Art & Inspiration your car-your town

here is a shot from the other angle.

 

from the movie "mr deeds". same view as above but from down the street.

 

Took the coupe out for a drive this morning and stopped to get a few shots in front of what used to be a service station that was built to look like and airplane, it has been restored and is now a barbershop. It was originally built around 1929, also posted a shot from the early 30's. BTW since it's fall I also got a shot in front of flaming red tree foliage. Oh the town is Knoxville Tennessee.

 

Nice looking 5 window and I love the old service station remodeled. If I'm ever in Knoxville I'll be sure and get my hair cut there just for the photo's if nothing else.

 

Hi garage2small.Been by there many times.A really neat place.Thanks for posting.Clinton Hi way is a nice easy drive if you are in no hurry going to Knoxville from the North.Got some pretty good restaurants along there too.Chains and Mom and Pop type.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

At the county fair car show in 2010, my 41 is between the Lincoln and the El Camino.


Parked at the county fair, I was at the ice cream social.



Headed into town, been driving down this same highway for well over 40 years.



Parked in my barn.



The day I bought the 1941 at a farm equipment auction at the sale barn.

 

My 39 Chevrolet on Haven Street in Reading, Massachusetts where I grew up. The store front behind the car was once a Western Auto store where I used to buy model cars when I was a kid.

 

looking north

 

Too dang cold in Connecticut this year, eh Ted?

My 32 is still off the road... I was in process of rebuilding the mechanical dual action fuel pump when that heavy late snow took out all the wires to all of my buildings here with downed trees! Then got sidetracked in a home interior redo for the "cuties"...lol.. I've had 3 different pretty ladies tour my new pink & red kitchen...they Love it!!

I might fix that pump in a day or so...because the UConn College girls will be leaving "My Town" in May... LMAO.. I was a "regular" on campus for a while this last fall & this winter..Doh!..

I did have two weekend tag sales recently, I ran the 32 out on a gravity temp gas tank, and also both doodlebugs, to draw more attention on the 2nd weekend.. I sure did hook up with some fellow rodders and even a couple of garage girls/fabricators/welding girls too!....then 100% Matt (co founder of the Fall-Out traditional show), stopped in to say hi on the first one, he was passing through town.. The tag sale stuff cannot be seen in this view, nor the "cutie" that I invited to sell her own stuff here.. Hands off, dudes..

 

Taking my kid for a ride around town, great day!


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

Well, warm sunny here finally, I just HAD to fix that dual action Olds pump to get to drive the car again...after a MONTH! I had a heck of a time trying to find all of the pieces I took apart, THEN remember how to put it together ... finished at 12;30 PM today, decided I just have to trust that car again, so I took a temp gas/gravity feed can just in case...go for a ride.. Ooops time flies...gone for FOUR hours..

ok, I feel and think like I did when I was a kid...(just don't look in the mirror)...LOL... So I kinda um, er, ended up chasing cuties AGAIN... at the local dam, AND at UConn campus...heck there HAS to be some cuties there, right?

^ at the Eagleville Dam, in Eagleville, but it is a section, or "borough" of my town of Mansfield...ahh a few girls there but time to move on... Head to UConn!...just a few miles away...

^^ Ok, most people don't know that UConn was originally and kinda still is , an Agricultural College...the money and land was donated in the later 1800s by a guy named Storrs (last name).. UConn is located on the east side of my town in a section called "Storrs" DUH...some students don't know any of this, as well as some parents that I meet.. I really like the farm barn areas...park anywhere you want, get out to walk or sit.. This is called Horse Barn Hill area, and road, which loops around the side of the campus..

^^^ this view is the east side of the huge Horse Barn hill...a favorite place to park in the lot up the road, then walk to, or sit on blankets at the top...fly kites, bring food, etc.. Look way up on the hill above the front of the car roof, there are 2 people sitting...showing just a speck on that hill..


^^ this was taken Late Sunday of the hill from the trail side..near the parking lot. Two kites can be seen...yep, I talked to the "kite-crew".. a father? and two kids flying them,.. I meet 1000 people per month if not tied up with work stuff! NO lie! You wait...cuties below!!... I KNOW where to find them... he, he...

^^ looking west...lots of LAND. undeveloped. There is an abandoned Ski Tow Lift to the right, behind some of the cow barns that many people never heard of. It still had a tall enclosed staff building on stilts, like at a drag strip...AND the ski-tow cable ran up the hill on steel poles with early Ford spindles and car wheels...with hubcaps still on them! 1940s and maybe early 50s wheels! The hill looks super treacherous, very steep...I may get pics at some point, not too bad of a hike in...last time was 15 years ago, metal detecting there... I did find maybe a hundred "blanks" ...rifle shells from ROTC field training during the Viet Nam war era! ( I use stories like this to chat with students, as well as the Ag history) It was built by an Engineering Professor and students, many decades ago, abandoned in the mid? 1960s? Not really sure when, though.

