Event Coverage Three events, 4,552 miles in 2 weeks & 3 days!

Thanks for pictures I would love to go on a long trip with my 50 ford every year I say next year some day Rog

 

Never been to either event, Tim...altho I've heard Pleasanton is the best tho.

It's been quite a few years since Dan and I took a trip like this in a couple of kustoms, but you can bet we're going to do it again next summer...wanna come with..???

One more 'installment' Cymro...

Well, the only reason we went home was cuz we were running out of money...gas and motels are not cheap these days...!!!

There's more to see in this country than anyone can shake a stick at...and flying over it at 30,000 feet just doesn't get it...!!!

Well LFG, you just gotta make a plan and stick to it...that's all it takes...and some will power to go do it...!!!

R-

 

Hard to beat PNW and Yellowstone areas for natural beauty. Fantastic trip!

 

Thanx Brer...yeah, there's so much to see in this country, no other country is as gorgeous...

FWIW, there's one more part coming...

R-

 

Really enjoying your trip Roger. Between your trip and Bob's to Alaska, I've seen more of the country than I have in several years....thanks for sharing.

 

Post # 5…and the conclusion of our trip.

I figured there would be a ‘small’ parade thru most of the West Yellowstone town…you know, 25 or 40 cars, but boy did I get an awakening…we headed down to the line-up spot, no more than three blocks from our motel…figured we’d be at the front, get into the City Park first and get the primo parking spot in the park-our ultimate destination for the morning…yeah, right…!!! We’d heard that there were over 325 cars registered for the event (actual count was 343) and didn’t figure all of them would do the parade…well, we went down one street only to find the whole block full already-and two rows wide…so we went another block…full up, then we got to the third block and noticed the line was halfway into the next block - the end of the parade…we pulled in and waited. For at least a half an hour after we got there, more cars showed up and parked behind us.


Waiting…waiting…


At exactly 10AM the parade started and we went two by two down the main street, even the cops and the highway patrol had all the roads and streets blocked…as we went slowly it looked like the whole town, including all the half a million tourists there had lined the street to watch…and I’d bet there were at least 300 cars that did the parade…I was shocked to see so many… it took about half an hour for Dan and I to get into the park for the show ‘n shine.



Once we were parked in the park, it was time to check out all the cars …there were cars from about 20 different states (if I remember correctly)…and even some people from ColoRODo Springs (we didn’t know them tho)…lunch time came and went and still Dan and I hadn’t checked out all the cars…late afternoon we were sitting in the shade watching people look at and comment about our cars when someone walked up and put a green dot on the headlight of my Cadillac…I was pretty sure that meant I was to get one of their cool awards (a rusted ‘40 Ford Sedan Delivery atop a nice base). Dan and I were talking about how cool that was (icing on the cake, ya know) when someone else stopped and put a green dot on Dan’s Caddy…looks like we both win an award this time…!!!

Some of the cars at the 43rd Yellowstone rod run below.

Nice Auburn roadster.


Nice Buick


Well done 36 Chevy…


Very nice looking Dodge Power Wagon…check out the size of that ball on the hitch…

We walked around a bit more checking out cars and about 4 we decided to leave the park as a lot of people were already doing so.

We did a bit of cruising around and drove thru some of the more expensive housing developments around there, looking at build styles and cruising the downtown area more than once. Dan wanted to take some shots of us entering Yellowstone Park and Montana so we headed for the park entrance…





After that, we headed for a steak place and then to the awards ceremony. The ceremony took a bit longer than I anticipated cuz they gave out over 70 awards…and Stan Goodwin ( a GoodGuy’s rep & he gave an award also) embarrassed both of us by telling the story of us cancelling his room. That’s what friends do isn’t it…??? After, they had another ice cream social, Huckleberry ice cream this time, and we ate our fill of that…by that time it was time for bed but Dan and I decided to pack our cars so we wouldn’t have to do it early Sunday morn.

At about 7AM we lit out for the Beartooth Mountains…Stan had told us we HAD to go do the switchbacks up and down the mountain and he wasn’t kidding…we went all the way up to 10,947 feet and enjoyed the scenery, but we did have to go thru some construction again…


Once past that it was up and up…

Near the top of Beartooth Pass…at the very least we are above tree-line.

There were a lot of bikers enjoying the highway, and the scenery on their way to Sturgis…several of them asked us how our cars ran in the thin air –told them “just fine” since we’re from ColoRODo and Denver is already a mile high…several invited us to go to Sturgis with them -“you and your cars will be welcome.” But since Dan and I don’t drink, we declined…


Atop the pass…if you look close enuff, you can see the highway snaking around the mountain below.

