A collection of videos and pictures to chronicle the recreation of this transcontinental road trip.
The following pictures and videos are from our start (day 1) in Newark, New Jersey to day 6 in Garden City, Kansas.
November 22, 2016: We woke up to rain this morning but it stopped before we left. Thanks for the Maxwell cover mom, it kept the Maxwell dry. The temperature was 59, very nice compared to yesterday…. at least when we started.
We drove the Maxwell out Rt 50 from Newton towards Dodge City Kansas. The roads could be summed up in two words, flat and straight. We understand grandpa when he mentions driving through flat prairie land. A two lane road with cars and trucks doing 65 MPH and a stiff cross wind. But the temperature was pleasant. Trucks passing in the opposite lane created a powerful blast of wind that would move the Maxwell. Pretty exciting … no scary.
We had lunch about 35 miles east of Dodge City at a neat Country Kitchen with a number of cars which was a good sign of a good meal. Amble conversations with the patrons when they saw the car and we passed out more business cards. It was a good meal and when we left it was still warm and sunny. We figured it would be an easy 35 miles to Dodge City. Those next 35 miles got progressively colder.
By the time we got to Dodge City it was in the low 40’s. We went to the BootHill Museum and met the Dodge City Marshall, He told us a lot about the history of Dodge City. Check out some of the pictures below.
We did about 170 miles in the Maxwell before loading it back on the trailer in the early evening. We drove to Garden City and called it a night after a nice meal at a local steak house called Sammy’s. We hope to head out early tomorrow morning and get to Lamar around noon tomorrow. We are anxious to visit the site of the Savoy Hotel for a photo opportunity. Stay tuned …..
The hotel has internet connection issues so this update is coming to you from IHOP. Thanks IHOP!
Photos from today
Video from today
If we look cold it was because we were cold!
November 21, 2016: The temperature when we got up was 29 degrees but it warmed up quickly and was a great day for driving. In order to stay off the I70 Interstate we crisscrossed back and forth over I70 for most of the ride from Boonville to Kansas City. Once on the west side of Kansas City we drove until dusk then loaded up the Maxwell, traveled through Emporia and finished our day in Newton, Kansas.
We noticed a very old road and stone building along the way towards Kansas City so we circled back for some photos and videos (below). It looked like it might possibly be a road CWT traveled.
About 35 miles outside of Kansas City Doug spotted a junk yard with old cars. We could not pass this up so we stopped at Tricky Dicky’s Junkyard and met Dick. To Doug’s delight we found a 1949 Chevy. On it were parts Doug could use so we got out the tools and pulled these parts off. What a score! Dick was a nice guy and we chatted with him as we pulled the parts off.
Just outside of Kansas City we met up with an old friend, John, who not only took us on a scenic trip around Kansas City but fed us a great bar-b-que lunch at LC’s. Excellent! Thanks John, good to see you after all these years.
Tomorrow we plan on getting to Dodge City, Kansas and end in Syracuse, Kansas. That way we make it to Lamar on Wednesday which is CW Tuthill’s birthday. He would have been 128!
Here are some photos from today.
Here are a few of today’s videos.
November 20, 2016: Got up this morning and the temperature was 27 degrees! Yikes. We changed the oil in the Maxwell, put in new plugs, checked the points and added “Team Maxwell” lettering to the other side of the trailer. Plus if you watch the videos you might notice we added an American flag to next to the Klaxon horn.
Cold but sunny ride to St Louis, across Eads Bridge and through downtown along Washington Ave where CW Tuthill had lunch 100 years ago at Thompson’s Dairy and Luncheon. Did not get a chance to meet Emily but we left here a message. Sorry we missed you, but appreciated your support of our adventure.
We thought we would have to take the interstate but found roads that kept us on safe but added time and drove until sunset then loaded the Maxwell on the trailer and drove the rest of the way to Boonville for the night.
