Home again!

After traveling coast to coast and back in Old Gold, here are the statistics for our trip. We drove 8,744 miles in 40 days. We drove in 33 different states to visit 112 friends all over this country. Many were family members and all are friends. We also made a trip into Canada so we could enjoy the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. We celebrated three milestone birthdays. Doug's mother's 95th birthday in late September in the Minneapolis area, LaDonna's mother's 90th birthday in western Iowa in late October and Old Gold's 50th birthday on this coast to coast jaunt. Our house sitters spent some quality time with our two dogs, Diesel and Sandy as well as our two cats, Cinder and Burnie. We're sad to say that Becky had to cut her stay short after she fell and broke her wrist. She flew back home for surgery to restore bone structure and install some pins. Allan very graciously stayed until we arrived home and surprised us with a scrumptious dinner when we arrived home last night. We had a nice visit to catch up a little on the neighborhood happenings.

Here are the stats for Old Gold. Mileage upon arrival at home is 476,787 after 40 days on the trip. We averaged just under 22 MPG for the trip and added only 1 pint of engine oil. After some vigorous scrubbing, I expect Old Gold will return to the same appearance as shown above. I have a couple rattles and one squeak to fix and this winter I may treat Old Gold to a new convertible top and some new weatherstrips. It has been a great adventure and we thank all of you for following us along by reading our blog.

Grand 90th Birthday and then, back on the road!

Here are Dennis, Anita, Grandma Clink, Wanda and Doris posing for the camera.

It was so much fun to see the "Okies" again.

Here's LaDonna making sure everything is in place for the birthday party. The cakes were baked and decorated by Joanne and the centerpiece came from Gordon, Diane, Sherri and Patricia.

Here are Adair and Linda in front of the group. Adair was on hand to accompany Happy Birthday and he sang many family favorites. Linda looks to be warming up her Karaoke act or maybe doing an audition for American Idol.

Once again, we strike out on the open road. This segment will be our homeward bound leg and if all works correctly, we should be home Thursday night. There are lots of miles to cover and since it's late in October, the weather could always be a surprise. Today was an example of surprises!

Take note of the clear blue sky!!!!!! It was sunny and warm and only mild breezes. The wall we are driving next to is a wall of sand bags that were put in place to protect a highway from the Missouri River floods this spring. This road is open to traffic, unlike many other East / West roads near the Missouri River. There is still lots of standing water and you can see the high water marks in the brush alongside the roads. It's pretty intimidating when you can look out the car windows and see the high water mark at exactly the same height as you're looking. That would mean you're driving a submarine?

We stopped in Lincoln to visit our friend of many years and managed to get a snapshot of LaDonna and MarJean in front of Old Gold. I should explain the name a little bit. Mar Jean is short for Marjorie Jean. I have not put any last names in this blog to preserve a little bit of privacy. LaDonna and I have enjoyed singing in different church choirs over our years together. Mar Jean and her husband Doc sang in the church choir in my old home town. Doc and I used to provide emergency medical services many years ago in the service of our local volunteer fire department. We're sad to say that Doc passed away some time ago. I am proud to say I knew him and glad to stay in touch with Mar Jean. We will be friends always. We're glad to be able to stop by for a visit on our way home. The sling reminds me to be careful.

Speaking of stopping by, we stopped by my old hometown on our way back. This is a picture of the house I grew up in. It looks different now with extra landscaping and a new color but, still looks like a grand old home in the center of America. We're sorry that we don't have any pictures of LaDonna's childhood homes. There are only cornfields where the homes once stood.

Mid America is not all flat! We took a side trip through a corner of Utah to one of our favorite places. It's a really cool part of the country to drive an Old Gold Corvette! According to the map program on our computer, this leg of the trip was nine miles shorter and added fifteen minutes to the drive time. Since we were on the road ten hours today, we thought the scenery made it worthwhile.

Getting ready for another big birthday in Iowa

We're in LaDonna's home town in NW Iowa. Seeing lots of old friends. You know, OLD as in many years ago. Not as in, OLD as "Was around when Moby Dick was a minnow". It's fun driving the back roads and sharing those roads with farm trucks, tractors pulling grain carts, combines with picker heads attached all driven by farmers who wave when we cruise by with Old Gold. The corn harvest is in full swing and the local elevator has their blowers cranked up on high speed. Sort of drowns out the sound of the coal trains that go through town on the way to Port Neal power station.

