Pennsylvania Fall Tour

Geez, and I was thinking the 12th of Never!

I'm interested in more info re the Dragon Tour Oct 10-12. Have been over it in my Spdstr 3 or 4 times but 25-30 yrs ago. A friend of mine nearly killed himself on his Honda Bike about 3 yrs ago.

Anyone?

Mike Robbins
Indpls

See ...."Fall 2008 Weekend in the Smoky Mountains" in the events section for details.

Yer mor'n welcome to join us, Michael!!

Bruce, Ralph has a bunch of cars in right now.
Need a 'plan B,' or are you okay?

Cory,

Thanks for the offer and thinking about me. My daughter is running a marathon in Baltimore that day and it's become a "family" affair so I can't join you guys - it's killing me! After organizing past local meets I can't believe we're gonna miss this one. If you guys go to the raindate there is a slight chance I'll be there in my daily driver (the damn Speedster is still dead).

TWC extended forecast for Chambersburg PA for Sat Oct 11th

Sunny
High 70

...chance of fun = 100%

That sounds almost exactly like the forecast for the mountains next week. We're all gonna have us some fuuuuuuun!!!!!!!

My CMC is still very much in the some assembly required state. Maybe by next spring. For some activities I am the Rally chair for the local PCA club and have set up a number of Gimmick Rallies courses in the Northern VA and MD area. Most of them end at someplace involving food and fun. I have a nice one that I did last May that finished with a wine tasting in Amissville. That rally was a Fox Hunt (find the number of Foxes on mail boxes signs etc.) We also had other questions and photo to find. No stop watches or speed, just a clipboard and pencil.

If folks are interested let me know. May is usually good weather in VA a little cool for the top down so wear clothes.

Gary

Kim and I did a second speedster ride of the tour route this afternoon, what a beautiful ride! ~Alan

Head count? Drake (and soon to be Mrs. Drake), party of two, are "all in."

"and soon to be Mrs. Drake" - What did I miss?

Head count: ( 11 )

speedsters: ( 6 )


Please shoot me an email if you would like to join us on
"The Pumpkin Run" ....Your speedster is not necessary. ~Alan


Alan & Kim M
Rocky & Linda C
Greg & Linda B
Barry Crone
Kelly Fraser
Cory & Ms T
Bill Drayer

Forecast for Saturday...Sunny high of 71.

Is there an itin? Might not be able to do the whole day, breakfast at the Magicians's garage, etc., but could look to join up at the right place/time. Pls advise. And, BTW, that is with a "z".

Kelly

Alan

Count me in. Barry Crone and I will be caravaning together

Lew Martin

Lew,
Good deal! .... see you on Saturday.

Kelly PM sent ~Alan

Got a cool phone-mail from Wild Bill sometime today. Shows a picture of a half-dozen or so Speedies parked on the Pennsylvania "Pumpkin Cruise" (see below).

Haven't heard anything from the Dragon folks, but the WX for the Smokies was supposed to be PERFECT!! We had rain in Beaufort all day and I was feeling a little better, so I totally re-vamped my workshop. Hope to paint all the wall cabinets some sort of "Man-Color" later this week.

gn

Here's a couple of shots of the Gang and the Cars at Alan Merklins Pumkin Run.
Thanks Al and all those who helped you put this together. We had a great time,
Greg & Linda

Left to Right are:
Rocky Cimbrec, Alan Merklin, Linda Cimbrec,
Kim Merklin, Bill & Joanie Drayer,
Greg & Linda Billesbach,
Barry Crone, Teresa & Cory Drake,
Kelly Frazer, Lew Martin.

This day was absolutely perfect! Couldn't have asked for better Fall weather and all speedsters ran without any problems...the day long grins on everyone's faces were priceless !
Kim and I want to thank you all for making this day, a perfect one!
With the success of the tour, mark your calendars now to join us for
next year's Pumpkin Run on Saturday October 10, 2009.
~ Alan & Kim Merklin

Had a ball on this one! My clock read about 140 miles not counting an hour to and from Alan's. Shoulda called it Tail of the Pumpkin Run! The back roads in and thru the "hollers" were a bit spirited at times and Blackie loved it as much as we did. Hung out in 2nd and 3rd 3500 to 4500 quite a bit.....PISSA!
Here's a few shots I got.

Many THANX to Al & Kim (and Doug too) for a GREAT time!

~WB

....and a couple more.
The Honda and the Vette were the "Broom Squad".

Had the right seater take this while going down the part of the mountain Al calls the Vista. This is a lonnnng run down the mountain with a pretty good down grade to it, runaway truck traps and all.
Ya might wanna mute the sound as there is wind noise.
~WB

Yep -- we had a blast. Several hours of great back roads, w/ Alan leading a merry chase through some fun twisties. 3rd gear got a good work out. Tail of the Pumpkin -- that could work. Will look for posts from the Dragon guys to see how all that worked out.

