Back to the 50s

This past weekend Rick and I wandered to St. Paul for the "Back to the 50s" Car Show. 

I don't know if this is the biggest car show in the country with more than 11,000 vehicles, but it certainly was one of the largest we've been to, Iola Old Car Show included. The setting was the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. Such a beautiful place - lots of trees offering shade on a sunny and hot weekend. As much as I hate to say that anything is better than what we have here in Wisconsin, our state fair park can't hold a candle to Minnesota's.

Even though Minnesota is the "North Star State,"
this little fella greeted us at the fairgrounds.
However, a gopher wouldn't stand a chance against
a Wisconsin badger! So take that, Minnesota!

Rick's friend, Wally, invited us. Because he belongs to a car club (one that he founded), Wally is able to reserve a spot to park his and his friends' vehicles and pitch a tent. Our location was terrific - lots of shade all day long and close to the flush toilet bathrooms!

Where's Neda, you ask? Why it's just a couple miles north
of Iron Ridge. And if you don't know where that is,
Iron Ridge is just a couple miles north of Woodland!

The Minnesota Street Rod Association sponsors "Back to the 50s" and this was the 41st annual gathering. Only cars prior to 1964 are allowed so there are no Mustangs (they came out in 1964 1/2) nor 70s muscle cars. Rick was planning to show his 1964 Chevy panel truck but the shop fixing the brakes wasn't able to finish the job in time for him to take it. So we settled for just being spectators during our inaugural visit.

With benches along the side of his pick-up truck's bed and an umbrella to shade us, the touring ride on Wally's truck was quite good. The traffic flowed throughout the fairgrounds all day long with drivers and passengers checking out the many vehicles just as we did. It was also fun just to sit back and watch the interesting cars and trucks pass by.

Wally's truck - our "touring" vehicle.

Here are just a few samples of what we saw while on the tour.

Wally's classic car is a '56 Chevy. I have a hard time telling one year from another. It's even remarkable I can tell a Chevy from a Ford!

Gotta love that turquoise color!

Another friend of Wally's, Travis, came all the way from Colorado to the show. He's staying in Wisconsin for a while before going back west. 

Travis's Suburban is about the same color as Rick's truck. 

Attendees at "Back to the 50s" number more than 125,000. Maybe even more.

The streets were packed. If you look closely, you can see Rick in the
front with his "safari" hat, print shirt, and black shorts.

Now for a few of the cars that caught my eye. . .

Love those Corvettes of the 50s.

And another one - great lines on these cars.

So many bold colors on these classics.

Easy to spot in a crowd!

More colorful cars. . .

I'm always on the lookout for a 1955 Ford.

The first family car I can remember - a '55 Ford custom sedan. My dad
always bought Fords, except for his last car which was a Mercury
Marquis. Apparently the equivalent Ford Crown Vic didn't have the
directional indictor beneath the rear-view mirror so that's why he
changed brands. But at least the Merc was in the same family!

And panel trucks since Rick has one.

This one is a Ford, probably a 50s vintage.

The show even featured a celebrity - Paul Petersen from the Mickey Mouse Club and the 50s/60s Donna Reed Show. 

This former child actor formed "A Minor Consideration,"
a child-actors support group in 1990. Today he is the
most dedicated advocate for protecting both present-day
child stars and shunned one-time celebrity tykes as well.

Gotta love the sense of humor these car guys have.

Restoring old cars can be an expensive hobby.

The work that some owners put in on their restored vehicles is nothing short of incredible.

This is a step van. I'm not sure what year. Maybe
from the 1950s. 

I can't begin to imagine how many hours AND
dollars it took to beautify the interior.

Because classic cars tend to be an interest of more men than women, the MSRA doesn't want to leave the ladies out of the picture. One entire building on the grounds is dedicated to a "Ladies Showcase." Makeovers, fashion, and cake baking were some of the topics on the main stage. On Saturday morning I was able to snag one of the 1,000 canvas bags (with zipper - very nice) that were given out. To get to the bags, however, we had to snake through the entire exhibit hall! Actually, that wasn't bad since we had the chance to briefly look at all of the booths. Then on our way out of the hall, we could fill our bags with beads and baubles.

From our vantage point we didn't miss out on this entertainment.

A Dixieland band on the back of a vintage truck. The musicians were quite good.

Not sure if this DeSoto carried a canoe back in the day, but the combo would have surely turned a few heads.

And one final picture. . .

Lady Rose

We headed home on Sunday morning with two stops on the way back to Madison. First was to have lunch with our vintage trailer friends, Jim and Kaye, from Menomonie. Then it was on to see my sister, Linda, and her husband, Dick, and to share a home-made rhubarb dessert in Eau Claire.

Rick says we'll be "Back to the 50s" again in 2015. Maybe we'll see you there - June 19-21 - in St. Paul.

Out of the Cold

What a difference two days...and 1400 miles to the south make! About 100 degrees! When we left Wisconsin on Friday morning, the temperature had fallen to below zero during the previous evening. On Sunday the high in Englewood FL was 87! We'll take the 80s and no snow, thank you....

Here's a view from Fisherman's Village in Punta Gorda on Sunday afternoon. Lot of white fluffy clouds in the sky.

We spent our first night in the South in Macon GA. A winter storm hit the area earlier last week and signs of snow were still visible when we set out on the second leg of our trip on  Saturday morning.

People abandoned their cars on the side of the highways. We saw a few remaining on I 75 as we passed through northern Georgia.

