Winter Holidays

The winter holidays are here. Not much shaking in the Great Race team camp. We will get busy after January 1.

The Great Race headquarters put out a nifty one page flyer showing the schedule.

Timewise speedometer arrived

The Timewise high accuracy speedometer arrived today. We bought a used one to save cash. It seems right as we don't know if we will use it more than once. We can sell it on when we are done with it. Maybe we will use it for several years.  Who knows? 

In the garage

We drove the VW today.  Then it was time to put it in the garage. A few winter months to wait for the next part of the adventure. In the meantime,  we will plot the way to maximum fun. Oh boy!

Winter is near

I'm taking the VW out this weekend for more driving fun. These might be the last days to drive until spring.

It will go to Dave's house for the winter. We have a list of small projects to keep us entertained. One of those is the upholstery on the front seats. There are no rips or tears, but the foam is shot. It's a long drive to Santa Monica.

Not much to report

Well it was a yard work weekend. Nothing much on the Great Race front.

We are looking forward to the Welcome Aboard packet.  Then the planning will begin in earnest.

The mechanic loved the car

I got the VW back from the shop. They loved it. It really is a solid car. The mechanic cleaned up and tuned the carb. Checked out the rest of the car and liked it. We have work to do before The Great Race,  but we are off to a great start.

In for a check up

The VW is in the shop for a complete check up. I found a garage in Bettendorf that is very interested in helping the team.

The owner told me he has parts in an attic for the car. They belonged to his dearly departed father. A long time VW mechanic.

I hope this works out for everyone.

Maybe more news tomorrow.

The Great Race got my attention!

In 2013 The Great Race spent the night in Davenport, Iowa.  I was totally taken by the whole thing.  Wow, what a cool thing I thought.  From that time on I started thinking about how to get into this traveling extravaganza.

Well here it is.  We are in the fall of 2014 and our Great Race team is named and registered for the 2015 Great Race.  The 2015 Great Race goes from St. Louis to Santa Monica California following Route 66.  The intrepid team of Duane, Dave, Margaret, and Lynne.

What is The Great Race.  Here is a snippet from their website

"The Great Race is an antique, vintage, and collector car competitive controlled-speed endurance road rally on public highways. It is not a test of top speed. It is a test of a driver/navigator team’s ability to follow precise course instructions and the car’s (and team’s) ability to endure on a cross-country trip. The course instructions require the competing teams to drive at or below the posted speed limits at all times."

The car has to be no newer than 1972.

With that in mind, and my wife's past love of a certain kind of car, I started looking for a Volkswagen.  After some pretty scary rides in some questionable cars, we found a 1971 Beetle in Wilmington. IL.  Just two blocks off Route 66.  This is fate!

Wilmington is the home to one of the true icons of historic Route 66.  The Gemini Giant at the Launching Pad Drive In diner.

I tell you its fate!

I drove the car from Wilmington to Davenport last Friday. It ran fine.

That's all for tonight.