MissHathawaysGreatRace

June 28th

The last two days of the rally are considered Championship Days. These two days are the most important days of the rally.

Each day we are given 5 to 8 scores. There are check points throughout the course where we are marked for our time. The goal is to arrive at the check point at the perfect time. Throughout the rally you are allowed to throw out a designated amount of legs based on the class you rally. Brad and I rally in the Expert Class, so we are allowed 4 throw out legs.

On Championship Days, you are not allowed to throw any of your scores out. This creates a little more stress going into the day, especially if you are in contention for a win.

This year we are not so close to a win, but anything can happen to change the scoreboard. Brad and I don’t typically follow the board because we know things can change drastically on these two days. That being said, throughout the rally people will comment on our position so we often find out where we are.

We were in 10th place going into the day. We strive to finish in the top 10, it is a competitive group and finishing with them is a win.

We were on our way toward Galax, Virginia. The morning was busy with directions. Stop signs, turns and changing speeds at every other sign kept everyone on their toes. Our eyes were on the road for signs and the speedometer to hold our speed. There was little opportunity to enjoy the scenery.

We were especially concerned because we had a 1913 American LaFrance in front of us. The La France is a chain driven car that cannot keep speed, especially through the mountains.

We made a plan if we saw them ahead. We drove all morning and never saw them. We dodged a bullet.

We stopped for lunch in Galax, Virginia. We have been to Galax on previous races. It is located in Southwest Virginia, just north of the North Carolina border. Galax has an interesting history, it was a land grant given to James Buchanan in 1756 by the British. The meadowland sits at 2500 feet and is bisected by the Chestnut Creek.

After what felt like a clean morning and no interference from the American LaFrance we were feeling good. We set up at the restart after lunch and saw the old car. We reiterated our plan and continued to rally.

The afternoon was as busy as the morning, looping around farms with fields of corn five feet high all around us. We would pass other rally cars going the opposite direction and have other cars come up behind us. It was like a real life PacMan game. It was important to stay focused on the directions.

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If you pushed the triangle to see the route, we drove similar routes 9 days in a row bringing us from North to South. This and the heat create the endurance part of the rally.

We continued the afternoon heading south toward Mooresville, North Carolina. We arrived in Mooresville in the late afternoon to a nice crowd of spectators.

Mooresville is located north of Charlotte, and is most notably known as Race City USA. Many well known NASCAR teams are from Mooresville. Mooresville has a walk of fame on their Main Street with the plaques embedded on the sidewalk highlighting successful racers like Dale Earnhardt. The Penske Team also call’s Mooresville home.

We made it through the day with a score of 15 seconds. It wasn’t a bad score, but it wasn’t moving us up either. We had one more day to hold our 10th place position. One sign can change everything.

June 29th

The final day was a shorter day of rallying, but still had 5 checkpoints. Everyone’s nerves were high, but some competitors felt their chances of winning were low so their stress was under control. This is a game of seconds and really tenths of seconds. To make up several seconds is rare on the last day, but occasionally people make errors and it brings the next team up.

We were one of those teams that was not too stressed because we were so far down. We rallied down toward Irmo, South Carolina. With the exception of some civilian traffic, we had a pretty clean run.

North and South Carolina are full of pine trees. We drove a portion of the Blue Ridge Highway. The highway connects the Shenandoah National Park and the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. The roads are lined with forests of pine. We were driving from mountain roads to backcountry roads, but even there you saw the pines.

We traversed our way into South Carolina. We finished the day and had completed our eleventh Great Race. The finish line was located in a park in Irmo, South Carolina. The heat continued to pummel us, but it did not stop people from coming out to greet us and see the old cars.

The winners of the rally were announced at the finishing arch.

We were thrilled to cheer for our friends JeanAnn and Gary Martin who were in second place in the Expert Class going into the day.

JeanAnn & Gary won the expert class by .5 seconds. JeanAnn and Gary have both had major health issues over the past 6 months, so we were thrilled to see them take the class win.

We finished the evening with an awards dinner for all of the racers.

We finished 10th overall, it is a competitive group and we are always pleased when we finish in the top 10.

This award is a team effort. Brad and I have to perform, but like most sports it takes a huge effort by many people.

Thank you first to Barry Jason our friend and mentor. Barry crams his 6’3 in body into the back seat of his Mustang affectionately known as “Hannah” several times a year to work with us. We cannot thank him enough for his friendship, guidance and hospitality throughout the year as we prepare to compete.