Looks like a great cruise! Wish I was there!!

Wonderful!!!! When I called Alan, and later Cory, it sounded like y'all were having as great a time as we did. That picture (vista1.jpg) looks almost like where we were.

"The Great Pumpkin Tour!" slideshow # 1
http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z293/RockyC_photos/?action=view¤t=584ea090.pbw

"The Great Pumpkin Tour!" slideshow # 2
http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z293/RockyC_photos/?action=view¤t=d1891200.pbw


Still photos with identification 'tags' on each photo
http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z293/RockyC_photos/INAUGURAL%20PUMPKIN%20TOUR%20Oct%2011%202008/

Nice job, Rocky!

Geez....looks like all Y'all had a terrific time!!

I stil can't believe that Beaufort, SC, was the only place on the entire East Coast (if not the entire country) that had rain for the whole weekend.

|>( Nuts.....

Teresa and I had an outstanding time, too! Thanks, Alan, for putting that run together!
I have a few images uploaded so far, but the resolution is a bit off. I'll fix that and add more this week.
Here's what we have:

Last three for now. More tomorrow!

Cory - looks and reads like you & BERT had a great time (give her a big hug for me), especially with Hoopty running without missing a beat!!

Peace - Out!

WHAT?!?!?!?!?

Hoopty ran great without Cory messing with her all weekend?

Looks like he and Teresa should get together under the car more often....

;>)

And I wonder if Alan's neighbors will ever get used to the constant Carnivale over at the Merklin house......

Cory,

GREAT shot of Alan and his Pumkin. Also of the cool yellow wheel covers on some truck. Very, very cool.

Now I know why every now and then you guys swung wide: to get the good caravan shot. Nicely done.

PS: I have an idea to run out to the Blue Ridge foothills in a week or two. Who would enjoy that kind of trip? Likely would be an overnighter, but folks could make a day trip out of it just as well. When I get completley focused on that, will post a thread -- sort of a come-as-you-are kind of thing.

MUSB: as you know, the RT west-to-east-to-west coast in not all that expensive, if you play it right. Plenty of right seats bound to be available. This adventure will stage it's Second Annual version next year, I am certain. Make a plan . . .

Keep us in the loop, Kelly.

Here is my highlights reel from the trip -- barring those images on Teresa's camera that have a few of Kelly in them.
These first three are of us chasing Barry through the wooded Pennsylvania countryside. Barry was able to keep up with the leaders quite handily, which says something. Considering that Alan had driven the course a couple times already, staying put with him and his Pennsylvanian ilk took some doing!
Barry, beautiful car. Enjoy the pictures.

The first one is the initial potty stop. Rule number one if you're cruising with these Mid-Atlantic guys; make sure there are adequate rest stops -- for legs AND bladders. They're kinda old.
The second picture is a pretty dramatic uphill sweep. We frequently took an inopportune inside line on sweeping curves, largely because I can't drive worth a sh*t -- correction; because we wanted a better vantage point for the camera -- and a few shots like this came out.
Third is the starting point in Alan's front yard.
(I've heard of opening your home to your friends before, but sacrificing your lawn? That Merklin cat is one okay dude!)

The horizontal parking lot lineup was another potty break. Having cruised with these cars before, I imagine everyone here is experienced in the Portable Car Show ... so I guess y'all know that the people of this little hamlet wandered up and down the cars several times and asked questions. The guy who stole the cake was a fella in a beater who drove down the street one way, then turned his jalopy around and came back for a second pass. Uh ... Whatever, Dude.
The second picture in this lineup was preparatory to the now-famous LeMans Start photo. While we were arranging this picture and Teresa was playing traffic cop, a group of Granolas came out of the woods and started asking questions.
"What year are those things?"
"Umm. ... They haven't really changed the lines since 1984. There are quite a few years represented here."
"Oh. Really?"
Ba-Dum-Bump.
Right. Number three is the "Cory's Pic for the 2009 Calendar" nominee. I'll e-mail high-res copies of that to anyone composing a calendar. Or whomever wants it. (Theron, are you taking bribes this year? Please? I'm, like, oh-for-three or something.)

Gordon, the car was flawless from start to finish. I didn't adjust so much as a single idle jet. And Teresa's Porsche Driving Experience education was perfect for her de facto right-seat coaching position. I learned a lot about how to drive on this cruise. It might have been the best weekend in a brilliant relationship. It was also our one-year anniversary, and we couldn't have spent it in better company.