Great Day for Gilmore

Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners Michigan was where we spent our day. Beautiful 90 acre farm speckled with giant red barns filled with classic cars.

Truly works of art; beautiful cars, motorcycles and even two trailers (yeah, I like those!) are on display in the various barns, some are even two story.

Dad really loved the 48 Chrysler Woody convertible and a 57 Cadillac El Dorado Broughm. I loved a blue and beige car (ha ha, forgot the make!!) and I also loved a matching car and trailer called the Conestoga Covered Wagon from 1937 that I took a photo of with my camera and not phone so cannot post here!

It was raining pretty good so we ran from barn to barn to all the different exhibits. Dad would always tell me something about the car (year, make, why it was special) as we walked up to it - and then we'd read the exact info on the sign next to the car! I knew my Dad liked old cars, knew he knew a lot about them too but now I am über impressed with how much he knows! Comes from his love for them, you can tell. He just lights up. Plus, I had NO idea how many of them he's owned over the years!!

They have an authentic old dining car on site so we ate bowls of chili for lunch, then we checked out barns with toy push cars, a HUGE fake car from a Disney movie "The Gnome-Mobile" which Walt Disney personally donated, collections of hood ornaments and even a vintage Shell gas station. Superb place.

Still raining hard as we left and it was pretty late so we drove 1.5 hrs to near Chicago and stopped at Applebee's for dinner.

Because we added the Henry Ford to our agenda we have had to cut out the RV museum. I've seen some beautiful trailers and an airstream at the various museums so far so that will work out fine. Next up is Decatur, IL about 3hrs south of here for the Chevy Museum and then we make our 2.5 days of big miles to make it to WY!! Phew! Thank goodness for our Harry Potter books on CD :)

Having a great time!

The Henry Ford

Ok, this place was amazing! Dearborn, MI - the Henry Ford is a working Ford factory (we toured, watched them assemble F150 trucks.)

It is also a Museum with one of the largest steam locomotives ever built (1941), a wonderful auto collection from Fords, Buicks, Model Ts, an Airstream and a 1959 VW Westfalia as well as the presidential limousines of Roosevelt, Eisenhower and the limo from Kennedy's assassination.

We saw airplanes from the Wright brothers, the Rosa Parks bus from 1955 and Lincoln's chair from his 1865 theatre assassination. Truly, around every corner was an amazing piece of history.

I thought we would stay only a few hours but we actually shut the place down! We are settled in for the night in Ann Arbor and will continue the adventure tomorrow.

4 States and Too Many Raccoons

Somewhere close to 300 miles today, through 4 states and near way too many dead raccoons, we are now in Michigan.

We left Dry Ridge this morning and drove up to Richmond Indiana in a pretty good rain. Some nice lightning and way more dead raccoons than you would expect, maybe 25?

I found a good art museum I wanted to visit and realized it was in the same town as Earlham College where my Mom had gone in the late 50s. Dad and I walked through the exhibits at the R.A.M (Richmond Art Museum) and saw a wonderful self portrait by William Merritt Chase and a landscape I loved by Victor Higgins.

5 blocks away was Earlham where I found the dorm where my Mom lived! Such a treat for me.

We saw lots of signs about Annie Oakley along our route...

We then drove up through Indiana, into Ohio and finally Michigan. (We even stopped at The Bass Shop, a mega sport shop full of taxidermy animals, camping equipment and great murals.) We are just south of Detroit now and only a half hour from tomorrow's adventure: the Henry Ford Museum!

Full Day at Walnut Springs

The farm my Aunt Natalie and her family and the Quilt Box are all on is called Walnut Springs. Rolling green hills, wild day lilies and blue spruce trees are everywhere, as are bunny rabbits, deer and apparently coyote.
We had a full, wonderful day with a tour of the farm - by Quad! My first time on one and I got to drive! I drove my Dad and we followed Darcy and her daughter Tyler through the woods, by the spot where Uncle Clifford is buried and then down to a river. It was all so beautiful, and fun!

Next up was figuring out if all the furniture we needed to bring back to California would actually fit in the mini- van. Thankfully with some help from all of Aunt Nat's kids and Grand Daughter, it did! Just perfectly.

We next went out to a winery for lunch, Aunt Natalie lives in a "dry county" but this place was one county over and it is a "moist county." Her son Scott drove us and told us lots of stories about the area and the local artists!

Tonight before dinner Dad and I took a walk out to the road which offered great views of my Aunt's home.

As the sun was barely setting I caught my first glimpse of Fireflies! Haven't seen those since I was a kid and came back to KY for visits. They really are flying stars, twinkling down low. Beautiful.

First Stop - Dry Ridge, Kentucky

Nearly seamless day of travel, only hiccup was my Dad at security in the airport having his wine opener, toothpaste and shaving cream confiscated. Oddly, they let the nail clippers and scissors he was carrying pass!

Flight to Dallas then a small plane to Cincinnati and a short drive here to Dry Ridge. My Aunt Natalie owns the Quilt Box, a nationally known quilting destination. It's a must stop Mecca for all things quilting, plus it's an amazing 80 acre farm. There's a lake and multiple barns in a gorgeous park-like setting.

We met her Coon cat Ferguson and two enormous German shepherds when we arrived.

It's hot and humid and the sky is full of stars and the night humming with the symphony of bugs.

We made it.

Pop arrived!

My Dad arrived tonight, we've reviewed our plans and now all we need is a good night's sleep. Departure in the wee hours!

About Bob...

I haven't been on a road trip with my Dad since I was a baby, I don't remember it of course.


This time it will be different. This Blog will help and digital photos will help, but most of all it will be just the two of us and I plan on remembering all of it.


My Dad is 70. How did my original hero, our cowboy who used to ride bareback and in rodeos, turn 70? 


My Dad, Bob, is one of the hardest working people I know. He was in the Navy. He was a Firefighter and later Fire Captain in Los Altos for 30 years. He is an Arson Investigator and expert witness for arson cases. He is smart and brave and strong. Above all, he is my Dad. Our Dad. Laurel, Sara, Amy, Zack and Robin; 5 wonderful children that are all unique and all TALL and all loved dearly by our Pop.


I knew for my Dad's birthday I wanted to do something special, something together. A trip 'cross-country' sounded like a pretty good adventure and thankfully he was game. Dad likes to drive. Dad likes cars. Dad really likes old cars.


This outdoorsy cowboy likes to look at old cars and even build old cars. So part of our road trip adventure will be a few visits to some Auto Museums.  Growing up we had a small travel trailer and later he and his family had a motor home. My summers are filled with memories of driving up either in an old 60s light blue Dodge van or in a motor home, to spend a few weeks camping at the lake in Trinity.  I now have a trailer of my own and my Dad continues to spend time away in a trailer he and his wife, Pam, share with another couple.  This only means that we are not only going to look at cars but we will stop in Elkhart, Indiana to visit the RV museum! I'm looking forward to that!

Our trip is around the bend and I thought this very old photo of us riding on RP (Ruler's Pride) would be a great kick off pix of us riding off into our adventure together.

Around the corner...

This trip has been in the planning stages for such a long time it is hard to believe we are about to set off on our Road Trip adventure! My Dad turned 70 and for his Birthday gift we are not-quite-driving-cross country together!


We'll be starting off with a flight to Cincinnati, OH and then heading up and around and over for 2+ weeks, working our way West-ward.