Thank you to the team at Mustang Country, Allan, Brandon, and Doug. Not only do you go through Jane with a fine tooth comb before the race, but your work throughout the race as well. We love that you have joined us the last few days of the race. The a/c the last day was especially appreciated.

Thank you to McCollister’s Transportation, your sponsorship is a wonderful gift to The Great Race and Brad and me personally. We love working with you, and promoting your fantastic services.

We are already excited about doing this crazy adventure again. Next year we start in Springfield, Illinois and finish in Pasadena, California!

We hope to see friends and family at the finish next year. Dates will follow!

Thank you to all of our friends and family who also support us throughout the rally and always!!!

We spent the night in Lexington, Kentucky. We continued to have a heatwave and cars and people are falling apart. Despite the few mechanical issues we have endured, Jane keeps chugging along as do her driver and navigator.

We drove East toward Ohio this morning and spent the first half of the day rallying toward Huntington, West Virginia.

The landscape clearly changed from Western Kentucky to Eastern Kentucky. We are no longer in flat and rolling hills. Eastern Kentucky is more mountainous with roads lined by granite walls with a forest of a variety of trees on top of the walls.

We stopped for lunch in Ashland, Kentucky. Ashland is located on the southern bank of the Ohio River which is the boarder between Kentucky and Ohio. It is an economic and medical hub for the tri-state area.

We made our way into Ohio for a brief time heading East on Interstate 64 and Highway 60. We traversed across the hills making our way into Charleston, West Virginia.

Charleston is the capital of West Virginia. It is located on the Kanahwa River. Charleston has about 40,000 people making it the most populous city in West Virginia.

There are beautiful old homes on the river. Sadly, West Virginia has been killed by two major issues. First, the lack of jobs when coal mining was cut off, and then the opioid epidemic. You see what was once a thriving economy to the devastation of a dead economy.

It is one of the most beautiful states in the union. The landscape is mountainous with rivers and streams and trees everywhere. It is nature at its best.

June 27th

We started the morning heading up into the mountains. Like yesterday, we were surrounded by the beauty of nature. We were in the forest winding our way up through the hills of the Appalachian Mountains. We headed toward Lewisburg, West Virginia. While rallying through the mountains, we made a transit through The New River Gorge.

The New River Gorge is one of the must see National Parks! It is an outdoorsman’s paradise offering camping, hiking, kayaking, fishing and rock climbing. The drive through the gorge is worth the 45 minutes.

We first drove over the gorge, then went into the visitors center where we entered the road down to the bottom of the gorge.

The New River Gorge Bridge is an over 3000 foot steel arch bridge. It is a magnificent piece of engineering. The arch spans 1700 feet. The bridge was completed in 1977. The bridge saved travelers 45 minutes by allowing them to cross the bridge in one minute versus driving down mountain roads into the gorge and back out.

As we drove to the bottom of the gorge, we passed the bridge’s massive steel abutments. There were rock formations that hung over the road, and trees creating cool shade. There were waterfalls on the granite walls along the road. We reached the bottom and drove across the river and along its edge.

We were off the clock while we drove through the gorge, but we crossed through a check point where they checked our cars for extra watches, gps and calculators.

We continued back up to the highway while continuing to take in the sights of the gorge.

We were back on the clock after an hour and a half, heading toward Lewisburg, West Virginia. As we made our way toward lunch we were taken on a small detour. We drove across an old covered bridge.

Like many towns we visit, Lewisburg is a small town with a population of less than 4000 people. Lewisburg is located in the Greenbriar State Forest. Surprisingly, Lewisburg is the home to one of the 4 remaining active Carnegie Halls. They have many speakers and events at the hall serving over 75,000 people per year.

We left lunch heading toward Roanoke, Virginia. We drove down two lane highways and backroads. The terrain was rolling and the roads were lined with white fences in front of beautifully groomed farms. We were in the Blue Ridge Mountains, but it was not as harsh as the Appalachian Mountains.

We finished the day at the Roanoke Transportation Museum. We were greeted by our team from Mustang Country. We parked in a field behind the museum.

We have a shut down process each day, and before we even look up we complete our tasks. When I finally looked up, I saw Doug one of our friends and mechanics from Mustang Country and then saw the rest of the group standing with him. We jumped out of the car, and greeted them with one of the few Aces we earned this year.

Mustang Country sponsored the Aces this year, so we were excited to share the small victory with them.

