Home at Last - The End

The last day of travel for Jack & I to finish our journey to go to Memphis, pick up the Model A and then return home was back on track after the crazy weather we encountered on Saturday.  We were able to have a good day of travel on Sunday after leaving Marty's home with no problems.

Monday we hit the road with the goal to make it home, about 700 mile from Wytheville, VA.  The morning fog was not a major problem but we did have to exercise caution until burned off.  

We tried to keep our stops to minimum to save time and that was working, as we clicked off the miles to home.

For the most part the roads were pretty decent except for those in PA.  We had just passed through Scranton and got on I-84 when another driver pulled along side of us and was signalling to the trailer, he tried to yell something out the window but I couldn't really hear what he was saying at 60 MPH.

I waved and after talking to Jack we pulled over to see what the problem was, if any.

Jack checked and came back with good news and bad news.  I  got out to look and the problem was very apparent.  One of the trunk rack brackets was broken and the trunk had almost fallen off.  Yikes.  If it the other bracket had broken the whole thing would have fallen in the road possibly causing an accident.  Phew, we were glad the guy took the time to alert us.  Jack was sure the road vibrations had caused the bracket to fatigue and eventually break.

We removed the trunk and secured the trunk rack to the bumper with rope and a ratchet tie down.

The rest of the trip was no problem and we arrived home just before 9:00 PM.

My final few days of a fantastic canyonland trip was not how hoped it would end, but it is what it is and I'm glad the Model A is back home and will now start the process to replace the engine and find out what the problem is with the overdrive cutting in and out.

We forgot to take a picture at the time but this is what
Jack and I saw after stopping

We removed the trunk and loaded it on the pickup

Here is the bracket secured to the bumper and spare tire

And all the time the car was right on our tail !

Home Sweet Home - Bruce's Final Report

It was already raining when we left the Hampton Inn in Poughkeepsie, New

York on Sunday morning at 7:00 AM.  The evening before Lou and I coated the

windshields with Rain-X anticipating a rainy ride home.  The windshield

wiper on the Model A Ford is marginal at best and only works on the driver's

side.  I also found that Rain-X is "marginal at best."  Maybe it works

better on a modern car with curved glass.

So it was off into the dark morning in the rain but fortunately traffic was

relatively light.  We followed a main road for a few miles and eventually

our intrepid navigator Trisha guided us to route 44 east towards

Connecticut.  We didn't actually see any sunrise but the skies brightened

enough for us to assume the sun was "up".  The rain continued now at a more

steady pace as we made our way into the hills of western Connecticut.

Despite the rain the cars were running well with no issues except the

visibility wasn't the best.

In Avon, CT we parted with our traveling companions Lou and Rose as we

turned more NE on 202 and they kept going east on route 44.  I reminded Lou

to stop for gas on the way home...this is worth remembering.  We stopped for

a quick break and some expensive gasoline in Simsbury, CT and with a full

tank of 11 gallons (I am now positive the tank holds 11 gallons) we had our

sights set on home in Maine.

We made our way through Massachusetts and we eventually stopped in

Tewksbury, MA for a break and some lunch.  The rain was really pouring down

by now.  We decided to take interstate 95 all the way north because we

wanted to get home before dark.  After we got through Haverhill, MA traffic

wasn't too bad on 495 and we eventually got onto 95 north in New Hampshire.

It was through the Hampton tolls, over the Piscataqua River bridge, through

the Maine tolls and onward to Portland and beyond we went.  It was very cold

and damp in the car at 44 degrees.  We were pretty bundled up inside but it

was still pretty raw. One half mile from the rest area in Gray, Maine and

only 4 miles from our exit the car stopped running.  I pulled over to the

side of the road and couldn't believe that after 4000+ miles we might have

to call AAA.  I tried starting the car and it coughed, ran and stopped

again.  I figured it had some sort of ignition issue and messed with the

ignition switch on the dash watching the ammeter.  Then my eyes were drawn

to the gas gauge and the big ZERO.  We were OUT OF GAS!  Really??  In my

focus to get home we ran out of gas.  I tried adding about a pint of Marvel

Mystery Oil to the tank and the car actually started and sort of idled but I

could only get about 50 feet up the road before the engine conked out again.

