The last hour of our 31 hour drive from Long Island to Rapid City, SD, was the longest of our trip.  The running joke between Ann and I was that the weather always seemed worst when i was driving.  Well, this time she took the brunt of the bad driving.  With 45 minutes left as we drove into the hills on I-90  just before Rapid City, the snow started falling hard.  With temperatures hovering around 27 degrees, the snow stuck immediately.  The closer we got to Rapid City, the more the snow fell and the snowier the freeway became.  Every mile got worse as the freeway turned white; snow rules were the norm and ‘lanes’ vanished.  We were happy to arrive, tired, rummy, and ready to sleep.

Once we arrived at the motel, after talking with travelers coming from Montana and Wyoming, coupled with reports that it would snow heavy on Saturday, we booked a room for two nights.  So, after two days of racing west hoping to miss the snow, instead we find ourselves buried under it for the next two days.  But, it’s not so bad being trapped in a motel room with Ann …. below is the view out our window.

For his 100th podcast, the History Czar, Paul Bruno, interviewed me last weekend while Ann and I were at Niagara Falls. We discussed a variety of topics during our 48 minute conversation, including my upcoming book, eWillys, my background, and our mutual frustration regarding a jeep museum, or lack thereof.   (The site containing the interview is no longer available).

During our conversation, Paul kindly labeled me a jeep historian; pre-eminent was his adjective of choice.  However, there are many expert jeep nuts out there who know more than I, so don’t let all his kind words fool you:  I’m still learning!

On Sunday night, after our brush with the law at the NYC’s water reservoir, Ann and I stopped in the Catskills to spend the night with Andy and Wallis.  Andy has a few jeeps he wanted to share with me, but we got there too late to look around, so we went down to a local restaurant for a few drinks and some delicious dinner, before returning to the cabin.

Our nightcap for the evening was to watch an episode of Pan Am, because Andy had just sold a jeep to them for use in an episode of the show.  If you watch the episode, you can spot the M-38A1D (the identifier is its unique passenger side piece that runs around the top side rim along the rear of the body).  Here is an example of a stock M-38A1D.

Only a few minutes away from the that start of the tv show that featured the jeep, the power in the cabin suddenly shutdown.  There seemed no cause for the power outage.  We heard no wind, saw no rain, and experienced no weather problems at all.  Sure the power would come back on, said Andy and Wallis, just wait a few minutes.  So, we waited five minutes, then ten minutes, and longer.  While Wallis and Andy apologized, Ann and I were perfectly happy, as it was quiet and peaceful, with the flicker of candles and the fireplace firelight filling the rooms.  Eventually, we gave up  waiting for the power and went to the sleep.

In the middle of the night, power (and civilization) returned, with the tv and the lights powering on.  So, we shut down the lights and tv and went back to sleep.

The next morning Andy took us over to Terry’s Jeep Farm, a visit I highlighted yesterday. When we returned to his place, he showed me a few of his jeeps.  Below are a few pictures from the tour.  I’ve also included a link to the 11/13/2011 tv show of Pan Am.  Thanks to both Andy and Wallis for their hospitality!!

http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/pan-am (click on 11/13/2011 video)

Here’s Andy and I in his property cart, a really handy way to get around.

Here’s a nice original piece of Ford Windshield Glass

Based on feedback he has received, Andy believes this GPW had a top added during the Korean War by the motor pool to turn it into an Ambulance.  Andy had this for sale back in October, but it didn’t sell a the price Andy wanted.

It seems the weather gods are attempting to thwart our nice, though quick, tour of Manhattan.  For the moment we are hanging out in the Trump Tower Starbucks.  I’m sipping some hot chocolate and Ann is enjoying some kind of coffee mixture.  Hopefully, the rain will let up soon for the remainder of our trek to my great aunt’s, where we will spend the night and share pictures.

No updates tonight.  Probably none until Thursday evening late.  Here we are in Times Square.

We have almost reached the eastern most point of our trip, Madison, Ct. We are almost at the 3700 mile mark.  In fact, we are just about out of land, so I guess that means it is time to turn around and head east again.  I still have reports to file about my visit with Terry, Andy, and Wallis, so stay tuned for more updates.  Here are a few random pictures from the past few days:

We have emerged from the Catskills and are plugged back into the virtual world.  I have several updates to provide, but first i have to catch up on emails and review more than 700 photos shot by Ann in the last two days to prepare for another round of family history photos on Tuesday.

I managed to receive my second warning of the trip.  It all started with Ann asking me to stop so we could take a picture near the water.  It turns out that water isn’t any old water hole; instead, it is New York City’s main source of water.  And, it turns out, they are mighty protective of that water.  But, there weren’t any fences and there were a lot of little row boats littering the beach.  So, we thought, for the picture, we would be ok … below is the picture of us and a picture of me and the police while they wrote us both a warning.  To the officer’s credit, they were professional and even apologized for writing the warnings.  I guess they quickly concluded we were clueless tourists on a road trip.  I even gave one a card in hopes they’d drop by the website.

UPDATE II:  We spent last night at Andy’s place in the Catskills. Just as I posted this the power went out, remaining out most of the night.  Once again, I was without power and cell service so updates came to a halt.  I am thinking some higher power didn’t want me doing updates yesterday ….