below, looking from the Ag area, towards the center of UConn...but there are just so many roads and many, many buildings...even many other sections that are miles away!...New high rise dorms went up a couple of years ago. more stores, etc, a nice new plaza area, really nice look to it all. Huge old sloping lawns in front of the oldest classroom buildings, a duck pond, and the old Church with nice sounding bells.. I like it all. Hey, one story that plays well with students.. see the tall dorms at the right side of pic above?...those were called a nickname of "the towers?.. I tell the students sometimes, that "as high school lonely car guys, we once crashed a dorm party in one of those in 1967 or 68"..."we BS'ed ourselves thinking meet some"college girls"...yea right, but they had a great live band playing I think, Jethro Tull",...and, "I smoked my first joint that night", is what I tell them... THEN I ask them "How well did you do in math class?...that was a HALF CENTURY ago"! Then they look stunned! My neighbor keeps calling me a "corpse"... I say "oh yea? you send your girlfriend over to me and we will see" ! (he, he) she's Rrreally pretty!


Girls? um...er... a "few" up on the hill, more were laying on blankets further up top... ...yep, I sure did talk a while with that couple that is closet to the camera..... She sure was purdy! ,...both were very friendly, too, like all of the students are...from all over the world which is very cool!...and the parents are also friendly, as well. I meet lots of parents/grandparents there at functions..


Below: UConn has a locally famous Diary Bar, they make their own ice cream, from their own milk... by the cup, cone or gallon! Pic was today..


Below, headed home on one of a few remaining dirt roads in Mansfield...mostly farms here in this area of southern Mansfield..and woods...lol


That's all, YES the camera lens is so scratched that the pics are crappy.. but you saw the short skirt ok, Right?... OOooops, ...I mean the car!... I have a difficult time keeping it "on topic", ya know...lol

 

took the late afternoon off to go for a ride...sunny/warm with maybe rain tomorrow... I was just going to go to the Eagleville Dam to rest, but was hungry so I stopped for the first time ever, at the "32 Pub" no lie that IS the name..how fitting! Not really a biker bar, but most all bars on these state roads are Harley Davidson friendly bars..couple of web pics inside of there..lots of dollar bills tacked to the ceiling? car friendly, too, they did a rod show there a couple years back.
I went in and said to the only worker, the young bar girl..."I'm hungry" She claimed the cook was out for a minute, then said two minutes, then said Who Knows when!!! She said she could only do wings, and that's it! I said fine.. Ok, a trio of bikers go to leave,, start looking at the car...I never miss an opportunity to meet people, I go out and said "get the heck away from my car!" TWO big guys. one looks like George Foreman and one woman... We BS'd a while, I go back in, now the bar girl says she want a pic of my car...so here we go... I walk out with her real close to me...I wink to the bikers, and point to the girl...like;; Check this out LOL...I then said "she just locked up, we are going on a drive"...Then... That girl backs me up! She Says yea, I'm OUTTA HERE!! Lol... I had the biker woman use the bar girls phone so she could be in the pic with the 32. Every day is a blast!

Off to eat Wings at the dam..

The couple to the far left were detailing their SUV..??? lol...well, I rested up...and then decided to rack some miles..and get some pics

I did want to end up at the Campus dairy bar, but wanted to take the back roads. This is another dirt road here in town called Ravine Rd... It was washed out for years and closed...now back open most of the time...but now with steel barriers to keep cars out of the very steep ravine..Lots of stop signs but no reason, except maybe when it washes out? IDK. Nice views, NO traffic...

below, look at the huge boulders that needed to be moved when this was first turned to farms..car in the same spot..as above pic

Car is now further to the other end of Ravine...This area is/was called the "Pink Ravine"in earliest days, but I don't know if maybe it was the colors of the ledges?... pic below:


Below, this is the end, where there still are gates that blocked off the road for a few years.. I was shocked they repaired and reopened it..$$$....That OLD building straddling the river that flows from that very scenic mill pond, has a faded sign up top :"University- Hydraulic Research".. Some say a power house at one time? Not used in many decades..we are quite far from UConn here.. but they own TONS of land around here and even other adjoining towns.


Pics below are as you turn onto Bone Mill RD.. a super sweet scenic dirt road with like 2 cars per hour maybe.. So nice here to just park and sit..That is the Pink Ravine Cemetery, Very old history..Revolutionary War Soldiers are buried there, too... then one pic shows abandoned large chicken farm buildings, there is a "once fancy" farmhouse behind there, all owned by UConn...they cut some hay there, and the rest is corn for the College farm animals..we are still a fair distance away from campus.



Below. same spot but land across that road is private farmland.. really scenic land, lots of game birds, "no hunting allowed" is why.

Below is at a 4 way intersection...Sign says Main campus one way, then the Depot campus which is the former site of the Mansfield Training School which was an asylum for severely retarded people, now being taken over by UConn, and some town offices... UConn may grow out to here in the future?..Ok, that field past the car...THE BEST field I ever found for colonial relics and coins! Oldest silver coin...1726, the only other silver coin was 200 years newer, a 1926... LOL...Some "colonial coppers", British and Large US cents, and one counterfeit copper coin..Dozens of metal flatbuttons 200-300 yrs old..