We headed into the museum for dinner. We sat and visited with Brandon, Allan, Doug and Lori (our friends from Mustang Country). They shared their travels with us, it turned out their day was longer than ours. They had flown from Long Beach, California to Greenville, South Carolina and then drove 4 hours north to Roanoke. We quickly sent them back to the hotel to get some rest.

They are so fantastic, they met us later at the hotel to repair our air conditioner. We only use our a/c at the end of the day, but it makes a huge difference in how we feel.

We are so appreciative for all the help the team from Mustang Country have given us to prepare Jane for this long journey. Despite the few issues, the team effort has kept us going!

June 24th and June 25th

We started the day in Springfield, Illinois where we welcomed the day celebrating Brad’s Birthday. There were well wishes from friends and family.

Our friend Della Smith is a student at USC. Della and her mom Ahna do the rally together. They are the only mother daughter team this year. They have done the rally together the last three years.

Della has made Birthday cards for Brad every year. The cards are all race related and we both love her artwork. The other two cards she drew are framed in our kitchen.

We drove from Springfield toward Effingham, Illinois. We drove south on interstate 55 out of Springfield and crossed Lake Springfield.

Lake Springfield is a man made reservoir that is about 4000 acres. It was built by the municipality in the 1930s and is used for power generation. There are homes on the lakes edge along with docks filled with boats. It looked super inviting.

We continued driving south and were back on the farm roads of central Illinois. The heatwave continues to follow us, and we saw something I have never seen before. We saw a small herd of cows including calves in a small pond. Even the cows needed to cool off.

While we were rallying through the heartland, the car stalled, and would not restart. Brad jumped out of the car and hot wired it to get us going again. He knew exactly what the problem was, and at the lunch break we spent the time changing our starter solenoid. (This was not exactly the day we were hoping for.)

We drove through the Arch in Effingham, and made a big U-turn and drove right back out the driveway.

The only thing I can tell you about Effingham is it is located in central Illinois and is known as “The Crossroads” of Illinois.

We spent the rest of the day heading toward Owensboro, Kentucky. We drove through Indiana’s agricultural land and saw more corn, farms and livestock. Central and Southern Illinois are quite flat. Although we have seen much of the same the last three days, it is so calming and beautiful to see all the greenery. The trees are mature and hang over the roads, and the crops are all organized rows creating a quilting effect across the land. The edges of the road are covered with orange lilies and wild flowers. Everything is blooming. Not only is it pleasing to the eye, we do not use air conditioning while we are rallying, so our windows are down, and the smell of honey suckle is everywhere.

We drove through Evansville in Eastern Indiana into Kentucky. We have visited Owensboro several times with the Great Race. They have always given us a warm welcome, and today was no different. Despite the heat there was a nice crowd bringing the cars in.

June 25th

We start every morning early with a wake up between 5:30 and 6:00am. We are ready to go by 7:30am. Today was no different, we were at the car and ready to leave by 7:45am.

When we left Owensboro we headed East toward Elizabethtown, Kentucky on a path we had traveled before. We recognized many of the landmarks and places we had been on past rallies. We don’t know the exact route, so it is important to continue to follow each instruction. We are always trying to be exact in our timing.

In Elizabethtown we stopped at Swope’s Cars of Yesteryear. Swope’s is an auto dealer in Elizabethtown and seems to own several dealerships. Attached to his Nissan dealership was his car Museum. He had about 25 cars in his museum.

They were kind enough to share the museum with us and offered sandwiches for lunch.

We never stay long at these places because we do not want to be caught in traffic and miss our restart. Some days they give us more time than others to enjoy the lunch stops.

After lunch, we continued East toward Frankfort, Kentucky. We drove through Bardstown, Kentucky. It is known for having the most distilleries in Kentucky, and hosts the Bourbon Festival. We passed several distilleries and could smell the fermentation in the air. Some of the distilleries are quite impressive, they have 5 to 10 buildings for aging the Bourbon. The buildings are about four stories high and thousands of square feet.

We arrived in Frankfort, KY in the late afternoon. Frankfort is the capital of Kentucky and a charming town. It is also famous for the bourbon Buffalo Trace.

We came into what appears to be their old town. There is a train that runs down the middle of the street and restored old buildings lined the road.

Our friends Gary and Jean Ann are from Kentucky, and they had many friends and family at the finish. We visited with their children, grandchildren, and neighbors.

After visiting, we headed to dinner for a belated Birthday celebration with our friends Roger and Esther. Every year they are so kind to remember Brad on his Birthday. We ate at a great steakhouse that was in the area where we had finished the day.

