[Anfanuts]

The little white 65 Super, Bianca, is taking us on a road trip! Wanna join in? Any Alfa roadtrip with me always brings the obligatory blog. We'll be 12 days total out for the drive to Lex, 4 days of Alfa touring (the Convention official pre-tour), 4 days of convention and a couple back. Will try to keep my Homies back home (and elsewhere) up to date here when possible.

The 2 1/2 day drive out was awesome. Went through Dallas at 104 without A/C and facing the sun. Kristy was thrilled but sitting in the back shady side was like having A/C on!! Made it to just before Little Rock, Bryant, and it dropped to 102 there. Even leaving at 4:20 AM we made it in at about 2 PM. Thoroughly baked. No noteworthy commentary or pics as we just did the interstates to get the heck out of the awesome Texas record heat wave ASAP.

Second day brought us just past Nashville and we were welcomed with a nice cooling thunderstorm. Today was a very short drive but we did a detour through Lincoln's birth cabin and childhood home and drove on some small roads that were gorgeous. We got stuck for awhile behind an old 2 CV trotting along the byways, literally. Last shots are at the Campbell House in Lexington for a night, and a famous local diner. We leave tomorrow AM on the pre-tour. When I came in, there was a Duetto and Hooligan form Oregon unloading from trailers. There are some 22 Alfas in the pre-tour. Back out shortly to register now. Gonna be great!! See you later.

 

[Anfanuts]

Lex Post 2

A few more of the trip out and arrival. Lincoln's birth cabin and the shrine it is in (a repro cabin). He moved to a bigger one-room cabin at 2 years old.

The car ran superbly. We (thanks Jim) did a lot of work to get her tuned and some deferred maintenance done to make her more reliable. But you just can't do everything AND - say it aloud - "These are old cars", so anything can happen. All I experienced was the well documented stutter upon takeoff in first, probably a carb issue. I kept her under 130kph (80mph), usually 65-75, in deference to not knowing the exact status of the engine. The shoulder belt B-pillar bolt fell off this morning and I heard the captive nut fall down the B-pillar, so now it's a lap belt. Anyone know how to fetch and reattach it??


See you later!!

 

[sedeuce]

Can you use a magnet to slide the nut up the b-piller and then snatch it up near the top of the post?

safe driving and stay cool you kids!

 

[Laxman24]

Did you get a "Poor-Boy" at the Parkette?

 

[Anfanuts]

What else could a po boy from the Texas boonies afford?? Of course . . . All the way through with rings!!

So, a large noogie to the first one who figures out how to get my seatbelt mounting captive nut up. (See above)

 

[HeavyMetalAlfa]

Oh Man !! A Road Trip to compete with[for fun] !!!
Okay, ya gotta start taking video,, capturing cool moments along the way,,
I will too, we'll share in the parking lot sessions,,,

 

[fangio8c]

Vicariously subscribed!

 

[Anfanuts]

Covered Bridges and Heat Stroke

Day 1 of the pre-tour went very well. No mileage tally but it felt like a few hundred. As seems usual for recent conventions, a nice heat wave has moved in. Fortunately those form the south, notably Central Texas, and the Gobi desert are acclimatized to this. Pity those poor souls in convertibles from the cooler climates. About 1/3rd on highways and the rest on small fun roads,. Stephen Hawkins, our overall Tour Director has done a superb job laying out an interesting route. After the usual driver's meeting and route guide review this morning, we were off! One Giulia convertible was a DNS with a clutch pedal problem (coming tonight), one SS blew a tire on the highway but was undamaged and some other small assorted bugs, not fatal to any cars yet. So far so good for the little 65 Giulia. About 1150 miles out in the heat and a brutal I40 interstate much of the way.

We saw three famous covered bridges today and lots of very green countryside. And was it HOT and HUMID. Lots of red faces. Folks wandered in from 5 PM to well past 7 PM. The lodge is something out of a Chevy Chase Summer Vacation movie (or should have been), very nice and nostalgic. Shawnee State Park

Would post some shots but the dang connection won't let me for now. So someday . . .

 

[Anfanuts]

Pre-Tour Day 1 - #2

And a few more.

