June 17, 2022
This is the trip that almost wasn’t and we’re still not sure! The original plan wasn’t to Nashville, but instead drive the Lincoln Highway to New York, then go home and in the fall drive the rest of the Lincoln Highway to San Francisco. This trip was scrapped due to a change in Steve’s 99 year old mother’s health. Now he no longer felt he could be gone for an extended time, so we decided to go to Nashville, TN, a place we have wanted to go to, but never have. Of course we weren’t thinking of the 100 degree temps they’re expecting and how we’ll survive it!
The next change in plans happened when Steve installed a Mitchell Overdrive in his car. The overdrive allows the car to travel at 55 – 60 mph instead of a maximum 45 mph. All was well until we took it on a test drive and car had a loud thumping. Now he had to call the company, have a new part sent and install it before we left in less than a week. The part came with 2 days to spare. With the help of Steve’s friends, Dave Peterson and Dave Gerold the part was replaced and we were ready to go.
The third change or setback was the day we left. We had only gone about 100 miles when we stopped for gas. Steve always checks everything under the hood and noticed bubbles in the radiator which meant there was a problem with the head gasket. This was something Steve couldn’t fix on the road, so we went back home. Again with the help of the Dave’s the problem was fixed, but now we were 2 days later in leaving. Luckily, being retired, we can adjust our schedule and still see all we want to so finally, today, we started our new adventure.
We left in the cool of the morning driving the winding country roads. It was a perfect day and the countryside was a beautiful lush green with the lazy rivers and streams flowing through it. We stopped several times for gas and once for lunch to stretch our legs. When we reached Oskaloosa, IA we started on a 4 lane highway. This is the kind of road I detest on our travels in the “A”. It’s smooth and we finally could drive 55 mph, but it’s boring. No oddities of the backroads, nothing to stop at and no fun, but Steve wanted to make it to Macomb, IL and this was the quickest way.
We had crossed the Mississippi River into IL when the road became rough with lots of potholes and patches. Even with these conditions Steve continued driving 55 mph. We were just coming to a town called Monmouth when the car got a flat tire! We rumbled over to the side of the road and saw the tire had almost come off the rim! Luckily, this trip Steve didn’t forget his tools and quickly went to work changing the tire. A younger man stopped shortly after we did and helped Steve and then a highway Patrolman also stopped to make sure we were all right.
Once the spare tire was on Steve saw it needed air so the highway patrolman guided us to a truck stop where Steve spent the next 2 hours working on both the spare tire and replacing the tube in the flat tire! By that time it was 8:00 so we found a motel for the night.
After driving 11 hours, before the flat tire and 2 more to fix it, we decided we are NOT going to drive like that again. We’re finding a more relaxing route and get back to our back roads. We will get to Nashville when we get there and enjoy the ride!
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