I have been remiss in thanking everyone who has helped us along the way.

First, thank you to Steve Capra and the team at McCollister’s for supporting our team. Thank you for transporting Jane around the country. We hope to make you proud.

We also are so appreciative to Allan, Brandon and Doug at Mustang Country in Lakewood, California. Jane would not be here without all the work you do.

We also appreciate you talking us through our repairs, and overnighting us parts!!!

We appreciate everyone at home keeping our word turning. Thank you for always supporting us!

Day 2 and Day 3

Sunday, June 22nd we started our morning in Rochester, MN. There has been a heat wave the last three days and it has been warm. We started our morning about 6:30am and it was already in the low 80s.

Each morning we are given a set of instructions and draw a number for our next days starting line up. While Brad picks up the instructions, I have my ritual at the car of checking the tire pressure and cleaning the windows, making sure we have enough water and snacks.

After completing my tasks, I waited for Brad while he picked up our instructions. I watched several nurses walk by, and it reminded me of the amazing work they do at The Mayo Clinic, and how lucky we are to have a place like Mayo in our country.

Brad and I started our day heading South toward Iowa. It was hard to tell when we crossed over from Minnesota into Iowa. We were on farm roads all day, and the corn is already higher than knee high. It is mind boggling to see how much corn and soy we produce.

Many have referred to these states as the “fly over states”, but truly, they are the bread basket. These are the states that feed us.

We ended the day driving to Moline, Illinois. We drove across the Mississippi from Davenport, Iowa into Moline. The bridge across the river is the state line.

Brad saw a local ferry and thought we should see Moline from the river, so we decided to take a ride (it was cooler on the water). We road the ferry to all its stops and enjoyed the sites on the river.

There were beautiful old homes on the waterfront in Davenport. While on the Moline side it was mostly hotels and industry. The John Deere Pavilion is where we finished the day in Moline.

Monday, June 23rd we started the morning across the street from The John Deere Pavilion, and headed toward central Illinois. We were having lunch in Pontiac, Illinois.

The morning was still warm. We crisscrossed through the farm land seeing livestock, lots more corn and soy.

We stopped for lunch in Pontiac, where they converted an old Hostess Wonderbread bakery into a restaurant.

Unfortunately, we never stay long in the host lunch city. We typically use the bathroom grab a water and turn right around.

We drove through small Americana towns with Main Streets and little houses with flags hanging off front porches, and perfectly cut grass with flowers lining their paths.

We drove toward Springfield, Illinois. The land of Lincoln is represented in Springfield, the state’s capitol. Lincoln’s home is based in Springfield, as is his Presidential Library.

Unfortunately, we did not have time to see either, but we look forward to visiting both next year when we start the race in Springfield.

Trophy Run and Day 1

Friday, June 20th

Gary and I stood in line with about half the participants in the Great Race waiting to buy a coffee. He asked me where Brad was, and I said “out checking on the gas tank to see if it was leaking.”Gary said “No leaks, I have been out several times to check it.” We feel so lucky to have a friend like Gary who is so kind, thoughtful and always has our back.

We attended the opening meeting (with 500 other attendees) where the race organizers introduced the different sponsors, volunteers in the organization, and welcomed the new and old racers. I think it has been mentioned before, but there are more than 50 volunteers who help make this event happen. We are so grateful to those people who use their vacation to come spend two weeks with us so we can drive around the country in old cars.

After the meeting we made our way out of Bloomington, MN and headed South. We were back in the game, now we just had to perform.

We drove out of town less than 25 minutes and we were among the rolling fields of Minnesota. Everything is so green here. The land of 10,000 lakes is obviously full of lakes, but also is a huge agricultural state. We saw farms that were as large as the eye could see. We looked out at vast swaths of land covered in mostly corn with groves of big bushy trees and evergreens. The farms were dotted with silos, barns and farm houses.

The Trophy Run was short, and we finished at the Minnesota Fairgrounds. This weekend is their “Back to the Fifties” car show.

The car show only allows cars older than 1964. The Great Race cars were given special permission allowing our cars that were as new as 1974 into the event. The Back to the Fifties does not typically allow Ford Mustangs in their event either, but again we were a special exception. The car show has thousands of classic cars over the three day car show. It is like nothing we have ever seen.

