Home Stretch to Peoria, Illinois
August 13, 2006
"Home again, home again, jiggity-jog." Anyone remember that old nursery rhyme? Well we are back to 'go', covering 220 miles on the last leg of our "great adventure."
On our morning check of the car we noticed grease coming out around the right front hubcap. Why? Maybe the wheel bearing is bad, too tight, whatever, or was the grease always there and we didn't notice it?
We kind of wanted to get on the road and try for home today. What to do?? We jacked up the wheel and gave it a spin and shake....seems normal. We decided to wipe off the grease and recheck in a few miles. We kept an eye on it and it showed no change.
Our exhaust leak was driving us nuts and was not getting any better. Dave Warth, an old friend, owns a machine shop in Danville, Iowa, on our way home. If we can make it to Dave's shop, he can fix anything but a broken heart.
Dave was not expecting us but one "toot" on the ahooga horn and he was out the door and ready to help. Dave repaired the exhaust pipe and fixed another leak at the rear exhaust port by installing a new gasket from our spare parts.
It was sure nice to have a quiet car again. It would have been embarrassing to show off my new ride with the leak.
Dave Warth
From Danville, Iowa we followed Rt 34 toward Howard's home in Kewanee, Illinois. Along the way we detoured to Bishop Hill to look at some "barn cars" Howard heard about.
We found the barn and it is crammed with 'stuff', really dusty and darker than the inside of a hat!
The owner is "four score and gonna restore."
Howard called home and learned some club members and friends were planning to meet us when we hit town.
They were waiting at the Dairy Queen when we arrived. The local paper had a photographer there and plan to do an article about our trip.
We are happy to be home but we hated to see the adventure end. We traveled 905 miles, used 56 gallons of gas and spent 5 days on the road. We had a great time, stopping to visit old friends or make new friends along the way.
Best of all, Howard and I are still friends!
We should have taken more pictures. Pictures help tell the story but they cannot display the friendliness of the people or the genuine desire of people to help one another.
We saw a bumper sticker along the way that said, "Live so your preacher doesn't need to lie at your funeral." That kinda' says it all.
I originally thought this adventure was about resurrecting a Model A and the challenge of completing a long trip with it.
It was more than that, the Model A proved to be the perfect "vehicle" for exploring the heartland and connecting with the "regular" people of our great country.
If you are only using your Model A to hold up a car cover, you are missing the best part of owning one.
August 13, 2006