Below, car in same spot, more fields.. way up top is a private "home-hobby type farm" with two huge Morgan Show horses that used to watch me metal detect! LOL..The car is sort of pointing to an old home cellarhole that took me a long time to locate when the brush was all in bloom years ago.


Below:These are former buildings of the now closed Asylum.. some newer offices for UConn, and a new outdoor sports field with lights for night games..$$$




Ok, last stop before UConn Dairy bar was the plant nursery that is like a jobs program for mentally challenged people... I had hoped to be a part time volunteer there, but in the end, the list of donors was beyond full... I still stop by when I can...like today...but only staff is there on weekends... I miss the clients, as they are called...I will stop in during the week to see some of them, but you are asked not to interfere with their jobs that they do get paid for doing. I know maybe a third of them by name, and...hugs, LOL...they ARE good huggers!



I was shocked that even more mini-graduations were going on this weekend like last Saturday...this time the dairy bar was swamped, lines out the door...one guy my age said minimum 20 minute wait, so I just skipped the ice-cream, and drove to the hill...below:

I was way out at an old stone wall to see how old it might be...as I got back near the car, a Sophomore guy was stopping on a skateboard nearing the car...I asked why so many small groups on two weekends, all girls graduating from what? Still makes little sense to me, but just some sort of classes, not the real end-of -college graduation? Anyways. he wanted to take pics of the car with his pro camera...so you know me...Chatted about all UConn history etc, then got to use that fancy camera, taking pics of him sitting in the car, etc... I WANT ONE!! LMAO..

Down by the barns, I spotted a guy my age walking a dog at a farm dirt road driveway...so I drove to ask him about the abandoned Ski TOW Lift location..Yes, he knew it well, learned to ski there in 1970! He says the tall tower staff building is now gone, but started telling me of the car wheels up on steel poles for the tow cable...are still there.. I will get pics someday..

Last pic, I went home, but then went back out at dusk, to the Liquor store right at the Mansfield Drive In theater entrance... I think only two Drive Ins are left in CT?? I took this pic of the store owners former drag cars he races in NY for profit! I missed one car in this angle, might be one of these two that he still has?, plus he has a new rail.. The name on both cars?? "BRAINS not included"...LOL

Oh of course I met more people there! One younger couple from Coventry, the guy was a REAL gear head...his bucket list car is an old time rod!!...so yes, he sat in it, and ran it, his GF took pics...He kept at me, to turn the tires...I kept saying "those days are done"...he kept it up...lol.. I gave in...let er rip!!! Oh GEEEEZ..then the car is dying out, running on 4 cyls 1/8th mile from home?.. OUT of GaS!!...I made it home..it's all flat ground Fun afternoon AND a FULL MOON!

 

QUOTE="F&J, Down by the barns, I spotted a guy my age walking a dog at a farm dirt road driveway...so I drove to ask him about the abandoned Ski TOW Lift location..Yes, he knew it well, learned to ski there in 1970! He says the tall tower staff building is now gone, but started telling me of the car wheels up on steel poles for the tow cable...are still there.. I will get pics someday.




Well, it was supposed to rain all day, but it was on and off early, then some sun a little.. Waited for a Local ex-employer to drop off a VW bug motor to be rebuilt, then atfter BSing with him, showing him the case was rotted out from inside..lol... earlier my Girlfriends husband was here too..LOL.. She's just a "friend", right Catdad49? ...


Ok, get the Ford out again to at least gas it up after running out at dusk right near my home... then go to the dam.. Yep, never got to the gas station at first..saw 3 grey haired guys working on one of 3 squarebody GM K series pickups ..one was a shortbed step and sweet color..OT vehicle so, ..sorry, can't show the pic... I pulled right in, became casual friends in a half hour! Saw the late 28 or a 29 AA Doolebug, twin trans, TT ford worm rear on wood spokes that has "always been there"... and this guy my age, says he was born here!


then gassed up...then to the dam.. One guy came up and chatted me up good, then got his wife over, then he brought strangers over for pics of them with the car!! Talked lots of stuff besides the car...

Then, I had NO plans to go anywhere else?? er, um... Yep, off to UConn farm land again!! Chilly and sun was a crap shoot, but 4;30-5pm, why not..I went in to the Horesebarn hill rd from the other end of campus where I stopped at the famous/popular community sledding hill...pics of that and some of the quoted "100 Horses" that UConn owns. Most people say it is around that amount..no idea on cows, at all.


ok, getting closer to where the old abandoned Ski Tow was... might as well drive down the one farm barn road that the guy yesterday told me to use.. here it is.,..pic taken somewhat far off the Horse Barn hill road, to get a pic of the reference sign, if someone wants to go on a hike to see the nice forests, Ski Tow remains, and get the entire experience of the whole area...

