MAA50TH The meaning behind the license plate

Ohtobbad;n1396 said:
When driving your Mustang, can you ever really be lost :)
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Lost who said I was lost ? seems I still had an Orange Shelby following and we are still on Plan "A"


I don't always take the most direct route to my destination - some might accuse me of being lost or wandering . I'll admit It does seem to happen more often when I'm in the Mustang This story is proof . Enfield to Charlotte but via California - just a little detour! :rolleyes: I must have missed the turn for Charlotte when on the Tail of the Dragon, I'm not worried , we have lots of time to get there for April 17!

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We have had some long days and some short days but have averaged 8.5 hrs driving and 950+ km each of the 5 days so far . about 4600 km so far many more to do
 
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Day 6 on the road. A slow breakfast, then off to use some of that Walmart spray paint. As you visit the Cadillac ranch with its 1949 to 1963 Cadillacs buried nose first you are encouraged to leave your mark with paint. The sculpture changes every day as people stop and add their name, favorite quote or just paint away! There is little chance your paint will be visible for more than a day. I'd say the paint on some parts of theses cars is over an inch thick. We made our mark and were leaving as John and his wife arrived for their marking session. As usual we found a friendly dog to visit with, this time a black lab. We were only about 30 miles from the hotel/ sculpture when the familiar - we gotta stop soon rang out on the radio. We used the FRS radio's when we were close CB when the distance grew or passenger to passenger text if it was really important for car to car communication. Lots of sun today and lots of wind again. Got passed by one of those 85 mph semi trucks and as it went by the Unmistakeable smell of hot rubber was filling the air. I slowed quickly and got behind the truck and Denis followed, we no sooner moved and the outer rear tire on the trailer exploded sending rubber junks flying and then the casing went flying. I don't want to be that close to the birth of an Arizona Alligator ever again! Ended up picking the afterbirth ( small shreds of rubber) from the grill and rad for the next 4 days!
The long straight stretches of road with no turns make for good guessing games. How far to that turn in the distance? 5 miles? 10 miles ? turned out to be almost 14 so we both lost our bets that day. We traveled past Albuquerque ,New Mexico now at an elevation of 5300 ft. The slow gradual climb to the Great Plains is almost un noticeable until you look at the GPS. But you do notice the wind, it has not stopped blowing since we left Fort Smith. We traveled to Holbrook, Arizona and decided to call it a night. Had a great supper at a small Italian restaraunt. As we were walking back - in the parking lot of our hotel John's Shelby!

I don't have a lot of pictures of this day, I will post some of day 7 , as we get ready to leave Holbrook we find TowMader !
 
Fun GT;n1454 said:
Awesome stuff guys !! Love the story !!!

Everyday I log on and look forward to the next chapter........keep it coming !!!

Man that would be a trip of a lifetime (was for you fellas) !!
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Roger , Guys like us that missed could go to the 60th Celebrations. I don't know about MAA 60th , but I could probably swing a Mustang trip down South in Spring 2024 if the meet is on the Eastern US Seaboard or New York , Michigan area.

Have they announced the Location for the 60th ?
 
HMMM sound like I need to add another couple of days , maybe tonight !


In the mean time - After we left the ranch we traveled west again on I40 From Texas into New Mexico - then on to Arizona

Here are a few "on the road " shots of that portion


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You can see for Miles ! lots of blue sky here


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Another Flying J for gas and Denny's for Lunch

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Back on the road again! That train on the right went on for miles !

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TrueBlue02058;n1472 said:
Roger , Guys like us that missed could go to the 60th Celebrations. I don't know about MAA 60th , but I could probably swing a Mustang trip down South in Spring 2024 if the meet is on the Eastern US Seaboard or New York , Michigan area.

Have they announced the Location for the 60th ?
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No announcement yet Who knows - there may be a 55th ! I see they are talking on moving up the release date on the S650 so who knows.
 