Our first stop on Sunday morning, after breakfast at Sweet's Diner in Port Charlotte (where I drank my coffee out of a mug commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Cascade WI State Bank), was the Farmers' Market at the History Park in Punta Gorda. It was so nice to be able to wander around the various vendors. Flowering plants were a welcome sight.

Along with the farmers in the Punta Gorda area, a few artists plied their creative wares....

Big birds (no, not THE Big Bird from Sesame Street) were evident at Fisherman's Village.

Of course, we finished up the day with two trips to mobile home parks where the residents have to be over 55. It's really not a bad way to retire. There are lots of activities during the week with people who are enjoying leisure and are mostly from the MIdwest. Maybe next year....

Rick said I would  update my blog daily while we were in FL. Maybe not that often, but I'll do my best to keep you abreast of these Wisconsin wanderers who are enjoying Florida for the next several weeks.

The End of Camping Season

Once again (third year for us), we were at WillOaks campground in Woodstock IL for a vintage trailer rally October 10-13. Once again, our host, BJ Frantz, did a great job. Once again, we met up with old friends and made a few new ones.

BJ's trailer - a Trotwood that she restored this past year.

A new rally participant with a Trailblazer. The shutters are distinctive features
of this particular make of vintage camping trailer. They were manufactured
in Spencer WI.

An Airstream - definitely an iconic vintage trailer.

Our friends, Julia and Norm from DeKalb, had their entire fleet of vintage trailers at the rally. It's nice to have several to be able to invite trailerless friends and family to join in the fun.

Walter, the "hippy" trailer, is one of three in their fleet.

On that beautiful Friday, Rick and I wandered over to Edwards Apple Orchard. An amazing operation. Lots of customers buying apples and warm apple cider donuts and sampling several varieties of apples from the orchard.

Lots of pumpkins for sale, too.

The food barn was also a museum.

Many old farm implements were displayed.

Vintage tractors, too.

On Saturday, we checked out the Iron Invasion.  Along with the classic cars and trucks, we looked at a number of vintage camping trailers at the McHenry County Fairgrounds. 

Some of the more colorful cars caught my eye.

Red is another favorite color.

I'm finally able to recognize a mid-60s Chevy truck - probably because the front end looks the same as Rick's '64 panel truck. 

The owner of this one made quite a few modifications but the basic look
remained the same - and recognizable.

I've seen many "trailer queens" (cars never driven, only hauled on trailers) at car shows,
so this one brought a smile to my face.

The owners of this vintage Chevy Suburban heard about our vintage rally
and stopped in on Sunday to check out our trailers.

Unfortunately, this was probably our last year at WillOaks since the land is being sold and the campground manager will not continue to run the place. Many Illinois state parks have alcohol bans so the challenge is to find a campground in the general vicinity where we'll be able to continue our tradition of a progressive cocktail party during the next rally. Any ideas?

Camping Season is Underway

Once again we Wisconsin Wanderers headed south - but only as far as Marengo IL this time. It was our second "Spring Fling" vintage camping trailer rally. The party was thrown by BJ Frantz. And once again she was a wonderful hostess at the Thomas Woods campground, Marengo Ridge in the McHenry County Conservation District. 

Rumor has it that this area was once the site of the Midwest Nudist Camp. Apparently there was no formal police department back in the day so the District staff worked out a deal with members of the Camp to help keep an eye on and patrol the area. It was a rather unusual sight to see two people patrolling the woods by motorcycle without a stitch of clothing. I wonder if they wore helmets!

We also heard that if the volunteer fire department was called to the Camp, everyone responded! They must have been expecting people who looked like centerfolds from Playboy, not the likes of most of us.

Lots of wild geraniums in the woods. "Flossie" our flamingo was in heaven.

We had read that there was a classic car show in the area - at the Boone County Fairgrounds - over the weekend. Unfortunately, the web site we saw didn't say that Saturday's event was just a swap meet - aka, junk yard.

This was some of the better looking junk.

Maybe a creative person could make art from these wheels.

These two Reos are more than 100 years old and the only "pretty" cars in sight.
Notice the steering columns on the right side of the vehicle. It was Henry Ford
who moved the steering column to the left when he started  the assembly line manufacture of automobiles.
At least, that was the story the owner of these antique cars told us.

We stopped for lunch at Smokin' Coop BBQ Pit, an outdoor restaurant a short distance from the Fairgrounds. Nothing fancy, but food that was very tasty. Rick and I had the brisket - some of the juiciest I've eaten. And cole slaw with pieces of bacon. Everything goes better with bacon, I guess.

We think Smokin' Coop must serve in cold months, too, since the building has
doors on the sides and heaters hanging from the ceiling.

It's the low and slow cooking that makes for the best barbeque.

My Mother's Day present from Rick was a gas stove. Sweet. Two burners light automatically and there's even an oven for baking. I don't like to cook inside the trailer because the smell of food lingers. Having this stovetop was perfect for the dishes I prepared over the weekend. I'll use the oven during our next outing.

I do have to remember to make sure that the stove is somewhat level so that
my fry pan doesn't keep slipping off the flame.

We were fascinated by this particular tent camper that was not part of our group. Not the easiest to get in and out of - especially in the middle of the night.

Once again, BJ awarded a prize for the best hat. Rick won for the second year in a row. The prize (shown here with my glasses) will be a perfect decoration for the vintage trailer rally that Rick and I will host next month. We're billing our rally "Birds & Bovines" since we'll be at Ledge Park (overlooking the Horicon Marsh with its hundreds of bird species) and it's June Dairy Month. 

My hope is that we have a nice long spring that slides into an equally long, relatively dry, and not too hot summer. Am I wishing for too much?