While we were going through the next town to the north, we thought we'd try to find our friends, Emery and Sharon. It's been many years since we met these fine folks. Emery was the pastor at a church near us when we lived in Oregon. Sharon goes back even further in our history since she and LaDonna went to summer church camp in western Iowa. Remember when Moby Dick was in church camp?

Here is one of many snapshots to help celebrate Grandma's birthday. Yes, it was the 90th for Lela or "Grandma Clink" as the locals know her by. Here are Doug, LaDonna, Grandma, Kim and Michelle behind the center piece and in front of the ice cream machine. Both were big hits!

While we had Grandma Clink posed, we added Jose and Linda to this snapshot.

Here are Staci, Alexander, Grandma, Evan and Loyal. Loyal is also known by family as Travis. He answers to either one. The picture that 'Zander is holding was created especially for Great Grandma!

Here's a four generation shot with Mom Laloni, Great Grandma Clink, Grandma Linda and the youngest of this group, Hailey.

While we were in Iowa, we were hosted by Bryan and Roxanne. We truly enjoyed their hospitality and treasure their friendship. It was fun to give each a ride in Old Gold. I tried to get Bryan to give Roxanne a ride so they could experience the close bond you get when you drive a Corvette. Couldn't talk them into it so, they each got a ride but, one at a time.

This, just IN!

Here are Siobhan and Louise trying to convince Doug to let them take Old Gold out for a spin.

Many thanks to Brad for adding this valuable picture to the blog!

I think we're headed for Iowa, Toto!

We're headed west by northwest and on to Iowa. Along the way, we're visiting more friends and family. Well, family is "Friends", too! So, why do they say, "Friends and family"? Anyway, here are some more pictures of our adventure.

The loop above the road signs is not a half McDonald's sign. It is the arch over the Mississippi River in St Louis. Sorry about the long range snapshot. You get the idea.

This charming couple is Frank and Laney. We had a nice visit over a cup of coffee west of St Louis. Again, friends from a long time ago were reacquainted and at the same time new friends were made. Frank and Doug were SeaBees and spent some quality time together on the other side of the planet. We hope to stay in touch in the future and not wait so long for another visit.

Here are a couple old Sea Bees. You may notice the high performance hair styles. Believe me, we both ask for "Long and curly on top" when we go to the barber shop and look what kind of respect we get! Frank was an equipment operator and Doug was a construction mechanic in an earlier time. Also note that neither of us has changed at all in the 41 years since we last saw each other. Same goes for Joe in an earlier post.

Next stop for a visit was to see cousin Ed. It seems that Jessie was off on a visit of her own so, we're sorry she missed the picture. It was nice to stop in for a visit and a stretch of the legs. We are also hand carrying some greeting cards to Mom in Iowa for her big celebration. Watch for those pictures in about a week.

Finally, we're in Iowa and here is Loyal, Evan, Staci and Alexander with Old Gold. The boys had to show how well they ride the three wheeler included in the picture. We had a nice walk with Loyal and Staci while the boys traded off wheeling the three wheeler. Nice day!

Now we catch John and Shari for a picture before John heads off for work.

And once again, we gather for a meal with friends and family. After a tasty Cajun treat cooked up by Cody and Val we got together for a family photo. In the front is Max, Cory and Gary. Next row back is Shari, LaDonna and Doug. The back row has Cody, Stew, Marian and Val. It's been a long harvest day for the farmers in the group and so we wind down another day in our big adventure.

Old cars and old automotive memorabilia go well together. We spotted this restored Phillips 66 Service Station in Creston and just had to stop for a snapshot. I mentioned "Service Station" because that's exactly what my dad owned so many years ago in our old home town. He always said that it's a Service Station, not a gas station. Anybody can sell gasoline, while only the professionals can provide the complete service that all cars and trucks need. That's customer service!

And then, we're in Nebraska to visit cousin Pauline (Sister Jessica). She looks like she would be a better fit for Old Gold than we are but, she declined. We did go out for a nice lunch and visit at a favorite Omaha restaurant.

This handsome young man is a friend from MHS days. The connection goes back to the outstanding music program provided by Minden High School in the '60's. Ted and Doug were two thirds of a trumpet trio that enjoyed some success and if you refer back to the earlier posts showing "The Best Band Teacher On The Planet", you'll see more 

One more quick stop in Omaha. This is our "Honeymoon House" where we lived after we were married back in 1980. Ted, shown in the picture above, is one of the best realtors in Omaha. He helped us find and buy this house and then only about a year later, helped to sell our house when we moved to Oregon.

