Wagons Ho! A New Rt. 66 Road Trip to Viva & the Round Up Adventure!

For those on the HAMB who followed our road trip to Viva Las Vegas last year (www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=581231&highlight=toptinman), Stevan and I are about to embark on another road trip, only this one will be stretched out to include both a trip to Viva Las Vegas on the first weekend of the trip and then swing down and take in the Lone Star Round Up the following weekend, spending as much time on Route 66 as possible the whole time. That adds up to fifteen days on the road! Our longest yet!

After spending all last week frantically thrashing on Stevan's '62 T-Bird to get it in shape to make the trip, an unforeseen mechanical issue developed late last night, causing us to fall back on our backup plan, which will have Stevan taking my '59 Ranch Wagon. So, it'll be me in my '60 Ranch Wagon from last year and Stevan in the '59. That's why this will be known as the "Wagons Ho" tour.

We invite you to tag along with us. Like last year, we don't know what we're going to encounter. All we know is that it'll be an adventure. We're open to anything that comes along which will make this thread all that more interesting. So, climb in back and come along with us as two HAMBers, two wives, and two wagons set out on our dream journey. Expect plenty of updates.

Wagons Ho!

 

Looking forward to see the updates. Just went thru your other roadtrip thread. Great stuff, loved it.

 

Awesome!! I really dug the other one!!!

 

lookin 4 ward 2 this 1

 

I'm all strapped in and ready. I always look forward to your trips. Have fun !!

 

I will live vicariously through you. Thanks for taking us along.

 

I love these road trip threads. Thanks for taking us with you.

 

Superscribed, we hope to make to Tucumcari this evening...if we don't meet up along the way we'll see you at Viva.

 

Oh well let ya catch up.
We only have 2 things scheduled.....Vegas on Thursday and Austin the next Wed.

 

I'll be watching

 

Subscribed too. I'm sure it will be great to see your pics and read your stories again.

 

Aaargh, ...I got major 'road trip envy'!! Have a gas! I suspect that'll be inevitable between the pumps & the greasy spoons!

 

I was hoping to catch up tonight from two cool days of traveling. I've plenty of cool pictures and stories to tell but my air card isn't holding a charge and I can't log on to the wifi at the motel. I'm dead in the water here. Maybe tomorrow night at another motel I can. Bare with me! Right now we're spending the night at the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, N.M.

 

Ah.. Does your wagon have blue wheels, chrome spider caps, and wide whites? And there was a red wagon following you as well?

 

Just snooped around.. It is.

I passed you on the 287 but wasn't sure if the ride belonged to a HAMBer. I was swearing up and down that I'd seen it somewhere before. I was driving a former cop car.. I almost pulled a U-turn to come over and see if y'all were all right as you guys were on the side of the road on the downhill side of a bridge but I had to be back in Amarillo as soon as possible.

Hopefully there weren't any major problems with either one of your wagons? Judging from the fact that you're in Tucumari now, it sounds like there wasn't.

 

looking forward to your road trip,take it easy

 

you guys be safe!! see ya in austin wagons ho!!

 

we are doing a road trip from Viva to the lone Star, we might see you on route

 

Looks like an interesting day, we may be in for snow in Albuquerque.
Sure hope TiredIron can get his radiator squared away.

 

After being up most of the night before we left for Las Vegas trying to complete Stevan's '62 T-Bird, everyone was too wasted to even think of getting an early start, so it ended up being close to three in the afternoon before we pulled out of Stevan's driveway and pointed the cars in the right direction. My wife, Anne, and I would be in my '60 Ford wagon with Stevan driving the red '59 Ford wagon with his wife, Barbara, taking her late model to drop off along the way. Since this was the first real shake down run for the '59 since getting it out of the shop just two days before, I was a little apprehensive about how it was going to go. With no working gas guage or odometer, I was going to have to judge Stevan's gas stops using the wagon that I was driving. That's why we made an early gas stop just an hour up the road to see what kind of milage he would be getting. We made out first stop in Jolly, Texas, just a little south of Wichita Falls, TX.





After crunching the numbers, we were happy to see that we were very close to getting the same milage, 15 m.p.g. for me and 15.5 for him. Having topped off the tanks in Jolly, it was time to get serious and put the hammer down!
We were making good time and were just a couple miles south of Chillicothe, TX. on Hwy 287 when I got a text from Stevan. He was beginning to overheat. Then, in my rearview mirror, I saw him pull off to the shoulder.





