<– Day 14 – Sat. May 12th: Ann Gets the Boot | Day 16 – Monday May 14th: Drive Them Jeeps! –>

Scott and I about to enter the newest Jungle Jims grocery emporium!

Day 15: Though we spent months planning the Alaska Or Rust Adventure, Scott Gilbert and I had never met until Sunday.

We drove from Lexington, Kentucky, to Newtown, Ohio, on Sunday.

As Ann slept, I started Sunday in Lexington, Kentucky, with a coffee run that turned into a cool donut find. I’m not a big donut eater, but the evil donuts at North Lime Coffee & Donuts seduced me into trying a couple: a chocolate glazed and a sprinkled donut. The Chocolate glaze was cut square, giving it a unique look, but the better one was the simple sprinkle donut. It turned out to be a heavy, yet tasty, not too chewy, but substantive treat.

Each day, North Lime puts out a display of the day’s donuts. This was from a different day than I was there (You can see many more pics on YELP):

instead of the old fashioned donut boxes, North Lime uses branded pizza boxes. I thought that pretty clever and a nice update for the college crowd, as this was near the University of Transylvania in Lexington.

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<– Day 13 – Friday May 11th: Lawrence & Lubbeck | Day 15 – Sunday May 13th: Great Scott, Another Jungle Jims? –>

Day 14: On Saturday morning we went to the ER at the Veteran’s Administration in Asheville. The doc concluded that she might have some achilles damage. To be safe and to complete our trip, they put her in a boot.

Day 14 took us from Asheville, NC, to Lexington, KY.

From there, we drove to Lexington, Kentucky, where I spent the evening working on my presentation for the Willys Reunion. Since Hugo’s wife was injured in a fall just before they were supposed to leave for the United States, Hugo decided to remain in Brazil to care for her. Thus, I’ll be giving the keynote, where I’ll share both Hugo’s story and the story the Alaska Or Rust trip.

Tomorrow I’ll work on it some more, then head to Cincinnati to spend the evening with Scott Gilbert and meet his family.

<– Day 13 – Friday May 11th: Lawrence & Lubbeck | Day 15 – Sunday May 13th: Great Scott, Another Jungle Jims? –>

<– Day 12 – Thurs. May 10th: Willys to Hawgs | Day 14 – Sat. May 12th: Ann Gets the Boot –>

Our welcoming party at Lawrence Elliot’s place. From Left to Right, Carroll, Ann, me, Van, Lawrence, Susie, and Phillip.

Day 13: I only had to drive for 20 minutes today. That was in the morning on our drive to Maury’s. For the rest of our drives, our Chauffeur and tour guide, Maury, took us all over the windy hills of Western North Carolina. I think he could make a living doing this with a DUKW and microphone. He was entertaining and informative! However, I suspect being an architect pays better, so I don’t see him changing careers just yet!

We started out the day by meeting Maury at his shop, where his GPW is located. The GPW, #58671, was drafted into the Army on August 25, 1942. Six years later, it landed in Maury’s hands when he purchased it from Tom Stanek, who’d done a restoration on it and learned that the jeep was a Bechtel reconditioned unit. Maury has written up all the history he’d uncovered on his GPW in a article titled “Tracing the History of GPW 58671”, which appeared in the Winter 2008 issue of Army Motors Magazine.

Here’s Maury giving us a tour:

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<– Day 11- Wed. May 9th: Exploring the Palmetto State | Day 13 – Friday May 11th: Lawrence & Lubbeck –>

Judi and Kieth Rhodes and Ann and I at Hawg Wild BBQ and Fish House in Hiawasee, Georgia.

Day 12: On Wednesday we drove from Aiken, South Carolina, to Asheville, North Carolina, via Hiawassee, Georgia.

We drove from Aiken to Asheville on Thursday.

Thursday began with a visit to Kaiser Willys, first meeting Rachel and Amy, then with a visit with Mike at the warehouse. Mike explained that KW began with his father. They’d go on road trips towing a trailer and, when stopped at motels, would sell parts out of the trailer to fund their trip. Eventually, they began selling parts out of their home, then when they grew too big, moved into a warehouse.

I’m sure I’m explaining something incredibly important!

I forgot my shopping cart, or I would have loaded up!

I think that sign ought to read, “Back your jeep up, open the tailgate, and load up!”

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