An Alternative Route to London

[RichMusson]

Hey everybody,

Now that winter has returned; I find myself dreaming of warmer weather and being able to point my car toward the sun taking a nice long drive. You know --- the thoughts of better days.

That brings me to the London Car Show. As everyone is well aware the WCCC tradition is to meet for breakfast in Merrillville and caravan to Hilliard. The plan is to leave Merrillville at 10:00am. It’s about 325+/- miles or so -- 5 hours driving time is about right assuming no major traffic delays. There is also an hour time change and at least 2 gas stops. A large a group requires ½ to ¾ of an hour to gas-up, go to the washroom and get drinks etc.
The total travel time will be around 7+/- or so hours. That puts us into Hilliard at around 5 to 6 local time. That’s fine and is just about perfect to make plans for dinner, etc.
My problem is getting out of the city with all the construction. There is no way for me to avoid the Dan Ryan and there is little hope I can get my co-pilot up in time to make it to breakfast. So, I am probably going to break with tradition.

Here is the alternative I am considering. I will work ½ day on Wednesday and get out of the city before rush hour on the 21st. I would drive 3 to 4 hours and stay over night just beyond Indianapolis. The plan for Thursday is to drive the hour or so Wright-Patterson AFB and visit the Air Force Museum. Later that day I would hope to meet-up with the caravan as it passes Dayton and drive on into Hilliard with the group.

[CHRIS DAMSCH]

Sounds like a good plan Rich. I plan on breaking tradition also. I'm going to leave early Thursday and drive straight through without stopping for breakfast.

I'll break for gas as needed (my 3 cylinder geo motor is quite efficient).

If the weather is bad and I end up trailering, I may join up with the traditional caravan.

I will rest when I arrive at London.\

What is everybody else thinking of doing?

So far looks like three alternatives.

[red]

I believe we will need an alterntive with the Ryan and other roads under construction. I've heard that the Ryan is good southbound, early in the morning. How early Thursday morning are you talking about?
We could stop for breakfast in Indy and meet up with Rich and maybe Lowell or other members that are coming from the west, If we needed to be in Indy for breakfast at 9:00am I would need to be on the road from M.P. at 5:00am. We may need 1 fuel stop between Chicago and Indy.
Another alternitive is to get to the Cracker Barrel in Merrillville earlier. It opens at 6:00 am, and do what we normally do, just earlier. We could leave the Cracker Barrel at 7:00am and still meet up with Rich and the others in Indy by about 9:00am. Merrillville time is the same as our time and Indy is an hour ahead.
If we're early enough we could visit the Air Museum on the way or arrive early enough to unwind at the Hampton before dinner. Check-in time is 3:00 pm.

[pilotdad13]

I like the idea of leaving early and meeting at the CB around 6:AM, it shouldn't take more than a hour to get there from addison at that time in the morning.

[RedSnake351]

I think I'll leave tonight!
Ralph

[mdmull]

Marty - the Merrillville option would make indy 10:00 to 10:30

We need to leave Thursday so I vote for the early meet at Merrillville. Still puts us in Columbus early afternoon.

[red]

Yeah, your right Mike,I got that time thingy backwards, but it still gets us to Indy/Columbus at nice times. Rich, Lowell, Bob H., Jim D., since you guys will probably avoid the Chicago area construction, do these times work for you with a meet up in Indy?

[snake oil]

I was also thinking of leaving around 5 a.m.
Heading down 53/290 to 294 then south to
that mess at 80/94 over to 65.
Yeah I guess we could meet at the cracker barrell in Merrilville.
Or?
Meet somewhere else and drive straight to Indy and then stop for some grub.
There is a cracker barrell off of the highway there some where.
I know Ive passed it before. The only reason we choose
Cracker barrel is they have trailer parking.
Or?
There is a Shell gas station right before you hit Indy in Zion.
I seem to remember they have a large lot also, very ample space.
They have a Starbucks, and Subway sandwiches.
Could stop there get gas, and pass gas too.
Then drive through to Hilliard.?

[jeffko]

Meeting at CB is ok, but I am not in favor of eating. I would rather coffee up with a bagel and get cruising. Stop at Indy for gas and fuel and make the lovely Hampton Inn by mid afternoon. Have a few pops and go for dinner later and then come back to rev up the margarita machine. Ohhh Yeahh, chica chicaw.

[Badman]

Joe and I are leaving Thursday morning between 4:00 and 5:00AM to avoid rush hour traffic. He's trailering, I'm driving and we're stopping only for gas. If you want to caravan or meet in route, e-mail one of us.

We've the beer iced and ready for you when you arrive.

[RedSnake351]

Realizing that our date of departure is over a month away, we can't even begin to guess what the weather will be.
Here is my 2 cents worth: The plan now is to leave Thursday morning but we will be starting to check what the weather man has in store for the middle of that week. So in case the forecast looks good for Wednesday and rain for Thursday, maybe the guys that are driving their open Cobras should think about leaving on Wednesday afternoon, if work doesn't interfere and get a motel room and drink Frank's beer all night!
Ralph

[jeffko]

I plan on buying one of those waterprrof covers with tiedowns and everything in case the worst happens. I hear they are at Wal-Mart for somewhere around $50.

Not a bad Idea Frank. I am leaning that way myself. The one good thing is going south in the mornings is typicaly lighter. If we could meet in the Merryville area by 6:30 or so we would probably have smooth sailing.

[Lowell W]

My plan is to leave sometime Thursday morning, head south to I-74, then to Indianapolis and maybe meet you guys there if the timing works out. If the weather looks bad, I might leave Wednesday afternoon or Friday morning, though. A Bombay and tonic sure sounds good at the end of the day, as we watch Laura cajole all the Cobra drivers to "LITE 'EM UP" in front of the Hampton.

Lowell

[RichMusson]

Frank
You'll have beer?
I really do not really think the weather could be bad enough to make me change my plans........but beer! Now that's a different story.

Rich

[Badman]

Rich,

Joe’s trailer will be transporting ice cold Heineken and some tequila for the margarita machine. I’ll be sure to save a couple of cold ones for you and the WCCC party for your arrival.

[Bob Malmen]

I am going to trailer also. It would be great to hook up as a group. Lets discuss a place to meet.

Bob

[snake oil]

SET THE COURSE FOR LONDON OHIO.
>>>>> SET THE SPEED FOR WARP DRIVE>>>>>>>>>>

Hey Bob what day are you leaving and what time?

[jeffko]

Looks to me that everyone wants to leave early and a cracker barrel parking lots is just as good a spot as any. I don't think they open for biz until 6am that means getting on the road around 7:30. Isn't that kinda late? Let's not wait on them and eat in Indy. It's only a couple hours away and if we draft Arcy's trailer doing warp drive we will make really good time!

[Bob Malmen]

I plan to leave on Thursday. I will leave in time to hook up. I am an early riser just name the rendvous point and I'll engage the slipstream drive.

Are we going to a cobra event or space convention?

[mdmull]

OK, from Merrillville (Cracker Barrel) it is 309 miles to the hotels. As a group, with trailers & only short gas stops, it will be at least 5-5 1/2 hours travel time. Add one hour for Eastern time zone. Add one hour for rendevous & brunch around Indy. If we leave OCB @ 7:00 AM (beats most of the Chicago area rush) we arrive @ hotels prox 2:30/3:00 PM local. Is this a "plan"? I know some are going to "roll their own" but for those of us in the far north & west burbs, it allows us to leave about 5:00 AM & still get there early enough for check-in and a nap. We should make this a "sticky" and have members sign on. We don't want to leave anyone unescorted if they don't want to be.

Michael