Well Day 6 has taken us across 3 states as we left Amarillo Texas, took a slight left turn at Albuquerque New Mexico to Arrive in Holbrook Arizona just before dark. We covered 850Km today with a few stops for some photo's and some shopping. Holbrook is near a petrified forest, really neat to see what happened to wood over time. Holbrook is also home to a search and rescue group who searches on horseback. Very effective in the open area of Arizona. some of this group are decendants or Poiny express mail riders and each year they do a special run Holbrook to Mesa .just outside Scottsdale with Christmas letters with the Pony Express Stamp. When we arrive we found a traveler - John from Michigan had already arrived at the same hotel.Supper at a great little Italian eatery within walking distance , then sleep
Day 7 started sunny and clear and we had the best cup of USA coffee of the whole trip. Off to the WigWam Hotel to see TowMader from the kids movie CARS . McQueen always parked in a pylon for the night - kinda looks li ke the concrete Tee-Pee in the picture , Coincidental? I think not!


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Its real life on the old Route 66

Next stop was planned to just stand around Winslow Arizona - Made famous by the Eagles


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Well some people stood - some decided to sit !

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I think he was hoping a girl in a Flat bed Ford would stop but it was too early in the tourist season for her to be making her rounds.
 
Off to the Meteor crater - this hole in the ground is huge !
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There is a drill rig set up in the rt center taking samples - on;y a dark smudge in the picture.

On the road to Flagstaff and another small section of Route 66. We are now at about 6400ft The traffic through this small city is very slow and some tempers get a bit short so its time for some open twisty road.
We take one of our many detours. Jason and I have visited Sedona before and we quickly recommend a trip there for lunch . As we leave Flagstaff and head south we make our way through big tree stands then start to go down to Sedona, Its a bit of a drop 6400 ft to 4500 ft. within 30 minutes on RT89A but what great views!
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No Its not the Cabot Trail, Its one of the sets of twists and turns to go "down" to Sedona
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As you drive around Sedona you soon say "I could live here"
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Lunch in Sedona - see a few sights - drink some more coffee - a few purchases and now we head north/north west - Destination before sunset - Grand Canyon South Rim to see the sunset !
 

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We made it to the Grand Canyon before dark ! paid our money and watched the sun go down.

OK I borrowed these 2 pictures - not mine !
but they show how the view changes as the sun fades
You have to go and see this in person


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I'm not sure if anyone in our group actually got any pictures - we just watched the colors as they faded and then WOW its DARK in a hurry!
We head outside the park to a great Holiday Inn @ Tusayan for the night. There is a Steak house just across the road and we enjoy some western beef - maybe a bit too much food but we have been doing very good watching our waistlines this trip. Really we have been eating healthy - small meals and even salads !!

I know we have some fellow travelers some where in the area. Russ and Arlene Grimm from Florida were planning to be in the Grand Canyon about this time. We have been watching each other planning for the trip westward on the MAA website and have plans to meet up at Shelby in Las Vegas but we may see them before .Only 400 km covered today by Team Nova Scotia but we played tourist quite a bit.Its clear tonight and we are at about 7000 -7400 ft in Arizona in early April.

Its the end of Day 7 I'm going to call it a night - more later
 
A few discussions last night on how to spend the days we have before we get to Corona. Lots of possibilities on the table and a few ruled out. After last nights quick visit to the GC south rim and a look down, the decision was made to skip the west rim SKYWALK, but a half day at the Canyon, Seligman to Kingman on the old RT66, were on today's list.
When we woke it was a great sunny start to the day but the temp was -7C at 6 AM. Altitude and clear sky sure make for chilly nights no matter where you are!. We got up and returned to the Canyon, seeing Russ and Arlene heading south as we entered the park. A quick phone call -the first time we had actually spoken -confirmed our plans for a Shelby meeting. The morning went quickly with a shuttle to Hermits Rest with a few on / off the bus for Photo's . I could stay a week here but not this time.