Ok, 15 years since I was there, lots has changed..memories fade, and change.. Not sure where to go down back to the woods...the top of the slope... I needed to drive WAY past here to that tree line in the distance, down a tractor path/road where they store round bales and dump bedding straw,,,


^^ see the piles of bedding straw to the right side of the car ending at the tree line?... I was fairly sure there once was a foot trail to the far left?/ but now a watery mess, ...so I headed past the car looking for the old colonial road...that once ran right through this side of UConn before the University got established...Most of the road in the fields has disappeared to the untrained eye.. some is part of an existing tar road now.

I spotted what looked like a tractor path to the far right side of those piles of used beddings.., but hoped it was that road..


you need to verify a colonial road by seeing stone walls on both sides..none here, but keep walking..might be just a tractor trail to that field?


as soon as I went further down, it all came back to me when I saw old tar part of the pavement...I remembered that back then, I knew it must have been tarred to the Ski Parking area back then, and that tar road hooks to the left to the old lot that is now invisible, grown over.. Look straight down that road after the hook, that IS the old Colonial road..not too bad there, but washed completely out further down, as I saw on the hike back up it..


Well, OUT of camera memory,,,so I took a pic of the coolest pole there... the cables ran together up the long steep hill to this point...one cable, the up one???, turned 90 degrees to haul skiers to the top of the Ski Trail head(I think)... then the down cable went further up to a winch head building??? I sure am guessing here...but years ago with the metal dectector, I found old 1950s 60s coins along a flat area where that 90 turn went to..so maybe there was a Tow-fee or snack bar?? IDK..nothing much to go by now.. ALL of the hubcaps are now gone, as well as the red paint..I did climb it to look at the different types of car spindles, and the wheels all still turn like new...

Colonial rock road wall can be seen in backround... what a great area to spend a day hiking...If you follow that road further down, it meets an existing dirt road, some old cellar holes on that other road..the water pump house, the river, and where opening day of trout season guys camp over! It is all very worth seeing...but I went back to the car, 6pm-ish I figured........time to hit the Horse barn hill to talk with people...or just go home..

ok, no pics, but this is the first time I have seen a group of male students posing for grad pics or bsing? Not one cutie! ok, I lope past them, chugging uphill to just go home...OH, we get crappy radio signals in hill country,,so I am locked on WHUS (Univeristy/Storrs branch)..they had a weekly bluegrass session on from 4-7pm called "bluegrass café"... so, here I am in farm setting, driving a HOT ROD...MALES staring at the car..smiling...perhaps waiting??/ So Some cool song is playing..".ima getting ramped".... to roast the tires! LOL..I actually slowed enough to get into first...then something in me says NO... DON"T!!!...Stop this AH stuff for good...

so not to look like I chickened out by slowing up, there is the hard left turn into the 12 car hill trail lot, so I pulled in ...chatted up one couple .. 10 -15 minutes later songs are still getting to me, I start back to the road..those guys are STILL there, now 80 % are staring and smiling..NO, DON"T...DO...A ..BUrnnn... >>>OOoooops, I blame it on WHUS!! I slow to a stop, ..I'm going uphill...still saying NO!!...But I shove the clutch in, rev half way, dump it...I know I was dead straight, but it was hooking HARD really fast..I normally can feather out/backpeddle and keep them spinning but regaining control? Nope, she is hooking just WAY too fast, so I had to let off completely which shakes the tail violently LOL..Must have looked so cool, lots of smoke!

So I am nevous...Get outaa Dodge Quick! Nope,, Idiot Me heads back into campus! right past the newer police station!! LMFAO... I see some F'n HUGE ANTS!! ... crawling on the biology building..WTF???

Look at this!! And some people think I need help? They put them there for a special event thing to teach about the world of a certain species ANT!! They are huge..



I hope I'm not boring you all...I have a blast getting out EACH day..why not!

.[/QUOTE]

 

sick of me yet? like I give a shit..

went to all these places..and many more but ran out of film..

I worked for this shops owner 45 years ago, we worked at a dealership,..he fired me. drunk and a late "lunch". No lies.
Want a caddy?

Next door is a guy I went to high school with..

Below, big bucks spent on making main street nice, this is just past the heart of the business area...heading to Barbie's shop, her husband was really known in NSRA for decades, top builder then, retired now at 72

below, jiggly pic pulling in to visit with Barbie, I bought two framed prints for my home...lighthouse in Maine.

below, went across the street for ice cream at the gas station.
the car coming around the back end was a younger woman...said "nice car!"...I never think...stuff comes out! I said "thanks but it is not mine, I stole it", then she said you stole a nice one! I said yes, "but a fast one too, so the cops can't get me."

below at a friends place...that is my sons old 1949 Minneapolis Moline Industrial tractor, I freed up the stuck motor years ago, added chevy 4x4 power steering box and forks up front.. runs mint, the new owner busts up trucks for parts, so it get used every day.. then his pond, with some old car, or whatever, differential axle thing that was one to tie up a boat! and a wheel growing out of a tree. huh?
it was raining a bit here, then stopped the rest of the day

Went to UConn to find the once old colonial road part that is still in use...I drove on it less that 20 years ago, bu t it looks like driveway now so I did not go up. Man, never again go to campus this close to graduation commencement! Total traffic jam on the main road.. took the pic below as I tried to get the heck out! That silo is part of the OLD horsebarn used as a backdrop for student pictures, for two or three weeks lately.. there are some girls headed over in the distance.. I knew you guys would not want to see closeups, so here you go.