I had a half gallon of coolant in the trunk so we decided to dump the

coolant in the radiator and take the empty bottle to the gas station a half

mile up the road.  The bottle took .6 gallons of fuel and when we got to the

gas station the car took 10.4 gallons equaling the 11 gallons that Ford said

was the fuel capacity.

With that episode behind us now we continued on, exited the Maine Turnpike

and drove another 12 minutes home arriving about 5:00 PM.  We were both cold

and wet and glad to be home after that miserable day.

Here's what I have for a few statistics:

Miles driven during the trip:  4,477

Gasoline:  approximately 248 gallons.  Some of this was REAL gas without

ethanol.

Oil used:  ~ 15 quarts between the 3 cars.  Oil change in Yukon, OK

States:  19 --  Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas,

Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia,

Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire

and Maine.

Days of rain: 2

Days of sunshine: 25

Flat tires: 2

Blown fuses: 2

Lost hubcaps: 2

Replaced distributors: 2

Broken started bolts: 2

Broken engine: 1

Guitar pickers in Nashville: 1,352

People who took pictures of our cars: 1,353

Pairs of Daisy Duke shorts at the Dukes of Hazard Museum: 4

Mountain ranges climbed:  5

Continental Divides crossed: 1

Number of dead deer seen on the side of the road: 31

Number of dead deer seen in the middle of the road: 1

Other Model A's seen on the ride home: 2

Number of people who asked if bought the car new:  too many 

A very early departure

Not the best visibility for the passenger 

Lou & Rose ready to put the A to bed for the night at home

Bruce's Saturday Full report

We put Gettysburg, PA in the rear view mirror by 8:30 AM.  Our next

destination was Poughkeepsie, NY on the east side of the Hudson river.  We

took a busy route 15 to Harrisburg, PA and in about 25 miles crossed the

river into town.  We eventually got onto route 209 east that took us through

many small and medium sized Pennsylvania towns.  We saw buffalo in Halifax,

PM, we saw another Model A Ford drive by us in Beltsville, PA and around 1

PM in the afternoon we drove past a place called "Country Junction" billed

as the world's largest general store.  Well, we just had to stop and after

doing a double left hand turn we pulled into the very busy parking lot.

Some of us had soup and hot dogs for lunch.  While the ladies looked around

the store afterwards, Lou and I went into the parking lot to switch out

distributors on my car.  If you recall, I had already done this once in

Kanab, UT.  The unit we installed was the same one that was in the car

originally but I had put new ignition points in it one evening during one of

our stops in the Sooner state of O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A.  After doing the

transplant, the car ran much better on the replacement distributor.

The store was something of a big ChuckE Cheese, a Tru Value hardware store,

food concession, lame general store according to Trish and a place

frequented by young families with 4 children under the age of 7.  The next

part of the day took us through a big town that was having some kind of

Halloween deal downtown with a more of those young children walking around

begging for candy.  It took a while to get through the town with all of the

traffic lights and crappy PA road surfaces.  You'd think with the high gas

tax Pennsylvania would have decent roads but they were some of the worst we

encountered during our sojourn.

We finally had to get on interstate 84 to cross the Hudson river over the

Newburgh bridge.  That went better than expected and we got to the hotel in

short order after that.

Memphis Belle to the rescue (Rescue Team Report)

OK, after the crazy day we experienced yesterday, we were anxious to get to Memphis to pick up the Model A and start the return trip home.   After we had breakfast we called Marty to let her know when we expected to arrive at her house.   The drive to Germantown (actually where the Model A was being stored) was only about an hour away and we had no problems for the short trip.

Marty greeted us as we pulled in front of her house and invited us in for some coffee and just relax a little before we got to work to load the up the Model A.  Back out side I got the Model A started up and drove it on the trailer, then Jack proceeded to tie it down with his straps.  It didn't take long and we were ready to start home, but not before we thanked Marty for allowing me to store the Model A at her home, what a stroke of luck that was.  Before leaving Marty refilled our cooler with some soda and gave us granola bars for the road.  With that we were off.

We stopped for gas ($2.17) and answered questions from others at the station and once on the highway the plan was to get as many mile done today as we could.  By the end of the day we completes almost 600 miles and the truck performed perfectly, although gas mileage dropped to 11 MPG.

I also got word from Bruce and Lou that they made it home today after almost 4000 miles, great job guys.  I believe Bruce will file a report tomorrow.

