2007 Texas to Colorado Model T Tour
June 20th thru July 4th, 2007
joining the "Search
for the Mohigans Tour”
and the Model T
Club of Northern Colorado.
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We were very lucky yesterday - we kept
driving into areas that had obviously had rain but only got a
sprinkle all day. Even in Gatesville where we spent the
night, it rained up until about 30 minutes before we drove into
town. Today, however, we headed right into it. We
drove in rain most of the morning, sometimes heavy, sometimes
light, but steady. As you may know, none of our cars have
side windows. And, the front windows are split
horizontally and hang on pivots. Guess how wet we all
were! Still, it could have been worse. I remember
driving in from Temple in a Model T in 1989, returning from our
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honeymoon. It rurns out that the
storm we drove into that day was actually a hurricane hitting
the coast.
We all drove steadily,
stopping only for gas and a brief donut snack in the town of
Cameron. Fortunately, there were no problems with the
cars. I hate it when we have to fix cars in the rain.
Things started to clear up a
little as we entered Brazos County, our home. Texas has
been hit with two weeks of steady rain while we’ve been
gone and everything is very wet and vivid green.
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It was good to see Texas T
Parts again. The pasture was knee high to Donkey,
Jennifer’s miniature donkey. The trailer in the far
left of the photo is a customer, waiting at the door to drop
off his Model T engine. We’ve driven 3,025 miles
and had to lift an engine out of a trailer before we had a
chance to even congratulate ourselves for our safe arrival.
Don’t get me wrong - we’re glad for the
business. And we are always pleased when someone wants to
get their car running well and back on the road.
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Austen tries out Bruce
Lilleker’s 1910 brass T. This lovely car is part of
Bruce’s “pension plan” This very early
car has no windshield, no front doors, and acetelene lights.
It would be a great car for parades or shows but would
not be a good choice for a Colorado tour. But,
isn’t it a beauty?
Our English component on the
trip. We’ve loved having the Lillekers and the
Bromleys along on the trip. Of course, having two
additional skilled mechanics along on a 3,000 mile Model T
drive improves the chances of success. Martin refers to
the group as “The Dream Team”.
The English are leaving to go
home on Monday. They’ve had all the fun they can
stand.
I just had to include one
more picture of Marian Rose and her cousin Bailey. This
photo may not be clear enough for you to see the mud coating
both of them. She has been good but two weeks in a car is
a lot to ask from a puppy. They spent an hour jumping in
every puddle they could find and rolling around in the mud.
Their response to my exclamations?
“What?”
We had to include our friend,
Mark Conlee, in this tour end photo. He was always there
when we needed him.
After Ben took care of
business, we all settled into Ross and Jennifer’s dining
room for a quick lunch. Left to right: Bruce
Lilleker, Martin Thomen, Patty Duhon, Ben Hardeman, Nicky
Bromley, Austen Bromley, and Barbara Lilleker. Jennifer
was working at her restaurant and Ross was on his way back with
the 1915 Touring that we had left in Panhandle, Texas, on
Tuesday.
I may not have mentioned
that Ross, Luke Cordes, and Blake Williams left Bryan yesterday
evening to go pick up the car. Ross and Luke had just
arrived home around noon on 4th of July, rested for a while,
then hooked up the trailer and left for the drive to Panhandle.
They returned back to the shop around 6:30 this evening.
Work on the engine will probably start tomorrow.
It’s been a great
trip but we are glad to be home again. Thanks so much to
those of you who encouraged us with emails or phone calls.
And thanks for reading this journal. I usually
wrote it around 11:00PM and it is nice to hear that people were
actually reading it.
We hope that you will try
your Model T on longer runs, maybe not 3,020 miles on your
first tour (like Martin did), but longer than simply
participating in your Christmas parade. And, if you
aren’t a Model T owner, I hope you will at least get off
the interstate and try driving in the slow lane. Maybe
we’ll see you on the road!
