

    As usual, good stuff Roger. Lot's of great pictures in your Rod Authority article!
     
  28. 40StudeDude
    Joined: Sep 19, 2002
    Posts: 9,536

    40StudeDude
    Member

    One more time...I've written too much on this trip so now we'll extend it two more parts...here we go...

    IF you can’t fix it on the side of the road…(here’s where it got interesting…!!!)

    Monday morn the weather was nice…cool but sunny…and no rain clouds in sight, they’d vacated the area and headed east and north…our plan was to kill a whole week sightseeing and then head back up to Canada and Waterton Lakes, so Post Falls and Russ Freund’s River City Speed & Kustom rod shop was our first stop.

    [​IMG]

    While at the Spokane event, Russ had told me they were working on a ’55 Cadillac Eldorado convertible, they’d put late Corvette suspension under it and I would want to take a look at it…what he didn’t tell us was he also had a ’32 Cadillac in the shop. I thought my ’55 Caddy was huge, but the ’32 dwarfed mine. The ’55 Eldo he’s working on is nice, the exterior is white and stone stock but I couldn’t own anything that’s stock – the body has to be modified to suit my taste. Russ showed us around his shop and let us view his “secret” project (sorry, no pix were allowed), scheduled for completion sometime next summer.

    [​IMG]
    The Corvette suspended Eldo.

    [​IMG]
    Very nice Caddy

    Post Falls is south of Sandpoint, Idaho and since we didn’t get to go across the bridge on Lake Pend Oreille, on the way to Spokane, we wanted to do it this time and see the lake. The lake is huge so we drove around it for a while, did a tour of downtown Sandpoint before we decided it was late and wanted to put on a few miles to our ultimate destination – Kalispell, Montana. Unfortunately, we didn’t get far…

    [​IMG]
    As we got close to Hayden, Idaho, Dan’s Cadillac started missing so we stopped to diagnose the problem - either electrical or fuel delivery. Working alongside a busy highway with the hood up isn’t smart- it’s dangerous. I told Dan to nurse the Caddy to the next intersection and we’d find a safer spot to diagnose the prob. We found a Mall parking lot and pulled in. After a bit of conversation about “what if’s” and trying to figure out why it was missing…and the fact it was late afternoon, we decided to find a motel for the night. I’ve always said “IF you can’t fix your car on the road, then you’d best stay home.” After checking the car over, we finally deduced it was electrical. Fortunately, the motel we rented was only a few blocks from a nearby NAPA store. After the car cooled down, I’d pulled the distributor off to see the points were burned. I walked the three blocks to the store and purchased a set of points and condenser, installed them and set the points with a folded dollar bill, closed the hood and Dan took it out on the highway, said it was as smooth as previously, so we called it a night. We make sure our cars are roadworthy before we leave home and Dan had mentioned he wanted a tune-up on his Caddy before we left but time got away from him and he simply didn’t get it done…he won’t let that happen on the next long distance trip he takes…!!!

    Tuesday morn was clear and cool –no rain but it was a windows up type of day again, we headed for Kalispell but there’s a lot to see in that part of the country, it got late and we didn’t get far. Construction on Montana highways again reared its ugly head and we sat in line plenty that day.
    [​IMG]
    Waiting, waiting, waiting...and still more waiting...!!!

    We didn’t get very far before we had trouble again…my dollar bill points setting slipped out of adjustment in Dan’s Caddy and once again we were on the side of the highway (well, actually on a dirt, relatively dry side road we’d found – two lane highways are too narrow to try to fix a car alongside cars whizzing by at 65-70 mph). It took about half an hour to fix the problem permanently by making certain the screw holding the adjustment was really tightened. I told Dan next time we’ll take care of ANYTHING necessary before we head out…and we should really buy a set of feeler gauges…!!! Next time I may not have a dollar bill…!!! Fortunately, that little episode happened between rain showers and between road construction areas. So, since that made us “late” again, another motel, another night…didn’t make many miles that day either and it was Okay simply because we had no certain timetable.

