Fall Tour 2008

The annual fall tour took place the weekend of November 14th and it was centered around Bastrop,Texas.  A big round of applause is owed to Rich and Karen, Doug and Maureen, and to Ben and Janice.  These couples put in a lot of hours as well as miles to make sure we had another successful outing. Participants included Janice and Dale in the red '54 convertible, Bob and Gail in the '37 convertible, Ron and Juanita in the '56 400, Mike and Caroline in the '47 Lincoln 12, the Baccaro's in the red and white '55 clipper, and of course our unofficial tourmasters Doug and Maureen leading us in the sporty Avanti.  Rich could not get the hole in the block of his car fixed in time so he and Karen rode along in the Avanti. (I wonder if that "amazing putty" stuff that guy is always yelling about on T.V. would work?)  Ben and Janice brought the Dodge truck again to act as the chuck wagon.  In addition, Dick Bautch and Robby Markman dropped in when they were able.   

 

Once again our weekend began with a rendezvous at the Trokey's home in Katy.  After enjoying some morning pastries provided by Karen, we saddled up and left around 9:30 a.m.  Following the scenic back roads we headed toward our first stop, which was the memorial to Stephen F. Austin at the San Felipe State Park on SHwy 1458.  After a break and having read the historical facts on the monuments, we headed off towards Sealy and ultimately a refreshment  break at the Texas Star cafe in New Ulm, Texas.  The next stop was Heinsohn's Country store in Frelsburg.  This place is indescribable.  If they don't have it---you don't need it!  It is worth making a drive to the country to check it out.  It was getting close to lunch so we headed down SHwy 71 to old highway 90 for lunch in Borden at the Borden Country Store.  This small community is rich in heritage from the famous milkman of the same name and it was a very quaint little establishment. The food was good, the beer was cold, and we kind of overwhelmed the cook, but they did their best. From Borden we proceeded to Weimer to visit the city museum and some of the antique shops on the main drag. They have a wonderful museum in an old bank building and it features much about the area---------the contribution of native sons to various wars, a terrific drug store museum, as well as a model "A" Ford and an antique fire truck. In La Grange we visited the famous jail which is now a museum and every time I see it I have to think about the famous play based on the encounter between the late Sheriff Flornoy and the late Marvin Zindler. From here we pushed on to Bastrop to check in at the Comfort Inn which proved to be a nice host hotel.  Friday night we ate close by at Nancy's Steak House and then enjoyed visiting in the hospitality room of the hotel.

 

Saturday morning we loaded up the cars and headed for the Central Texas Auto Museum near Rosanky.  We spent over an hour there enjoying the cars and taking pictures of our cars outside with the country Texaco station as a back drop.  From there we moved on to Smithville  for lunch at Pockets cafe and the food was great.  We arrived at Pockets just ahead of four high school girls who were in a hurry to get a to go order because they only had 45 minutes to get back to the school as they were in a musical that afternoon and evening.  Since half of us are retired teachers and the rest are just really nice people, we let them go ahead of us. They were most appreciative and wanted us to come to the musical but we could not fit it into our packed schedule.  However, we might check out the local high school if we are looking for something on a weekend on a future fall tour!  Following lunch we parked the cars on the main drag and then hit several antique shops.  The men enjoyed the comfort of sitting on the curb watching people look at the cars as we did not last as long in the shops as the ladies. After a couple of hours we headed back to the "comfort" of the Comfort Inn to prepare for dinner and a play at the Bastrop Opera House.  The food was outstanding and the play was unique and thought provoking.  Following the play, we again sat up until late in the night solving the problems of the world.

 

On Sunday we left the Comfort Inn and headed towards Warrenton and the Sterling McCall Cadillac Museum. Many of us had not been to the museum since it converted to a mostly Cadillac facility.  It is am impressive collection of Cadillac's!  From here we caravanned to Bellville for lunch at the bakery and then we split up and headed for our respective homes.

 

While Mr. Murphy and "his law" did visit several of the cars on the trip, nothing was serious enough that it could not be fixed or adjusted in the parking lot or beside the road.  We did utilize one Exxon station for a quick emergency repair and all the cars made the entire trip rolling on their own!  Thanks again to the organizers for a really great job.

 

Next year Steve Wanderman and family will be planning the fall tour.  That does not mean they are doing it on their own so I hope some of you will volunteer to help them out.  It will be called the "Pine Curtain" tour and the base city will be Lufkin.  See you there! Tommy  

 

WebMaster additions:
Of utmost importance is the camradarie of multiple 'experts' who chimed in to solve the real-time problems of CARavaning.

First it was Mike Calistrat's Lincoln which seemed to have a fuel delivery problem at the onset of the tour.
Next, Dale Musgrove's '53 had a rear axle nut problem, which was fortunately solved in the parking lot of an Auto Zone.
In turn, Bob Supina 's '37 had a pin hole in an inner tube....
Lastly, Tommy Baccaro's '55 had a stuck carb needle valve in the hotel parking lot.

To be stranded on the road with problems is never any fun, but when 'experts' crowd around, Packard will get home.

The following pictures were taken by Bob Supina: