| The 2000 MAFCA national
convention was held in Kansas City, Missouri and although many of our
members attended this event, only 2 made the trip in Model A's.
The twosome consisted of Bucky and Joci Silvestrone and Doug and
Nan Linden. Our departure
date was set for July 5th, which would give us plenty of time
to make it to Kansas City by Sunday July 9th.
We arrived at our meeting point on the Mass Turnpike and were
surprised by Dick O'Brien who was there to see us off.
It was really nice to have Dick there, the only disappointment was
that Dick couldn't join us for the trip.
|
 |
| Loaded with maps and tour books, Nan was
the official navigator. Our plan was to stay
on the interstates
until we got to Pennsylvania and then migrate to less traveled roads.
This worked out nicely as we jumped off I-84 in Port Jarvis, NY and
took state highways ( Rts 209 and 443) through very scenic parts of
Pennsylvania. Traffic was
light and we could cruise at 45mph. We
made good time and hit our planned destination of Harrisburg, PA the first
night. At the hotel we met
family from Connecticut heading to KC driving a 1929 Tudor.
We wouldn’t see them until we were at Kansas City.
Leaving Harrisburg we found some great
roads (Rts 641, 30 and 31) that treated us to spectacular scenery over the
mountains, sometimes in 2nd gear, but oh so pretty.
We picked up US 40 (one of our main routes) in Washington PA and
followed that into Wheeling, W. VA and on to OH, where we stayed in
Columbus the second night. Day
three saw us enter Indiana (still on US 40) where we stopped to visit the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum. The
guards gave the Model As front row seats while we toured the museum. Bucky and I found the museum real interesting,
while Joci and Nan managed to find the gift shops.
Leaving the Speedway, we began following US36, where we realized we
were now in the heart of farm country, and they are BIG farms.
All through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, it was corn and
soybean fields as far as you could see, which is pretty far considering
the flat landscape. Decatur
Illinois was the destination for the evening and when we stopped we were
surprised to see so many antiques cars.
Turned out that there was a large 2 day show at the fair grounds
over the weekend. |
| Day 4 dawned warm and humid and
the forecast was for the hot weather to continue.
We decided not to go to the car show, but instead we would stop in
Spingfield, IL and visit the Lincoln National Historic Home site to tour
the only home President Lincoln owned.
It was very interesting, in fact we were able to impart a little
knowledge to the staff as to the life of Robert Todd Lincoln (thanks to
visiting Hildene). We changed routes because of traffic and this gave us the
opportunity to stop in the quaint town of Pittsfield, IL where we enjoyed
"Pig Day". We had a
great time, met some nice people and had excellent food (pork of course)
before heading west. |
 |
| By now we had made
the decision we would just drive until we reached Kansas City, a whole day
ahead of schedule. We arrived
in Kansas City about 6:30 PM and got settled in for the week of
activities. Sunday was the main arrival day, with more than 500
Model A’s running around the complex for early registration.
The host hotel parking lot was turned back 70 years.
The week at Kansas City was filled with a activities.
Monday was the popular Model A Hill Climb, which is a short (1/10
mile) up hill race for the modified "A"s.
This was held in the quaint town of Weston, MO, which is loaded
with antique shops. Great
fun. That night at the
welcome party, which was conducted like a political rally, our own Jack
Stokinger introduced the Massachusetts delegation to the conventioneers.
Tuesday was the swap meet, which had some really great stuff that
you only see at national conventions.
Seminars and cars games were at the casino (10 miles away) and that
night was the KC BBQ and Jazz event.
Although buses were available, our group elected to drive into the
city. Good thing we did as
the venue for this event was grossly undersized and after some discussion
we decided to head elsewhere for dinner.
Wednesday was a day to do some maintenance on the Model A's. |
| It
was also show car judging and the fashion show that evening.
The fashion show was laid out such that it was difficult to see the
fashions as the Chief Judge was describing them. Thursday was the mandatory tour.
This was a ride through some picturesque and historic areas of
St. Joseph, MO. We got our pictures taken in front of the Pony Express
Headquarters. Bucky
and I also decided to venture out to Nebraska to notch another state
traveled in the "A".
That was just a short 200 mile round trip back to the hotel.
Friday had the special interest meetings, where I attended the Town
Sedan Club meeting and was the winner of a prize for having driven a Town
Sedan the furthest to the meet - 1475 miles.
Friday evening was the awards banquet which was very good.
The food was great and the awards were dispatched quickly. |
 |
| For the record, the
following Minuteman club members were present; the Lindens, Stitts, Callans, Johnsons,
Buckleys, Hazelwoods, Stokinger-Johnson, Silvestrone-Defazio
Saturday morning saw us saying farewell to many of our Model A friends and
after we ate and got gas we headed the Model A's to the Northeast.
Why that direction you say, well if you leave Kansas City and
travel NE you will run into the southeastern tip of Iowa.
We notched another state as we drove through Keokuk, IA on US136.
We were worried about the heat we might encounter since it had been
so hot in KC, but as luck would have it, it was overcast and we actually
had a little rain which help keep the temperature comfortable.
We did manage to stop at some antique shops as we traveled the back
roads and stopped for the night in McLean, IL.
Interestingly there was another Model A from the KC meet staying at
the same Motel. Dinner that
night was at the “world famous" Dixie Truckstop.
The food was plentiful and the neon lights bright.
The next morning it was on to
Indiana, again taking secondary roads.
Since we were able to parallel the interstates and travel at
between 45-50 mph, with no traffic and see interesting sites, we found
these roads to be ideal for Model A travel.
As we passed though Peru, IN we stopped at one of the best antique
shops since leaving KC. Well
at least I liked it since I bought a bunch of good "stuff".
Our final destination for the day was the bustling town of Findlay,
OH. After a good nights rest
we plotted a course towards eastern Ohio and Pennsylvania, where we new we
would leave the flatland and hit more mountains.
Sure enough, crossing over the state line into PA the change was
very noticeable. |
| The
roads also change to slow winding routes that really reduced our average
speed. However, this too had
a silver lining since we found our first real Ice Cream stand on one of
these country roads. Do you
know that, try as we might, we could not find anything but soft serve ice
cream on our travels through the mid-west. So this was a real treat.
It was also at this point that we adjusted our plans and got back
on the interstate to make up some lost time, and later hopped onto US 322
that took us into State College, PA. |
 |
| State College,
as you might expect is the home of Penn State.
It has plenty of hotels, restaurants and malls.
Since this was going to be our last night on the road, we had a
wonderful dinner at a fantastic Italian restaurant which was walking
distance from the hotel. Bucky,
Joci, Nan and I agreed that this was one of the best meals on the whole
trip. At breakfast in
the morning it was hard to believe we would be home that evening.
We found some nice country roads that took us up and over the
mountains and eventually up to Wilkes-Barre where we got on the interstate
- for two reasons. The hills are not as demanding and we could make good time.
Crossing into Connecticut we jumped over to US 202 and followed
that through many picturesque towns, including Litchfield, CT.
This entire area is bursting with antique shops.
From there it was a straight shot home.
Eventually, the good ol’ Mass Pike got us home.
At
8:45PM, on July 18th, we pulled into the driveway, completing a
round trip of just under 3300 miles.
Looking over the statistics, the longest day was 420 Miles, the
shortest 323. Gas expense
$282. Best gas mileage
18.7mpg, the worst was 12.6. We
crossed 8 major rivers and traveled through 10 states.
But more importantly we had a great time enjoying each other’s
company and seeing new sites, traveling over some great Model A roads.
Now, that we have this warm up tour under our belt, how about a
LONG tour next time!
|