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Day 5 – Thursday May 3: Rainy Day Quilts

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

<– Day 4 – Thursday May 2: Old Friends | Day 6 – Friday May 4: Parker To the Rescue! –>

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I think she’s forgotten all about the purse … someone is having a good day!

Day 5: We drove from Warrensburg, Missouri, to Paducah, Kentucky, spending most of the day driving in the rain.

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Day 5: Warrensburg to Paducah

We began the day saying our farewells to Dale and Edith, Ann’s friends from her time living in Knob Noster and working at Whiteman with Dale. They hadn’t seen each other in two decades, so it was an all too short stay. Hopefully we’ll return some day.

We’d barely begun our drive when the rain began to fall. For the next five hours it wavered between sprinkles and pouring. Dale and Edith had recommended that we stop at the Osceola Cheese outlet on our drive south. We like cheese, so it was a pretty easy sell.

Driving south on highway 13, it wasn’t easy to miss, as a series of billboards made it clear that we shouldn’t pass it up! Thankfully, though it was 8:45, they were already open!

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Knardly Rolls Rolls for Reals, 32 Years Later ….

• CATEGORIES: Builds, Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Well, he did it. A big CONGRATULATIONS TO ALASKA Paul. He installed the final part onto his stainless 1952 M-38 Knardly Rolls on May 2nd, 2018. I, for one, look forward to hearing about the inaugural run!

From: lemonade

To this 32 years and 5 months later: paul-m38-1

Here’s what Paul wrote,

“Somehow, despite my best efforts, I finally managed to complete the never ending rebuild of the little stainless steel Willys. The last part (the rear driveshaft) was bolted to the axle at 12:30 pm today, May 2nd 2018 ending a multi decade effort that began when I dropped the engine off at the rebuilders on December 2nd 1985. Over the years I’ve used the date the stainless steel body was ordered as the project start date but that happened over a month after the engine went to the rebuilders.

From the starting date to the completion date this project took 32 years and 5 months of time. I realize I’m slow but I never expected I’d take over three decades to rebuild one Willys Jeep …… it’s good I don’t do this for a living. I’m glad I finished it while I’m still flexible enough to climb into the driver’s seat, the Goddess suggested I make a stainless steel walker because I might need one before I finished the little Willys. She’s helpful that way.

The backyard is quite soggy so I’ll have to wait a week or so before I can reposition the Willys from the garage to the connex for leak checks and static runs. If things go well I hope to be cruising thru the neighborhood by late May.

Naturally, the garage must be filled with a project before winter so this fall I’ll move the remains of the 1951 M100 trailer inside where I’ll begin to fabricate a stainless steel box on the original frame.

Other than that the Goddess and I are having fun under the midnight sun here in the northland. By mid May the trees should have leaves, the night time temperature should stay above freezing and we shouldn’t have anymore snowfall until late September.”

 
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Day 4 – Wednesday May 2: Old Friends

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

<– Day 3 – Tuesday May 1: Weathering OZ | Day 5 – Thursday May 3: Rainy Day Quilts –>

Day 4: Today we didn’t drive far. We left Kansas and the tornados behind, arriving in Missouri to learn that more tornados were expected.

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We had a very nice stay in Topeka at the Best Western Inn & Suites on Tuesday night, even taking the opportunity to sleep late, so late we missed the free breakfast. It appeared a family owned the motel and they were very nice.

For example, at one point in the morning, I stepped out to get some ice from the ice machine. Next to the ice, the soda machine was being refilled. The woman in charge pulled out a Mr. Pibb and offered it to me for free, telling me that if I didn’t like it, I could have something else. I don’t drink it, but I figured Ann would. I’d definitely stay there again.

Our goal for the day was to drive to Whiteman Air Force Base, where Ann is officially still based, and obtain a new military ID for her, then meet up with some of her old friends. Dale, a co-worked and close friend of Ann’s, still worked at the base and was excited to meet us at the main gate.

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Old work buddies Dale & Ann

That turned out to be a good thing, because when we arrived at the entrance, we discovered that my dependent-ID had expired, so if it hadn’t been for Dale, we couldn’t have gotten on to base to get her ID updated. To be fair, I hadn’t used the ID to access a base in 4 years, so I hadn’t paid too close attention to the date. Anyway, thanks to Dale, we accessed the base and found the place we needed to get Ann’s new ID and mine updated.

After that, Dale invited us back to his place to see Edith, his wife, who just had surgery. Ann had a great time getting reacquainted with them, while giving me a chance to finish up work by a reasonable hour. Now, if only those pesky Tornado warning sirens would stop going off we could go to sleep!

