2011 Schedule

[maxgee]

I did the Long Haul last year but don't think I will do that this year. I may catch up in Nashville, do Indianapolis and then visit friends in northern Indiana, which is where I am originally from.

www.jerryforthofer.wordpress.com

Fill us in on your long haul last year....ok, good or great?

[jerhofer]

Fill us in on your long haul last year....ok, good or great?

It was Hot!!!! Last year was my first Power Tour so we had to feel our way around the first couple days. It was a long drive from NC to Iowa just to get to the start of the tour and nearly as long back from Mobile. The total mileage was nearly 3000 miles. You do get to see a bunch of unique cars and meet a lot of people. You see some of the same cars at each venue but there are always the local cars for something different. There are so many cars, that you never see all of them.

It's kind of like the Bill Murray movie, Groundhog Day. You get up each morning, eat breakfast, drive 2-3 hundred miles to the next venue, wave at people along the way, have fast food for lunch, find a parking spot, find the stage so you can get your Long Haul ticket punched, see the same vendors who have driven like hell to get there before you, look at the cars, find the hotel, take a shower, eat dinner, go to bed and then do it all over again the next day. While I certainly enjoyed seeing the cars and the people, joining in on the tour at Nashville will give me enough of that for 2011. I didn't think the finale at Mobile for the Long Haulers was special enough. It was more of the same with long lines thrown in.

That being said, it would have been more fun if my Camaro's transmission had not puked. I was only 3 1/2 hours out so we were able to use a Plan B car to complete the tour. However, it was a non Power Tour type of car so it took the edge off. It's always more fun when you have your hot rod car there and can talk to people about it.

And it was HOT!!!! And HUMID!!! It was even hot in Iowa but, as we drove south, it became almost unbearable. Because of the huge numbers of car, the venues were normally wide open parking lots with no shade. Had the temps been more moderate, I would have looked at more cars. After a couple hours, I was cooking. This year's tour will be hot at the beginning, but, hopefully, will be more moderate from Nashville on. Muskegon should be good as it is on Lake Michigan, which is hard to beat that time of year.

www.jerryforthofer.wordpress.com