Event Coverage IN (and PA, MD andOH) to the LSR

Late on Monday afternoon Joe Kerr rolled out of Brownsburg headed to Austin for the Roundup.I am lucky enough to be riding along with him in his killer "A" coupe. Riding with Joe is a good deal as he spent last weekend servicing the car from end to end and checking out everything to avoid any problems on the trip.
We rolled down I-65 and met Tyler Hilton south of Louisville before rolling on to the west side of Nashville where we stopped for the night at about 9 pm. About an hour later Tyler's dad Bobby arrived from Maryland with his 354 hemi powered "A" coupe. The coupe is on a trailer due to the fact that it has 6 carbs and a 7 gallon fuel tank and Bobby did not like the idea of having to stop at every second exit to fuel up. Also rolling in with Bobby was Jalopyrama show promoter Mike Szuba with his 32 5 window.
The following morning we hung around while the PA guys drove in from Knoxville. That duo consisted of Larry and Kim Garland in their highboy duece roadster along with Junior and Amy of Bad Donkey Hot Rods who are rolling in their recently acquired 34 coupe which is out of a long storage and has a definite 70's vibe with Cragar wires and velour inserts in the upholstery.
Today we drove through varying weather conditions starting out sunny and a little chilly but improving a little temperature wise until we approached Memphis where it cooled off and the rain started. It dried out for a while but just outside Little Rock the rain started to come down harder. The dually is the only one of the vehicles to have anything like effective wipers with only one wiper among the rest of the the group and that on Mike's duece. RainX is your friend in that situation.
I rode one stretch in the dually with Bobby swapping drag race stories (he is a former top fuel shoe and that is currently how I get my nitro fix) but opted to get back into Joe's coupe at the next stop. The only window in Joe's A is the windshield but at 70 mph the rain is not a problem. We got more of the wet stuff coming in when we ran into traffic just before we stopped and were running slow than we did at speed. We are spending the night just west of Little Rock and will be in Austin tomorrow.
The pix are in sequence and pretty much self explanatory.

 

Family first, family first, family first,.......man I wish I was with you guys!

 

Cool pics, looking forward to seeing these rides and meeting some of you guys in Austin this weekend!

Have a safe trip!

 

Happy birthday, Keith. Hope you had a good one

 

Beautiful stuff guys. Great cars, family and friends on a road trip to the LSR. How could it get any better? Be safe and have a fun time.

 

Is it wrong to be in love with an inanimate metal object? That Nailhead powered A coupe is just..........dreamy!!

Doc.

 

In my neighborhood and didn't even stop for a drink... for shame!!!

Drive safely

 

Roo, thanks for the ride I know you and Joe have a safe trip there and back. To everybody with you guys have a fun and safe trip, and Roo keep us up dated with the pic, thanks and be safe all. Doc, that nailhead A of Joes is one bad ass ride, wish you could see it live "awsome"

 

Have a safe trip and keep the pictuers coming

 

GPS in a model A...thats funny!! Great pics, nice rides.....wish I was in that convoy!

 

Really bummed I'm not going oh well, it was go to Texas or being home a new project. What would you have done?
Have a good time, and be safe!

 

I dig all of those 30/31 coupes.

 

Wiper? Wipers? We don't need no stinkin wipers. Hell Denise made longer trips with no top! This will be one to remember.

Thanks for allowing us to tag a long. Drive safe, watch out for the idiots and keep us up to date.

 

Rooman, the wife wants to know if you took a pillow for the ride, she said that those seats in Joes car makes her "butt hurt" just looking at them, let alone riding to Texas in them, HA HA HA.

 

A nice looking crew. Safe travels.

 

Fine looking convoy , Now I'm headed to the garage with Lots more incentive. Have a Super trip Guys !~~

 

See you guys tomorrow morning. Keep the pedals down.

 

Wednesday's update.

We hit the highway at around 8 am figuring that the weather would soon warm up as we headed south and west towards Dallas. Wrong! Today was at least is cool as yesterday if not a little worse although it was at least dry. We were right behind some precipitation in some areas as the roads were still damp. It remained cool and overcast until we were about half way between Dallas and Austin when the sun finally broke through the clouds. We had some confusion with the motels as there are two Airport Super 8's but that got sorted out with the only glitch being that Larry and Kim are at the north location and the rest of us are at the south.
This evening we went up to the Chuys in downtown Austin to meet up with Bob K and after dinner we spent some time on Congress at the Continental Club. I did not want to drag my SLR camera to dinner so I am sorry that there are no pix from Congress where we socialized with a bunch of guys including Jeff Norwell and Neil Candy who are wheeling Jeff's hemi powered pick up.

