Memorable Road Trips
November 24, 2006
I enjoyed dinner at one of my piano tuning customer's house, to celebrate thanksgiving and while she and her daughter were cooking the meal, we played a game of darts. For a joke she said "You can play me for my grand piano and I'll play for your car". She ended up winning the dart game, so after the meal, her son looked at my Chrysler. He restores classic cars, and we talked about what needed to be done. The car was pretty well warmed up by the time his mom wanted to go into town for some cigarettes. I told her the passenger door doesn't open anymore, so she would either have to slide under the steering wheel or sit in the back. She said "I'm not sittin' in the f-----' back seat, I'm drivin". I got in under the steering wheel and after she complained about my long legs, we finally managed to get the seat close enough for her to see over the dash. This was pretty funny, since the rachet doesn't hold very well. We then headed for town. She used to drive race cars, and of course had to test how much power the old 383 V8 had, and stepped on the gas before straightening it out. Naturally my clip board on the dash slid way across the dash and we almost went over the centerline. "WHOA, is this a BOAT!" she laughed. Then after bragging about her truck's stick shift and acceleration, she said "Oops, we're over the speed limit". We were up to almost 70 and that's too fast in deer country, especially at night. She had a big grin when she came out of the store. I'm sure she told somebody in the store about my "boat".
December 27, 2006
I took two of my record collector friends on a trip to Stevens Point to check out the thrift shops and record/CD stores. On the way up, we stopped at my cousins' house in rural Plainfield, where I purchased a book from them, about my great uncle Ed, "The Man From Sheep Mountain". My cousins took me out back to show me their old 1965 Chrysler that was currently being used as a storage shed. It has some mouse damage to the upholstery and is pretty rusty but it has a radio antenna that will hopefully work better than the universal antenna I have that doesn't seem to ground well. When the weather warms up, I plan on trying out that antenna as it is more like my original one that was broken off. I never realized how much polarity plays a part in good reception on a car antenna. They also claim to have some new ignition parts stored away somewhere. So I am hoping they will be a source for some parts.
We then continued on our way back to I-39 and the old Chrysler had no problem entering I-39 at 70 mph from Hwy. 73 which is an up-hill ramp. Of course the P225R14 Hercules radials lower the car about an inch and give it more power, but you actually only go about 91% of the speed and distance that the speedometer and odometer read out. You have to go 70 mph to be going 65, and you can go 60 in a 55 mph zone without worrying about getting a speeding ticket for the same reason. I checked it on a 16-mile trip and the tripometer racked up 17.4 miles, so that is how I figured out the 91% inaccuracy.
We stopped at St. Vincent de Paul in Plover, the Salvation Army Store in Stevens Point, and then downtown Stevens Point, where I had to try to parallel park the 19-foot long cruiser in between two smaller cars. I asked one of my friends to get out to guide me back and while backing up very slowly, my blind friend on the sidewalk side tried to get out of the car. "NOT YOU...STAY IN THE CAR" I yelled. We had a good laugh about that.
I stayed in the car while they went into the record store, until the other two cars finally left; and then I backed up into the space that was at the end where the curb curved a little and noone could park behind me. We came home with a whole bunch of bags of goodies in the trunk.
November 29, 2008 I put the car in the Wautoma Christmas Parade and had three kids in the car. They sang "Sponge Bob Square Pants" theme song as loud as they could before the parade even started, and since Wautoma's football team won the state championship, the boy riding shotgun in the front passenger seat was yelling out the window "Go Hornets, state champions" etc., creating quite a scene and embarrasing the 2 girls in the back seat. We had the local radio station on and just as we got near the reviewing stand they played "Wild Thing" by the Troggs and the kids sang along to that.
September 18, 2009
Our church had an auction, early in the summer, to raise funds for the youth activities. I offered a 25-mile ride in my Chrysler. On the evening before the Wild Rose Car Show, the winning couple got to ride with me. There were about 70 cars participating in the cruise which went from Wild Rose to Saxeville via Co. A and Covered Bridge Road. Then we continued down Co. W to Mt. Morris and up to Mt. Morris park to the summit, which is about 665 feet high, giving us a beautiful view from high atop the mountain to the southwest, before continuing on Co. G back to the Wild Rose area.
November 28, 2009 I put the car in the Wautoma Christmas Parade and thanks to Susan Galster, who managed to snap a photo and send me a copy, I have a photo to add to this page.