-7C start off
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Choco Jr. enjoying the view

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At Hermits Rest

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Pending storm arriving from the north, you can see the rain starting to drop into the Canyon

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The views change here as the day progresses, Shadows change, colors change, the pictures don't do justice at all.
 
A few more Canyon Shots

Here is one of the trails down, only powered travel is 4 legged, one horsepower Mustangs or donkeys !
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No I'm not Photo shopped in They were wearing Jackets and I am not.

Funny as we were setting up this photo a lady walked by with a golden lab , it rushed right over to check up on Choco Jr., gave him a thorough sniff test and seemed bewildered why the "little dog " didn't move. Lab thought he was real I guess !

Time to get on the road - Williams is the next stop .I wanted to stop at a small quilt shop Jackie and I had visited on earlier trip here in 2006. At that time it was owned by a retired army couple who were from Hawaii but had spent all their posted years in Alaska! When he got out he said - I'm living some where warm. Well the shop changed hands and this time my 15 minute stop turned into an hour +. The rest of the guys came into the shop and wandered - Until they realized the owner was from Winnipeg ! The next hour turned into HOCKEY NIGHT IN WILLIAMS ! He was glad to have someone who understood hokey and Rick and Jason were glad to keep him informed ! you just never know who you will met on a trip like this.
 
Last time I was here in Williams ,another great little Rt66 town, with a rental mustang I stopped here for Gas - only fitting I'd say



This time the prices were higher !

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so far I've been able to park 3 mustangs at this sign in Williams an 06 convertible in 2006, A blue 07 rental in 2009 and Finally My own 2005 !


Thanks Denis for the rear window decal !

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Time to hit the road --Old RT 66 through Ash Forks, the "Flagstone Capitol of the World" so the sign says, on the Seligman, Then RT66 to Peach Springs and end the night in Kingman Az.
Along the RT 66 here there are lots of flat stretches with nothing to see. Drivers used to fall asleep so Burma Shave came up with an advertising campaign. They put up small signs on the side of the road every mile or so with pieces of a story, you had to keep looking for the signs to get the whole story - so drivers stayed awake! The signs were changed every couple of months to keep up the interest. You will see some examples of this on this stretch of the RT66 , one example spread over 5 signs [TABLE="width: 0"]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #AC4860"]Dim your lights[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #AC4860"]Behind a car[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #AC4860"]Let folks see[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #AC4860"]How bright[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #AC4860"]YOU are[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

You can get a whole list of them here http://burma-shave.org/jingles/

We land in Kingman around 5pm , time for a Car Wash before dark , Supper, A Walmart run - need water as the days are getting warmer now.
Rich is doing good on finding some great hotels - 2 rooms tonight . I can't remember what Chain this on was but it had lots of southwestern charm. The desk keeper must have been 75 but quick as a whip that girl!

After 8 days on the road we are getting personalities , preferences, likes and dislikes mostly ironed out.
6150 kms in 8 days of driving and we are still all talking to each other And we are still basically on Plan A !


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Time for sleep I think
 

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Ohtobbad;n1893 said:
give you guys credit, not many people I could drive with for that far, different cars, ok.
same car not so easy. :)
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Every once in a while we'd get a couple of rooms to keep everyone sane and create some space. We were pretty much in awe the entire time and so glad to be on the once in a lifetime trip so that made it all much easier.
 
I could understand why you didn't want to make the trip with the Saleen Jason , seeing that it has traveled less than a thousand miles a year since new. 12,000 miles over 13 years. Would not have been a problem with mine, 123,000 miles over 14 years.
 
TrueBlue02058;n1922 said:
I could understand why you didn't want to make the trip with the Saleen Jason , seeing that it has traveled less than a thousand miles a year since new. 12,000 miles over 13 years. Would not have been a problem with mine, 123,000 miles over 14 years.
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The Saleen has 33,000 miles on it. Think it was around 13-14k when I bought it 6 years ago. Made sense not to take it since the amount of miles/hours we were driving. Those first couple of days (especially) it was nice to switch up drivers every so often.
 
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