Day 4, June 9

No driving today. Ran some errands in the morning. On Rick Love's recommendation, I had breakfast with Grumpy. On returning to my hotel room, I got a surprise phonecall from Charlie Rambo. Charlie is the guy that I bought my '32 Tudor from recently, and he and his wife Gloria live in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He and Gloria were in San Antonio for a weekend getaway, and were in my hotel lobby! They knew that I was here for the start of the Road Tour, and they wanted to meet me. It was a real surprise and a pleasure to meet them both. I had only talked to them on the phone, and now I had the opportunity to meet them face-to-face. Thanks for stopping by Charlie and Gloria! The other Road Tour participants started showing up today, and we had a registration get-together and weenie roast at Vintage Air. Folks have come from Illinois, Arizona, and who knows where else to join this Road Tour. Thanks to all of the Vintage Air staff who donated their own time to come out and burn hot dogs for us. A job well done, and much appreciated. Vintage Air also served as the "Last Chance Garage" for half a dozen cars that needed last minute repairs before heading out tomorrow morning. Air conditioning systems needed attention, carburetors needed re-jetting, shock mounts needed welding. All this was accomplished and I think that everyone is set to go at 7:30 in the morning. What the well dressed Tech Editor is wearing this season. Re-welding the shock mount on Jimmy Vaughan's flathead-powered '32 5-window coupe. It's never too late to tear out the entire dashboard out of a car and hit the road in the morning! Stay with us as we get on The Road to Pomona!

Day 3, June 8

I left Fort Stockton at 5 am heading for San Antonio. It was still plenty dark, but a half moon gave some night light. The Interstate in west central Texas is not well traveled. I could go for a couple of miles at a time and not see any cars in either direction. One aspect of night driving in this part of the country had me a little bit concerned, and that was deer crossing the road unexpectedly. Hitting one at 65 MPH in a regular car or truck could be a real bad thing, but hitting one in the hot rod would be a REAL BAD thing. I did see two dead deer on the side of the road, and I was glad that I didn't make them that way. I got into some very light rain in Ozona but it wasn't enough to warrant putting the top on. A quick call to Rick Love in San Antonio ( a couple of hours down the road) assured me that the weather ahead looked good. And it was. I enjoy the change in topography approaching San Antonio. The Hill Country comes up, and the foliage gets lush. Quite a contrast to the deserts and cattle ranges of west Texas. I arrived in San Antonio at about 10:30 am. I checked into the hotel, got some BBQ for lunch, then went over to Vintage Air, where our host Rick Love makes his living. Jack Chisenhall, the owner of Vintage Air, along with Rick, made this Road Tour partnership with Street Rodder Magazine for the second year running, and it is fantastic. Jack and his son Landis will accompany us again this year. Last year Rick drove his newly completed '32 Ford 5-window coupe, but this year opted for his '39 Ford coupe. This car is a true road warrior and has about 160,000 miles on it. Also at Vintage Air were Ron Ceridono, Technical Editor of Street Rodder and Tom Medley, past Editor of Hot Rod Magazine and Rod and Custom Magazine. Tom is one of the true legends of the hot rodding sport/hobby. His experience goes back to the very roots of hot rodding, and he's full of vivid tales of those past times. It was truly a genuine pleasure to meet him in this setting. I also got to help in the task of remedying some wiring problems under the dash of Tom's 1940 Ford Coupe. Rick and or Ron had the distinct pleasure of standing on their heads to get under the dash, while I was relegated to climbing up a ladder (the car was up on the lift), and crawling into the trunk of the coupe to connect/disconnect the battery cable as required, and to monitor the performance of the ill-functioning brake lights. By the end of the evening all was well with Tom's car. A Note to Readers: If you're interested, the Blog that I did for last year's Road Tour is available at: http://barebones32.blogspot.com/