Breakfast at the motel with Amy in the foreground, Mike and Dave to the rear and Bobby chatting with Joe at the counter


On the right side of the deck lid on Mikes car you can see the Gay Pride decal that Junior added at our initial gas stop before hitting the highway. Mike obviously found it as it was missing by the time we stopped for gas again on the western side of Texarkana


At that gas stop we ran into our first genuine Texas cowboys


At that same stop Junior worked on getting Larry's right hand tail lamp back in action. Bobby hauled the "electrical" box over from the duallie and Junior wanted to know if he intended to rewire a house


Rolling south of Dallas we finally got to see signs listing Austin



At our final fuel stop I plugged the motel address into the GPS and Joe led the pack from there to the wrong motel (except for Larry and Kim)


Sunshine, finally.


Bobby had already unloaded the hemi"A" before we found out that we were at the wrong hotel so he drove it to the correct one and I followed with the duallie


Bobby managed to power park his "A" at Chuys



At the restaurant Junior chats with Bob K while Joe and Tyler order dinner


Larry and Kim had beaten us there and were deep in conversation with the O'Brian Truckers team.


Dave sat with Bob K and his group and did his best teenager cap backwards impersonation

 

Actually I did throw a couple of those cushions that the NHRA sell to ease the pain of "bleacher butt" in the car but they have been laying behind the seat for the entire trip. Joe's car rides exceptionally well for a buggy sprung deal riding on bias ply tires, in fact it rides exceptionally well for any kind of hot rod.
As radical as the car looks it really is a great open road car and it is hard to keep it down to 70 mph. In a quick squirt around a slower car this morning the GPS registered 95 mph in no time at all with the car still accelerating very hard when Joe lifted. The overdrive high gear in the 5 speed makes for relaxed cruising as well and the motor has not missed a beat.

Roo

 

You guys are livin' the dream, except for being "hotel challenged" that is! Tell Mike we missed him at the garage party, but this trip is definitely cooler!

 

You guys better have gotten all your beauty rest last night......... John will make the rest of the week UGLY!!!

 

Was thinking the same thing !
Great stuff, enjoying all of it.
Dale
Cleveland OH

 

WOW, green on the trees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! cool thread!!

 

rooman. tell bob and tyler granpa wants more pics. john hilton

 

You guys look like you are having a lot of fun, keep the pics coming. Stay safe and party your ass off.

 

Inspiring, wish I was there.

 

Aw man that's the American dream right there, wanna do something like that so bad, I guess i will settle for latimore valley this weekend as a cruise.

 

Today (Thursday)we headed north to Hutton where a bunch of guys gathered for a get together at local rodder and builder Reggie's shop. I may have heard his last name at some stage but Reggie will have to do for the purpose of this post.
The Rolling Bones gang were there en masse along with Jeff Norwell, Acme Speed Shop, Jimmy Havratin and lots of others. Texas bbq was on the menu, first beef, then pork and finally chicken. As that deal began to wind down we headed east about 8 miles to Billy Merkord's home based shop in Taylor where he and his fellow Thunderbolts club members hosted another great gathering. Gene Winfield and Mercury Charlie were among the guests and some cars that we had not seen at Reggie's turned up.
Late in the afternoon we headed back to the hotel for a break which we needed after fighting the horrible traffic on I-35 and then headed back to the area surrounding the Continental Club where there was a lot more action tonight.
I had hoped to be able to post some rolling pix of our group but it seems that a couple of members are navigationally challenged and after a couple of episodes of not going directly to our destination Joe and I have been forced to lead the pack to most venues.
We had planned to do the garage crawl tomorrow morning but Joe's car is one of the featured vehicles at the Roundup so we will just have a late breakfast and head to the Expo center as it is 2 am right now.

A small assortment of pix from Reggie's










This group are from Billy's











The last few are from Congress.

 

Keep those pictures coming!!

 

I'm so jealous I could cry.