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The Great Hershey Road Trip begins...


bamfordsgarage

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Hello All, Day 13, Hershey PA to Wilmington DE, 127 miles.

We had a great few days at Hershey: met forum members Jim Yergin, OldManMike, 40Phil41, (and a couple more Jerry spoke with but I didn't meet), sold some old wire wheels at a nice profit, managed to cover about 60% of the massive swap meet, picked up a few trinkets for the Dodge (spare carb, P15 workshop manual, proper red rear marker lite lenses, an appropriately ratty locking gas cap, tire chains — we're thinking about the Arctic Circle next fall — and little red reflectors for the rear license plate). I took the AACA apprentice judges training program, and we probably had the old Dodge certified for AACA's Historical Preservation of Features recognition in the car show today, but won't know for sure for a couple weeks.

From here it's on to Washington DC for several days of touristing and we fly home to Edmonton Thursday evening, leaving the car to overwinter at Gentleman Jim Yergin's place in Virginia.

What a great trip... we are so lucky to have the time, the car, the resources and especially the good-natured long-suffering wives who make it all possible!

Today's picture post: Camp Dodge at Hershey O-AB4; cool '42 Dodge truck offered at $3,500; gorgeous '52 Plymouth wagon with only 42,750 miles, yours for only $22,500; my favourite car of the 1,300+ at the big show today, this totally original and unrestored 1913 Mercer Raceabout; our '47 at the show — the Dodge-ish grille and badges on Plymouthy sheet metal got a lot of comments the last few days.

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Joe Flanagan, Rodney Bullock, and Chet B are also in the VA, MD, Del area if you get a chance before you fly home maybe you can say hey to them also.

What is the plan for recovering the car, will ther be a spring trip to the Maritimes, Or a route 30/66 cruise??

Sounds like you had a grand motoring adventure, and a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing.

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well i ddint get to meet you, two,, seen that your roof rack was empty except for the 2 tires,,impressive roof rack,,,,are you a cabinet maker???? so why are you leaving the car in the states???? have a safe trip home,,,,

It does look good, how about some closeup photos of it if you can find the time:)

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It was great meeting up with you guys , it was really a pleasure . The undertaking you guys took for that cross country trip really needs to be put in print in some publication . I think i can speak for most , that was something we all would love to accomplish or at least have the "cohonies" to attempt . Again it was great meeting up with you guys and wish you nothing but the best on your spring return trip .

Mike

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It was great meeting up with you guys , it was really a pleasure . The undertaking you guys took for that cross country trip really needs to be put in print in some publication . I think i can speak for most , that was something we all would love to accomplish or at least have the "cohonies" to attempt . Again it was great meeting up with you guys and wish you nothing but the best on your spring return trip .

Mike

I couldn't agree more, hope Richard Lentinello, of Hemmings Classic Car, runs a feature article on Chris's cross country tour, it is quite amazing......Fred

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I found your site and your Dodge and talked to your friend Jerry on Wed afternoon, but you were out shopping. Sorry I didn't make it back to meet and talk to you Chris.

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Hello All, Day 14, Wilmington, DE to College Park, MD (DC area) via Avalon, NJ. Distance today 244 miles, trip total 3,705.

Your reporters spent less than six hours in New Jersey but will remember it for a lifetime...

We met a delightful retired teacher at breakfast in our Wilmington-area Comfort Inn, who described himself as a “Diner Diva”, devoting his days to traveling around the country, researching and enjoying the classic American Diner. He is involved with this crowd: http://www.americandinermuseum.org/site/aboutadm.php We asked if he could suggest a diner to visit along our way from Wilmington across to NJ, down to the bottom of the state then crossing from NJ to DE on the Cape May to Lewes ferry and west to Washington. He suggested the Deepwater Diner in Carney’s Pt, NJ, which was just across the bridge and a delightful example of early ‘50s prefab American Diner. We treated ourselves to blueberry pie and coffee almost exactly two weeks to the minute since our departure from Edmonton many miles ago.

From there it was down to the southern tip of NJ, where we planned to dip the wheels of the Dodge into the Atlantic, thus marking the completion of the cross-country drive we started near San Francisco in November, 2008 (granted, we stopped in Edmonton for 23 months along the way). This was also the furthest east we went on this trip, and pulling out from the beach was kind of like heading for home — Yippee!