The Model A's home for the past week

All Loaded up and Jack checking all the straps and connections

Ready to hit the road.

One final good bye and we were off!

Marty was so great to store the Model A for Nan & I 

Jack and Marty before the loading the Model A on the trailer.
Marty said the neighbors are going to miss seeing the Old Car

Tornadoes! What Next

Bruce's Report:

Bruce reports that after leaving Gettysburg, they have their sights on getting home.  Today and tomorrow will be driving days with a plan to make it home before the forecasted rain for the Boston area.  

Doug's Report 

Jack & I (The Rescue Team) got an early start today after stopping at a local NAPA store to get a battery for the emergency brakes on the trailer.  With today being Saturday we figured it would be ab easy day of driving and we would be in Memphis late afternoon.  

Traffic was reasonable until we got into Knoxville and noticed lots of traffic and cars loaded with party type people and lots of orange T's.  It had to have been a Tennessee football game.  It didn't last long and before were back up to speed.  The weather was looking a little more threatening and after passing through Nashville the skies opened up and it poured for a short time.  

We continued on but eventually traffic came to a stop.  And we could see trees down on the side of the road.  As we slowly made our way more trees could be seen down and the CB was talking about truck blown over and fatalities (this report was false).  Ambulances and very large tow trucks were being brought in.  I-40 was then closed and we had to turn around before we could actually see all the damage.  We did see one truck that had it windshield blown out, so that was not a good sign.

We sat in traffic for over two hours before we were able to turn around.  We got off the highway at the first exit and tried to get around the damage and it was obvious that the tornado caused wide spread damage and power outages. We got stuck in more traffic tie ups since the small roads couldn't handle the extra traffic form the highway.

Eventually we got going again and made it to a hotel in Jackson, TN, after about 4 hours of delayed traffic.  Needless to say we did not make it to Memphis to retrieve the Model A.  

That will have to wait until tomorrow morning.

First of the many trees down on I-40

I got these pictures from the local TV news

We were turned around before we got to the accident scene

This traffic jam last over 2 hours

After being turned around by the state police we had to avoid more trees in the road way

Finally dinner when we got to the hotel

A Dukes of Hazard Day

Live Report from our roving reporter Parker Duofold:

Today was going to be a high mileage run from Roanoke, VA to Gettysburg, PA.  We left out hotel at the usual 8:30 AM and moved into the usual rush hour traffic.  We got on route 11 north and that turned out to be a great road.  Around 10:30 AM we stopped for a gas fill up and a break.  We stopped at a Pilot gas station / truck stop.  The store sold just about everything the road warrior would want.  The rest rooms were clean.

After leaving the truck stop we turned onto route 340 and continued on into the Shenandoah valley.  The sun was just starting to peek out from between the clouds.  The scenery was great with beautiful homes, farms, foliage and the mountains all around us.  We cruised route 340 for some time when we came upon the Dukes of Hazard museum, snack bar and gift shop.  We just had to stop!  We got a light lunch first - hot dogs all around.  The museum was in the process of preparing for a car show and concert this coming weekend.  There were a couple of General Lee cars, the original Cadillac owned by Boss Hogg, a wrecker, Daily Duke's jeep (and her shorts) and police car.  It was a fun stop.

After that piece of Roadside America that you won't see from the interstate it was back to driving northeast.  The roads were generally very good and the stop lights very annoying.   We crossed both the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers in Harper's Ferry, WV.  We got to our hotel in Gettysburg about 5:30 PM after negotiating local road construction, ambulances and car crashes. 269 miles today.

On to Poughkeepsie, NY  tomorrow and the crossing of the mighty Hudson River.

Doug report:  Jack and I left today to pick up my Model A in Memphis.  We should be there Saturday afternoon. 

Cooter is on the job

It's hard to keep the General Lee running each week

Boss Hogg's Cadillac

Daisy says "come on in"

Bruce & Trish with another General Lee

Lou is ready to out run Roscoe P Coltrate

Crossing the Patomac

On the road to Memphis

Taking the High Road - The Blue Ridge Parkway

Bruce's On the road Report

It was 30 degrees Fahrenheit in Boone, NC when we went out to load the cars this morning.  There was a bit of frost on the windshields and the roofs of the cars that needed to be cleaned off before we could get underway.