You can walk blocks and blocks and cars are stuffed in the fairgrounds (that seems like a weird way to describe placement of cars), but they were everywhere. They were parked on curbs and parked on grass, they were lined up in parking lots and down the middle of the road. It was a magnificent spectacle!

We finished the evening early, and headed back to the hotel. We were starting at the same spot in the morning, and would have more time to look at the cars.

Saturday, June 21

We started the morning by lining up in order of our start and making the thirty minute drive to the fairgrounds. As we neared the fairgrounds the traffic was everywhere.

The Back to the Fifties event attracts people from near and far. People camp at the fairgrounds and set up shade tents to sit under all over while showing their cars.

We made it to the fairgrounds and walked around for a while before our event started. We enjoyed the fantastic people watching and enjoyed other people’s cars.

These were just a small sampling of the cars. In some areas they were grouped by car clubs while others were just randomly parked.

We were given directions to move our car up the road within the fair ground to The Great Race arch.

There we met up with our friends Emily and John. We were so excited to see them again dressed in their Great Race gear and ready to send us off on another adventure.

Thank you Emily and John for all of your efforts. We loved spending time with you!!!

We visited with Emily and John until the start of the rally.

We hopped in our car and shortly after started the rally.

We drove from St. Paul to Rochester, MN. Rochester is best known for the Mayo Clinic.

It was a short day of rallying, but we continued to see farms full of corn. We drove around the fields and crossed the Mississippi River.

We finished the day with zero issues!!! It was a great day!!!

We arrived in Minnesota on Tuesday, June 17th, and the festivities began. We met up with our friends JeanAnn and Gary Martin, and did some exploring around the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

Wednesday we ran the car, affectionately known as Jane (most of you know this already). In early May, Jane’s transmission was replaced after our Spring warm up rally in Owensboro, Kentucky.

We ran two of the three days in Owensboro and noticed her transmission was not quite right. There was just enough time to change the transmission, and put her on McCollisters Transport truck heading to Minneapolis.

Fortunately for us our dear friends JeanAnn and Gary took care of all of Jane’s logistics. They not only picked her up from the Bobby Knipp’s Jefferson City Transmission in Jefferson City, Kentucky, they also drove her to test out the new trans. After a few test drives, they drove her to the transport truck. We are so lucky to have such good friends.

On Wednesday Jane ran great. We practiced for about a half an hour and then headed back to the hotel. All was good!

Wednesday night we met up with our friends Emily and John Brenengen. Emily was part of our team for our first Great Race in 2014. Boy were we rookies!!!

Emily and John also met us in 2016 when we drove from San Rafael, CA to Moline, IL.

Thursday was a little different day. We registered Thursday morning with the 120 or so other entries in the rally. The rally organizers give us a route to calibrate our speedometers. We headed out after registration and tech to calibrate the speedometer. We made it half way through the calibration run, and had a little glitch. Jane was acting as if the fuel was evaporating (also known as vapor lock). She was not hot, so it didn’t make much sense.

We made it back to the hotel where there are 50 to 100 excellent mechanics. We found our friend Roger Shacket who has a brilliant engineering and mechanical mind. Roger thought it was most likely the electrical fuel pump. That made sense as our fuel pressure was low, so we changed the electrical fuel pump. After changing the fuel pump the pressure went up. We were so excited, it was a relatively quick and easy fix.

We went for a test drive and unfortunately, that was not it. We immediately turned around and went back to the hotel. We then spoke to our friends and mechanics at Mustang Country. They are our regular mechanics and prepare Jane for these events. They suggested we empty the gas tank and take the mesh off the fuel sender unit. They said after you get the fuel out it is a pretty quick fix. It was 4 pm and finding a lift in Minneapolis was going to prove impossible.

We did a little backyard mechanic work and drained the fuel and removed the mesh. The fuel pressure looked even better. We put the car back together, and took her for a test drive.

Once again, no luck. This was not the issue. We found another friend who also races cars. He suggested we change the carburetor. Fortunately, we carry an O’Reilly’s auto store and then some in our trunk. We had a spare carburetor. We changed the carburetor, and took it for a spin. Tah Dah!!! Fixed!!!

We went back out and drove the calibration run. On our second run at it, I suggested we stop for gas because it was getting dark and we were just about finished with our route.

We arrived at the gas station pumped gas, and as we were just about to leave Brad looked under the car. It was leaking fuel! Ugh, here we go again.

We drove back to the hotel and drained the fuel from the car once again.

We reopened the fuel sender area where we had worked earlier, it was leaking like crazy. The gasket was broken.