For Thursday,  we *think* we are heading through the Ozark Lakes, then on to Paducah to visit the National Quilt Museum. The weather may play a role in dictating our path.

<– Day 3 – Tuesday May 1: Weathering OZ | Day 5 – Thursday May 3: Rainy Day Quilts –>

 
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Jeep “Junkyard” near Franklin, PA

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: , This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

TJ shared this post from Barnfinds.com of a collection of jeeps near Franklin, Pennsylvania. I figured someone might recognize the location?

https://barnfinds.com/roadside-junkyard-fiasco/

Here are a couple pics:

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Day 3 – Tuesday May 1: Weathering OZ

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

<– Day 2: Monday April 30th: Life’s Twists & Turns | Day 4 – Wednesday May 2: Old Friends –>

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Day 3: I thought there wouldn’t be much to share from yesterday, but boy did we find a wide range of weather! I’m a bit rummy after our long drive… hopefully most of this makes sense. Here’s Tuesday’s route:

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We drove from Rawlins, WY, to Topeka, KS on Tuesday.

We began Tuesday driving in the snow and 30 degree temps through Wyoming. Brrrrrr. As we dropped into Nebraska the temps improved. Turning south, we drove into Kansas asthe temps rose to 82 degrees! It felt like summer, with blue sky surrounding us.

The only problem we faced regarding Kansas is that Ann is banned from driving there. Here’s the story:

My wife is banned from driving in the state of Kansas (and as far as we know is still banned). Yes, you read that correctly. It’s a funny story of how a comedy of errors coupled with some brain damage can get you banned from a state.

Many years ago Ann was driving a Ford Explorer (with Purple Heart plates) she’d just bought through Kansas with her grandmother in the back. Her granny had been in a car accident and suffered brain damage. Ann herself has some slight brain damage from Khobar and, when driving, sometimes get’s tunnel vision, so it is prudent of me to make sure we don’t miss exits (otherwise, she’s a very good driver). I’m sure the two were quite a pair.

With granny in the back seat asleep, Ann had the music on and was cruising down the freeway. At some point she noticed there were police lights in the rear view manner. So, she pulled over. The officer who approached her window was NOT happy, explaining that he had been following her for “some time” and that she had been speeding. Ann told him she was unaware she had been speeding and didn’t hear the sirens over the music.

That’s when things go interesting, for granny popped up from the back seat and started calling Ann by the name Kathy (Ann’s aunt’s name) and wanted to know where Kathy was taking her in a manner suggesting granny was being kidnapped. This caught the officer’s attention. Asking for her license and registration, the officer soon discovered that Ann’s boyfriend at the time, who worked at a dealership and sold her the Explorer, had not properly registered the Explorer.

To the cop, the whole situation was suspicious. Any officer would be suspicious about a woman who 1) wasn’t who she claimed, 2) was kidnapping an old woman, 3) driving an improperly registered vehicle, 4) speeding, and 4) not pulling over in a timely manner.

So, off to a small town jail they went. When they arrived at the jail, it turned out the jail was flooded, so they had to be ‘held’ at the local diner. Eventually, all was sorted out, but it took a while. The next day, they were released and off they went.

Sometime later, Ann received a letter from the State of Kansas claiming she was banned from ever driving in the state again.

Not long after entering Kansas, we noticed storm clouds off to the east. Here’s a pic from Phillipsburg, Kansas:

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Philipsburg, Kansas, town square with the storm behind it.

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Pilsen 2018 Liberation Festival

• CATEGORIES: Event, Features, International This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

John pointed out that In a couple days the town of Pilsen in the Czech Republic will be celebrating its “Liberation Festival”. There’s a great photo on the front page from a previous year’s parade.

Read all about it here. http://slavnostisvobody.cz/en/

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Here’s some footage from 1945 of Pilsen:

And a few more links thanks to John:

  1. 70th liberation celebration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toG_WswIrdQ
  2. Another 70th video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toG_WswIrdQ
  3. Laying of wreaths at Thank You Monument: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYb8wbYv9cs

 

 
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Day 2: Monday April 30th: Life’s Twists and Turns

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

<– DAY 1: Sunday April 29th: It’s a Fluid Situation! | Day 3: Tuesday May 1: Weathering Oz –>

DAY 2: We made it to Rawlins, Wyoming, yesterday. Progress has been made.

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Here’s what happened to delay our departure from Utah …..

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After a stressful morning, a very happy wife.