^^^ just to the right on main drag is the old Police Station... I decided to try driving through a UConn corn field RIGHT near there... why not? there is no sign saying I can't drive a hot rod in a corn field. Actually, one small corner is my towns community garden area.. if you don't have your own place to grow food.

UConn water towers in the distance...and way far back a tractor spreading something,,,so I thought maybe all the gates will be open? Let's go for a ride! The cops are busy with traffic...lol..

You can't tell in this pic, but those ruts are DEEP! and this is the gateway onto a brand new access road to campus just finished last year... I had to go look at the new curbing, to see if I can make it over them.. I did..
Went to the mentally disabled garden place where the clients get paid for work, like a real job thing.. The woman is a staffer, lots of woman staffers there, they love me!. the clients as well.. Fun being there...they were taking pics for their family with their cameras at my car.

Then I went to "my" city...Willimantic..Lots of fun there...the mix of people from all over the world is great.. the people really are friendly and have nothing holding back when they speak to anyone, like a friend would.. Two groups of latino girls liked the car...first ones walking..one says "your car is beautiful" I got tongue tied a bit but said :"you are kinda pretty too!"...Later at a stop light the car on my right has three more, really young, maybe 16-17, they are smiling at the car...I tap the gas twice to shake the car..they smiled more...then the idiot in me, I start moving my upper body forward and back like "lets Race!".. They smiled so big JUST like young children at Christmas..Fun shit!


I did much more but ran out of camera memory..above is a New England RailRoad train idling at the trash place... it goes past my home out back by the river..


how about someone else doing a set of pics..hint hint


..

 

never! but you need a better camera

nice job Frank. that is the type of stuff i thought we would get on this thread. "a picture/view of the world"

 

Our little town in Ohio

 

Ok I will be the one to ask what it it?

 

another wild day yesterday, I started out just wanting to go to the Post Office to get some forms mailed to get reimbursed for "evil meds" that I was forced to take last summer when I still had Lyme induced issues.. I am pretty sure I have the right forms this time, ($325 refund coming)..so I hope to get out today with the 32 to go buy a decent camera! My lens is so scratched, that the center of each pic is blurry; LONG post warning, I F'n get around! Met countless new folk and also ran into people I JUST met in the last week, too!

These two pics... an elderly woman named Andy, and her husband owns this eclectic home. I met her last year walking at the Eagleville Dam near here. This chance meeting, and later that year going to her place, gave me the inspiration to redo my own home...especially that spiral staircase she "found in someone's backyard here in my town". First time I met her, I asked who owns that cool house with a "widows walk" up top on the roof. She said it was a friend of hers, and that woman grew up in Mystic Ct on the ocean where older big homes had these! The tall sailing ship capatains wives would wait to see if the Clipper ships survived the trips back then, and many did not..hence the "widow" name. I like history...and...meeting new people.

^^^ above is what Andy says is the oldest home in this section of Mansfield, called "Eagleville"...that old Chevy AD pickup truck is still in the same spot since I first visited here..

Andy's road is now a dead end, it once crossed these tracks to a huge 1800s water powered mill that was decrepit, and purposely burned down in the 1960s.. there is the Dam and lot with my car there..

^^ I spotted this bad rail as I went back to the car... The Wooden ties have rotted and that caused a 3 foot section of the rail to dip, which must cause this peening of the surface that I have never seen before.

^^ Above, these are my new friends I met last week when I just pulled in there to talk with 3 guys working on a squarebody K10 shortbed... A couple of days later, the guy who lives here alone, brought his older brother in law over to look at a SS Monte on my lawn I am selling for a friend.. That guy is one wired up guy! He told me he had a old Mustang, but really wants a old rod in a bad way! He has mastered the proper uses of the F word!!! Holy cow! Wound up like crazy.. I pulled in when I finally would get to see his car! He was in it, ready to go to the parts store,.. I pull in right there, wise-ass me says " You wanna race?, or we can go chase some P----y!!...LOL!

^^ above, trying to go home...here on Depot road near me, I see a tag sale going on at a run down place on the river.. I had already stopped here on the way to mail those forms, and had a lot of cool stuff in the car, that is why the pic below shows my trunk won't shut....! but they wanted me to stop back and BS more..so I did..what a story..

Once in a blue moon over the 10 years I have lived here, I would see a long white haired thin guy outside...I wish I had stopped to meet that guy, as I just found out he passed away in early March.. He was a hoarder, and his GF and her Female cousin were selling off his stuff at $1 each!! GF is part Indian, a local CT tribe, and her cousin is also part Indian from a tribe in Maine... BUT, there was a tall beat up looking guy there I knew looked so familiar...well, he is the BF of the cousin.. from a nearby town of Tolland. Then I put it together...he bought my old crappy home in Tolland in 2008! He was in a BAD crash in 1984-6, and his face shows damage, sounds like he is retarded, but I believe he is just sounding "slow" Super Nice guy as I already knew. He recalled meeting my youngest sister about a year ago, she was the Real Estate agent that handled selling his bigger house in Coventry that was about to be foreclosed on, then sold him mine, and sold me the place I have now. He wanted me to say Hi to her, and I will today..