 

[Anfanuts]

Heat and Humidity

While the locals and NW visitors are complaining about the heat, it is just starting to feel comfortable for us Texans. So the 96 deg and 99.999% humidity here is no problem after training for this in Texas's current hot summer. Add in a 3500 mile drive in Europe that finished a few weeks ago, without A/C and some hot temps, and this little jaunt at a couple hundred miles a day is a piece of cake. We go that far for a good BBQ lunch! Thank goodness for Texas summers, as by comparison everything else is easy. I invited a bunch of folks down for a few weeks before the next convention to train as it seems every convention for the past many years has been unreasonably hot.

So today we did a jaunt up NW from Shawnee State Park in Ohio through Lebanon where we had lunch in the state's oldest Inn (The Golden Lamb) and then to Hueston Woods State Resort in Ohio. Very similar genre resort. Several interesting stops planned. We skipped some of the optional sights on today's route to get in earlier as we all left late deciding on the day's plans and chatting.

No new car problems that I've heard of. The Giulia Spider is back with us after freeing a seized floor mounted clutch pedal (time to clean those floor mounted pedal boxes . . .).

We all have a different angle on Alfas. For those of us who think they were meant for driving, and driving hard, I'd have to say that this event IS the heart of the Convention. Alfisti brethren and even "sistahs" driving under trying conditions and soldiering on with camaraderie, poise and mutual support. In fact, the heart and soul of Alfas. "Just get out there and drive." But it takes all kinds and we will be back in civilization to hobnob and circulate the day after tomorrow. In the meantime we are out here driving. This is a great event for sure.

 

[Anfanuts]

And some more from today.

 

[Anfanuts]

Ok, just a few more . .

And a small video from yesterday.

 

[alfaloco]

Great job there Bruce and Kristi! The photos and video are just... well, Super!

 

[Anfanuts]

Thanks Dave, and thanks for the warm welcome to Lexington. Hope you can follow along just a bit here. It's been a great tour, lots of camaraderie and nice roads, and great places to stay. Sorry it's the last day tomorrow.

One more video from Day 1 and some snaps from the POD I traveled with today. The travel pods vary a bit every day giving you a chance to meet and get to know different folks. The group dinners are wonderful BUT this place here is DRY!!! Zakiras garage/resto shop was amazing. Gina Lollo cleared 56,000 original miles today!!

 

[Anfanuts]

Stop at Zakiras Resto Shop

A cool stop outside Cincinnati on Day 3 was at an upscale resto shop. They specialize in rare American race iron (old Indy cars) but will do anything foreign or domestic.

 

[Anfanuts]

Tour Day 3

The day ended after a combo of some urban and nice rural farm roads at Spring Mill State Resort Inn in south-central Indiana. Another idyllic setting with a great evening buffet that all anxiously partook in after an early lunch in Cincinnati at a "Bob's" Big Boy. Some shot here form early Day 4.

Link to driving clip:

 

[Anfanuts]

More Day 4 Pretour

A few more shots of of day four at the Louisville Slugger bat factory and Heaven Hills bourbon distillery where we got private tours. Learned a lot about distilled spirits and proper sipping technique. That 18 year-old bourbon was pretty tasty and smooth.

Some tally's as we close out the tour: 1141 miles from Austin to the hotel in Lexington and then 828 round trip on the tour for about 2000 miles in the little Giulia so far this trip. No problems but the carb stumble from 2000-2500 rpm. Thanks to Jim Sikking for his great work in getting her ready for this trip and updating many years of deferred maintenance. Thanks Jim!

 

[Anfanuts]

More Day 4 Pre-Tour

A few more of day four of the Pre-Tour. Bourbon tasting and education and on the bourbon trail heading home with an 18 year-old bottle of single barrel.

Video of Heaven Hill's "Bourbon-U":

 

[Anfanuts]

Back at the Convention

New local buds John & Gregg, and Jerry, and CARS in the parking lot. The rear lot (~120 cars) was filled to overflowing with more on the side and front. Say 140'ish and over 410 registrants at last count. Lots of roundtails, about 15-20, lots of camback S2-S4's, 8-10 Giulietta and Giulia Spiders, and GT's, but only 3 Supers, all S1's, with two highly modified. Two Sprints Coupes, one SS, one 55 Giulietta Berlina (more on them later). About 20 trailer queens of race and concourse making. And a big gaggle of post 105 cars, say 30+. They say we occupied 75% of the hotel, a large one.

 

[Anfanuts]

More Cars in the Parking Lot

And new bud Glenn. Thinks he seized a bearing on the time trials .