Sure enough, by now it was up to 220 degrees after running 190 up till then. First, he wasn't able to bring his car, and now this. It just wasn't his day!





After letting the '59 cool down, we nursed it on into Chillicothe where we got a gallon of water to pour in it. By now, the outside temperature in the Texas Panhandle was ninety-eight degrees. I'm thinking that it might have been low on water since I forgot to check it before we left out, adding that to the outside temperature getting hotter the farther north that we went, was just enough to push it over the edge.





While waiting for the wagon to cool down enough to pop the radiator cap, this truck driver came over to admire the wagons. Before long, Stevan had him cornered and was giving him the rundown on why his 'Bird didn't make the run . . . . . with pictures to prove it!





After adding almost a gallon of water, we were back on the road for good this time, making really good time. The plan was to make a beeline for Flat Top Bob's where Stevan's wife, Barbara, would leave her car and then join Stevan in the '59 for the trip to Vegas and back to Wellington. The sun was just setting when we pulled into Wellington.





Where we found Bob there waiting for us.





Of course, Stevan, with Barbara looking on, had to give Bob the lowdown also as to what happened with his 'Bird . . . . . . with pictures to prove it!





Now, you know Bob always has some cool stuff sitting around and the first thing that I saw when we pulled in was this Merc sitting out in the front yard.











Then Bob allowed me to snap a few pics inside his shop again. I was immediately drawn to his workbench.





Gotta love these old club plaques!





Then I spotted this flattie sitting on the floor close by.





Heck, even the doors are cool at Bob's place!





Bob had this Model A sitting where his Buick project was parked the last time we visited. When asked about it, Bob said that he was trying to sell it for a friend. So,if interested, give Bob a shout.

 

enjoy your road trips,have a good one.

 

Yup be safe there on your trip... Bob is a fantastic guy. We had the time of our lives when we met him during our 66 adventure including the same as yours back in 07.

 

Kool

 

Don't forget the pictures

 

A new radiator cap and half a bottle of NAPAcool and she is steady 160*.
Of course it's 32* out now.

 

After leaving Flat Top Bob's place, we headed the wagons straight up the highway to Shamrock, TX., where we were wanting to get on Route 66 and to spend the night. After checking into the Blarney Inn , we rushed on up the street to Vern's Steak House before they closed. Vern and his wife were waiting on us.



Vern's ended up being a good choice as the food was really good, expecially the muffins that they first set on the table. We were more consumed by the interruptions during our meal than the food itself as it seemed that just about every waitress in there came over to our table to ask if those were our cars out front and then wanted to tell us how cool that they thought the cars were. But the most entertaining interruption came from a short older lady who was decked out in full hunting camo who, after asking about the cars, went on to tell us that her husband had "fixed up" an old Chevy 210 wagon. She told us that it was really in bad shape but that we fixed it up pretty nice and then added that there was a video of it on You Tube. I confirmed that the following link was the correct one when I showed it to her on my iPhone. It's really more of a slide show than a video.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESJ9QSJ55II


After taking Anne back to the motel, I beat it down to the restored Tower Service Station and U Drop Inn to snap a few shots of the '60 under the neon lit awnings of the station. It seems that Stevan & Barbara had the same idea as they were already there doing the same thing with the '59.











After getting off several shots there, I went back down to the downtown area of Shamrock to get some pics of an old restored Magnolia station that I had discovered on a trip through the area in August.





From there, I was headed back to the motel when I saw this lineup at a body shop on Route 66. Had to break out the camera again!








By now, I was ready to call it a night and hit the sack. That bed at the motel was calling to me!





But not before I took a quick shower to wash off a day's worth of road grime. What better place than the nostalgic blue tiled bathroom?





That's how we put and end to day one of our Wagons Ho adventure

 

Aw, yeah.. I definitely passed y'all. I should have came back around to check on y'all. I had a couple gallons of water in my trunk too.

Good to know it was an easy fix.


iPhone - TJJ app

 

Good stuff! Gotta love a road trip, have fun!!

 

Aww shucks, I wanna go.

 

A man has just got to love neon lighting, those night shots are just amazing. Thank you.