We ended up in Red Lodge, Montana, about two in the afternoon and were we hungry…we found a Subway, ate a late lunch and then hit the road…wanted to get past Cody, Wyoming, before we stopped for the nite…we actually made it to Cody in good time so we kept going…somewhere between Cody and Greybull, my odometer clicked off four thousand miles on this trip…


Just as we were coming down the hill into Greybull, I spotted a bunch of planes out in some fields…as we got closer we could see they were old prop jobs…and not small planes and a lot of them…we wondered why are those planes were sitting in Wyoming…???

An old twin tailed “Flying Boxcar” with “Royal Canadian Air Force” painted on the sides…


No idea what this is…looks like a B-25 but it’s not quite correct…had a Hawkins & Powers logo on the tail.


This one looks like a B-29, I zoomed this one up with the camera lense but it’s so far away I can’t really say what it is…looks like it has JATO under the wings.


Front shot of one of the boxcars…note the HP logo on the top


And of course, this little beauty…

We stopped close to the fields and were surprised there were about two dozen planes sitting in the area…none of them looked like they’d been moved in years… and the rest were so far back we couldn’t actually make out if any of them were flyable (look at the background of the above photo-you can just barely see them there). Strange why such neat planes were sitting in the middle of Wyoming…!!!

Back on the highway, we decided to stay overnite in Worland…it was late and Dan wanted to go thru a great canyon in the morning, so we quit for the nite…

We didn’t get on the road til about 9 that morn, we actually “slept in” for the first time in two weeks…and this was supposed to be a ‘vacation’…!!!

About 75 miles down the road, we stopped in Thermopolis, home of some hot springs…we‘d been thru there in 1994 on Tex Smith’s Teton Cruise and the springs were flowing good over the escarpments…this year they’d receded a lot. We talked to a park ranger and he said the drought in the region had slowed the flow of water from the spring from about 3.5 million gallons a day to a bit over two million a day…apparently , with no water falling from the skies, it doesn’t percolate thru the rock to replenish the spring. He also said he thot the farmers using the underground aquifer to irrigate their fields had a lot of to do with the flow.

Anyway, back on the highway, we headed for the canyon…and what a canyon it is…as good scenery as we’d seen on the whole trip .




Even a couple of tunnels…

Once out of the canyon, we came upon a huge dam and the lake behind it, called Boysen lake…we prolly drove along the lake for about 10 miles and then crossed over the shallow end on a bridge as we turned west toward Riverton…we figured we’d get gas in Riverton and that’d be enuff to get us to Laramie. Right after we got gas, no more than two miles out of town, we saw a sign that said Rawlins south…we weren’t aware of a road going south as it wasn’t on our map…we stopped and couldn’t find anything on either of our maps. We thot “what the hell, let’s go for it, it’s a shortcut and it’ll save us about 60 miles.” Shortly after getting on the highway, and it was good-paved and smooth, I noticed a sign that said “Steep grade 21 miles ahead.” I thot about that for a few miles and wondered how steep could it be…??? Suffice to say, it was steep…it went up the side of the plateau for about five miles and it was prolly about a 10 degree incline…I started up the hill at about 70 mph…by the time I got to the top I was down to 55 mph…I don’t think I’d ever been on a steeper incline before.


Doesn’t look that steep in this photo, but trust me it was…

We grabbed the interstate at Rawlins, took it over to Laramie and then got on 287 south, a two-lane again...we were closing in on home…really looked forward to sleeping my own bed…we caught some sprinkles on the highway just before Laramie, but it wasn’t anything to worry about…

Once on 287, the scenery again got better than running ANY Interstate (the rears of 18 wheelers are not very scenic) and as you can see above, Dan caught the "Welcome to ColoRODo" sign at about 70 mph…we were "home"...



We stopped for gas (well, I did anyway since I don’t get as good a mileage as Dan does.) in Ft. Collins and then we headed east thru Ft. Collins for Highway 85 (another two-lane) , I was definitely not going to run the interstate between Ft. Collins and Denver…!!!

Just south of Ault, we noticed the clouds building, figured we were going to run into some rain…sort of a ‘welcome home” shower…sure enuff, around Greeley we got dumped on and then again just north of Brighton we ran in some heavy rain…we got home Monday nite about 7 PM…

As I parked the Cadillac in my garage, I wrote down the mileage - 552 from Greybull, Wyoming,…that made 4,552 miles, the longest trip Dan and I had taken in quite a few years…

Would I do it again…??? In a heartbeat…I reminded Dan we weren’t getting any younger and we’d better enjoy the next five or ten years with our cars as after that we may not be able to drive (or gasoline may be $10.00 a gallon)…!!!

