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Christmas Adventure

Started by leroys73, March 18, 2015, 01:09:54 PM

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leroys73

This road trip was by car, instead of solo by my usual motorcycle, with family, wife, granddaughter, and daughter (not GD's mother) .  No dog this time as my best friend, Bruiser, passed away in October.  This trip had been planned for a year and a half as a family gathering in Detroit area. 

My wife has family in the Detroit area and I have family in the Cincinnati area so we decided to make it a circle tour and visit both sides.  Since I do not like to just "blasé a trail" to stay with relatives we decided to make this a little scenic/educational.

Originally we were to take our family Chrysler Mini Van, aka road car, but at the last minute we had a miss in the engine.  We had everything packed and ready to load in the van.  We had plenty of room so Christmas presents, cooler, etc. was on the "loading dock".  Turned out a new head on one side and rocker arm assembly on the other, all under warranty.  This meant we could either rent an SUV or mini van for a ridiculous amount, cancel the trip (I was fine with that), or take my wife's fun car, 2011 Green With Envy Challenger RT.  Yes, it has a Hemi but not the 6.4.

She and I have driven the Challenger on this route before, it did well, but it wasn't winter nor with 4 people.  Well, we just loaded it up until we could almost not close the trunk and left everything else behind.  Thank God my daughter and granddaughter are small. 

We were off at 0600, amazingly on schedule.  St. Louis would be our destination for the night.  We made it in good time with the only issue being I started getting a bad cold or flu or something.  I do most of the driving so it was a little rough at times.

I have passed through St. Louis more times than I can count in the last 60 years but never stopped.  I remember seeing "The Arch" being built. I always said I need to stop but never did.  This trip would be different.

We had a hotel near by so the next morning we went to the Gateway Arch and Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.  We had to park a ways from it as construction was going on.  It was a cold, windy walk but it was well worth it even with me being sick.  We all enjoyed the museum area and the ride to the top of "The Arch". 

After a quick snack we headed east on I-70.  Our stop for the night was Terre Haute, Indiana.  We had done the route 66 to Chicago and other secondary roads to Indianapolis so interstates were chosen so we could spend some time at Greenville Village in Dearborn, Michigan.

If you haven't been to Greenville Village and like history this is a good destination.  Henry Ford had it put together.  We were there just before Christmas so we went at night.  It was cold for this Texan. I expected more in the way of lights so I was a bit disappointed.  However, I finally realized since it was to show how people celebrated Christmas 100+ or so years ago electric lightning, if any, was minimal.  A lot of people were there but it was good.  I like visiting there in the day time better.  But of course I was still sick.

We spent the night in a near by hotel.  The next day we arrived at our hotel near the relatives. We had at least one day of sunshine and 50+ degree temps while there.  For the Detroit area in the winter that was fantastic weather.  Other days we did have some rain but no snow on the entire trip until we got back to Texas.  :confused:   

The day after Christmas we headed to our hotel in the Cincinnati area to allow my relatives to see us.  They always like for us to visit.  I have fooled them all of my life.  We did have some rain while there but no snow.  The temps were good for this time of the year. 

After a couple of days wearing out my relatives we headed home.  This was uneventful with some rain.  A night in Forrest City, AR, would be our only night on the road home.  As I said we arrived in Texas with some light snow. 

It was a great trip of about 3000 miles by the time we count the driving around while visiting.  My 9 year old granddaughter is a great traveler and fantastic kid.  Since all three of my daughters were raised as Road Warriors my special needs daughter travels well. Even my wife grew up traveling a lot by car. So we are a family of "Road Warriors".

Happy Trails   

     
'73 Vette, '72 Monte Carlo, ;11 Green with Envy Challenger R/T,Ram, RoyalStarVenture S,USA Honda VTX1300R ridden 49states &11provinces,Driven cars in50 states+DC&21countries,OverseasBrats;IronButt:MileEatersilver,SS1000Gold,SS3000,3xSS2000,18xSS1000, 3TX1000,6BB1500,NPT,LakeSuperiorCircleTour



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