We were not sure what we were going to do. It was 10pm at that point and we didn’t have a gasket. We were also emotionally drained.

Gary walked outside right when we started draining the car again. Brad and I were both thrilled to see him. He came up with the brilliant idea of making a gasket. He had the material, and we worked on the back of his truck to make a gasket (I was more emotional support and safety making sure he didn’t cut himself).

Anyway if it sounds like a long day, it was!

The great news was we fixed the car and we were going to run “The Trophy Run” on Friday.

I have shared with you our “travels with Jane”, I have mentioned and said thanks to numerous individuals and families along the way.

I’m saving the biggest “helper/teacher/friend for his own special space.

None of this could have happened if not for the guidance and mentorship of 3 times Great Race and only back to back to back Grand Champions, Barry and Irene Jason.

We lost Irene in 2021 to a valiant battle to cancer. We miss her dearly. Every morning before we head out to the course, we say a prayer and give thanks to Irene for her deep spiritual faith and unyielding confidence in us.

Barry Jason has tutored us since we were assigned to him our rookie year in 2014. Brad’s dad always said “If you want to get good at something, learn from the best, no matter the sacrifice!”

In our case, the sacrifice has been all Barry’s and the pleasure is all ours. Without his deep commitment to us, we would have never even done race 2 much less race 10.

From the beginning, we were so “rally lame” that we often said, it’s easier for Barry to win a Great Race than to teach us the fine points of rallying.

Barry is a tall, quiet man. Born and raised in Ohio, Stanford genius and Texas transplant. Barry has numerous patents to his credit, he actually even penned the patents. His patented digital inverters have provided power at the International Space Station etc….he’s truly “rocket scientist” smart.

Barry’s patience is unmatched. Brad and I have the honor of calling Barry a friend. He opens his home to us 3-4 times a year to prepare us for the following year’s event.

He helped us build an exact replica of his championship winning1966 Red Mustang (Hanna) so we could practice in what we drive at Great Race. Every type of car accelerates, brakes, and handles differently. Barry’s suggestion of building a twin to Hannah has been priceless. Between visits, Brad & I speak to him throughout the year going over details for Jane and all the “don’t forgets” that are so easily overlooked but make all the difference in the world.

Barry has spent 100’s of hours shoehorned into the back seat of Hanna as he coaches us on all things Great Race. Where to look, what to say, when to hydrate, when to get out and stretch….every little thing.

Think famous UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden’s 10 NCAA Championships (including 7 in a row) teaching his players how to put on their socks. Every detail painstakingly taught and retaught.

That’s what Barry has taught us.

Every night, after we get off the race course, Barry goes over the hard instructions or maneuvers (such as time delays)  to help us prepare to do better the next day.

We send our daily score sheets to Barry daily…..full of pride when we “get it right”, full of embarrassment and a healthy bit of shame when the scores aren’t up to our training.

Together with his yellow lab, Buddy, Barry and Buddy have made our visits to his home in Texas a very special part of our lives. Babe’s chicken, Chef Point, “the Mediterranean place” are some of our favorite eateries when we visit. We are always sorry that Buddy has to wait patiently at home while we spend the day in mock rallies outside of Fort Worth.

Who knew when we started this “bucket list” event that we would have the honor and pleasure of being taken under the wing of someone so special.

When people ask what’s so special about the Great Race, it’s simple. It’s the people.

Barry, to you we send our biggest “thanks’ and hugs of gratitude.

Great Race Forever!

Augusta, Maine to Gardiner, Maine

We ended the day in dreary cold weather yesterday, and this morning was the exact opposite. The rain had stopped, the sun was not shining, but the air was warm. We have never experienced warm and muggy weather in Maine, so it caught us off guard. Needless to say we have experienced much hotter weather on this rally, so it was not unbearable by any stretch.

We had the same routine as yesterday, we headed to the hotel around the corner early. We prepped the car and there were many nervous people. The rally was tight in the top 10 cars. We have not looked at the standings the entire race. We knew our scores and knew the scores of those who were doing well. We did not think we could be anywhere near them.

We were relaxed, but continued to focus and tried to do well. A lot can change on the last two Championship days when you cannot throw out a leg. Mistakes can add up to big times for teams.