^^ABOVE.. after getting home to unload my treasures from the tag sale, I saw a message from my step mom to come to where she works at a >> OLD FOLKS home in the city of Willimantic, just 5 minutes away! She just turned 80! She cares for people a lot younger..LOL! I was finally seeing LOTS of vintage cars, as the winter lingered way too long lately, now it got warm! These two older guys were not very talkative, the 55 owner might be deaf? He never heard me while he was gassing up, but the 56 owner said "going to a show/cruise in Putnam", but I think it must be the big monthly one in Pomfret near there. He was just following that friend in the 55.
When I arrived at the old Folks home, I hear loud BOOMS in the valley of the city below. My mom said it must be kids with huge firecrackers but I knew it was some event.. Off I go downtown across the Frog Bridge...those are huge green frogs sitting on thread spools! Some sort of fable story I forgot now. Those booms were LOUD here, the park was mobbed to the left of here...



^^ Above, I pull in on the lawn/dirt path to find out what celebration it was.. I left the car there.. I just park! LOL, ooops there is Johnny Law!! A Viet Nam vet walking in in fatigues told me it was the Cinco de Mayo celebration. It commemorates a 1862 Battle in Mexico where the French were defeated. I web searched it later, it is rarely celebrated in Mexico?? but is HERE in my city! Cars were from NY, NJ, Mass, RI!

Those loud booms are muzzle loaders! One was a twin barreled one... I have never heard one that loud before. See one on the grass below... In these pics my lens is blurry but they are loading up again with ramrods.

I just have to find time to learn some basic Spanish! ..I get frustrated that it just does not stick in my head, and I am missing out... basic Spanish will work fine as there are so many countries from PR, the islands and Mexico and all of South America...and I want to talk about history, etc!

Later in the evening, I went back to a fast food place and ask the Mexican kid I met yesterday working there about the white power balls people throwing at each other! He said what I read on the web about Cinco de Mayo is not celebrated much in Mexico EXCEPT the city he was born in!..then told me the white powder is flour in emptied-out chicken eggs! It has nothing to do with Cinco, it is just a cultural "fun"thing like water balloons are to Americans?? I'd bet.
below, a bucnh of kids making a mess! They were having a blast. The cops looked like "don't hit us!" And pics above you should see adults with white hair!! from getting hit..lol

^^above, I took Rt 31 to back to that tag sale, and there is a Mexican themed restaurant, that I thought was abandoned? But was packed and people eating out on the porch.. Spotted this 47 Thriftmaster..old school genuine PEARL paint, on a later squarebody chassis...the owner never came out, but a old NY reg sticker on the WS said the year, and a chrome emblem on driver side said Thriftmaster.. It had brand new CT plates, so he must have just bought it in NY. Cool to finally see LOTS of old stuff out again. I passed by plenty all day long.

^^ dumb pic above but I took it to be able to remember the story of this meeting. That is a better than new Bandit type Firebird leaving,, That car pulled along side of me as I got finished eating while sitting on my runningboard. I recognized the driver and his 16? year old son instantly, as I just met them a day or two ago at his Dads now close car shop just down that way in Columbia CT... His Dad is kind of a legend in those parts, as he is hard core early rod and kustom guy forever. Just a couple months ago is when I went there with my 32 to show the Dad who I really don't know that well..then see the sign saying "open by appointment only"..(retired). So As I cruised by a couple days ago, three people standing out front of that shop, so I went back and BSd a half hour, I started off saying I knew the owner a little bit since early 70s when he was selling a 33 Ply coupe that he had just wrecked..wicked nice old 50s survivor 283 3 speed, ran off the road with wife, she still has a face scar...then this one guy says "I was like 9 then, and I was standing up on the seat when we crashed! The SON! are you shitting me? Then the young kid standing there, :"so you are the granson?" Yep, 3 generations I now have met!

Ok, long story so far, but when he pulled up, he said "you sure do get around!",,, I simply never plan my words these days ...I said "out chasin tail, baby!" then I asked if he missed Cinco de Mayo with "all those pretty latinos!"..No lie ,his 16 year old son riding with his dad, just rolls his eyes!!

Man, I sure know a lot of people..just before he stopped a white older 7.3 Ford passes by me sitting on my running board, I just wave,,THEN blurt out "Hey, there he IS''..it was one of my neighbor hood crew, TJ...he just laughed , TJ helped me put a hose clamp on my 32 heater hose back in January, i just drove the 32 over to his place and said I can't do it with the Lyme I was still recovering from.