UPDATE: Well, this was supposed to post this afternoon, but it turns out that there isn’t much broadband cellular service while driving through the catskills.  Then, once I did get service, I got through a variety of updates.  Unfortunately, my computer battery ran out just before finishing this last post.  Not to be deterred, I tried to use my power converter.  I plugged into the cigarette lighter only to discover the converter had blown a fuse.  sigh … but, I’m back up now.

Alex reports that Jeepneys are alive and well in Manila.  Here are some pictures from this week.  Thanks Alex!

We stayed the night with Bob & Mindy Christy on Thursday night in Akron, Oh.  They were delightful hosts, sharing their stories, food and cats with us.  They even scheduled a possum to come into their breezeway to add some excitement to the evening.

Bob & Mindy gave us the full tour of their place, including a tool tour.  My favorite tool wasn’t in the garage. Instead, it was Bob’s hand operated meat slicer from the 1950s.  I loved it!

Their love for jeeps is evident, with toys, calendars and pictures of them on many of the rustic wood walls of their cabin-like house.  In fact, they both worked on their beloved CJ-3B jeep, ‘Gertrude’, restoring it in time  for their wedding about a decade ago.  At the end of their wedding they drove away in it.  Positioned proudly over their fireplace mantel is a wedding picture of them next to it.

Their friends Bob and Brenda eventually joined us and we all went out to dinner at their favorite restaurant, the Falcon.  On the way we discovered that Ann and Bob had the same job in the Air Force, so talk quickly shifted to comparing notes on all kinds of things that went over my head.

Once we arrived at the restaurant, we enjoyed a fine meal. One of their specialties is the falcon burger, but I was disappointed to learn there was no actual falcon meat used to make it.

When we returned, Bob (of Bob and Brenda) pulled out a stack of 4WD catalogs freshly printed.  Gertrude recently made the cover of the Vintage Jeep 4WD Catalog.  Below is a picture of the catalog with me on the left and Bob on the right and Gertrude in the background and on the Catalog.  Many thanks to Bob and Mindy for their hospitality!!

After leaving Bob and Mindy we traveled north to North Tonawanda, where we stopped by the local Museum.  The museum is a work in progress.  We stopped to learn how far the museum has come in developing its Wurlitzer collection, as my Great Great Grandfather is Rudolph Wurlitzer.  We learned that they hope to have an area devoted to the Wurlitzer family and the Wurlitzer Piano and Organ Company by December.  The head of the museum was kind enough to take us ‘in back’ and give us a special tour.

From there, we drove to Niagara Falls to see it at night.  The lights were very cool and we used up all kinds of digital space shooting picture after picture!  Today we head towards Rochester for more family research.  The picture below shows the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, in the background and the falls to the left.  Changing colors of  lights from Canada shine onto the falls, illuminating them in different ways.  At 9pm, those crazy Canadians started launching fireworks, too.  Though chilly, it was a beautiful night!

We just drove by this.  It’s a bad day for someone.

Tomorrow (Friday Nov 11th) is ‘Kiss a Veteran’ Day.  At least, that is what Ann tells me.  Having served in the Air Force and been blown up during a terrorist bombing, I will take her word for what Veteran’s day should mean.

Ann is a survivor of the 1996 Khobar Tower blast.  She had just come inside from playing volleyball during some downtime and was sitting against a wall in the apartment (where the arrow points in the picture to the right) when a  driver neared the building with a truck, jumped out, and started to walk away. The threat was recognized immediately, but not everyone could be warned in time.  The bomb exploded. Ann’s fellow volleyball players were killed, along with the terrorist. Despite being inside the apartment, the explosion left her with lingering physical issues, but never damaged her spirit.  So, find a veteran, kiss them, and thank them.  I promise to do my part.

TRIP UPDATE:

I haven’t seen a classic jeep in two days.  I think I am getting the shakes.  Fortunately, we are headed to Bob’s where I can get my fix.  The Willys sickness is unforgiving.

We spent last night in Cincinnati.  I liked the town enough that I’d like to go back some time.  The Cincinnati Art Museum was particularly nice, as was Eden Park which surrounds the museum.  While in Cincinnati, I also got lost once, which lead me to Kentucky.  After quickly turning around and then turning on the GPS, we found our way back into the city.

In addition, I managed to run only one red light the entire time driving in the city.  But, as I pleaded to Ann, after running through it and then almost missing my exit, it wasn’t my fault because the car in front of me also badly ran the light and I was just following that car.  And, in my defense, the lights were positioned oddly in the intersection, so they weren’t very obvious.

Now, if my mother read the above paragraph, she might just be getting a little nervous.  Because, only two days ago I called her and asked where her insurance card was.  She immediately realized that I had been stopped for speeding.  I escaped with just a warning, because, again in my defense, I thought I was only going 79 in a 75, but the very understanding officer clocked me at 82.  Then, the officer educated me on driving in Nebraska.  He told me that Nebraska had zero-tolerance for speeding, so vehicles traveling at any speed over 75 would be stopped.  I wanted to inform him that many states in the West have a softer stance on speeding, but thought that wound’t go over so well.  Instead, I thanked him for the information and we proceeded at 75 for the remainder of Nebraska.

Don’t worry mom, we are having a great time and the car is safe!