The ride to the Blue Ridge parkway took about 20 minutes which included a stop for some overpriced “corn gas”.  We have been accustomed to finding real non-ethanol gas but not this morning.

Much of the Blue Ridge parkway was built by the CCC during the Great Depression of the 1930s.  Work began in 1935 by hundreds of unemployed skilled and unskilled men. The entire project wasn't finished until the 1960s.  The road is 469 miles long and we did 169 miles of it today. We had yet another wonderful day of blue skies and full sunshine.  The views of the mountains and valleys were breathtaking. Trish got a glimpse of a large bald eagle just off the roadway. Most of our stops along the way took longer than expected because many folks asked many questions about the cars.  Like the Grand Canyon, what more can you really say about “America’s favorite drive?”

We exited the parkway at approximately 4:15 PM and arrived at our hotel in Roanoke, VA by 5 PM.  We had dinner at a place called Cheddar's. Trish and I has salmon, Rose had meatloaf and Lou had the chicken pot pie.

Off to Gettysburg tomorrow.

I guess the crisp mountain air comes with a price - Burr!

We didn't think to bring an ice scraper

The views were increadible

Lou says: Not as high as canyonland but just as scenic

One of many old building along the parkway

Cooling our "Tar Heels" in Boone

As reported by Bruce

Another somewhat "crisp" start to the morning but the cars were covered with a coat of dew and not ice so that's a plus.  We all woke up and hour late and blamed it on the time change moving from Central time to Eastern time.  At least that what we are going with.

After dueling with local commuters whizzing around, texting and applying makeup on the way to being late for work we broke out into some beautiful countryside in east Tennessee. Our destination was Boone, NC a somewhat short 135 mile drive through the Great Smoky mountains. The ride through the mountains began after we went through Johnson City, TN named for the 17th President Andrew Johnson and home of East Tennessee University.  We went up and down some pretty steep grades and then ended up on a long and twisty road. Trish is happy to report there were some guardrails on this stretch.

We passed by some fishing camps along the river and some expensive looking lodges.  There was even a private airport in the area that looked like it would be an exciting place to land.  We were now in the town of Elk Park, NC.  We found out later that the trout fishing in the area and the elk hunting was the big sporting attraction.

We stopped for a nice lunch (I had a corned beef sandwich) in Banner Elk, NC.  This is a college town (Lees - McRae) that is pretty upscale.  The woman that seated us at the restaurant told me she used to live at Killington, VT.  By the way yesterday we met a guy from Ipswich, MA. 

So now we were only about 20 miles from Boone, NC but since it was early we decided to a swing over to downtown Boone for a stretching of the legs and some therapeutic recreational shopping.  Boone is also a college town and home to Appalachian State University and their 15,000 students.  We found some parking right on Main Street and we were on our way.  The local general store has been in business since the 1880's and they sell all kinds of stuff.  We must have spent 45 minutes and $75 in that store.

Lou and Rose had gone across the street to an antiques store when we found out that Lou had gone back to his car for something.  Lou and behold ( !!!) the Zadramobile had a flat tire. After finding that out the pit crew went to work and changed the tire in less than 8 minutes.  We decided to get to our hotel and fix the flat before the sun went down.  Bruce and Lou got that chore done in approximately 30 minutes. We didn't use the old tube but instead opted to replace it with a new tube.  The old tube was then patched and we will keep that as an "if all else fails" spare. 

Finally, we enjoyed a light dinner at Troy's Diner next door to out hotel.

Today we went through Strawberry Plains, Talbott, Morristown, Whitesburg, Bull's Gap, Mosheim, Greenville, Roan Mountain, Elk Park, Banner Elk, Banner Mountain, Sugar Mountain, SevenDevils and Boone, NC.

Off to the Blue Ridge Parkway tomorrow hoping for blue skies and safe travels.

Elk Grove Fishing was renowned

The Banner Elk Cafe - Good place to eat

Lou changing the flat tire

And the culprit was a pin hole in the tube 

Fall colors were everywhere 

More countryside colors

From MARC facebook page, someone took this picture in Boone

Breaking up is hard to do - again

Part 1 (by Doug)
Well, today was the day that we would officially leave the tour.  Nan & I will be heading directly home to make plans for the return trip to Memphis to trailer our Model A home.  Bruce& Trish and Lou & Rose will complete the remainder of the trip and we wished them a wonderful time and happy travels. 

