Thelma & Louise (Without any bloodshed)

We left California in mid October (a few weeks early) to escape the smoke of the Napa fires.

After just a few days in Florida, I flew back to Denver to visit my father, pick up my car and drive it to California to visit and provide some help for new grandson, Kellan.  Oh, and to unpack a bit more at our new house!

My BFF, Marjie, flew into Denver to travel with me.

Our adventure began with a delayed flight. Marjie was due in around noon. She called me to let me know she had landed in Cincinnati.
"Great!" I said.
"Not so great," Marjie said.
Her first stop was supposed to be Chicago!
Almost 12 hours later she landed in Denver. So, the start of our adventure was delayed a bit....
No big deal.
We had already decided that our trip would include stops at quilt shops along the way. Oh, no! It was Monday and the shop in Ft. Collins was closed! But... "QuiltEssentials" in Laramie, WY welcomed us.

We bought a bit of this and a bit of that. As we left a few snowflakes were falling. Not a big deal. Just part of our adventure! And, to be an adventure, we needed more than a few snowflakes. We had a bit of a blizzard... only a small one... and since temperatures had been warm most of the snow melted. However, we did get an inch or two of slush as we drove further in the snow.

We arrived in Rock Springs, WY, had a quick dinner, and fell into bed..... only to wake at 4:30 AM since we were both on Eastern Standard Time. What the heck... we hit the road. This early morning wake-up call meant we missed a few quilt shops - it was only 8 AM when we arrived in the next largest city, Salt Lake City! Nope! No stores were open at that time.

We shared the driving responsibilities and Marjie enjoyed Whinny's "get up and go"! She was also in awe of the acres and acres of open territory we drove through.

Marjie loves drama!!

 I had tried to prepare Marjie for the salt flats. The flats extend about 50 miles from Salt Lake City to West Wendover, Nevada. The road is flat. The road is straight. And there is nothing to see (well, almost nothing) for miles.

As we buzzed along in eastern Nevada the "Low Fuel" indicator beeped and lit up. What? We just had a half tank of fuel. How could we be low? The indicator said that we had 49 miles to go. Wells, NV, the next stop, was over 50 miles away. Oh crap! We motored on. I reduced our speed to 55 mph. We motored on. Later I remembered that the car had a "green" mode that uses less fuel. We motored on. All the while I'm looking at the "Miles to go" numbers as they creep lower and lower. What's the worse that could happen? We motored on. Finally signs appeared for Wells, NV... and FUEL! Hooray! We coasted into the first gas station and filled up, heaving a HUGE sigh of relief.

According to the manual we had 6 tenths of a gallon of fuel left. And according to the display on the dash we had 3 miles of fuel left.

An online resource lists the fuel tank capacity at 11.6 gallons.

That was cutting it waaaayyy too close! But... it was an adventure that we will both remember for years!

So, on with our mission! We enjoyed visiting The Quilt Parlor in Battle Mountain, NV. And, of course, we added more to our stashes.

Then is was on to Citrus Heights, California and a stop at "Runs with Scissors". (Don't you love the name of the quilt shop?!)

And then we were "there". Our first stop was at my son and daughter-in-law's house in Oakland to meet Kellan. Kellan was born on October 27. In this picture he is just under two weeks old. 

Our granddaughter was not immediately thrilled with her baby brother! But she is growing to love tolerate him!

Photo courtesy of Bella Photographs

Then it was on to our new house in California where the adventure continued as we unpacked boxes. The most important "find" was the track for my long arm sewing machine. I packed it with some paintings.... but which ones?

With Marjie's help we had the long arm machine assembled and running in about 4 hours. 

And "sew" the adventure came to an end, as all good things must. I took Marjie to the airport, where her flight home went without a hitch this time. I stayed on for a few more days of family and unpacking, and then returned to my new Florida home.

Rambler Ranch

....or, that moment when obsession takes over one's life!

Terry Gale was given the opportunity to save a piece of family history in 1988 when his brother gave him their Dad's 1954 Rambler Ambassador. Terry had always loved cars, and had enjoyed playing in the car when he was a youngster, pretending that he was driving it. Terry began the arduous process of restoring the vehicle, and then began collecting and restoring more. At this time he has over 800 vehicles on his ranch in Elizabeth, CO. Most of Terry's collection are American Motors vehicles, but he does have quite a number of SOB's (some other brand). A new 'barn' is under construction to add more space for the collection, which also includes hundreds of mannequins dressed in period clothing. They truly pull the visitor back into time. Additionally, Terry has built a replica Sinclair gas station, an old 50's diner and a building to house a collection of Kelvinator appliances. (Kelvinator was purchased by Nash, so it is in the family, so to speak!)
Recently our Mini club took a drive out to Elizabeth to tour the ranch and enjoy a barbecue lunch. Here are just a few shots of some of the cars and collectibles I saw during my visit.

The Mini's invade...

