MAA50TH The meaning behind the license plate

The next morning we gathered on the south western side of Vegas with Richard and a few from Texas to start the drive to Corona
Hard to believe we were within 1 day of our midpoint destination

Outside Shelby
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Wrong time of the day for a good Photo !

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Next morning meet up, 2 Canadian Cars - 1 Nevada -2 Texas and one from New Mexico joined before we left

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On the road - next stop was planned by Big Daddy - this man knows food - He took us to Emma Jean's Holland Burgers
This place was featured on Diners, Drive ins and Dives

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Great place with Shawna providing the food with a side of southern sass. I'm not 100% sure but we might have deserved the sass we got !

http://www.hollandburger.com/

Off to Corona !
 
2 years ago today we were on the road - left Enfield at 8AM - would have been on the west side of Salisbury after a Gas and Coffee stop - US border was the next destination !

Gas was $3.83 US a gallon in Maine and the a Canadian dollar was worth $.90 US , today the gas is $2.17 US and the dollar well it sucks!

2014 was the year of the DUMP DAY Wednesday storms, and we just made it out between them as another had hit Sunday.

Looking at the NB road cams today I think we would have taken the southern route ! March departures from the Maritimes usually mean messy roads.

Hard to believe its been 2 years already - and still more story to tell
 
Well time to get back to the Story- Almost at the half way point. After eating at Emma Jeans we continued to Corona California, a city originally known for lemon groves but later named Corona for the 2.75 mile circular Grand Boulevard in the center of town. This is the home of Fender Guitar and also the home of SALEEN which is where we will meet on the evening of April 9th and then leave from the SALEEN facility on the morning of April 10th. But its only April 8th now as we pull into the parking lot of the hotel that Sam has arranged. A great place, a car wash hose out back, great staff and good coffee. We get to see Sam's lead car up close and put some names and faces together. P1110254.JPG

We have arrived earlier in the day than originally thought so we did a little touring over to Fender- If you like guitars this is a place to be on your list

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This picture P1110215.JPG was just for Jackie



Rich tried playing the larger version

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Back to the hotel to get caught up on laundry and a few phone calls and see what the spare day tomorrow will bring!
 
April 9th Team Nova Scotia goes in Opposite directions for most of the day Denis and Jason get invited to a private showing of collector cars. I cant remember all they saw, just know that the list that the family had was very impressive - Jason can you fill us in??

Rich and I teamed up with our Alberta counterparts and took off for Laguna Beach - since we were this close another couple of hours of driving in traffic would put our feet in the Pacific Ocean!

looking West
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dolphins in the surf as we left and started our eastern journey
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We stopped at a little Café on the way back to the cars , must have been 8 of us , to have lunch. View from the patio was great but I almost needed CPR when the menu arrived My Hamburger and a coffee - not a cheeseburger and NO fries - was going to cost $25.00 in us dollars!

Guess we paid for the view - and in a funny way it was almost worth it.

I don't know what you would have to do to afford to live here but this place just cries MONEY . Millions . The normal folk just drive past and wonder - or buy a $25.00 hamburger!

As we went back to the cars we fired up Tanya's 1970 and mine at the same time - and promptly set off the car alarms in 3 Porsche's parked nearby!

Traffic was building as we headed back to Corona but all went well as we prepared to go to SALEEN
 

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Over at SALEEN the cars just kept arriving - over 200 here to start this Journey tomorrow.
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Some time with a local news crew on site - Funny the cars they chose to represent MUSTANGS ACROSS AMERICA -were 2 from Alberta and one being driven by an Australian !
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Jason got some items signed for his car by Steve Saleen . Seems like a down to earth guy.
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Molly was there with her car. Sorry no pictures of them together . This is Molly's mustang painted MOLLYPOP a color blended just for her


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Lots of people around. Met Rodney again as he got the keys to a SALEEN he would drive on the journey, Jeremy Davis who shipped his 1966 Mustang from England to complete this drive. His shipping costs by boat from England , through the Panama Canal to LA were less that what it would have cost me to ship my car Halifax to Corona!

More on Jeremy later. The festivities wound us as we went to the hotel to make a few more friends and then pack up
The MAA50TH begins tomorrow , April 10th

The first half of the trip is complete. Seems rather strange as the dynamic changes. For the last 12 days se have seed the odd mustang here and there on the road but for the last 2 days, they are EVERYWHERE!. For the next 6 days we will Eat, Breathe, Smell ,Talk and Wash Mustangs, and that's just to get to Charlotte
I'm glad to report No issues with either of our cars so far and yes we are still all speaking!.

Time to pack - seems like there is less room - seems like a few days of down time let us play tourist.

PS: did I mention I Bought a 1965 when in New Mexico ? Needed a bit of Paint but now all I have to do is figure out how to get it home - Maybe Jason has some Idea's?? I've tried to keep it quiet but you will get to see it soon I hope.
 
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11 days on the road - we have covered about 4300 miles and managed to do some sight seeing. Tail of the Dragon- Winslow- Grand Canyon- Sedona -Cool Springs - Las-Vegas and Laguna Beach are all now check marks on the bucket list!

