A Dream Day for Sure!

All I can say is, "could this day get any better?"  Probably not.  Let me explain.  The day started with me attending our MAFCA Board meeting.  Nan on the other hand went with Wayne & Sue and Mike & Grace to explore some great lakes lighthouses.  At the board meeting I reported on my efforts on making a major change in the production of the of The Restorer starting with the Sept/Oct issue.  As for Nan and the others, they made it to a great lighthouse, the only problems were the black flies. 

The weather was again unpredictable.  Rain then sun, then thunder, very unusual for sure.  We managed to dodge the rain and by the time the banquet rolled around it was nice and sunny.

Inside the banquet hall, the first thing you noticed was the Model A show cars.  I have to say that Mike's Coupe looked pretty awesome in this line up.  We did some socializing with our new friends from the UP.  Dinner was served and before long it was time to introduce the convention's special guests for the evening;  Mr. Bob Kreipke, Ford Motor Co. Historian AND Mr. Edsel Ford II, great grandson of Henry Ford.  How exciting is that!  Mr Ford gave a wonderful talk about his great grandparents and the development of the Model A.  For me, personally, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to talk to someone who's heritage is closely tied to the development of the Model A.  As Russ Thompson would say "it doesn't get any better than this - what a club." 

Don Haygood, Chief Vehicle Judge, did a great job handling the Vehicle Awards.  He expedited the process and everything went very smoothly.  We all got excited when he got to the Touring class cars.  Mike's name was called, so we new he got a trophy, we just didn't know which one.  Don called the names and he eventually got to Mike and when he announced the Mike got 410 points, first Place and a MAFCA Award of excellence, Mike was shocked.  Needless to say I think you could have knocked Mike over with a feather.  What a treat it was to cheer for Mike when he was on stage.   Following the awards Edsel Ford II personally congratulated Mike on his restoration.  Is that special or what?

So, is there any way this day could have been any better?  I don't think so.

Tomorrow, it's time to pack up and get back on the road for home.

Road Trip - Iron Mountain

The rains of last night were gone and when I rolled out of bed at "0-dark-hundred" to drive Wayne over to the UC for the Vehicle Judges Breakfast, it was very cool, beautiful blue skies and a light breeze.  A perfect day for our tour to a couple of museums in Iron Mountain.  For these tours, Model A's were assigned start times.  Ours was 8:40 AM, however I messed up and we were almost late for our departure group.   Iron Mountain is about a 75 mile drive, so it's not exactly around the corner, but, the ride was pleasant albeit through miles of nothing but trees. 

We arrived at the Cornish Pumping Engine Mining Museum.  All the Model A 's lining the parking lot looked pretty good.  This museum pays tribute to one of the largest reciprocating pumps designed to pump water out of deep mines.  The pump has an impressive  flywheel 40 feet in diameter, weighing 160 tons and rotates at only 10 RPM.  But it's able to pump water at the rate of 3000 GPM.  I'm not sure if the ladies were intrigued by this monster machine as much as the guys were though. 

Next up was the WWII Glider and Military Museum.  This place had a number of nice vintage airplanes and a great display of Ford memorabilia from the collection of Guy Forstrom.  For those of us from the New England area his collection would be similar to that of Don Passardi's.   The star of this museum was the CG-4A Glider.  The glider was made right in Iron Mountain and played an important part in the allied effort.  These gliders were designed to carry not only troops (13) but cargo up to a Jeep.  I enjoyed checking out the details of the construction and operations of the glider.

After lunch we headed back to Ishpeming and we found a great antique shop to meander in.  We spent a little more time there than we expected, consequently when we got back to the hotel we had to head back to the Cliff Shaft Museum to line up for the big parade.  What a parade it was, about 200 Model A's cruised the streets of Ishpeming and Negaune and the streets were lined with residents waving and taking pictures.  The highlight of the parade was that it was lead by the Twenty Millionth Ford.

We finished the parade at the Al Quaal Recreation Area for a pig roast.  Thank goodness the parade was today and not yesterday.  The grounds of the field were filled with Model A's as were the lines for food.  We were entertained by the Blue Notes Drum and Bugle Corps.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the music provided by this group.

Our return trip proved interesting.  As we got close to the hotel I noticed a Model A in a parking lot, wheel off and resting on it's brake drum.  I pulled in to the lot to see what happened and if I could help.  The driver said the wheel came off, all the lug nuts were gone.  The wheel continued down the road and was retrieved by another Model A'er.  To get the wheel on, a scissors jack was need, and guess what I always carry in the Model A, yup a scissors jack.  In few minutes we got the front lifted enough to get the wheel back on, with lug nuts off his dual side mounts.  He was on the road again and had no trouble getting back to his hotel.

