Hot Rod Power Tour 2008 Day 5

Ok... We were officially on our own today - the Tour left for Lincoln, Nebraska at 9:00 am, one of the shortest legs of the trip, while we started out at 6:00 am for the longest leg yet of our personal tour. We headed south from Ottawa on some Kansas highways, through a fair bit of flooded fields and side roads. Fortunately, none of the roads we needed were flooded. We decided to head towards West Mineral, Kansas, where I heard of a pretty cool attraction - Big Brutus. It's a HUGE electric shovel used for strip mining in the 60's and 70's... Who knew that Southeast Kansas had coal mines?

We then decided to see where the short stretch of Old US Route 66 was - turns out there were a whopping 13 miles of the old highway that ran across the very far southeast corner of Kansas. So off we went - and ran the whole thing... From Baxter Springs, through Riverton, and to Galena... Where by chance we took a wrong turn and ended up on the old downtown route, and found an old service station that had been bought and restored recently, so we had a neat photo op! And it turns out that this service station is where the "official" inspiration for Tow Mater (From Cars - the Movie) lives!
We then went to Joplin, and then south to Bella Vista to drop Dad off, but not before the requisite run in with the local police!!! Sometimes being nice to the officer will get you off with a verbal warning - I KNOW it wasn't my winsome charm.

I put the pedal to the medal, because our lollygagging around SE Kansas left me with precious little time to get home before my deadline, and I pulled into the driveway at 5:15 pm... Eleven hours of driving today! I'm done.

Click Here for Today's Pictures

Mileage for today: 483

Tank 1: 133 miles/7.25 gallons - 18.34 mpg
Tank 2: 228 miles/12.3 gallons - 18.53 mpg
Tank 3: 118 miles/6.6 gallons - 17.87 mpg

Total miles for the trip: 1541 miles over five days.... WOW!

Hot Rod Power Tour 2008 Day 4

I bring you greetings from the great state of Kansas!!!

Today started out pretty wet - we woke up to a light sprinkle that fairly quickly turned into a drenching downpour. Not such a good situation with a leaky windshield gasket and several hours of soaking rain ahead. A couple of hours into the trip my radio started doing wierd things and I noticed a faint burned electronics smell, so we pulled over at a station that had an overhang. Fortunately the stereo was the only casualty, but it came back to life a couple of hours later after the rain subsided and everything dried out a bit.


Today's venue was the Heartland Park Raceway in Topeka, Kansas. Once the rain let up, which was well in advnce of our arrival, the day was cool and overcast - a rarity in June. We both still got sunburned, though. The tour had set up for folks to do "fun runs" at the drag strip, but the tech inspection prior to the run and the probable embarassment of being the slowest car on the tour kept us from making our own run.

The lighter side of the news is that although the drive across Southwest Missouri and Southeast Kansas majorly sucked because of the rain, by the time we got to Iola, Kansas, the rain had let up and we were able to visit some old haunts...


Dad used to pastor a Nazarene Church in Yates Center, Kansas - yeah - I know - a bit coincidental, but anyways, it gave us a good chance to reminisce and tell old stories. We stopped and took pictures of some familiar places, and did some narrative remembering. Overall, it was a good day. We decided to get a jumpstart on tomorrow's travel, and cancelled our hotel in Topeka, and drove to Ottawa, Kansas to surprise his sister and niece with a visit. His neice, Diana, lives in Ottawa, and his sister lives about 15 miles away. Diana was actually shopping at Wal-Mart, so we stopped there to find her. It was a short, and impromptu family reunion.

So the 2008 Power Tour is done, at least for us. Tomorrow holds a LONG trip back to NW Arkansas, to drop Dad off, then back to OKC for me.


Click Here for Today's Photos

Total miles today: 310

Tank 1 - 101 miles/5.3 gallons - 19mpg
Tank 2 - 177 miles/9.1 gallons - 19.7mpg

Good stuff!!!

Hot Rod Power Tour 2008 Day 3

Well - today was really nice. It was slightly overcast so it was much cooler. We also slathered with sunscreen so we wouldn't burn. The drive was really nice about the first half from Little Rock to about Harrison. The second half was almost all interstate/divided highway through southern Missouri - not so much fun. I really prefer the times we hit two lane highways through small towns - it's cool to see folks sitting on the side of the road, waving to them, seeing impromptu pit stops/etc.

It's really disappointing to see the bypasses and new divided highways - call me a sucker for nostalgia, but I like the old highways through the hills... And most of this new construction uses part of the old roads, so it's impossible to just follow the old route...