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Well time to get back to the story - I missed a few days

here is a video from the April 9th gathering

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeMSfzghRxs


The gathering on April 10-2014 was amazing - At the hotel this morning it was a mustang owners dream symphony- Exhaust sounds from stock to heavily modified , quiet to - well you know ! Thanks to the people at the hotel they got us all fed early to get to Saleen..With Almost 300 cars to get out of the parking lot and on the road we created quite a stir. The local radio and tv coverage had their choppers in the air P1110323.JPG

Lots of people - lots of pony's from all over the world.

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North and South East coasters , Rich, Team NS , Arlene and Russ from Florida

Time to get on the road - off to Phoenix AZ for the first leg of the trip. Our drive takes us through the mountains and our daily drivers meeting has reminders for older cars to take it easy on the A/C use as overheats were common on earlier trips . We have just started what was to become the longest traveling car show I've been involved in!

Nice to get back on the road again after being still for almost 2 days. The planned day drive to Phoenix is short by our standards only about 5 hrs, 550 km but the dynamic has changed. now we are part of a much larger group - falling in with the heard, not planning and looking for the difficulties nearly as much on this part of the trip. Many thanks to Sam and his crew who have done an amazing job with hotels - stop area's and availability of services. I can get an understanding of the complexities of planning distances to be covered daily when drivers could be 16 to 85 and the cars could be showroom fresh or 50 years old ! Hats off for a job well done sir!

some of the DOWN UNDER crew

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At the hotel at the end of Day 1 - new friends to make - Small repairs to assist with, Some very stiff people walking around talking about a LONG DAY in the car , If they only knew!!

It was easy to spot the veteran travelers in the morning -- they walked up to the car put the bags in - re hooked the electronics and off to circle the parking lot - now for the others - put bag in take bag out - put other bag in - put 2nd bag in - close trunk - open truck take 1st bag out to get to the gps OH well it will get better in the next days I'm sure!

Time to leave Phoenix and head for Las Cruse New Mexico !
 
The morning of Dat 2 MAA started with a drivers meeting to let us know of construction - traffic area's and to review our last day of progress.By 8AM we were on the road, This time being followed by several news channel choppers. We got to see the cars on the news at 6 but I can't find the footage any more-sorry. Today we travel south on the I 10 to Tucson . We get to see the saguaro cactus as we get nearer to the Mexico border, We swing west , still on the I10 traveling past Benson and Tombstone. if you are eber in the area visit Boot hill and have a laugh- we didn't take time on this trip but its worth the detour, Just past Benson is the RT 191 , runs north to just outside of Holbrook.
As a bit of a side note- In 2009 the 191 was my route back to Tucson on Sunday -450 miles 9+ hrs of just driving , not counting stops to look! Some of the road through the mountains is as crooked as the Tail of the Dragon - 10MPH for over 6 miles of road is the posted speed with vehicles over 40 ft long forbidden to be on the road.
Back to 2014 - as we traveled toward Las Cruses Sam had arranged for a stop at the Amerind Museum in Dragoon AZ. A bit off the highway this spot took us way back in time following the native peoples journeys and lifestyle. - sorry- no pictures allowed inside but another spot I could spend some time

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Just a great place to stop and slow down for a bit

I think if you listened you could hear hoof beats from the past as well as the ones we were leaving

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The scenery changed to rocky desert as we continued west- we can see Mexico from here - less than 30 miles - the phones were picking up Mexico cell towers

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As we arrived at the hotel I found to only other S197 black / tan that we would see on the whole trip - ended up parking beside it in the hotel lot. Its much newer but the closest I'd find. We stayed at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces a Spanish design hotel. Sam certainly arranged some great spots at very reasonable rates. the rooms were not large but were very well done. This was one of the stops were we had planned for 2 rooms so all was well. The parking loot was soon a cruise destination for locals. they would cruise through the hotel lot, stop ask questions and then cruise on.
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It was a V6 Texas Car , never found the owner or saw the car again. From here on the group of cars began to change, some had to head back home- some more began to join up with us as we traveled along - Overall the number of cars continued to grow as we got closer to Charlotte.

we traveled about 400 miles today 5 to 6 hrs of driving with lots of time to stop and chat at lunchtime

Another good Meal - Tanks full and ready to head for Midland Texas in the morning.
 
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This young lady and her brother dropped in for a visit - met Choco Jr and we gave them a dancing moose !


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Choco Jr continued to make new friends the next morning as we made one of our coffee dump stops. Meet Wayne and daughter Harrison from California . While they have a fox body project at home the decided to rent a convertible and have a great Father-Daughter trip before she heads off to college. These are some of the people we met on the trip and still keep in touch with.

As we traveled to Midland Texas we changed to I20 temperatures were warm - 80's -90's but the wind! It was dry and dusty. We stopped at a petroleum museum just outside Midland at the end of our day. Quite an interesting display of history and geology. An extra plus was this museum houses a collection of Chapparal Race Cars.

