San Diego, CA to Detroit, MI: Lincoln Hwy - Day 4

Our last day to our trip started off with a beautiful sunrise in Platte, MO.  We anticipated a fairly boring final stretch, though looked forward to a stop by Antique Archaeology in Leclair, Iowa.  As expected, our trip through the midwest felt a lot like home.  Lots of fields, rolling hills, and more trees than a great portion of our trip.  Aside from passing over some rivers, the stretch was fairly uneventful.  Still, our 800+ mile stretch seemed easier than passed days, as this day would end at home.

At one of the rest stops in Iowa.

That's Des Moines, Iowa off in the distance.  Of the many skylines we say, I have to say that Detroit, with all of her troubles, ranks among the best of the best.  Mostly thanks due to the 1920's skyscrapers.  The whole "modern" designs of the last 50 years are simply different takes on concrete and glass, with little to know detail differentiating them in the sky.

I got it bad.

The shop was smaller than it even seems on tv.  I recognized much of what we saw from American Pickers.  Still, their store stock wasn't pretty light, so I'm thinking they must sell a lot of the stuff at auction or online.  As much as I wanted to buy something antique, there was simply nothing I found I had to have.  I walked out with a poster, sticker, magnet, and license plate...all new stock.

Across the street, Danielle from the show has her own shop.  Again, nothing really that fell into my "gotta have it" needs."  Although a poster of Danielle as well as a magnet found their way home with us.  Sadly, we didn't get to meet Danielle, Mike, or Frankie.

The Mississippi.

We saw more than a few "barn finds."  We passed a Charger that literally looked like it was either pulled from a barn or pulled from the mud.  Looked pretty solid, and left me a bit jealous.

Honda's attempt at building a pickup truck.  I kept waiting for a major suspension malfunction to occur.  The picture doesn't do it justice, this truck was squatting like nobody's business.

Home sweet home.  Well, about 200+ miles from here.

Our trip was nothing less than amazing.  Not a once in a lifetime trip, but a trip that left me hungry for more.  It's not a trip we would probably be able to take every year, but definitely the type of trip I'd like to take every 3 years or so.  I had never before saw so much of the country.  Never taken in so much Americana.  I have a new appreciation for the small towns, the mom and pop hotels, and most importantly, the two lane black top.  I will be sure to write a wrap up sometime over the next week or so, as I still have a lot to say.  Until then, look forward to my Woodward Dream Cruise coverage from this upcoming weekend!

San Diego to Detroit - Photos

San Diego, CA to Detroit, MI: Lincoln Hwy - Day 3

Cheyenne, Wyoming is where our day started off.  They have a really cool historic downtown which we explored for a short bit before hitting the freeway.  Their capitol is also located in this city, and amazing it was!

Cheyenne, Wyoming.

A Pony Express Post, used in the mid 1800's.

The Missouri River.

Wyoming...Nebraska...Missouri...They have all began to look a lot like home.  There hasn't been a whole lot to take pictures of today.  There were lots of fields, lots of cattle, more of those huge wind turbines, and the occasional river to cross.  With one long full day of driving ahead of us, I am glad we are relatively close to home.  That said, I hope we will be able to stop off at the American Pickers shop in Iowa, as it's right along our planned course of travel.

San Diego to Detroit - Photos

Bonneville Salt Flats - 2012 Speed Week

The Bonneville Salt Flats, and Speed Week especially, were everything I could have dreamed of....and then some.  The scenery alone is breath taking in my opinion.  The shiny white flats with mountains in the near horizon.  It made for one helluva back drop for our Dodge Ram.  So cool in fact that I may have to have a poster made for our garage.

Bonneville is a gathering of like minded gearheads.  It's a car show for all sorts of makes and models.  It's a place to meet friends.  Ultimately, it's an exhibition of speed in an environment like nothing you've seen before.  When we first arrived, we were thankful we got there around 11 am.  The upper 70 degree temps sounded perfect for a few hour visit.  As we would soon find however, those temps are misleading. My wife and I, along with 2 yr old daughter Emma, all lathered up with sunscreen, put on our hats and sunglasses, and hit the salt.

Initially you don't realize the brutal conditions, but after walking a mile or two, it comes to light.  Light....ahhhh yes, that damn light.  Bring sunglasses, as the glare off the salt is almost blinding.  The heat, due to the reflection off the salt, seems to be multiplied after a short while of walking.  Don't get me wrong, we survived, weren't on our death beds by any means, but you have to be prepared.  Try not to get distracted by all the eye candy (cars) and lose track of how far you've ventured from your vehicle.  A few pointers for those considering a visit, which I HIGHLY recommend.  In addition to a hat, glasses, and sunscreen, be sure to bring binoculars. Also, I'd recommend driving around to see the cars in the pits as well as to watch the action.  It's how most people do it, and realized quickly why we were among the few actually out on foot. While you may not have a car to race, by all means, bring that street rod or muscle car to putz around in, as this is as much of a car show/cruise as it is speed week. The action happens a distance away, and even if seated near the finish line of the tracks, the cars are still relatively small, thus the reason I didn't bother taking but a few pictures of the cars racing, so again, BRING BINOCULARS!