^^^ The Aero Diner! Near Windham Airport...a small State-owned strip... I used to work on their equipment back in My DOT days. Some hambers have posed their cars here at night with the cooool DC3 neon sign and stainless steel diner...but I was not wanting to wait for dark...off to home..I thought LOL



Above^^Here I am at the Lake at Mansfield Hollow, not far from the Aero.. Then below is the actual dam on another nice old road with the oldest homes in Mansfield. There are Bald Eagles now nesting/living here at this lake area.


Below, well I'll be be dipped...I somehow ended up at UConn at dark.. I never knew the original 1800s horse barn has white string lights at the roof! and as I drove past it next, there were same lights inside the lower floor.

^^ above pic I am at the lot for the horse barn hill trail, Yes, even in darkness there were kids in the graduation gowns taking in the last moments of college life..

below you really got to look hard, but some cows are grazing near the fence...those lights in the distance to the left, is the main drag of UConn,,

the last pic below is taken near those lights.. there are two illuminated fountains in the middle of the famous duck pond in the oldest part of the campus. Bye.

 

This was built about 15 years ago it has a Nissan truck frame. Power from a 66 T-Bird 390 & transmission. The body , bed , doors, top, hood ,& side panels were all formed by at the time 70 year old retired sukly builder here in Ohio. Fenders , grill, dash are glass reproduced parts. The doors have power windows . Here is a picture with the top on.

 

incredible! I hope I am still active at 70, or at least "still running the roads".. That is a very cool build.

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It was a fun Hot Rod and I hated to sell it.

 

Just an update on my last full day above...I went back to that tag sale as they said more things will be out to look at... I asked that female cousin of the landowner where she grew up? Tolland...so I asked her last name and then I said I KNOW that name from grade school and High school..

She says she has "two sisters my age", then gave the names...I was in their same grade class! They were born 9 months apart, so both were in my grade!~ I went home to get my 1965 8th grade graduation yearbook ..I showed this sister the page of future "prophesy's ", (just a comedy page) .. One sister was to become a motorcycle racer, and the other was to become an English teacher....Both never came true , but one lives the "rich life" in Newport RI, and will be coming back next week to visit their 86 year old Mother, so I had this sister take cell pics of that page, and pointed with my finger to my name in case she wants to know.. Fun stuff..

Oh, my prophesy was correct... I was to become a old time beat-up hotrodder out chasin' tail..

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I picked up a new looking camera at a local pawn shop..here are some pics of late yesterday. I wasn't going to bother taking the car out...but... it is addictive. Lol

Below is an unpaved road just a block away from my home. It leads to a massive family run long term dairy farm. Late day low sun, you can see the forest to the passenger side is kind of bright, the family logged off that side a year or so ago to add income.


^^above shows the other side, a reclaimed old field that I don't think belongs to the big farm.

^^ my car is getting kind of rusty underneath... I never really finished painting under there..ooops.. the road salt and nasty stuff they spread in winter is making it look pretty nasty.


I went for homemade ice cream that is served in one of countless old barn buildings they own around my town. This family for generations, has bought out smaller farms, this is one of those.

^^ that is pistachio ...and my purple wrist band I dug out of the dirt at a friends place where they cut up trucks for parts. It says "Dominate Today, Everyday". I sure do try.

^^here is the ice cream place, they also have greenhouse flowers , tomatoes, pies, jams, etc etc. It is staffed by a sister in law of Jamie who runs an antique store...Both girls are part of this huge extended family. Jamie and husband Jason use my car on their FB business promotional page. I asked this time, if this girl knows the phone company guy who came to upgrade my internet service last week, sure enough, she did! He said he grew up with the whole gang around here!

^^ look at the views here at this barn!...in all directions, including below:


^^This is the front of the place.^^

ok, heading west on that old tar road..below: You see the old silo and smaller barn. That was also once a small farm that they bought the farmland but not the home on the opposite side. Just buying adjoining fields for this huge enterprise. Jogger seen up ahead was not the only gal I saw on this quiet road.. It was a spectacular late afternoon for perfect temps and no breeze.


below, further west...a former one room schoolhouse converted like most were, to a home. One room schools were placed/scattered all around these old New England towns back when there was no transportation available.



below, a crappy pic of a modernistic home owned by a professor at the University, with a few very unusual yard arts... This is a White Elephant made of steel rod, balancing on a ironing board!... it is huge. lol


^^^above, I am approaching the Eagleville dam area. Eagleville is part of my town. Many towns around here were made of several mini-towns that were combined as time went on. I stopped here because I spotted a person I wanted to meet for the first time, the husband of "Andy" who gave me the idea of adding a spiral outdoor staircase, like she has on her home. He was getting into a car, so I missed out, but the couple he was talking to down that road, I ended up telling them to tell Andy I did get a staircase. I met this couple late last year. I am getting to know everyone. ...and the day I met them, Andy invited me to their dead end road Christmas party this coming year, with bonfires and live music...DOH!

^^ This store is now closed since a year or so ago.. it was run by a proverbial "little old lady". The Lyme still has me confused sometimes.. I saw the Garfield and what I thought was a California zip code? Nope, it dawned on me that it really is the old telephone "prefix code". good grief!