We rallied through a huge maze where there were rally cars 20 seconds in front and behind us. The rally master does this to confuse you. We made a series of right turns, also designed to see if you can keep your place on the page. The trick is to not follow the car in front of you. We did pretty well at keeping track except for one speed hick-up, we were going 35, and should have been going 30. Brad spotted the error and corrected as best we could given we didn’t know exactly how long we had gone the wrong speed. Aside from that the day felt really good. We were able to correct and or take time delays where needed. Now it was just a matter of others messing up worse than we did.

We had a pit stop before the finish at a fellow racer’s private car collection. They asked we not post pictures on social media.

The collection consisted of 160 cars. It was incredible, every car was perfect. Peter the owner of the collection is definitely a Ford guy. He has every 1930s convertible Ford model made. He also had some LaSalle’s, Dodges, and Chevrolets. Aside from vehicles, he has a great collection of vintage automobile memorabilia including gas pumps, soda machines, and cutouts that were lighted with a waving mechanical arm.

The building also has a portion of a wood motorcycle racetrack with vintage motorcycles positioned on the track as if they are racing. They had a documentary playing on a tv near the track that spoke about a wood track in Beverly Hills, California.

Peter completed the new building a few weeks ago. It was absolutely pristine. The cars all shined! The 160 cars were dusted and cleaned by two other racers who are friends with Peter.

After our visit to the car collection, we headed out in our starting order. The finish line was not far from Peter’s collection. We crossed the finish with Brandon and Allan of Mustang Country and thousands of locals waving us in. The streets were full of people, and the local police continually pushed the spectators back so the cars could drive through.

That evening we had our final lobster meal, and an award ceremony. Brad and I ended up pulling it together, we finished 8th overall and 4th in the expert class. We are always happy with a top 10 finish, and this year we were really happy.

We completed another rally, and thanks to Allan, Brandon and the team at Mustang Country, Jane ran great! Thank you for making the journey to be with us at the finish line.

Many thanks to all who helped us complete this month. JeanAnn and Gary for taking care of Jane after Michigan. Thank you for picking us up and getting us through our jet lag. There is a list a mile long of all you have done for us this race, and past races that we are grateful for. You are the most kind and generous people. We feel blessed to be your ducklings.

Thanks to Jimmy for carrying our luggage around the country. Thank you for helping us every morning and afternoon. We are so appreciative for your kindness.

Thank you Jane and Sherald for making the journey to Maine. We are grateful for our friendship.

Thank you to our team at home. Madison, Marianne, Lauren, Kalli, and Dylan. Thanks for keeping the office running and the pups safe.

Thank you Chino, Valentine and Joel for all you do year round.

Thank you to McCollister’s Transportation for not only delivering Jane safely, but for your sponsorship. We appreciate all McCollister’s does for us and the race.

Thank you to Billy and Ronny for following the race the 2300 miles in your rig. It is such a pleasure having you on the rally. We know it is a thankless job picking up people who have broken down. Fortunately, we have never needed your service, but we appreciate you being available.

Lastly, thank you to Jeff Stumb and your team at Great Race. We love the rallies you put on and look forward to 2025!

Great Race Forever!!!

Augusta Maine

After our delicious dinner in Freeport, Maine, we drove north to Augusta, Maine. We will stay in the same hotel for the next 3 nights. This is a bonus because you don’t have to pack up every morning.

We are such a large group that we stay at several area hotels. Our start this morning was at a hotel around the corner from our hotel. We always arrive early and continue with our morning routine.

Our morning routine includes Brad checking the motor when we start Jane, and picking up the instructions. Brad often walks during this time as well. I check the tires and making sure the speedometer is plugged in and ready to go. I try to clean the car the night before, but if it rains, I have to wait until it dries out. This morning was cool and drizzly, she wasn’t having much cleaned up today.

Today is Championship Saturday. Today we will typically have more legs. We had 8 legs today. This creates higher scores, but the catch today is we cannot throw out any of our scores. We needed to run as clean as possible, no pressure.

We rallied all morning around beautiful Maine. Despite the cold rainy weather we did our best to hold speed, maneuver through turns and change speeds as concise as possible.

We finished the morning at Seal Cove Museum. We were pleasantly surprised to meet up with Jane and Sherald at the museum. They had arrived early and toured the museum.

Seal Cove has some very old brass cars. One car that was particularly interesting was a car two ladies used to promote the right for women to vote. In 1916, two women who represented the Suffrage effort set out on the road to put the word out. They were sponsored by the Suffrage Association and went to all the major cities in the US. One women drove and the other cooked as they camped out at the different stops. Both women would give lectures in the places they stopped. (I may have talked about this car on a previous stop at this museum, we have been here a few times.)