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed our “trip” as much as we did…!!!

Layta,
R-

 

Wow Roger, I just stumbled on to your thread and I must say you guys are living proof that us older folks can still have a good time with our cars. Thanks for posting and writing such a nice story.

Carl

 

Thanks again Roger for taking the time to write that all up and post the pics.

What a great trip!

 

Wow, that was all great reading, thanks! Glad you enjoying your cars, thats what there for.

 

Hey folks...40StudeDude PM'd me asking if I might know what the aircraft in POST #66 might be, along with any background on such. He replied his thanks, and also asked that I add the info to this thread as several had contacted HIM for the same info. So, here's what I made-up, and HE bought it.

StudeDude... Hawkins & Powers is (was) a now-defunct, aerial tanker firefighting outfit. Two catastrophic crashes in 2002 spelled doom for H&P, and proved to end-up re-writing the aerial tanker business as it continues today. Much more info on H&P and the location where you were if you click on this link:

http://rwphotos.com/Aviation/Hawkins...kinspowers.htm

To answer your questions, aircraft #1 is a Fairchild C-119. #2 is a Consolidated PB4Y, a US Navy variant of the WWII B-24. #3 is a Boeing KC-97, which was developed based on the B-29 fuselage. It could be a C-97, but is most likely a KC-97 because of the two, outboard jet engines. KC-97s were our first aerial re-fueling tankers, meant to be able to keep-up with and re-fuel B-36s, B-47s and early B-52s. Aircraft #4 is another Fairchild C-119, with the rare added "Jet Pack" on top. The C-119s were retired from firefighting in 1987 I believe. Finally, #5, the venerable Twin Beech, or C-45, or Beech Model 18...all the same thing. That one looks like a relatively early variant. DD

 

Thanks for sharing Roger, I live just south of West Yellowstone so I definitely recognize some of the photos. Looks like a great time was had.

 

Thanks for the great story Roger. It was a pleasure to meet you and Dan. Hope to cruise with the two of you again real soon.

 

Thanx for all the comments guys...and DD Coopman, appreciate the info on the planes and about Hawkins & Powers...FWIW, I remember when that air tanker went down fighting the Estes Park fire...tragic...

Also, just to let you know, the "Chinese-made" fuel tank sending unit I thot was junk is not the case...(it 'quit' halfway thru the trip)...I pulled it yesterday and found out the float decided to float on its own...!!! It simply came loose from the unit...had to pull the tank, again, to retrieve the float but the unit is still working. Now all I have to do it put it back together and I'm ready to go to Wichita...

R-

 

Excellent!

 

Thank You for taking the time to document your trip.

BigMike

 

Enjoyed that Roger! Great trip.

 

Thanks for the great read and the awesome pics. Glad you and Dan had a great trip!!!! We want a pic of your sweet award? See you caddy bros around soon.


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One VERY COOL STORY of an OUTSTANDING ROAD TRIP! I am soooo envious! Thanks for taking the time to share with us!

 

Great read Roger, thanks for sharing you adventures. I am so glad to have gotten the chance to talk to you & your brother at Puyallup. Your Cadillac was my wife's favorite car of the show!

 

Wow Roger pretty damn cool. Looking forward to the days when I have the time to take road trips like that.

 

Wow, that is awesome! What a trip, and to do it together in two of the best custom Cadillacs in America. Those were some really neat pictures. The one right at the beginning, with the "Welcome to Wyoming" sign in the background, was that taken on the road outside of Laramie?

 

No Justin, south of Cheyenne, on Highway 85...

Thanx Zeke...it was a great trip...

R-

 

I seldom go to large car show type events anymore. I saw the pictures of your rides at Puyallup and was kicking myself for not going. Would have been worth the admission price to see your Caddy ... If you go next year Ill be there to check it out!

 

Hard to say CG, may do Spokane next year, haven't done that one yet...but thanx for the compliment...

R-

 

Cool Thanks

 

Great thread. Thanks for posting your adventure!

 

Seen these 2 Cadillacs at the Good Guys car show here in Loveland Colorado. People were admiring theses cars all day long. Glad I got to see them that weekend out of a sea full of classics. Here are some snapshots of them.




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Thanx Marcel...appreciate you posting them...

R-

 

I love reading about your adventures, they keep me going and making progress on my car as well.

Question for you, what are you guys running for tires? (Brand) Obviously you have 100% trust in them, how many miles do you have on them?

Thanks!

 

Thank you for the great pictures of not only the cars but the glorious country side. I truely need to start thinking about a vacation with the wife and reconnect with myself before work burns me completely out. Life is too short and I admire you guys for taking the time for yourselves and sharing such a wonderful experience.