Boutilier's Blog: Hitting the Road for a Cross Country Trip!

In February, we made the decision to drive across country in our 1937 Ford, with some guys from a New York Hot Rod Club.

Destination: Bonneville Salt Flats where for Speed Week! The timing was perfect - we headed out one week after our Ironman.

Originally, I thought we were going to take 80 west the entire way, but the group disliked 80 through the Chicago area so much, that they head south to avoid it.

Our route went like this:

24 South

195 West to Providence, RI

95 South to New Haven, CT

34 West

84 South to Scranton, PA

81 South

80 West to Youngstown, PA

76 West to Akron, OH

71 South to Columbus

32 West

70 West to Indianapolis, IN

74 West to the Quad Cities, IL & IA

80 West to Wendover, UT!!

We only hit 2 highways - 34 & 32. The rest was all interstate. It was still fun & we still got to see a lot!

The cast:

Ken from New York- event coordinator

Keith from New York

Supporting cast:

Jim from New York

Ritchie from Massachusetts- there is no one like Ritchie...

Ron from New York

Dennis & Henry from Ohio

My favorite - Ray from Alabama

and Kato from Florida

John from England! (talking with Chris)

Dave & Mary from Colorado

There were also 2 guys from Switzerland: Peter & Egan. And 4 guys in 'people' trucks hauling trailers: Bill, Bill, Bill, and Don. It wasn't hard to remember the names of the guys driving the trucks!!!

Chris & I headed out on Friday, August 7th. We drove to Wilkes-Barre, PA & met up with our friend Billy O from Connecticut. Billy, Don, Peter & Egan were riding in a regular pick up truck - hauling a Bonneville race car.

On Saturday, we headed out early & stopped for breakfast a couple hours into the ride. Some excitement early on: a contstruction truck blew a tire right in front of us! Fortunately, the truck didn't swerve & we didn't get hit by any big pieces of tire.

We met up with the gang from New York in Dayton, OH. Some local hot rodders also came & hung out with us that night. Day 2, and I already knew that this was our best trip/vacation EVER!

Sunday, we had breakfast early, then headed out. I found out that we were taking a highway near my parents. So, I called them and they agreed to meet us right off the highway. Yeah!!

At 11:30, we pulled off the highway: I jumped in with my mom & niece in the nice air conditioned car, and my dad & nephew jumped in with Chris. We drove to Galesburg, where Chris needed to stop & get gas. I had a nice chat with my family & my dad & nephew had a nice experience in the 1937 Ford. My parents headed home & we stayed to have lunch. A couple other cars from our group also pulled off the same exit to get gas, so we all ate together. Then we kept heading west to Iowa City, IA. It was hot hot hot when we got there. Chris & I went for a short run (mistake). It was so hot, I was delirious when we finally stopped. All the hot rods had arrived at the motel for the night, and we all went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant.

At midnight, Chris & I awoke to the sound of thunder... Uh oh, the top is down. Chris took a quick peek outside, and said, Oh well, it's already pouring & the car is soaked. I said he should probably put the top up anyway & he agreed. Good thing, since it rained until 11 am the following day! We would have been waterlogged!

Our only casualty of the trip thus far was our road map, which we replaced for a smaller one at a gas station the next day.

On Monday, with the storm raging (crazy lightning), we headed west to Des Moines, IA. It was clear in Des Moines, but very humid. We kept the top up, since the day was so hot & sticky. We had brunch in Des Moines. A group, including us, decided to make a stop in Lincoln, NE at Speedway Motors. There is a museum and parts store that the guys wanted to visit.

97 degrees outside & 70 degrees in the museum - too much of a temperature change & I wasn't feeling too great. The museum was a blur. Chris took some great photos, but I can't use them on this blog, unless I get permission from the museum, blah blah blah.

We spent 2 hours in Lincoln, NE & then headed west again - stop for Monday night = Grand Platte, NE. I went straight to bed :) The guys went out for a steak dinner.

On Tuesday, we had a short day: only 370 miles!! Chris & I were up early & went for another short easy run. The day was much nicer - big puffy clouds & much cooler. We stopped for lunch in Cheyenne, WY and picked up another car. This one had a Mary in it - yeah, another girl!! We stopped for the night in Rawlins, WY. We had dinner at the restaurant attached to the motel. Mistake, as the wait staff had never served 20 plus people before. Oh well, the food was good - for those of us that received some.

Every meal, we had more & more people. The first breakfast, there were only 6 of us. By the time we reached Utah, we had to find tables for 25!

On Wednesday, we had an even shorter day: 300 miles to Orem, UT (20 miles south of Salt Lake City, UT). We stopped for lunch at the Outlaw Inn in Rock Springs, WY. It was a nice easy drive day. We arrived at our motel at 3:00. And at 4:00, Salt Flats Speed Shop was having a party for us.

Thursday: Finally arriving at Bonneville Speedway! We only had 130 miles to drive - the easiest day! We had a late start, so Chris & I were able to get another quick easy run in :) We headed west around 9:30 am. We arrived at the Bonneville exit at 12:00. We stopped at the little Mexican cafe for lunch, which was attached to the gas station.

Then by 1:30 pm, we were on the salt!!