Day 2, June 7

I left Deming, New Mexico for the short drive to El Paso, Texas with a much friendlier wind situation. In Las Cruces there is an interesting facility (for folks in my business - Unmanned Air Vehicles [UAVs]. The University of New Mexico has a UAV Test Facility here. In El Paso I met up with Ron Clapper, an old time hot rodder who has a unique job. His job is to work on cars owned by one man, my friend Jorge Zaragosa. Jorge, a very successful rancher and businessman, is blessed to be able to own some significant automobiles. He and his lovely wife Paulette and their young daughter Alexa hosted me at their house, and I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with them. As I said, Jorge owns some significant hot rods, including the Tom McMullen roadster,which to me has always been the quintessential definition of "hot rod" and which served as inspiration for my own roadster; and, the Pebble Beach Concours-winning Jack Calori 1936 Ford coupe. Jorge Zaragosa Some of Jorge's cars Jorge and Myron The other garage at Jorges Ron and I inspected the '32 Ford Victoria that he's got disassembled, but will have together in time to make the trip to Victoria, British Columbia with us in July. Myron Griffin, another El Paso hot rodder, who I met on last year's Road Tour and is a friend of Ron's and Jorge's, joined us with his '32 Ford 5-window coupe. Myron will join up with us on Monday for the drive to Los Angeles (Pomona), and will also be in Victoria in July. When you hear the saying, "That must have cost an arm and a leg." Myron is one of the few guys who knows how much that is - his business is prosthetics (artificial limbs) for amputees. After lunch with Ron and Myron I had to get back on the road if I was going to get into San Antonio at a decent hour on Friday. For the benefit of all who may pass through, El Paso, Texas is not nearly as large or as populous a city as Los Angeles, but the drive through town at 3 pm on Interstate 10 (the only major route) was horrible. The road is narrow, pot-holed, crowded with trucks, and has lots of on/off ramps to add to the mayhem. It was far from my favorite part of the trip. At Jorge's hangar with his King Air Once out of El Paso it got MUCH better, the road is good, well marked, and the speed limit increases to 80 MPH. I was able to make good time, and with some help from a Texas map and a good Accommodations Guide provided by the Texas Tourist Information service in El Paso was able to plan my next stop. The towns with populaces large enough to support motels, or those who have become rest stops along Interstate 10 are spaced about 2 hours apart. I was able to put in about 4 hours this day, and overnighted in Fort Stockton. If you're going to make this trip, plan judiciously so you won't be stuck in the middle of nowhere with no place to stay, and another hour or two's drive to get to a bed. By the way reader friends, in case you didn't know it, you can click on any of the pictures and it will enlarge significantly.

Day 1, June 6

700 miles today. I'm beat, and this is going to be short. A nice drive today, with a nice variety of weather. REAL cold going over Laguna Mountain in east San Diego county at 6 am; cloudy all the way to Gila Bend, Arizona; then WIND all the way from Gila Bend to Deming, New Mexico. Last year the stretch into Deming brought us through a mudstorm. Today, all that was missing was the rain. The wind and the dust were abundant. Imperial Sand Dunes just west of Yuma, Arizona. Today, we'll choose Yuma. You can tell that you're in the Sonora Desert in southern Arizona by the Saguaro Cactus. One thing Arizona has is ROCKS. Just west of Deming, and all that dirt in the air just waiting to become mud. But, not today. Thanks to good friends Steve and Evelyn Rieffer of Deming for a nice dinner and a pleasant visit. (Steve and I go back to days spent at Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma, Arizona while Evelyn and my wife Sue Ann shared nursing duties at Sharp Hospital. All this in the 1970's.

The Road to Pomona

It's Summer and that means that Chick hits the road again. This year's journeys will be separated by a few weeks time. I'm loosely basing this first leg on the inspiration of the album by Eric Clapton and JJ Cale, entitled "The Road to Escondido." That title is a bit misleading in that JJ Cale lives in my home community of Valley Center, California which though close, is just a few miles from Escondido. Also, there is no song track on the album even mentioning Escondido. I'll be leaving Valley Center/Escondido on Wednesday morning the 6th of June. I'll be on the road to Pomona by way of San Antonio Texas, Ft. Davis Texas, Roswell New Mexico, Winslow Arizona, and Laughlin Nevada. I'll be posting from the road as I did last year, so come along for the ride.