It was an interesting day of twists and turns. Yesterday morning began with a startle. At 5:17am the motel TV’s audio, but not video, sputtered to life, crackling at first, then clearing up to broadcast some kind of TV news interview. I hunted down the remote in the dark, hit the power, thinking the tv would shut off, but instead the video came to life. I hit the power one more time, then the video and audio shut down. That was weird!

Later, as we were leaving the hotel in search of tires, Ann discovered that she didn’t have her purse. If not in the motel room — and it wasn’t there any of the 74 times we checked — then the only other place it could be was at the nearby Spanish Fork’s Cafe Rio, where we ate the previous night. We called the restaurant at 9am and were able to speak with the manager who closed the night before and was opening it that morning, learning that he hadn’t seen the purse. After another search of the motel room, we concluded it had been stolen after we’d left the restaurant. Gone were her cash, her banks cards, her military ID, her driver’s license, her inhaler, her new glasses, and some other stuff.

We are WINNING on this trip, lol.

Back to the tire search … based on my the previous evening’s research, we ended up at the Springville Big-O tire shop. They had the best local reviews and could get the original OEM tires (which no local tire-shops had in stock). Now, we just had to wait.

How to kill time on a rainy day? First, we thought eating breakfast was a good idea. Not wanting to drive very far on the crappy spare tire, we found a Denny’s just a block away. After being seated, the server asked what she wanted to drink and Ann responded “apple juice”.

Turns out, Denny’s sold out of that the day before. Poor Ann, she just couldn’t win …. having had enough by that time, she broke the soda embargo she’d put in place for the past month and ordered a Dr. Pepper. Since Ann couldn’t see the menu (reading glasses in the missing/stolen purse), she explained to the waitress that she could not read the menu, then described what she wanted: 1 egg over easy, 2 pieces of bacon, a bowl of grits, and the Dr. Pepper. I had the grand slam (2 eggs, toast, 2 pieces of bacon, hash browns). Continue reading

 
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Roberto’s Latest Doodle

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Roberto Flores recently created this doodle.

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Day 1- Sunday April 29th: It’s a Fluid Situation; at Least No Fluids Spilled!

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

<– Trip Overview MapDay 2: Monday April 30th: Life’s Twists and Turns –>

DAY 1: When folks ask when we’ll be somewhere on this trip, I tell them it’s a bit of a fluid situation until we get closer to the East Coast. Case in point ….

Yesterday we left Pasco, headed for Grand Junction, Colorado. As we passed by Provo, we heard a strange noise like a tire popping, but nothing seemed amiss. We turned off at Spanish Fork and made it several miles up the canyon when we heard another noise followed by a ding: one of our tires was flat. Fortunately, we were able to pull safely off highway 6 (no fluids spilled, no damage, etc).

We put on the wimpy spare, then drove back down to Spanish Fork, where we spent the night. After a bunch of research on tires, we’ll hit Big O tire in Springville at 7AM to see what they can offer us. By the time we are out of here, we’ll have lost about a day.

Below is the planned route for yesterday … We are 3/4 of the way there.

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And, the tire:

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Finally, the phone issue. For five hours on Sat night/Sunday morning my phone showed no signs of life. Then, at 2am, when I happened to be awake, it popped on with a Facebook alert. After talking it over with Ann, we decided we would go ahead and upgrade my phone (it had been three years), as I no longer trusted it. We left early, reaching Twin Falls, Idaho, just as the store opened.

Purchasing the phone went fairly efficiently, though the transfer of info was slow, so slow that after we left some of my apps were still loading. By the time the tire blew four hours later, the apps were still loading. So, no Priceline app to reserve the hotel room in Spanish Fork and no Yelp app to help me locate a restaurant that was open (it was Sunday night in Utah after all). For sure, these are 1st world problems, but they didn’t help my day!

Let’s hope tomorrow goes more smoothly.

<– Trip Overview MapDay 2: Monday April 30th: Life’s Twists and Turns –>

 
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Jeep Stop Sign **SOLD**

• CATEGORIES: Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: **SOLD** Was on eBay.

Maury theorizes that this may have been used by the military as a type of bus stop on bases, where folks could go to grab a ride somewhere. He provided this photo as another example.

Jeep-O-Stop Sign Jeep-O-Stop

Original post: Scott was wondering if anyone had any history on this unusual sign?

“Original “Jeep Stop” sign, has some rust and damage. The “STOP” portion of the sign is embossed.
The Sign Measures Approximately 24 inches wide by 24 inches tall and is stamped steel.”

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