    Wednesday morning was cloudy and cool - figured from the look of the skies we were going to get wet again that day and drove Highway 200 past the Cabinet Fork Dam and into Montana, then took Highway 56 north to Highway 2 and drove into Libby about lunch time. The highways were good but mountainous, with tall pines lining either side of the highways…it was a gorgeous drive but, unfortunately, we’d caught up to the rain clouds. From Libby, it was another 120 miles to Kalispell, our overnight for the day and the trip was in and out of rain. We arrived in dry Kalispell late Wednesday afternoon and found a motel on the south side of the city. Our plan was to drive around Flathead Lake (the largest fresh water lake in the western US, with a shoreline of over 100 miles) on Thursday, drive over the Glacier Park “Going to the Sun” road on Friday and head back up into Canada that afternoon and do some sightseeing on Saturday.
    [​IMG]
    Flathead lake...between rain showers.

    Needless to say, it rained off and on most of the day Thursday but the trip around the lake was scenic as we pulled into some camping areas to get closer to the lake. The cars got really dirty at some of the camping areas and roads into them were dirt…oh well, there’s a car wash in Kalispell. On the way back to the motel, we found a quarter car wash on the south side of town and blew the dirt off. At least the cars were clean enuff to toss the car covers on for the nite.

    Friday morn dawned cloudy and cool but no rain…yet…!!! We worried about seeing anything up over Glacier and the “Going to the Sun” road simply because the mountains were covered with clouds…but we didn’t have much choice.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    The red buses still run and carry passenger’s up to Logan Pass altho these days the buses are powered by late model Ford engines.
    [​IMG]
    One of the many glaciers in cloudy Glacier Park

    Just past Columbia Heights it started to rain and rained most of the way up to the top - Logan Pass. At Logan Pass it was so cloudy and rainy, I couldn’t see Dan’s taillights 20 feet ahead of me. Going down the eastern side at 5 mph was slow cuz the clouds were so thick I couldn’t even see a thing…literally crawled along at 2 or 3 mph so not to miss a curve. I’d hoped Dan was ahead of me cuz if he went over the edge I couldn’t have seen it happen. A few miles down we again stopped for road construction – oh great…!!! The flag guy told us it was nine miles of the highway ahead and did we want to turn around…??? “No,” we said, “..as long as there are no huge boulders we have to drive over and around we’ll be OK.” He said “It’s just muddy, rutted and potholed. Those Cadillacs are not going to be very clean by the time you get to the pavement and it’s very slow following the pilot car.”

    [​IMG]
    And this was the 'smoother' part of the construction.

    Fortunately, the Rain-X was working fine. We had to wait about half an hour for the west bound pilot car to emerge out of the cloud bank and turn around behind us…I knew my Cadillac would never be ‘just built’ clean after this trip, but that’s a chance you take when you DRIVE your classic! It was extremely slow following about two dozen cars ahead of us (and the same amount behind us)…we had to dodge the larger muddy water filled pot holes but couldn’t miss them all. I’d bet the guy behind us was laughing his head off saying to himself “that’s what you get for bringing those gorgeous cars up here.” I was sure the sides of both cars changed color coming thru all that mud and the whitewalls were now blackwalls. Oh well.
    [​IMG]
    Tight curves on the road up...
    Once past the Forest Service entrance after coming down the east side of Glacier, we turned north and headed for Canada again and Waterton Lakes Provincial Park. A few miles north of the east entrance we again ran into heavy rain…and Rain-X will only work for so long in a downpour…time to find a dry spot to re-do it…uh-huh, sure – dry spot…!!! Just south of the Canadian border in a little town called Babb, the rain let up and we found a small Mom & Pop café and pulled in for some lunch…well, the downpour we’d just driven thru had literally washed our cars, they weren’t as muddy and the let-up allowed us to Rain-X the windshields again. We had to answer lots of questions about the cars, what kind, where were we going, where were we from and did we drive them all the way from ColoRODo as we entered the café.

    In and out of several rain showers, around 3PM we crossed the Canadian border one more time in a rain shower.
    [​IMG]

    To be continued…
     
    Last edited: Sep 28, 2014
    drdave, Fender1325 and gotta56forme like this.
  29. Hdonlybob
    Joined: Feb 1, 2005
    Posts: 4,115

    Hdonlybob
    Member

    Awesome venture, as well as write up..
    You have my envy :)
     
  30. crob1
    Joined: Dec 6, 2013
    Posts: 57

    crob1
    Member
    from Colorado

    You have my respect and admiration. My OCD would've had me freaking out in that mud, and my car is nowhere near the league that your cars are in!
     

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