National Corvette Museum and Coles Family History Lesson

This morning we searched out a little bit of history regarding LaDonna's ancestors. Her mother's maiden name was Coles. LaDonna's Great-Great-Great-Grandfather, Isaac Coles founded and operated a ferry to cross the Cumberland River just north of Lebanon, TN. Great-Great-Grandfather, Marcus Coles continued to operate the ferry after Isaac. We learned from a cousin in Oklahoma about the Coles Ferry Pike that leads to the location of the old ferry. (It's now a boat ramp at the end of a dead end road.) You have to really want to go there, you see. Well, we took a little side trip with Old Gold to search out the boat ramp to see what we could see. Here's the sight we enjoyed this morning.

Here's LaDonna with Old Gold at the US Army Corps of Engineers sign identifying the Coles Ferry Boat Ramp.

Here's the old ferry crossing across the Cumberland River north of Lebanon, TN.

Our next stop was at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY. The current state of the art Corvette Assembly Plant is across the road and has been building Corvettes since 1981. You trivia buffs know how and where Doug and LaDonna met. If you're really sharp on your trivia, you'll know that Woodbury County Iowa is where we met. (Sioux City) Now, you can figure out the vanity plate shown above and how it relates to Chevrolet Corvettes.

As we begin the next leg of our Big Adventure and drive through several more states, we paused to snap a picture of Old Gold in front of the National Corvette Museum. We had lots of good comments from other visitors to the museum even though we felt we had to apologize for all the accumulated road grime from almost 6,000 miles without a wash job. Old Gold's paint color is Fawn Beige. We think it is a very expressive color that enhances the shape and style of the car. It really shows off the cove's concave shape and the style line that defines the "Duck Tail" shape of the rear body work. Maybe it's a good thing that Old Gold is painted Fawn Beige for long road trips since it really does a great job of hiding dried road splash. Now, what to do about the layers of dead bugs on the front end?

Here we are doing what we do best, DRIVING down the highway! We'll drive through St Louis tomorrow, which is where Old Gold was born in the spring of 1961. The old assembly plant is closed and not a place we really want to go on this trip so, stay with us on the blog and we'll post some more stories and pictures of our big adventure.

Raleigh,NC to Marietta, GA to Lebanon, TN. Let no grass grow under the tires!

Several hundred miles are spanned by this entry. We left Raleigh, NC after a nice evening visiting Fred and Linda. It was another day of driving in the rain. Again. Heavy rain with lots of road splash. Hurricane without the flying debris. Long travel day of over 400 miles. Arrived in Atlanta, GA at the peak of rush traffic. You are wondering if I want "Cheese with that whine?" OK, it has been a great trip and we've had the pleasure of visiting lots of friends and family. So, we continue. Accrued mileage upon arrival in the Atlanta area is 5,333 since we left on our big adventure. Old Gold needs a bath and I need a nap. Here's the latest entry:

We arrived at the home of LaDonna's cousin, Sherri and her husband Gaither. Look at these handsome lads! Not one Gaither but, two. The little guy is Logan, the newest arrival. So, here are three generations.

OK, enough of the guy's pictures for the moment. We were surprised to find all three cousins in one town at one time. Here are Diane, LaDonna, Patricia and Sherri posing for their entry in the blog. You can imagine there was lots of visiting to catch up on. And they DO love to visit! I think maybe it's in the Coles genes. But, that's another story. 

Well, we did have to get at least one snapshot with Old Gold. We had a nice brunch at Don and Diane's new restaurant called Cafe 33. Great menu, Wonderful service, Excellent food, Go TRY IT! In Marietta, GA.

Unfortunately, Don and Diane had to leave before we could gather everyone for a picture. 

So, Shane snapped this picture in front of Cafe 33. Here are Doug, LaDonna, Patricia, Gaither and Sherri keeping Old Gold company.

Gaither mentioned he would like to own a Corvette so, here he is shown trying Old Gold on for size. In 1961, interior room was a little sparse. Those cars were meant for performance, not comfort. Every year's evolution of Corvette has been better than the last and each platform evolution has added more comfort and features. Since Old Gold is a "C1", which includes models from 1953 through 1962, peace and quiet along with cushy seats is lacking.