The atmosphere of this place almost leaves me speechless.  You can smell the race fuel in the air long before you get close to the racing or pits.  You soon realize the dedication of these racers, as it is way beyond my expectations.  So much so, that I have buried any plans to ever build my Pontiac Formula into such a race car.  The modifications are way beyond what I wish to do with the car, and once you travel down this road, the car would no longer be a street car, and would be very difficult to turn back.  The amount of build/engineering that goes into these cars, and the safety features, were enough to leave me wide eyed. On that note, I'll let the pictures say the rest.

See that dot?  That's a racer...bring binoculars.

One of my favorites I came across.

With Straight 8 for power!

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The interior of a 1982 Camaro which has ran a best of 255 mph, and put 15 guys in the 200 mph club since it was built.  It is expected to break 300 mph with nitrous.  That said, this interior is essentially what you're looking at for any speeds north of 130 mph.  That, and the fact that you have to start removing glass, replacing it with plastic, and installing straps over the plastic.  This, is without a doubt, beyond building a "radical street car."  I couldn't do this to any car I had any attachment to, and I'm not afraid to cut on a car or install a cage, but this goes way beyond what I had envisioned.

Emma wanted a closer inspection.

Was happy to stumble upon these guys.  I met these fellow Michiganders at last year's Detroit Autorama.  They hit 205 mph last year and were looking for the record, which I believe was 234 mph.  These racers don't play!

2012 Bonneville Speed Week - Photos

San Diego, CA to Detroit, MI: Lincoln Hwy - Day 2

Let me start by saying I was really impressed with Ely, NV.  It deserves a trip back in the future.  While not a very big city, and not a whole ton to see, I would like to check out the locomotive museum, as well as take a ride up into the mountains.  If you wanna drop the cash, you can even take a tour in which you get to operate the train.  They also offer a Polar Express package in the winter, which takes you up into the mountains to see Santa.  The kids gotta love that trip!  Perhaps a winter trip can be made possible in the future.

About 3 hours after leaving Ely, we hit the Utah line.  I was getting excited to say the least! The visit to the flats was an adventure in it's own, and will be blogged about separately, deservedly so.

What was amazing about the salt flats was that you'd swear that you see water up ahead, only to find that it was the heat rising off the surface creating an illusion.  The picture above however, did actually have water.  It's one of the strangest sights, as seeing what appears to be ocean water, and the smell of salt water in the the middle of the desert just doesn't seem right.

Salt Lake...an oddity of sorts in my book.

After passing through Salt Lake City, we headed for Cheyenne Wyoming, our planned stop for the night.  Heading through the mountains east of Salt Lake City offered up some amazing scenery!  Lots of "S" curves, braking, and slow moving semi's. Before long, we found ourselves right back in the desert.

After another long, grueling day, we stopped in Cheyenne, Wyoming for the night at the Little America Hotel.  No neon signs, no rich history, just a nice all around motel with comfy beds.

San Diego to Detroit - Photos

San Diego, CA to Detroit, MI: Lincoln Hwy - Day 1

As we headed for home, no trip to California would be complete without checking out a bit of L.A.  On the way however, I had to make a stop at a destination that popped in my head.  Most everybody my age is a fan of Top Gun to some extent.  I knew it was filmed in the area, yet was unaware it was filmed almost exclusively in the San Diego area.  One stop in particular I wanted to see...Charlie's house.  It wasn't the romance, nor the Porche and bike chase scene. As a kid, it was what expectations of  L.A. I had established. I first visited L.A.  in high school back in 1995, and left the city seriously disappointed.  San Diego on the other hand, it was the California in which Top Gun brought me to expect.  So, needless to say, I wanted to see the house.  I knew ahead of time that the place is hanging by a string, possibly destined to be leveled, like so much of the area surrounding it, in order to make way for condos or mansions.  Sad really, as much of the neighborhood consisting of the quaint little beach cottages in the movie were no longer standing.

After seeing the house, we continued on to L.A.  Downtown isn't so unlike Detroit, though the homeless population greatly exceeds Detroit's.  As one officer who gave me directions to another precinct in hopes of a police patch exchange put it "take a right, you'll come upon a shit load of homeless, turn right, and it'll look like skid row.  That's were traffic enforcement is."  After our little venture in L.A., we drove through Hollywood, which like in 1995, was the same shithole it was then.

Beverley Hills and Rodeo Drive were very impressive, as was our final destination in the L.A. area, the Santa Monica Pier, the final stop of Route 66.  After an hour or two on the pier, we started our venture east, with our planned stop for the night in Ely, NV.

We passed through Las Vegas, and then north through the desert on 93 north, on the way to Ely, Nevada for the night to rest up for the salt flats the next day.  On our journey, I stumbled upon The Silver State Classic Challenge, the course in which is an open road race over a 90 mile stretch.  It's on my dream list of things to do (race) and felt lucky to be blasting through the desert on the two lane black top, as many racers have.  It was truly the most desolate area of our drive, as we didn't come up behind, or have a vehicle catch up to us, for several hours.  There were the occasional trucks and gamblers heading to Vegas, but heading out our way, we owned the road.  This was one of my favorite stretches to drive.

This was 93 north of Vegas.  The road was mine....all mine!

An amazing sunset, truly among the most beautiful I've ever witnessed.

Salt flat racers, parked outside our hotel.

We crashed for the night at the jailhouse.  How ironic eh?

Hotel Nevada...across the street.

San Diego to Detroit - Photos