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We got to see the cars up close, see the early days of aerodynamics , and they fired up one of the cars and lapped the parking lot several times at speed,No we didn't get to drive but I'll try and find some video to post later.
We covered about 350 miles today , had a long lunch stop and ended up digging through a couple of antique stores. Cant fit much big stuff but found a few interesting small items.
Stayed at a Hampton Inn tonight - All went well - for once we got a ground floor room, we didn't have to lug our gear through elevators
Denis and Jason crashed about 11 and Rich and I were about to call it a night around 12 when the fire alarm went off - FALSE ALARM ?? NOPE WE SMELL SMOKE -- EVERY ONE UP AND OUT !


Well turns out the fire was in the kitchen which was on the ground floor- and the sprinkler in the kitchen ran for about 30 minutes before the fire dept shut it off. and the kitchen was just around the corner from our room.. Whoever poured that floor didn't understand level as when we returned to the room to collect our gear Denis and Jason;s clothes and suit\cases were in about 2-3 inches of water. Seems the scouting types had their gear on the beds and were dry. The Hampton relocated us to another hotel nearby and didn't charge us for the room - either one. by about 2 Am we were back in a new dry hotel room and 3 of 4 were snoring. I stayed up till 5AM washing and drying clothes as the others were dead beat and really needed sleep , We would start later than normal was the plan.
 

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Here is the video from the hotel parking lot after we were outside for 20 minutes
Quite a commotion and the wet rooms were yet to be discovered

http://vid1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd509/canoe07/IMG_0547_zpsxj8iwpyv.mp4




Well Its Sunday AM, I thought the plan was to have a later start but its 6AM and everyone is awake and moving about - seems like I just went to sleep - I did - just less than an hour ago ! Oh well off to breakfast - Not sure what the hurry was - still missed the drivers meeting- Had a great breakfast at the Hilton Garden Inn- just took forever - but I guess they really were not expecting 50 extra guests at 12:30 AM !

On the road we go - 8:30AM and we are on our way to Dallas Texas ! I was hoping my copilot would drive for a bit but - What is that noise ?? Oh Its Rich Snoring at 8:45 - Till coffee stop at 10:30 . I continued to drive on - Around 1 pm we started looking for a lunch stop - Rich saw a sign advertising a great rib and BBQ spot at the next exit. A quick Google check and all agreed that would be a great change from Cracker Barrel ,Denny's or Subway so to off on the adventure we go . We traveled about 10 miles off the Interstate, found the place - only problem was It is not open on SUNDAY !! Only in Texas I guess. We continued on the route and ended up in a little town called Weatherford in Texas - neat little spot, has a traffic circle in the middle of town and the court house - a 3-4 story sandstone building is in the center of the traffic circle !
As we are rounding the building a little diner is on our right- the parking lot is filled with cars - looks like one of those favorite spots for the after Sunday morning church gang to eat.. SO we parked along side and went in.. Had to wait for a table but we were welcomed like one of the locals. The daily specials are written along a long chalkboard on the wall - along with a few quotes of the day. The owner spotted our cars outside and sat down to ask us about our trip, wanted to take our picture and post it on the Weatherford Café Facebook page
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While we were at the Weatherford Café we gave this little guy a NSMC pin - let's hope he becomes a Mustang owner some day !

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Well after a great lunch its back on the road. Now off to Dallas. We are making good time, only had to travel about 375 miles today but with the serious lack of sleep and those strange snoring sounds in the car I was getting tired.
We stopped for another gas up and found a car we knew from close to home ! I knew we would meet up today just a lot of others didn't know - hard to keep a secret but look who showed up !

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Martin !! Is that you ?? and what is that thing on the front of your car??


The traffic today was crazy for a Sunday but I guess big cities never slow down. The MAA planned event tonight was a visit to the 6th floor Museum to see the life and death story of the Kennedys. No offence to the American history but a quick poll of the four of us decided an early supper and a long sleep was more important than Kennedy history tonight.

The weather is warm , the tops were down for most of the day and sleep it came really easy zzzzzzzzzzzz
 
Hard to believe this was over 2 years ago- where does the time go?


As we traveled each day we said good bye to some people who couldn't have any more time away from work or home and welcomed new cars and drivers to the group. We left Corona with about 250 Mustangs, I think leaving Dallas there were over 300, but as mentioned the mix was different. Every night there were new faces and new cars to see.
Had a wonderful sleep - Breakfast and then off to the drivers meeting. Sam mentioned some possibility for weather today as we head for Jackson, Mississippi The weather might mess with our plans for the ball game tonight - lets hope all goes well. . I'm ready for the road, off to Mississippi heading esat on the Interstate 20 ! Todays travels should be about 400 miles +/- a few and about 6-7 hrs. of driving. When you add in coffee and lunch stops still expect it will be 5-6 pm before we see the hotel parking lot. we are beginning to fell the effects of the Gulf of Mexico and the lower elevations. Did I mention HUMIDITY !! Quite a difference from Phoenix and Midland!
 
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