We did about 180 miles today.  Tomorrow I will be in a MAFCA board meeting all day, so Nan will be touring with the Champagnes and Doyles visiting lighthouses on Lake Superior. 

Crazy Weather

Today Mother Nature decided to turn up the thermostat.  Wow, what a change from the past few days, which were cool and intermittent showery.  We met Mike in the parking lot while he got ready to bring the Coupe over to the Dome for judging.  Nan & I decided to go to NAPA to get oil so I could service the Model A.   Our next stop was to Sawyer Airport to visit the display of War Birds at the old SAC base.  The display included a few fighter jets, but the big B-52 Stratofortress was our destination.  This plane is very big, with a wingspan of 185 feet. The Model A looked like a pipsqueak beside that monster airplane.  We spent some time checking out this and the other planes.

Retuning to the University Center (UC), I dropped Nan off at the convention, while I went over to the repair tent to change my oil.  The repair tent is a magnet for most guys.  It gives you a chance to see what repairs are under way, and some were serious. An engine was being replaced in the garage, a clutch replacement was just being finished, and another guy was replacing a broken overdrive shaft by converting back to an original drive train.

By now the temperature was getting very warm, I heard it was 92 degrees.  I picked up Nan at the UC and went to get a late lunch, since we had the Presidents Reception tonight it would be hard to fit dinner into the schedule.  I also ran into Mike, who had just returned from cleaning the Coupe.  By the looks of his hands there was a lot of road dust to clean.

I returned to the Dome to see the preparation to start the Pequaming Fire Engine.  This fire engine was a vehicle that Henry Ford himself used to occasionally drive around when he was in the area.  The fire truck has 1100 original miles and was last run over 30 years ago.  A team of Model A'ers worked over the engine and once the local TV station got set up to record the event, the starter button was hit and after a few attempts the fire truck fired right up.

All cleaned up and back to the UC for the President's Reception, we could see the skies getting dark.  As a National Director it was good to greet so many of the convention guests.  It was also good to have Wayne & Sue, and Mike & Grace attending this event.  The ice cream sundaes were great, unfortunately the outside weather was not.  Heavy rain was falling and it was going to be a wet ride to get back to the hotel.  Actually by the time we got back to the hotel the rain had stopped.

Tomorrow it is off to the Iron Mountain area to see the sights there.

PS.  The tour to The Pictured Rocks was well attended and everyone was reported to have a good time,except Wayne who's hat got blown overboard in the wind.

Road Trip - The Ford Bungalow

The Marquette area can't seem to shake the showery weather.  Today was overcast, with rain in the forecast.  Mike and I wanted to get his starter repaired so we had a quick breakfast and got outside.  As we remove the starter the rains came, fortunately there was a tent that we moved the Model A so we could stay dry.  Fortunately the repair was the fairly simple, the bendix Mike bought to replace the broken unit was for a V8 which does not work on a Model A.  I had a spare Model A bendix which we installed to fix the problem.

Nan & I were scheduled for a road trip to the Ford Bungalow and had to be at the starting point at 10:45.  The start point was 12 miles away.  The actual drive to the bungalow would be about 75 miles.  The trip was in and out of the rain and when we arrived at the Bungalow it had stopped raining.  Our tour of the Bungalow was very interesting.  The guides were a group of ladies who rent this facility twice a year and were very knowledgeable about the house.  Walking around the home it was interesting to think about the famous people who have stayed in this house.  I especially liked the upstairs porch and the living room.  The home is much bigger inside than it looks from the outside.  We enjoyed our tour and soon headed out for our return trip. 

After a stop for a quick lunch we headed to Alberta Village Museum.  This facility is the remains of  planned community now own by Northern Michigan University as a research facility.  (Wayne took this picture)  In addition to a planned community, this was a sawmill and a major part of the his Northern Michigan Operation (NMO) which provided wood for Ford's auto production.  I think all of the Model A station wagons were produced here.

The next stop was Michigamee.  This is a little community that looks like it's one step shy of becoming a ghost town.  This was a bustling mining town at one time, but now serves as a fishing and hunting center.  Some of the downtown buildings look like something you would find in a ghost town.  But there is a very nice museum and it had lots of interesting material on display.

Tonight we had a very enjoyable dinner with Wayne & Sue and David & Karen Mossman from New Zealand.

