Dick & jo's most excellent cobra adventure

[lamaluv]

My wife and I are going to spend this winter in Riverview, Florida as snow birds and plan on taking the Cobra with us. We purchased a 20’ stacker trailer to pull behind our motor home so my wife’s Saturn Vue and my ERA Cobra can travel with us.

I purchased my Cobra, ERA exp002, in 2004 and since then have been able to track down all of the other 6 prior owners of the car. On our way east we plan on stopping and visiting each of them as well as a stop at ERA HQ in New Britain.

We will be leaving Idaho in mid October and arriving in Florida toward the end of November. We will start out on I-84 through Idaho into Utah then switch to I-80 into Wyoming. We will spend a couple of days in Cheyenne then it’s off to Lincoln, Nebraska for a couple more days. Then it’s back onto I-80 to Runnells, Iowa just outside of Des Moines to visit Gail Rhoten who was the 4th owner of ERA exp002. Then it’s through Illinois and into Indiana on I-74 and at Indianapolis switching to I-70 into Columbus, Ohio where we will visit Doug Ford and Paul Solomon who where the 5th & 6th owners. I-71 will take us out of Ohio and through Pennsylvania on I-80 and I-84 to New York and into Connecticut. In Connecticut we will visit Bruce Bissonnette who was the 1st owner and also take day trips to Rhode Island to visit Justin O’Rourke and David Page who were the 2nd and 3rd owners. We will end this leg of our journey in New Britain visiting with Bob, Peter and the gang at ERA. The first part of November we will start our final part of the trip down the east coast along I-95 to Florida.

We plan on taking pictures and keeping a log of our adventure and will keep everyone at Club Cobra posted about our trip. I hope that I have the opportunity to meet some of you as we travel across the country and are especially looking forward to spending the winter with all of the other Cobra enthusiasts in Florida. If any of you know of Cobra activities that will be going on along our route during the last two weeks in October I would like to hear from you.

Dick

[lamaluv]

If you ever go with your wife while she gets a tattoo never make fun of the pain she is going through. My wife and one of her girlfriends decided that they needed a tattoo prior to our trip back east. While I was laughing at her she informed me that I was a wussy if I didn't get my own tattoo. Now I really had a problem. How could I get out of this and knowing that there was no way, what kind of a tattoo was I going to get. Well being a Cobra kind of guy and having seen some of you guys cool Cobra tatt's there was only one choice. Now when we reach ERA next month I will have my car as well as my new Cobra tattoo on my calf.



PS I'm glad I didn't opt for the Billboard Goodyear as the white ink seemed to hurt more than the other colors. To hell with the traction.

[Silverback51]

What's this? No picture of your wife's tattoo?

[patrickt]

This sounds like a lot of fun. This should be a great thread.

[lamaluv]

Patrick I will keep up with our prep for the trip and the fun we have along the way. Lots of pictures of the Cobra in new locations. For anyone that is interested in the Cobra Tattoo process hear is a link that goes to a smilebox showing all the fun. http://smilebox.com/playEmail/4d546b...4673d0d0a&sb=1

Dick

[CobraDan]

Dick,
Send me your email address and I will put you on my emailing list of the Deeper South Cobra Club local members, send it to: dfwulff@comcast.net This will keep you informed of our monthly cobra enthusiast gatherings in south Florida.

[lamaluv]

OK John here is my wife's tattoo, its not a Cobra but she thinks its cute. She says that your avitar reminds here of one of her high school teachers.

Dan thanks for putting me on the Deep South Cobra Club email list. We are looking forward to driving the Cobra without a snowplow or chains this winter. I hear that you don't get as much snow as we do in Idaho.

[CobraDan]

Dick,
We do most of our running in the winter months as it's to hot and rainy in the summer months.

[MOTORHEAD]

Dick:
You may want to speed up your arrival in Fl a little , DSCC " Reptile Roundup " is Nov 4th-6th In Jupiter Fl (east coast) with side trip to west central fl, not too far from Riverview. Ck out info at www.deepsouthcobraclub.cloverpad.org/
Ted

[lamaluv]

Thanks for the link Ted but we will be about 10 days late. Our trip east is pretty well locked in. When you are trying to coordinate stops to visit 6 former car owners there is not a lot of slide room. I'm sure that we will have other opportunities to get with some of you throughout the winter. I see that HOD has several track event during the winter.

Dick

[rustyBob]

Dick....while you are in Lincoln Ne. you should give Funfer2 (Kevin Gilmore) a call and he can show off his new (just now being built) motor for his Lone Star Cobra. The motor build is going to be in a magazine.

[lamaluv]

We'll arrive in Lincoln the 20th and depart the 22nd of October and I'll contact Kevin. It would be cool to see his new engine. Thanks for the heads up Bob as this is what this tread is all about. Finding out about events and people to meet along the way.

Dick

[lamaluv]

The adventure is coming together. The planning is done. Most of the reservations have been made.

We will be leaving Nampa, Idaho on Sunday the 17th of October. We will be in Cheyenne, WY the 18th & 19th, then Lincoln, NB the 20th & 21st, Altoona, IA the 22nd & 23rd, Champaign, IL the 24th, Columbus, OH area 25th thru 27th, Bloomburg, PA the 28th, arriving in East Lime, CT 29th thru Nov 1st for our visit to owners in RI & CT. Our final stop before heading south to Florida will be at ERA in New Britain. One of the ideas of this post is to let people know where we will be as we travel so that we can meet other Cobra inthusiasts. I hope that we can meet some of you as we travel across the country.

Now the lists of things to take and the packing begins. What do we really need vs what there is room for. And to qoute my wife " will both cars and all your *hit fit in the stacker trailer". Guess maybe I ought check that one out before departure day.

Dick

[brian99eh]

I live in Ruskin Fl just around the corner from Riverview Fl hope to see you driving around there are 2 cobras running around here already

[lamaluv]

Brian I will be sure to look you up after we arrive in Riverview in November.

Dick

[James Stern]

Dick, Please post when you are heading south on I-95. Especially, when you will be near Delaware and North East Maryland. I'd be pleased to meet up (or provide escort for a while.

Jim S

[lamaluv]

Jim we will be departing Dupont, PA Wednesday the 3rd of November and arriving Morris Meadows RV Park in Freeland, MD that evening. We'll be staying there untill the morning of the 5th. We would enjoy meeting up with you or any other Cobra enthusiasts while where there. As we head south I'll keep the progress current on this post.

Dick

[lamaluv]

In my original post I stated that we would be heading south on I-95 but I have chickened out with going through NY and NJ on the turnpike. We'll be backtracking into PA on I-81, I-84 and I-83. We won't be hitting I-95 till we come out of Baltimore. Just not comfortable enough with 65' + of RV and trailer yet. Hopefully by the end of this trip I will be an old hand at it.

Dick

[Don]

I did not review all your travel plans, but an alternative is not getting on I-95 until south of Washington DC. I have driven to SC & FL numerous times, and use I-84 to 81 to 66 east , then state route 17 to Fredericksburg VA connecting to I-95. Traffic N & S of DC can, at times, be congested.

The route I mention is a very pleasant drive to get to I-95. Either way, use the Interstate by pass around Richmond VA, I-95 in this area can also be congested. Overall, adds a few hours to the trip.

[lamaluv]

thanks for the tip Don