Here are some of today’s pictures;
Here are a handful the the 30 videos we took:
November 19, 2016: We got in a full day of daylight driving. It was a cold day of driving. We ended our day at Vandalia, Illinios. This is where CW Tuthill PG Scull had their evening meal (but we don’t know where). We ate at the Ponderosa.
Snow flurries when we started out. The temperature hung around 37 degrees all day. The side winds coming off the corn fields were bitter. The car is running well. We drove until dark and then put the car on the trailer and continued on to Vandalia. We have a greater appreciation what CW Tuthill and PG Scull accomplished. As much as we would like to do every mile in the Maxwell like they did we have put the Maxwell on the trailer when it is dark or like last night to get it to a shop for some service.
We found and drove on part of the original National Old Trail road which included an old bridge. It was awesome. We did a video that is below. Very interesting to see what the road was like 100 years ago.
We also met some folks at Gregory’s Flea Market in Altamont, Illinois. In there we found that Texaco Model of our Maxwell! The folks there were great. They gave us an Illinois license plate and a shot glass to use to measure our lead gas additive.
Some of today’s pictures:
We took about 25 videos below are some of our favorites.
November 18, 2016: What a terrific day today. We stopped at Bob’s shop first thing in the morning to see his Maxwell and get his input on our tapping noise. We made a few minor changes, ate a delightful breakfast at the Mel-O-Dee then headed out Rt 40 West. We enjoyed the 70 degree weather and sunny skies. At 4:30 we stopped at Doug’s shop in Indianapolis (another Doug) and identified a exhaust gas leak was causing the noise. Yeah!! We made the needed repairs in his shop when the weather turned ugly. We are very grateful to have the use of Doug and Donny’s expertise and huge shop. The rain and wind were strong and temperatures dropped. It would have been awful to have to do this repair on the side of the road. Doug was kind enough to let us keep the Maxwell in his shop tonight (safe and dry). Tomorrow they are calling for dropping temperature and snow. We will be fighting over who drives the shop truck.
Here is some video footage on Rt40 in Ohio.
We also learned about the online article about this trip done by the Riverhead News Review.
Another video when Doug and John cross the state line into Indiana but you have to look closely to see the welcome to Indiana sign.
November 17, 2016: Today’s theme was roadside mechanics. We got as far as Springfield, Ohio. We drove up some large mountain roads today through Pennsylvania and back down the other side. We smoked some brakes but all was good and no tires caught fire. After the mountains we actually pulled over and adjusted our clutch tension to address some slipping. As the journey continued we developed a “knock” in the engine. We checked in with Tony and then decided to adjust our values on the the side of the road. James from the Shinny Nichols Restoration stopped by and did not loan us tools, he gave us some tools we needed to complete the job. Thanks to James! We stopped and met “The Friends of Wheeling” and drove across the same suspension bridge CW Tuthill and PG Scull did exactly 100 years ago. Neat bridge. We still are experiencing the engine knock so to avoid any major failure we put the Maxwell on the trailer and are seeing Bob at his restoration shop tomorrow morning. After a not so great meal at “Bob Evans” we called it a night. Here are some of the pictures from today. Well you will have to wait as the hotel network is very slow and taking a long time to upload pictures.
Here is one video… a little dark on the west side but you get the idea of what the bridge was like. It was fun.
Jean also went with us around the block. Some of the buildings we passed were there back in 1916.
November 16, 2016: The long awaited start began around 5:30 AM when we unwrapped the covered Maxwell and unloaded it. We took it to 544 Broad Street for a photo which I can’t add here cause it was out of focus. Will have to get another shot from one of the others. The drive out of NJ was slow! Plus we had a tire split and balloon out like a pregnant mother. Luckily we realized this before it exploded. We used the spare and Coker tires is shipping us a replacement to Springfield Ohio. We hit rain for a bit in PA so we got practice putting up the top and side curtains. We did not make Laughlintown as hoped but settled in to Chambersburg after 225 miles. We hope to make up time as the we continue west. We have a ton of photos and 31 videos so I will leave you all with a small sample.
Continue the day 7 through day 10:
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