Thursday - beautiful crisp fall day in Cincinnati. Temperature 28 degrees when we left in the morning. My oldest son, soon to be 14 years old, has decided to come with Dad to see what this is all about. We head south and are grateful for the hardtop and the working heater. Once again I can't recommend enough the combination of 3.70 gearset with overdrive. I cruise all day long at 70-75 mph at 3,000 rpm. Arrive at the Lane Motor Museum to be greeted by a nice green Series V parked at the front to greet us. Hook up with Todd and Anne Marie Nordby who are prepping the welcome room set aside for us at the museum. Tour the museum and see some fantastic cars. I like how they have them grouped by country and by unique features. Definitely a must-see if you're in the area. Thursday night we have heavy rains and rolling thunder and I'm up at 2 a.m. looking out the hotel window at my Alpine, wondering how much water is getting into the various nooks and crannies not covered by weatherstripping. The rain was blowing sideways!
Friday morning we wake to cool, damp, and thick fog. Perfect English weather. Mop up a little water inside the cabin and fire up the car. Today's schedule calls for a nice drive up into the mountains. We begin the convoy and I click on my Rootes fog lamp for that period look. We motor through some pretty fancy neighborhoods, including Belle Meade, and wonder which country music star, NFL football player, or old money plantation owner lives in some of these palaces. Soon we're heading up into the mountains, still thick with fog. We stop along the way to see an engineering marvel - a double arch bridge spanning hundreds of feet. I forget the actual name of it, but my son dubs it the McDonald's bridge. Kids, what can I say. After another 30 minutes or so we reach the quaint village of Leiper's Fork. Steve has arranged a lunch for us at The Country Boy, which doesn't seat much more than our group, so our first "invasion" takes place at a restaurant. Dennis mentioned in his report the "Elvis" being a huge hit at our table. Well, if you're into fried pie with a warm, gooey peanut butter and banana center, you would have loved this dessert. We certainly did.
More spirited driving as we head down the mountains into the town of Franklin. Steve had scheduled some antique shopping for the wives, most of whom chose not to accompany their husbands this year. Oh well, the sight of a bunch of men wandering aimlessly through an antique mall must have struck the natives as odd and amusing. We made up for it by telling jokes and taking jabs at each other. It's a guy thing.
We enjoyed a very nice driving tour, culminating in a grand reception at JD's British Car restoration shop. They threw quite a party, and the SAOCA members were treated, in my son's words, "like rock stars". They were very gracious, and let us tour the enormous facilities. Numerous customer cars throughout the building in various stages of repair. Nice food, great company, and wonderful cars in the parking lot. A great day!
Friday morning we wake to cool, damp, and thick fog. Perfect English weather. Mop up a little water inside the cabin and fire up the car. Today's schedule calls for a nice drive up into the mountains. We begin the convoy and I click on my Rootes fog lamp for that period look. We motor through some pretty fancy neighborhoods, including Belle Meade, and wonder which country music star, NFL football player, or old money plantation owner lives in some of these palaces. Soon we're heading up into the mountains, still thick with fog. We stop along the way to see an engineering marvel - a double arch bridge spanning hundreds of feet. I forget the actual name of it, but my son dubs it the McDonald's bridge. Kids, what can I say. After another 30 minutes or so we reach the quaint village of Leiper's Fork. Steve has arranged a lunch for us at The Country Boy, which doesn't seat much more than our group, so our first "invasion" takes place at a restaurant. Dennis mentioned in his report the "Elvis" being a huge hit at our table. Well, if you're into fried pie with a warm, gooey peanut butter and banana center, you would have loved this dessert. We certainly did.
More spirited driving as we head down the mountains into the town of Franklin. Steve had scheduled some antique shopping for the wives, most of whom chose not to accompany their husbands this year. Oh well, the sight of a bunch of men wandering aimlessly through an antique mall must have struck the natives as odd and amusing. We made up for it by telling jokes and taking jabs at each other. It's a guy thing.
We enjoyed a very nice driving tour, culminating in a grand reception at JD's British Car restoration shop. They threw quite a party, and the SAOCA members were treated, in my son's words, "like rock stars". They were very gracious, and let us tour the enormous facilities. Numerous customer cars throughout the building in various stages of repair. Nice food, great company, and wonderful cars in the parking lot. A great day!