Let the Convention Begin

Well, we got off to a wet start today. After many days of nice weather, we got rain and thunder over night, and the rain continued off and on during the day.  The good thing is that most of us had signed up for seminars, so we were nice and dry inside the conference center.

I was scheduled to attend a seminar on the 20 Millionth Ford.  The video of the car was shown, which was followed by a talk by the car's owner Rod Liimatainen.  He talked about his family's use of the Model A when he was growing up and his recollection of his use of the Model A  when he was a teenager.  Fortunately he realized he better store this historic car before he wrecked it.  My second seminar was the history of the U.P. by Keith Whitman, which again was well done and, to me, very interesting.  Nan on the other hand attended two fashion seminars which she enjoyed.

When we got back to the hotel, we couldn't find Mike.  Eventually we found out Mike was at the repair tent with a starter problem.  I think the bendix broke, fortunately I have a spare and we'll fix the coupe in the morning.

This evening was the Welcome Party.  The venue for this was the Superior Dome, which is the largest wooden dome in the country.  The menu had some unusual U.P. food items on the buffet, How about venison meatballs, Pasties or pork sliders.  We had eaten earlier, but we found the dessert bar to be excellent.  The entertainment was "Da Yoopers."  This was comedy musical group that provided us with many laughs.

Tomorrow we will be off to the Bungalow, which was Henry Ford's private home in the area he was very fond of.

Pre Convention Activity

Today, we started the day differently than all the others...we didn't have to get out and travel in the Model A.  Our first chore was to go to the laundromat.  How's that for a highlight of the day.  Actually, with limited space in a Model A, it's just easier to do that instead of packing enough clothes for the trip.  It turned out the laundromat was next to a car wash, so Mike took advantage of a chance to wash the Coupe.  What a difference that made. 

Our next stop was to the University Center to pick up our registration, check out the raffle room and the flea market.  Registration went smoothly and we found a great assortment of items in the raffle room.  Hopefully I will win something.  Nan managed to spend a few dollars at the flea market.   We also went over to the Superior Dome to check it out.  Unfortunately it was closed due to the MAFCA convention.

We decided to take a little ride around the area and went to the scenic Presque Isle Park.  The park has a great view of Marquette harbor and the dome.  One cute idea they have is to hang a bucket by the flower garden and ask visitors to fill the bucket and water the flowers.  The flowers looked fine, so I guess the plan is working.  It may have only been a short Model A ride but we still were able to stop for a little ice cream in the park before leaving.

Back at the hotel we were joined by Wayne & Sue, who just arrived, and soon there after we were able to meet up with David & Karen Mossman and many of the other NZ members.  It was great to see them again and pick up where we left off at Vancouver.

The parking lots of the hotels are really filling up with Model A's and the business in the area I'm sure are seeing an up-tick in business.  In fact the local paper had a great feature on the convention.  Check it out:

http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/576883/A-drive-back-in-time.html?nav=5006

Cruising into Marquette

I woke up to the sound of waves slapping the beach and the squawk of sea gulls.  Lake Huron may not be an ocean, but it sure acts like one.  What a great alarm clock.  After a great breakfast at Darrow's Family Restaurant we crossed over the Mackinac Bridge, officially entering the upper peninsular area of Michigan.  The weather was pleasant, mild and mostly overcast.  The view from the bridge was excellent.  Once on the other side we followed RT 2 along the shore of Lake Michigan.  It was easy driving and things were going along fine.  Any traffic behind us could pass easily, although, according to the GPS we were moving along at 52MPH.  Not bad considering the speed limit was 55.

We were traveling along and I was just checking out the scenery when Mike radioed that he thought his alternator was acting up.  We pulled over at a small convenience store and Mike noticed the fan belt was loose.  He tightened the alternator and we were back on the road with everything getting back to normal.  However, within a few minutes I heard a funny sound and soon noticed my temperature gauge creeping up.  It wasn't long before I had to call Mike to tell him to pull over as something was wrong.  It didn't take long to see the broken fan belt.  I was able to grab one of my spares and within short order we were back on the road.

When we made the turn to Marquette on RT 28 we found out how rural this part of the country is.  We traveled for many miles without any signs of civilization.  We eventually pulled into Munising and made a strategic stop at the Frozen Flamingo for a well deserved ice cream break.

Leaving Munising we were now able to get our first view of Lake Superior.  We followed the shore for most of the way to Marquette.  Arriving at the hotel we parked under a sign welcoming us to the MAFCA convention and got settled into our room.  Dinner was next door to the hotel at Hudson's, which is a restaurant that has a Hudson car/garage motif.

Tomorrow we will do some laundry and get registered for the convention.