Super Tour 2004

By Doug Linden

From September 2004 Oilleak. (Used with permission of the author.)

What’s that you say...you didn’t join the Super Tour, well then; you missed out on all the fun. Our journey started Sunday morning and Jack Stokinger was there to wish us well before we left and to say that he would see us when we arrived in Stowe, VT later in the week for the big car show.

The tour this year would take us to the beautiful harbor town of Camden, Maine then on to the peaceful Rangeley Lake area and finally on to Stowe, Vermont to attend the festivities there.

The tourers were the O’Briens, Lindens, Wrights, Bunces, Quirks, Allens, Goldberg/Papernow, Silvestrone/Defazio, Dick Berry, and Bruce Marshall. The Model “A”s were up to the challenge, handling the 200+ mile day with out a hitch. And apart from a brief thunderstorm after we arrived at the motel, the weather was beautiful. Dinner on the waterfront capped a great day.

The next day was a full one. We explored downtown Camden, took an elderly woman whose father sold Model A’s in Camden for a little parade, visited Owls Head Museum and a few of the local lighthouses. Later in the evening we could see the hoods up on a few Model A’s as a little maintenance was called for on the Allen, Berry and Bunce Model A’s.

On Wednesday we drove up the beautiful coast and then headed inland for our trip to the Rangeley Lakes area. Of course on the way we HAD to stop off in Liberty to visit a great used tool store. We were traveling along nicely until the Wright’s sent out a distress call that the pickup was experiencing a problem. When we pulled over we were surprised to find that a 3X sparkplug had come apart and the electrode was gone, along with the plug wire. We managed to find a plug, a wire and a nut to make things “Wright” again. We had a picnic lunch at a roadside sports pavilion, and managed to get some folks to stop in and check out the cars. We arrived at the Rangeley Inn in time for a great party on the deck overlooking the peaceful lake.

How about this...waking up to the sounds of Loons out in the lake. Is that right out of a tour book or what? It was a little overcast, but that didn’t stop us from walking to the village and exploring the quaint little shops. We had a light lunch the patio overlooking the lake and then it was on to take a tour of the area. We had dinner at the Inn’s lounge which offered a lighter fare and then it was off to do some Moose hunting. Unfortunately it was a “wild moose hunt” as we saw none. BUT we had fun anyway.

On Thursday we left Rangeley for Stowe, but first OB took us to a little place for breakfast which was very nice. We cruised along over to Colebrook, where the Allen’s suggested a great Model A road (Rt102) down to Lancaster, NH. Another suggestion for a picnic was made. We barely got this in before the rains of Bonny arrived to make for a wet ride into Morrisville, VT where we were greeted by a thunderstorm and heavy rains.

Friday was too wet to hit the Flea Market field, so we went antiquing where we met up with Jack Stokinger and Wayne and Sue Champagne who postponed flea marketing until tomorrow. One thing some of us did buy, BOOTS...for the mud at the field. The sun eventually came out and the humidity went up. Dinner was at the Foxfire restaurant, where we all had a great meal.
 
Saturday saw great weather and we all went to the show field to register and hit the flea market. Because of all the mud, there was a long line to get on the field and once on the field it was a muddy trip to your registration spot. Needless to say, the BOOTS were necessary. We searched hi and lo for those treasures, but for the most part they eluded us. We left the field and went to Stowe to watch part of the Parade and have some lunch. The food was good and watching the cars was great too. A quick trip to the hotel brought us to Bruce Marshall who was stuck at a traffic light. We pushed him off the road and got him started after we found a strange problem; the ball on the upper distributor plate broke off. Back at the motel Bruce fixed the problem with good old JB Weld. That evening, John and Shirley Jacobson had everyone over to the camp ground for a pizza party. We all had a great time.

Sunday was supposed to be wet because of hurricane Charley, but as luck would have it, he turned out to sea. Our return trip home was dry with some sun at times. OB took us down some very picturesque roads and stopping along the way made the 230 mile trip very enjoyable.

So this year’s Super Tour is done. We traveled approximately 1100 miles and saw some beautiful areas of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Where will we go next year...we don’t know yet, but where ever it is we will have a great time for sure.