Event Coverage The no, heat, no top, 4000 mile Road Dog Roadster Tour

Gary, you and your pal are officially "Road Dogs" HRP

 

Using motorcycle heated clothing was mentioned in the comments, I have used it many times on a bike but we wanted the full roadster experience so the Frogg Toggs were as far as we were willing to go. We brought warm coats with hoods and hoodie sweatshirts and you would be surprised at how little you notice the cold when you are seeing amazing scenery from the seat of an early Ford roadster. Also many of you said you would like to do a similar trip "someday" my philosophy is that "someday" is a dangerous concept, set a goal and a date and work toward it diligently. I only wish I had done it sooner I am close to 76 and Duck just turned 68, we are already planning another trip for mid summer 2023.
Thank you to those that praised my photos and asked for more to be posted but I don't think a travelogue with only one car pictured is what this forum is about, as I said before there are many pictures and videos of the trip posted on my Instagram account @garywbrock

 

Never mind this was the third of three nearly back to back hot rod road trips for you! An inspiration

 

Old road dogs, no pups on the sidewalk here! Good on ya!

 

Get out and drive. Thanks for the few stellar photos. For those of us not on Instagram, and will never be, if you see it in yourself to post a few more we will look...

 

Did you have any issues with the combination of a low car and roads that you have never seen before? I’ve had to turn around because my fendered model A is too low.

 

We drove on some pretty rough pot holed roads but they didnt cause any real problems even though the front axle only has 5" clearance.

 

I am close to your age. I made a 2000 mile trip years ago. I handled weather changes better back then. My trip was good because of my traveling buddy. I suspect you have similar thoughts. I have very good memories from that trip.

 

Thanks for the inspiration to live large!

 

Totally envious of you and your buddy…you guys are a true inspiration to get out there and drive our hot rods

 

Have fun, be safe.

 

Since there seems to be an interest in seeing more pictures of the Road Dog Roadster Tour, I will post these.

 

Very cool .

 

Awesome! I enjoy all the trips that are posted. I'll never take one so it's great to tag along afterwards.

 

So cool!!!

 

That is a great road trip story. Some of those photos bring back great memories as I have traveled 191 through Utah more than once on the way from and back to Texas. I've been digging though old photos of my son John his dog Rusty and the 48 with a 16 ft Uhaul behind it in front of Wilson Arch in 1977. That was a pretty crazy trip with the tail wagging the dog most of the way.

Those trees and bushes were a lot smaller then.

 

Thanks for posting more pics. And, thanks for the encouragement to plan and do a trip like this instead of just saying “one day”... My oldest son would love to do a trip like this and seems like the best time to do it is the present. None of us know if we have tomorrow.

 

This^^^^^

I only hope I can do this one day, Awesome trip for you and your friend.

 

Hello,

An impressive feat. Great looking photos and cool roadster. That area in the Utah mountain ranges are really something, up close and personal. It is not the Pacific Coast we see everyday. So, when my wife and I were on our way home from the Midwest, aborted Eastern road trip one year, we added a stop in the National Parks in that portion of Utah.

Our trip was supposed to be a long three week vacation on the whole USA tour to the Eastcoast for some Atlantic Ocean and big bay sailing in the Chesapeake. But, we had to take a detour before St. Louis and canceled the Eastern swing. The long road trip home to So Cal went through Kansas, Utah/Colorado and Arizona. A preplanned driving/sailing adventure in the USA (friends in Lake Erie, too, on the return trip) turned into a National Park tour if you will…


We were not disappointed. After a nice breakfast early, we drove to the arch location. We were lucky as there was one, 20 something girl dressed in hiking gear wandering around the hollow arch. It was a climb to the top, but, my wife and I did make the slow walking adventure from the lower parking area. The situation was similar to the photos. The old adage early to bed and early to rise paid off when the lot was empty and we had the long climb to ourselves. Water bottles, snacks and small towels packed into a backpack came in handy.

Jnaki

By the way, it was a lot easier to come down the hillside than going uphill. (Even in the hot weather.)
No one else was on the whole face climb uphill location. The one thing we did not have was a great looking open top roadster sitting in the parking lot and a ton of fun roadster experiences along the whole trip.

The new direction road trip adventure change we took, made a lot of fun memories. We missed out on the Atlantic Ocean sailing locations and Lake Erie, too. But, as soon as we got home, we did a straight drive to our local harbor for a long, blue, Pacific Ocean sail, up and down the coastline.

Great going... guys... It looked like a zillion smiles everywhere. Hope you guys had sunscreen.

 

Brenda & I have experienced the no top, no heater roadster experience in the driving rain for about 250 miles several years ago, we looked like drowned frogs when I stopped for gas.

The group we we riding with pulled over because it was raining so hard, we were already soked to the bone and kept on driving, fortunately I was able to see the taillights of a trailer in front of me and I followed them.

I looked at Brenda and as, "Are you having fun"? her answer was a enthusiastic definitely !

We really wasn't dressed for it but survived and have some fun memories to share, if you ever get the chance to take a road trio in a topless roadster I encourage you to go for it, if you get wet you will dry out! HRP

 

Great trip in a neat car....

 

You had a great trip reminds me of some of mine. But mine, the longest was 8K in 4 weeks, were in my cpe so no comparison in weather experience. When you were in Shamrock Tx. did you know you were less than 30 miles from Flattop Bobs and his Owens Salvage yard in Wellington

 

you’re giving me some ideas for future drives in my “neighborhood“. some nice scenery to check out that i missed in previous trips. thanks!

 

THE 4000 MILE "ROAD DOG" x 2 ROADSTER TOUR!

 

No I didn't tell me about Flat Top Bob's salvage yard.

 

Been a few years since I was there, 2005, but it was good size http://owenssalvage.com/index.html

 

Yep, I was there a couple years ago and still has lots of parts. And, they don’t come any better than Flat Top Bob. He is a great guy and excellent host.

 

I've never been to Flat Top Bob's salvage yard in Wellington ,Texas but I have done a lot of business with him, he helped me out a bunch with hard to find '54 Ford parts and always had what I needed. HRP

 

Thanks for the info I always make a detour through Shamrock when I am in the area I plan another trip in spring of 2023 so I will be sure and check out Bob's place. Regarding "janaki's" story about climbing up to Wilson Arch. I know it's not polite to brag but I am so proud of this I will anyway, this past May I was on a western trip with my brother and made a stop at Wilson Arch, I decided to do a quick as possible timed ascent from the roadside parking area up to inside the arch. I didn't go up the normal worn path I went straight up using the slanted and somewhat slick rockface I made it in less than six minutes. Not bad for someone of my vintage, OK Brock back into humble mode. To give you an idea of the scale of the arch look at the tiny black dot to the left of center bottom of the arch that is a person.

 

Definitely on my bucket list!