Video - Saying Good Bye Again

Part 2 (by Bruce)

left our hotel in Nashville Tennessee by 8:30 a.m. the Rain of the previous day had stopped during the early morning hours. We wiped the cars down and cleaned the windshields. We also did the usual checking of the oil and the coolant in the radiator.

Turning right out of the parking lot we emerged into busy morning traffic and lots of traffic lights for the next 10 miles. Eventually the traffic lessened, the roads smoothed out and the traffic lights became fewer. At about 9 a.m. we stopped for gasoline and at 10:30 a.m. we stopped at Wal-Mart to "resupply" and refresh ourselves. While in the Wal-Mart parking lot we were approached by the usual assortment of locals and travelers asking about our trip and the cars. One 89 year old guy told me his father had a Model A like mine that they used on the family farm in Minnesota during the late 1930s. I mentioned that Minnesota was the land of "10,000 lakes" and he said "yes except when it rains and then there are 40,000 lakes."

We eventually drove into Cumberland County and through the mountains going up and down hills and twisting along curvy roads. We had lunch in Rockwood, TN and afterwards rolled into Oak Ridge a city built during WW2 as part of the top secret Manhattan Project. The work there resulted in the production of the first nuclear bomb and atomic reactor. 

The rest of the days journey was an uneventful trip through Knoxville, TN and the smooth ride to our hotel in Strawberry Plaines.

After arriving at the hotel and checking in, Lou and I did some light maintenance on the cars including adjusting the ignition points on the two cars and cleaning the windshields.

Tomorrow will bring us through the Great Smoky mountains and onward to Boone, NC in the Blue Ridge mountains. 

Subway's seem to be the go to place for a quick lunch while touring

Bruce is adding to his bug collection

Crossing one of the classic steel bridges over the river

It must be stronger than it looks

Grand Ole Opry Day

Getting started today was a little bittersweet, as today Lou & Rose’ son Larry would have to leave us and head back home; he still suffers with that four letter word – WORK.  Larry has been a great traveling companion, helping in with directions and being a great co-pilot for Lou.  We enjoyed our breakfast with him and then we all wished him a smooth flight with no delays heading back to CA.

Our plan for today was to go to Nashville and tour the Ryman Theater.  Lou & Rose road in the rental car with us while Bruce & Trish followed in the Model A.  We parked the cars in the public parking garage and walked the short distance to the main street area.  We bought tickets for the self-guided tour and started off by watching a movie of the history of the Theater; afterwards we all commented that the movie was excellent.  There was so much history to read on our tour that you could not read everything.  The restoration of the theater was major effort and it sure saved a piece of country music history.

Leaving the theater we headed to Main Street and walked by many bars and restaurants with their live music filling the sidewalk with tunes.  It may have been daylight but the neon signs shining brightly.  We had lunch at Jason Aldean’s (I guess he’s a country singer), no live music, but videos of him singing.

The next stop was to be Opryland, but the only available tour was not until 4PM which did not fit our schedule.  I think the rain today had people opt for inside attractions.  The alternative plan was to visit the Lane Motor Museum.  It was a nice facility (a converted Sunbeam Baking building) that had an unusual collection of cars from around the worl, and some of those were very strange.  It was a good place to visit and only 2 miles from our hotel.

Trish and Bruce were going to have dinner with her niece Crystal and her husband Bo who are on a 6 month tour of the states and just happened to be in the Nashville area.  We joined Lou & Rose for dinner and when we returned we all watched the Patriot’s game in the hotel common area.

Tomorrow, we (Nan & I) will head home, while Bruce & Trish and Lou & Rose will head towards North Carolina and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Lou & Rose with Little Jimmy Dickens

Bruce & Trish in the gallery at the Ryman Auditorium

Standing under the restored balcony sign

A Legendary Trio

WHAT DO YOU MEAN I MISSED THAT NOTE!

some of the great names of bars

The music filled the sidewalks

The street was an endless bars

The food bus at Opryland

Bruce & Lou at Opryland

A partial view of the vehicle at the Lane Museum

A Tatra

Same car from the rear

These were crazy cars, what were they thinking?

More of the vehicles

I just liked the color of this. Restoration was $35K

A Citroen 2CV, Yes we could fit 

Another pedestrian clearer

5/8 scale Austin Batum

AJ's Good Time Bar