One is permitted to drive on the beach at Avalon, provided one has a permit. We free spirits chose to ignore this technicality. Had we not been busy thumbing our noses at authority, we might have learned that permits are only issued for four-wheel drive vehicles, and, as we quickly learned, for very good reason. It seems fully-loaded old Dodges with 600x16 tires are no match for the sands of Avalon. We got stuck but good and it took two two ropes, a Ford 4-wheel drive, junk out of the trunk, boards under the tires, two shovels and three guys pushing to move the Dodge through 50 ft of soft sand and back to the beach access road. This took over an hour, ample time for the Avalon Police to drop by and issue a summons for beach driving without a permit. This crime carries a $250 penalty.

Too bad about the dough, but that’s life. Other than the pesky fine, it was actually a pretty cool experience, and kind of in keeping with the spirit of our little expedition — think of the countless motorists who got stuck driving the poor/non-existent roads of years past and had to rely on ingenuity, brute strength and the kindness of strangers to get unstuck and on their way again.

The ferry ride to DE was very pleasant and we had only one other encounter with the police on our way into the DC area — passing through the town of Bridgeville, DE we saw a sign proclaiming the “Boyhood Home” of General Custer. We stopped to take a quick photo when a woman came out from the house next door to give a long explanation of the joke behind the sign when a town cop pulled up behind, lights flashing, to see why we were (but only partially) blocking the roadway. No harm done, the woman said “I’ll take care of him”, which she promptly did and he waved us on. Her explanation of the sign is that while it is technically correct, it’s not what it seems — there is a retired 5-Star General by the name of Custer who lives in Bridgeville and grew up in that house, but who is clearly not the General Custer of historical fame.

Fstfish66 & Frankie47: you were asking about the car top carrier... my traveling buddy Jerry is the cabinet maker/tin-basher/man of many trades responsible for building this sturdy structure. You can see some early photos and a description near the bottom of this thread: http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/showthread.php?t=23576 I since added marker lights front and rear and signal lights to the rear, which can be seen in some of my daily report photos. We like the marker lights for night driving — with our reflectors they help us slow movers be seen from a distance. The lights were left in their original beat up paint, but the insides were sandblasted and painted silver for maximum efficiency.

Re Joe Flanagan: I would like to reach Joe by ‘phone but do not have his number. Could someone please either send me a PM with his number, or shoot him a PM asking him to get in touch? Thanks.

Today’s pictures: Deepwater Diner, Carney’s Pt, NJ; Our $250 photo op in Avalon, NJ; Digging & dragging the Dodge; Boarding the ferry to Lewes, DE; Site of Custer’s First Stand.

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Edited by bamfordsgarage
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Some where on this forum is a very similar picture of Bob Van Buskirk's woodie in a pose very much like your Dodge's a bit further south along N. Corolina's outer banks. But it was probably posted a year or two before you joined the forum. I pulled a similar stunt in a SAAB on Cape Cod about 20 years ago.

The symbolic dunking of the toes in both oceans is probably best accomplished with a bucket filled from one ocean or the other, splahed on the tire of your choice.

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It was great meeting up with Chris and Jerry at Hershey. I truly admire their adventuresome spirit in traveling that far in a wonderful old Dodge. Here is a photo of myself, Chris and Jerry at their Hershey vending spot. That blue sky staid with us from Thursday to Saturday. At the Saturday car show there was a constant crowd of people around the Dodge.

Phil

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Thanks Don, I heard from Joe Flanagan this morning. Jerry and I went to his place for a very nice visit this afternoon after touring the Smithsonian Museum of American History (great place that). Joe has his '49 Plymouth engine apart right now, and that was a welcome education — neither of us ever seen one of these flatheads apart 'till today.

Frankie47, we expect to be OK for water penetration — there is a rubber gasket now between the brackets and the roof metal, and we are using screws instead of rivets. When/if we take the rack off, I have some some small rubberized washers to put under the screws along with a bit of goop in the hole.

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I was glad I got a chance to see our Canadian travelers. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see their Dodge workhorse. They have a couple days of sightseeing in Washington, DC and have about the best weather possible, so the timing was perfect. I hope to see them again in March when they come back to do the sequel.

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looking forward to the return trip in 2011, the shot on the beach is priceless,,the discovery channel should of covered this adventure,,,

as for hershey,,saturday is no longer a day for searching parts,all the venders start packing up friday,,,,,altho its only my 3rd time there,,,i didnt know any thing about the car show till following this topic,,, im so glad i found the car show portion of this event,,there were some amazing cars,,,,talked to a woman from jew jersey,,with a 1931 duzenburg,,first one i ever seen in person,,,stunning,,,she commented we only have 1 duzy,,,my husband is a packard man,and we have 84 packards,,,

GEEZ only 1 duzenburg,,,what shame i felt like saying LOL

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