DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

fryardds wrote:Jude,

It seems Kingman is a magnet for early 911s. (Actually photos from our cross-country trip going from East to West in the fall of 2008.)

Brian...... Those are wicked pictures!!! I had such a great time pootling along, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat

Yeah, I know what you mean. Exploring the Western US in an early 911 is such a hoot! Hopefully you visited the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. That vista is like no other.

J-Low wrote:

- Great pic, love it

This is such a cool story...

Day 2 was a long one, & to be fair on this stretch of Route 66, there's a lot to see... I stayed on as much of the old road as much as possible dipping into Ashfork, Williams & Bellemont on my way towards Flagstaff.



I decided against a stopover in Flagstaff, it was due to snow, & I didn't want to risk getting stuck there, & slowing down my trip. A friend had told me about a cool motel in Holbrook, along I-40, so that's where I headed.

By the time I made it over Flagstaff, I realised I was driving on sheet ice. It did cross my mind that if I had an accident now, it would be pretty inconvenient. Having been in the driving seat since early morning, I was beginning to feel the tiredness creeping in. I pulled into Winslow for a coffee & refuel, then carried on another 30 minutes to Holbrook.

If you haven't been to Arizona before, a word of advice: when you go, step outside at night & look up. The sky is different here, to anywhere else. It's big, dark & the stars are super bright, like someone has turned their sparkle intensity up. Amazing.

The destination was the Wigwam Motel.



A very cool stopover indeed..... A bunch of concrete wigwams, each with its own classic car outside. Gloria's bedfellow for the night was, quite fittingly, an old Bug.



I had no booking, just rolled up, & asked for a room for the night. Two queen size beds & a sizeable shower room & really cozy, just what was needed in the sub zero temperature....

Day 2:
Vegas - Hoover dam - Kingman - Hackberry - Truxton - Seligman - Ashfork - Bellemont - Winslow - Holbrook.

Day Two, in total, I drove approximately 420 miles over 7 hours. Again, I slept well.

Cool motel and as ever another great instalment

Day 3: Arizona to New Mexico

I woke up from my teepee slumber to find Gloria covered in a thick frost



I tried to start her, but she just seemed to sit there grumbling at me....

I had a minor panic, as I hadn't expected her to expire on me quite so early. I went back into my teepee for 10 minutes, & left her to get over whatever morning issues she was having. I tried to get her going again, only to be faced with more grumbling, & a real reluctance to get going.

The guy two teepees over was packing up his SUV, so I shouted over to him:

"Do you have any jumper cables?"

"I'll take a look...... She just sounds cold though"

Now bearing in mind, it's been a long time since I had my last air cooled car; & I'm still getting used to the quirks & different facets of Gloria's personality. Mix that with a bit of solo cross country travel paranoia, I decided that in order to not have a mini meltdown, I'd go back into my wigwam for a lie down & eat another granola bar.

I left her alone for another 15 minutes, figuring it must be a bit early for her. I tried again, this time persevering & giving her a kick up the backside to let her know it was time to wake up. Eventually, she wheezed into life. What I hadn't taken into account was, she had spent the best part of her life being garaged in sunny California, so cold weather & frost was an alien concept to her.

It's really satisfying, isn't it? When we really start to understand our cars, & the personalities they have that give them their unique characters. As Gloria woke up, I just sat with her, checking out the map for a route, listening to her tubes warm up. This became our morning routine, I'd go & get a cuppa, then sit in her reading a map whilst she popped & whined into action. I'd give her at least ten minutes of warm-up every morning before setting off. I'd wait for her engine to sound even & smooth on tick over, getting rid of all the early morning pops & lumpiness, then we'd set off for the day.

Now, one thing I haven't mentioned about leaving the UK. The flight was delayed, & the nice people at Virgin texted me to let me know that I could turn up for check in a bit later than normal. Thing was, I hadn't realised I was already slightly behind schedule..... I'd packed a load of clothes a couple of hours before leaving, & had taken great care in choosing a bunch of cd's to take with me.

I knew she had a radio/cd player & anticipating long periods of nothing much on the radio, I packed a load of driving classics, John Lee Hooker, Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival.... You get the picture? Chilled tunes to ease the day along. Well, when I realised I was running late, & in danger of missing my bus to catch the flight, I just grabbed my bag & legged it, forgetting not just the CDs.... Ho hum. Or, so, I thought....