Anyways - the venue was really nice - the Ozark Empire Fair Grounds. Plenty of grass and shade, and the food was actually edible this time around, and was in a VERY air conditioned pavilion.


The find of the day was an AMC Rambler Marlin that Dad LOVED!!!

We didn't stick around for too long - after you've seen the round of cars on one day, the only new stuff is the folks who join at the current stop, and those don't take too long to look at, so we headed off to the most popular local attraction - the Bass Pro Shops. You couldn't find a more appropriate retail joint for a bunch of hotrod redneck folks.

Today's mileage: 223 miles

One fill up was 10.54 gallons at 191 miles - 19 mpg with ALOT of hills/curves/etc!!

Click Here for Today's Photos

We'll see what tomorrow holds - mostly flatter country - we should get good mileage.

Hot Rod Power Tour Day 2

Dad and I left at 6:30 this morning on the way from Bella Vista to Little Rock. We decided to take country roads instead of the interstate, and found ourselves reminiscing over trips our family used to make when me and my brother were kids. No radio, in the middle of back country Arkansas, singing to pass the time.

We took Hwy 412 from Springdale to Harrison, then down Hwy 65 to Conway, and I-40 to Little Rock. Part of this route (on Hwy 65) we'll repeat tomorrow, in the opposite direction. However, we did something a bit on the spur of the moment and decided to see the Natural Bridge... It's an interesting place that I've driven by since I was a kid, and never went. I recommend a visit if you're around the area...
but when they mean NO BUSES, they mean it. I thought I was gonna have problems getting the Dart around some of the steep switchbacks down this winding path. My brakes smelled AWFUL by the time we reached the bottom of the road. Fortunately, it's at leat paved.

So we spent some time there and then headed down through a neat little place called Pickles Gap, and then on through Conway to Little Rock... All I can say is June heat combined with lots of asphalt and cars makes for a HOT day. We soaked ourselves with sweat, and drank water like it was going out of style. However - I did get one cool pic with my favorite MOPAR - the General Lee!!!


And... Our accomodations (Motel 6) are decent... But I must say I've been spoiled by mostly government per diem traveling. We're trying to stay on the cheap, so I'm trying NOT to be too picky... However - the room smells and the pool is filled with water and looks ok, but the gate is bolted shut... So no cool, refreshing swim for me and Dad tonight... And I recommend that if you show up to a motel and you can't talk face to face with the clerk except through a bulletproof night deposit window at 5:00 in the afternoon, that you go on your merry way - our first room had fast food cups and wrappers all over, the beds had been stripped, but not made, and smelled something just a bit less than wierd... But overall, it's beeen a good day. We sat in the shade with some car club guys from Dallas and swapped stories.

Click Here for today's photos

Total miles today: 260

Fillup results: 11.3 gallons and 212 miles. That's 19 mpg in my book kids!!! Over hill and dale even!

Hot Rod Power Tour 2008 Day 1

Well - it seems that it never fails... I spend time cleaning, polishing, tuning, and the first day out, I get rain... A gulleywasher in Tulsa that of course found the leak in my windshield gasket. Now I've a puddle in my floormat that I need to clean out. Oh well...





I decided to take Route 66 between Oklahoma City and Tulsa for some photo stops. Before the rain in Tulsa, I had some good light for pictures in Arcadia, OK (In front of the round barn of course).


A quick stop at Pops for some delightful soda water, and I was off to Davenport for a stop at the historic Texaco station for a couple more pictures.

I also decided to avoid the interstate and take scenic Hwy. 412 between Tulsa Siloam Springs, Arkansas.

Keeping my speed down to between 55 and 65 mph, I got 221 miles out of 10.2 gallons of gas... Yes folks - that's 22 mpg for a "gas guzzling behemoth" circa 1974.

Click Here for Today's Photos

Total miles today: 242

Hot Rod Power Tour

Hey all - my Dad and I will be participating in one of the most commercialized, mass-produced car events of all time. Replete with cars that cost more than my house, stupid bumper stickers, and fuel wasting galore, we'll be heading out for Little Rock, Arkansas this Saturday to participate in the Hot Rod Power Tour 2008... We'll head from there on the Springfield, MO on Sunday, then on to Topeka, KS on Monday, then Tuesday we head back to Bella Vista to drop Pop off at home, then back to good 'ole OKC... It'll be four fun filled days of heat, gas fumes, cramped hotels, bad food, etc.. But ultimately, we'll form memories to last a lifetime. It's probably the only thing, billiards and flea markets aside, that me and my Dad do together - we've missed the last three years, but this year we're back on the road!!!

Since there will be plenty of Wi-Fi hotspots along the way, I'm gonna try to blog each day, along with photos.