Looks like you guys have 81 and sunny. Enjoy your cruise and dinner.
Right you are Marty. Just got back from our run a few minutes ago. Blue Ridge Parkway to Little Switzerland with a loop on The Diamondback, followed by lunch and the route back on the BRP. Dinner tonight. A perfect SOC weekend!
Sure beats my 60 degree 1hr cruise today. Glad you are having a good time.
Magnificent scenery, perfect weather, and wonderful company. Those of you who had to opt out at the last minute should feel very very sad.
Yeah, this is what you call rubbing it in.
Great weekend, great weather, and most importantly great friends.
best run of all was this AM: BIGBIRD took only 39 minutes for the 60 mile run from north Asheville to the house in Jonesborough, TN !
Finally met Lane's better half, "PAM".... A really nice person and a perfect match up with Lane.... Tom Blankinship / Natalie were a blast running up the parkway.... The Italian orgey at Travinos put me out for a solid 8hrs.... Got home in just 3 hrs, averaging 60mph....
The wife was planning her "trip" (payback) all the way home... 
Had a cold front come through last night and the weather is even more spectacular today. The drive home tomorrow should be in perfect conditions.
Glad to read that you all had a good time on the cruise! But then again, how could one NOT have a good time hanging out with like-minded SOC buds and top-down cruising. Hope to see some pics!
Right you are Jim. The formula for a great time! For those of you not on FB, I left at 3:00 am and made it home at 1:40 pm. I enjoyed every mile of the trip and Natalie ran great. I had to re-JB a Tenax stud while there and I need to add a retaining strap to my driver's side side-curtain, but other than that the car was flawless. Oh yeah, at about 7:00 this morning, in the mountains, it was 37 and I was mighty cold wearing only a light jacket with typical heat. I'm going to ask car to move the vents to bulkheads next to each seat to cut out sone of the heat loss. I will lose defrost, but no biggie.
Leon, I thought we all agreed not to discuss the orgy. What happens in Asheville stays in Asheville :-)
Sounds like you people had a great time.
I'm adding 'Do the Dragons Tail' and also, 'Participate in an Italian Orgey at Travinos' to my bucket list...and hope to be able to cross them off in 2013!
Maybe I can talk Jack or his buddy Morgan Freeman into being my right seater and keeping his eye on the CHT gauge.
Yep--great time at Mountain Madness! Gorgeous scenry, good buds, great food and libations and a beautiful hotel where we HQ'd.
Pam Lane was delightful and we all saw that Lane married up---lucky guy! And what a talented lady---coaches sports teams and an all-round athlete. Nursing a sore shoulder too---get over that soon, Pam and thanks for joining us!
Tom Blankenship is one amazing dude--- he ran the Tail Of the Dragon early one morning before we got started with the regular schedule! Not only did he run it but after he got to the end of it, he turned around and ran it the opposite direction! What an animal! We all agreed that Tom's silver metallic paint should N-O-T be changed for another color----too beautiful as it is now! Tom's rolling out of Asheville at 3 am this morning---what can I say? I hope you got a refund for 1/2 a night's stay anyway!!
Tom Raymond brought some of his fabulous photos and vids of his recent trip to Europe seeing the 6 (or 8??) series audis produced (8 cars produced a day I think he said) plus the BMW plant at Munich.
Tom says that the latest thing in paint from these mfgs is matte paint finish! I can't see that sticking aroung long, but who knows. Matte??? Wierd.
Leon had a wierd clicking as he pulled into the garage at the hotel and thought an axle was taking a hike but it turned out to be some pebbles in there someplace rather than a real mechanical issue. The gold Speedster looks great and the new plexi windows are sensational too.
My son Russ brought his whole crew too--Brenda, and the grandkids, Kelly and Sean. A treat for this old grampa!
Alice and I opted to drive straight through today stopping only for gas, breakfast and lunch. Totaled about 700 miles in 12 hours. Car ran awesome with oil temps of 175 max and CHT at 300 the whole way. Avg MPG was 25.1 and I added just 1/2 qt for the round trip, 1,400 miles plus the two days of cruising in the Smokies. I can report We didn't get passed much ---the Type IV is running sensational. I got too close behind a green Miata and he took a sudden left turn with two clicks of his turn signal! If Alice had not seen the car coming along side of me on the right as I started to move over to the same place that other car was occupying and warned me, we would have swapped paint and who knows what else. Rather than pull to the right I useed the 4 wheel disc brakes to slow to let that yo yo make his turn. Ah yes---a little excitement. Those frigging Masdas!
It was a great weekend!
Jack - glad to hear you & Alice had a great trip! Driving that Type IV powered Speedster of yours could NEVER get old!
Tom B is a MACHINE!!
Hope to see some pics from the group.
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Here are a few pictures from this past weekend's festivities.
- Happy Hour Thursday night
- At the Wheels Through Time museum, the "belly tank racer" from an episode of American Pickers
- Ditto
- Ditto, with Leon providing some scale
- BMW-powered Veritas. I believe this was a one-off. At least I certainly hope so.
- Ditto
- Ditto
- Ditto
- "Jack, let's trade the Speedster for this nice V-16 Cadillac"
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Some more.
- A cycle car from early last century. I can't remember the maker
- Ditto
- Ditto
- I didn't know Indian made outboards, but they have two
- View from second floor
- Ditto
- Lunch at a neat B&B we found in Waynesville, NC. I just had to blink, didn't I?
- Dinner at P.F. Chang's. This time Margaret blinked.
- On the Blue Ridge Parkway, Saturday.
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And still some more.
- Pam and Margaret being patient while we shoot some pics
- Ah... the mountains!
- Again
- Little Switzerland at the beginning of the Diamondback
- Lunch at the Little Switzerland Cafe
- Ditto
I forgot my camera later, so I have no dinner at Travinia shots. Given what Leon called it, that's probably a good thing.
For more pictures of the museum, check out these shots from our visit two years ago: http://s53.photobucket.com/alb...?albumview=slideshow
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Lane, great photos. Damn, I wish I lived closer (and had an engine in my IM).
Looks like you all were having a good time in some great countryside scenery!
-the Type IV is running sensational
Thats all that matters...
Hey Jake---good to hear from you---thanks for stopping by! We have to get you and Beth to join us next year---Asheville really pretty close to Cleveland, GA.
Yep--the engine ran fantastic but the best part is knowing with certanty that no "unscheduled maintenance" will be necessary which was always a big concern before the engine swap. Just read the posts to see the large amount of engine troubles that occur.
I know you create superb engines but you really out did yourself with this one!
Semper Fi my friend!
Jack,
Your project goes down in our history books as one of the most difficult but also the most fulfilling. Nothing I love better than knowing you are traveling down the road with confidence, even on these long trips that are known as "engine killers" for the less thoroughbred platforms.
Semper Fi