The bone yard

Whinny Earns her Stripes

MINI owners name their cars.

Soon after I acquired my MINI her name became apparent to me. Of course, with my love for horses and my penchant for rhymes, she had to be named, "Whinny". Whinny the MINI!


MINI owners individualize their cars.

Their cars sport stickers, and antenna bobbers, and stripes, and badges.

This week Whinny truly became "Whinny" with her new personalized stripes. I've been working with Kristan to fine tune my idea and make it happen in vinyl.  Kristen is a fellow member of the Mini5280 club and owns Artistic Reflection. We Dreamers made a trip up to Loveland, CO for the installation.

Before:

Wetting the car,

Applying the wet vinyl.

Husband James helps with the process.

Lining the vinyl up with the landmarks on the car.

Using a rubber scraper to work out air and water pockets.

Peeling off the backing and checking to see if the area is dry.

After the backing is pulled off, and after the vinyl is dry enough,

the center section is peeled off,

Revealing the basic design.

Next, the burgundy vinyl is carefully applied.

The paper backing is pulled off,

Small pieces of vinyl are removed,

revealing the finished design.

Ta da....

The Italian Job

I went on a "drive" with the Mini5280 club. We met in a commuter parking lot on a Saturday. 33 Mini Coopers. Different colors. Different styles. Each car as unique as its owner.

My car is the fourth in line. I'm wearing a red "Mini" hat.

I am in awe of the President of the club. He was a mountain bicycler until he had a bike accident that left him a quadriplegic. He met another wheel-chair bound fellow who drove a Mini, and discovered that driving a Mini brings back some of the excitement of riding a mountain bike. (He has some use of his arms and can drive a car outfitted with hand controls.) The President plans weekly drives. Each one as unique as the Minis that are in the line-up.

Recently, the drive wound through the front range of Colorado. 

We followed each other on some fun, twisty-turny roads. 

We drove for about two hours, then descended on a local Sonic for lunch. It was the perfect day. Sunny and not too hot. More Minis joined us and we began the trek to the new Schomp Mini dealer in Highlands Ranch, CO.

There is nothing "Mini" about this dealership. It has the largest building of any dealer in the US.

I'm there.... somewhere!

The club was given an exclusive tour of the new building a few days before it opened for business.

According to our tour guide, these hoses dispense everything, including ketchup!

The highlight of the tour was our "drive through" tour. By this time we had collected 68 Minis, and we drove through the parking areas, drove into the service writer's area, then turned and drove through the service department at the dealership. It certainly was reminiscent of the movie, "The Italian Job"... well, sort of. At our fastest, we were only going 10 mph... not racing through, and we didn't go down stairs... and we didn't go up and over viaducts. Regardless, we had a great time!

I couldn't find a way to embed the video that was produced (using a drone camera). If you are interested, you can copy and paste this URL to see our drive:

https://www.facebook.com/SchompMINIColorado/videos/1058791204204796/

Cussler's Last Stand

I have read every Clive Cussler novel featuring the character of Dirk Pitt. Back in the day, Clive couldn't write his novels fast enough for me... I was always waiting for the next adventure to be published. Clive's novels always feature a unique, vintage car that is usually driven in some sort of wild chase, or that has a key role in each story. One of my favorites was "Treasure", where the characters elude their pursuers by racing down a ski slope in a 1930 Cord L29.

Clive Cussler with his Cord L29
Photo from Internet

Recently we Dreamers joined the Mini5280 Club on a trip to Clive Cussler's museum. Clive used to live in Colorado, and his extensive collection of restored cars is housed here.

The collection features cars from 1900 to the 1960's

This 1956 "Woodie" belonged to a gold miner who used it to drive it to his gold mine in Montana.

It has been restored to its original colors.

This '36 Ford Cabriolet Hot Rod was featured in "Atlantis Found".

Clive found it in immaculate condition and transformed it 

into a hot rod, like the one he drove in high school. 

This car was in "Crescent Dawn"

I loved seeing all of the cars. They were all so beautifully restored, 

and most were very colorful. 

But I have to admit, my favorite display was the 

1936 Pierce-Arrow V12Berline, which was featured in "Inca Gold"

It certainly wasn't very colorful, but it's navy blue had a deep shine to it.

What I liked most is the 1936 Pierce-Arrow Travelodge Trailer that was towed by the massive Pierce-Arrow. 

It was so pretty inside!

The museum visit was great fun. The museum houses about 70 cars,  a bit more than half of Clive's collection, and the cars are rotated in and out. Many of the cars were restored by Clive and his son, Dirk. Only 17 of the cars are featured in Cussler's novels, so he has a lot of writing to do to cover his entire collection!! 

Outside of the museum there was another collection. A collection of the Mini Coopers driven by club members.  Dreaming (in pink) is looking over the Mini herd. Her new Mini is in the back row, you can only see a bit of its black top, just over the top of the red and black Mini in the center.