The other interesting story from Seal Cove Museum was about another strong and forward thinking woman. Bertha Benz was the wife of Karl Benz. Karl Benz is known to be the first inventor of the motor car.

In the late 1800s it was thought that woman were not capable of maneuvering a car. There was also discussion that driving could affect women’s reproductive organs.

Bertha however was not swayed. After encouraging her husband to road test the vehicle with no success, Bertha and her son drove the automobile 65 miles to visit her mother.

Bertha did some inventing of her own. Along the way, Bertha realized the wood brakes were not optimal. She stopped at a cobbler’s shop and asked for leather. She put leather atop the wood and created the first brake shoes. Bertha also encountered the fuel line clogging. She used her hair pin to clean out the line.

Bertha and her son not only made it home safely, they promoted the invention along the way. The myth that it would affect a woman’s reproductive organs was also squashed by Bertha. She had her 5th child 15 months later.

Seal Cove never disappoints, the stories and the lunch were fantastic.

We finished lunch and headed a short way down the road to start rallying again. We headed to Acadia National Park after lunch. We rallied through a small portion of the beautiful coastal park and then headed back the direction we had come from.

We finished the long day at Owls Head Museum. We have visited Owls Head in the past, but this time we were lucky enough to share it with several friends. Jane and Sherald were at Seal Cove and Owls Head. We were also joined by our friends Allan and Brandon. Allan and Brandon are not only our friends, they are the geniuses that keep Jane going for the 2400 plus miles we rally her every year. We were able to FaceTime with them in the evenings with questions. They know every nut, bolt, belt, hose, and wire on Jane.

We toured around Owls Head. Because it is a transportation museum and not just a car museum, they have several airplanes, fire trucks, a Gypsy Cart and other vehicles that date back to the beginning of motorized transportation.

We ended the day with a lobster dinner. When in Maine…

We made the hour drive up the coast to Augusta. It had stopped raining so we cleaned up Jane and covered her for the night.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to Binghamton, New York

This morning we were about ready to leave and one of the veteran racers warned us that today we would be going over the wall. I asked worse than the Tower Hill we encountered yesterday. He said to expect it to be.

Brad and I remember climbing some mountains in years past, and not being able to hold speed. Jane has a new motor this year, so my initial thought was she will be able to make it.

After calibrating our speedometer, we were off and as promised we went up against a wall. As much as I coaxed the car to go, she could not hold speed. Like we did the day before, we would count while we were down in speed, and make it up at the peak of the hill.

We made our way over the mountains, and headed to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania for lunch. Lewisberg is located in the eastern part of the state. Lewisberg is the home to Bucknell University.

The town and the school gave us a warm welcome with a large crowd lining the streets as we drove in. It always surprises me when we have a large lunch crowd mid-week.

After lunch we drove North toward Binghamton, New York. Like much of the North East, Southern New York is lush and green right now. The roads are lined with wooded areas and the trees are all full of bright green leaves. There are lilies everywhere you look. The pretty orange colored lilies look like they just grow wild on the roads’ edges.

We received an email about a month ago from a couple we met in 2022 when we came through Binghamton. They are members of the local Ford Mustang Club, and they let me know they would be meeting us at the end of the day in Binghamton. They are so kind, they even offered us a place to stay. Bob and Carol Seidel were at our car door when we parked the car in Binghamton, New York. They had brought several of their friends and cars to the event. We visited with all of them. What I didn’t mention was it was raining when we arrived. They came out in the rain, and stayed as it continued to get heavier. Brad spent more time with them, while I was being interviewed by the local news channel.

I am sorry I didn’t have a chance to say thank you or goodbye in person, but we sincerely appreciate the effort you and your friends made to be at the finish.

https://www.wicz.com/clip/15477314/a-race-like-no-other-the-great-race-returns-to-binghamton-for-the-third-time-in-over-a-decade

The crowds were large when we arrived and people were standing in parking structures to watch us go through the arch. Cars continued to come in for another hour as it started to thunder and lightning. Much of the crowd dispersed.

We completed half the race and had a surprise when we were entering the hotel. Our friend and past racer Jim Mennetto showed up to fill in for a driver. Jim was President and Publisher for Henmings Motor News. Hemmings Motor News is a title sponsor of the race. Jim did the race with his daughter the past couple of years, and we were happy to see him join us again.

As much as we love to see our incredibly beautiful country, half of what makes this journey and country so great are the people!