^^at the dam lot. That tree got ripped out upstream during the melt season and heavy rains, before the barrier floats were strung up a couple of weeks ago. The roots must still be attached, as it is blooming now! The barriers are there so kayakers don't go over the dam!

Below, first pic...see the cool spiderweb on the black pipe rails to the right....I did not see that at the time I took this pic. I was showing the pollen floating on the lake.. we have had a screwy spring, and pollen is blasting us now.



below, the one car width tunnel under the RR tracks. That used to say "Free yourself from This", now someone changed it to Free yourself from Fear".. I was thinking of 37 Kid on hamb, he is afraid of hotrod car wiring catching fire!

below some sights at this place, lots to do, to hike, whatever.. UConn is on the other side of town, but here are some of their nature tracts/signs.. I got wandering the trail and left the keys in the hotrod, and the radio was on! Idiot me...Lmao

Above, 3rd pic up from here, somebody used a sharpie to write a note to UConn about the vines strangling the tress. The vines are taking over as of last year in my own neighborhood. I have no idea why it started to get out of hand.

I am pretty happy with the "new" Nikon camera. I did not get the owners manual, so I am just "trying buttons"...lol..

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Hey F&J,
Man I'm glad you got that camera!
Your eye for good shots is amazing!!
And now that the cataract is out of your lens,
we can all sing, "I can see clearly now!"
Thank you for your great work!

 

I felt like crap yesterday, I mowed the lawn, then took the 32 out for maybe 5 hours..maybe 6. ....Most of the pics are places in my town I have not shown before...and some "off-roading" again at the end..

Well, of course I stopped at the Campus dairy bar..then headed up to Horse Barn hill lot area to chat with tourists looking at the cows and...a girl was getting "very late" pics taken in her graduation gown..lol.


Ok, off to the other side of town, but imagine that...we are still on UConn farm lands! This place is called Spring Manor Farm. A very wealthy elderly guy back in the late 1800s, returned to town where as a young boy of 9, worked on a old colonial era farm here. He built a fancy home, impressive stone walls with square towers at gate ways, then sold spring water to be loaded on the train at his own siding here. Somehow the land was much later (1930s?) owned by Mansfield Mental Hospital not far from here. Some of the challenged patients then grew food here for the hospital...then after that hospital closed 30? years ago, UConn ended up with this huge estate.

^^ above shows the now-privately owned mansion but you cannot see the huge servants house/carriage building out back.

^^above, looking into the river valley where the cropland is nice and flat...and one huge old barn left to ruins.

^^ other side of the road, pastures and some is for hay.

^^ hills of Coventry Ct in the background
^^Stone towers I mentioned.. at the RR crossing which says "private crossing". I went across anyways, as tons of tourists do.

^^ I did not go in too far...I did want to show the old train brick depot where the water was shipped from, but did not need confrontation...and later on, I did try coming in from the opposite end of this huge estate.

^^^one of two privately owned homes on this estate. A nice Victorian with such a view! I am coming back out to the main road,,,Rt 32, that I live on.

^^the above two pics are on the opposite side of Rt 32, UConn is now reclaiming more old colonial fields that were let go and had turned to forest. They own so many animals that they have feed crop fields in many places all over town, and even in Coventry!

^^ here I am at the southern-most end of Spring Manor Farm. This is one end of a 1-5 mile town walking trail. The road across the tracks was long ago abandoned. Called Old Colony Rd. It may look good there, but around the corner it gets steep and totally washed out. A Jeep might make it. The UConn worker use that good part to get to a huge cornfield.

^^looking North.. You might see that long cornfield to the right. I have metal detected here on and off for a long time.

^^ I am backing away from the tracks...then decided to go on the walking trail itself! (in the center here) It looks way steeper in person.

^^ at the bottom of that hill is the old abandoned siding where coal cars dumped coal into trucks and wagons...most of which fed the HUGE steam boilers for the Mental Health hospital buildings/complex, not far away. We are in Mansfield Depot, CT, part of my town.

^^car is same spot showing the steepest riverbanks in town. There is no way to get down on foot to fish...not me anyways LOL

^^see the big boulder to the left? that was once a row of same sized ones, blocking this trail. Over the last few years, they were moved by hoodlums... but not me. A friend once snuck through some of them years ago with a stock Model A, but now I think offroading people may have pushed the boulders down into the river.

^^ here I am back out of the wooded part, into the grass fields on the opposite side of the tracks from the long cornfield. Looking North.

^^ looking South from the woods I just came out of. The RR tracks are below the surface of these fields here..so you can't tell they are there.


I never did get to the brick depot as there was a deep hole filled with water...and I did not want to trample the growing hay with my car going into the field to get past there.

I went to so many other places and took dozens more photos...but you get the idea...my town is pretty nice..

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F&J , your little day trips are worthy of their own combined thread.

 

Great stuff Frank. I love your new camera

 

Beautiful country! Keep rolling. That's a great camera!

 

F&J, your town is beautiful! Please keep the pictures coming.