It was actually a good thing, being forced to listen to local radio. The different radio stations give you a real flavour for the county you are driving through, & I even discovered I quite liked a bit of vintage Elton John. There were times when I had my finger on the tuner button, desperately surfing the static to find a station that wasn't playing Phil Collins or Country music. I have to admit, my music taste limiter stops at country music. I can't bear it, unless of course, it's Dolly Parton's 9-5, in which case, I know all the words.... Ahem, moving swiftly on.... I headed east towards New Mexico

Great story, keep the updates coming!

Not only a great trip - but a great story too ... you really know how to 'involve' the reader !

Most other people's accounts of their trips rely heavily on the accompanying pictures - your words almost make the pictures superfluous ... bring on the next installment !

We were making good progress east...

Crossing the state line from Arizona to New Mexico, the scenery changed dramatically from deep reds to yellow. The landscape was classic spaghetti western & absolutely breathtaking.

The next place I aimed for was Gallup. No reason really, it was just a pin in the map. I made a quick fuel stop in Grants. I was getting used to all the comments when I pulled up for fuel:

"That's a beautiful car....."
"Is that a '72 or a '73?" Seemed to be quite a popular question
I loved watching people's reactions when I replied "Actually, she's a '69"
"A '69? My gaaaad!!!"

The strangest reaction, however, was in the fuel station in Grants. There's a tyre shop next door; & as I filled her up, I noticed a guy get up out of his deck chair & walk over, looked at me, slowly walked round Gloria, looking at her, looked at me again & walked away to sit back down in his deck chair. All in complete silence. Bizarre.

We hummed along quite happily at around 70mph, & a shade under 3100rpm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xImiVm5I ... re=mh_lolz

Heading towards Albuquerque, I decided to take the Pre-1937 section of Roue 66, which heads north to Santa Fe. Again, no reason really, it just looked more interesting than cutting straight across on the Interstate.

As it turned out, taking this more northerly route did little to my journey, but add more miles to it. Remember I mentioned that local radio gives you a flavour for the area you are driving through? Well, in & around Santa Fe, they just love their jazz. No sign of Phil Collins or Country music on these airwaves.

Already today, I'd driven over 400 miles, & had been in the seat for close to 6 hours. I knew I had to start thinking about a place to stay for the night, so I headed for the nearest McD's to make use of their free wifi. Now, here's a tip: all the drive-thru McD's are an L-shape inside, so if you pop in the back door, near the loos, you can generally find a quiet spot where you won't be disturbed, or noticed so there's no need to spend extra dollars....

I pinpointed a small town called Tucumcari, some 60 miles away. It looked like a Route 66 destination, & I wasn't disappointed. I pulled up to the Blue Swallow Motel, a beautiful neon diamond in the middle of a barren dust hole, popped my head round the door & asked if they had a room.



Nancy, the owner asked if I'd like to take a look at the free room they had, so we wandered round the back to room 11. I have to be honest, I'm not sure what came over me.... When she opened the door, & I saw the beautiful, deep bed in a perfectly preserved 1950's room, I threw myself face down on the duvet shouting:

"I'M SLEEPING HEEEEEERRRE!!!!"
"So, it meets with your approval?" She replied, slightly taken aback. "Since you are British, would you like a cup of tea? I have some PG Tips that I ordered from Amazon."
"Yeeeeesssss!!!!!! This is HEAVVVVVVEEEENNN!!!!!"

Tell me, as a tea drinking Brit, that wouldn't be music to your ears too?

"Well, the kettle is a bit old, & takes ten minutes to boil, so I'll see you round the front when you are ready."



The Blue Swallow is a relic from the glory days of driving & the American Dream; & as such, each room has its own little garage. Not only did I have a fantastic bed for the night, but Gloria was tucked up inside, as well.



Happy that she was going to be warm & dry for the night, I headed down the street to find a Mexican; restaurant, that is....

Just loving this. Been to all these weird places, even noticed the same Phil Collins overload on the radio waves. Can't stand his music. A friend recently told me that he's obsessed with the Alamo and is the world's foremost collector of Alamo memorabilia, so perhaps they're just showing their appreciation?

Keep it coming. Keep it coming!

Beautiful car, too. Love the photos.

jamie wrote:Keep it coming. Keep it coming!

Beautiful car, too. Love the photos.

Wowser..... Just checked out your website - very cool indeed

I'll definitely keep it coming,there's plenty more video as well; I'll cut the sections where you can hear me singing along though.......

Glad you are enjoying it. How's your trip going?

Hopefully this clip will work......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xImiVm5I ... re=mh_lolz

it did
completely empty roads, what a joy.

Hi

Now thats a neat trick with the camera, both hands on the wheel

Looks like you had a great trip, keep it coming.

Kind Regards