Loess Hills fall tour Sunday October 17th

[AlarmedBread]

2010 Loess Hills Fall Driving Tour

October 17, 2010

　
We invite you to join us for a driving tour that will celebrate some of the great roads and wonderful scenery that we have available to us here in the Missouri Valley.

This event will allow each of us to enjoy our cars as we tour some of the less traveled roads in our area. We will also have the opportunity to see geologic formations that are unique to our region.

The event will be an organized drive, with route instructions provided to drivers. Each car will leave separately, at intervals of 2-3 minutes, to allow distance between cars. This separation will avoid the tendency to form "car trains", and route instructions will alleviate the need to stay together in order to stay on route.

We plan to gather in the morning at a gas station/convenience store to catch up with each other, get provisions, and of course kick tires and see each others’ cars. We will also distribute route instructions at that time. There will be a morning route, followed by a lunch stop at a restaurant that has an abundance of interesting World War II aircraft photos and artifacts, and then an afternoon route. The morning route and the afternoon route will take approximately two and a half hours each.
The plan is to meet at 9:00 am at the Underwood I-80 Truck Stop, at Exit 17 off I-80 in Underwood, Iowa. The truck stop is located northwest of the highway. Address (for those with GPS navigation systems) is: 26551 Magnolia Road, Underwood IA 51576-3762. We plan to start the first car at 9:30 am.

Registration: Please register for this event so we know how many copies of the route instructions to have on hand and how many people will be at lunch. To register, e-mail Chris Olsen at: alarmedbread@yahoo.com

We look forward to seeing you, and your car!

[Dark Helmet]

I'm a maybe... too many variables right now.

[Mr Project]

I'm all over it like a cheap suit. (barring unforeseen complications)

[Dark Helmet]

(barring unforeseen complications)

like, say... mirror loss?

[AlarmedBread]

Bring your friends! This is a nice drive.

[Mr Project]

like, say... mirror loss?

Thankfully, the mirror looks fine now. Like an emo kid, it's just broken on the inside now.

[Dark Helmet]

Thankfully, the mirror looks fine now. Like an emo kid, it's just broken on the inside now.

I just spit coffee everywhere.... that is BRILLIANT.

[Dark Helmet]

Bring your friends! This is a nice drive.

I talked with a guy yesterday w/ a black E46 330Ci... he said he was planning to go on the drive... no, I can't remember his name...

[AlarmedBread]

Need people to register for route instuctions, goodies and lunch...

[Van1]

Thinking about doing this. If the weather is good, the wife and I will ride the Beemer since I don't own a Bimmer. Otherwise, it'll be some other German car from the stable. Maybe the R32 since we did a fun run with the Porsche club in the 993 today. Wife is not too crazy about Recaro SRDs.

What are the lunch plans?

[AlarmedBread]

You can bring any car you like. Lunch is at a very nice pub, great steak, burgers, sandwiches etc.

[Mr Project]

Went to change the oil and do a valve adjustment on the E23 today in preparation for the trip...and the radiator is leaking. From the core. Well, might be driving the Corvair now.

[rhombus]

Chris, how "spirited" do you anticipate the driving to be? Is everyone bringing radios? I don't have a detector so it would be nice to be in contact with someone who does, or is this not going to be that kind of drive?

[Mr Project]

I won't be that 'spirited' in my 70HP Corvair with 2 kids and the wife on board.

[Dark Helmet]

Chris, how "spirited" do you anticipate the driving to be? Is everyone bringing radios? I don't have a detector so it would be nice to be in contact with someone who does, or is this not going to be that kind of drive?

you have a 318, I didn't think it was capable of breaking the speed limit!!!




(sorry, I had to).

[AlarmedBread]

Personally, cruise around 70 and enjoy the view. Any faster and I hear that rear brake caliper bolts fall out! The roads are very sweeping and not tight so you would have to go 100+ to make it 'spirited'. Lucky for some people though, most of the corn near the roads is harvested and it will be easy to spot them if they should 'spiritedly' go off! For law enforcement I do not expect much, but still drive responsibly, take it easy through the towns and on the main highways. It is really a scenic tour this time.

Radios etc. we will discuss in the morning, so bring em if you got em!

[rhombus]

I'm planning on being there, but I'm wrestling with a busted window regulator. Hopefully be done before the game tomorrow.

[AlarmedBread]

All,

Thanks to all of you who attended for making the 2010 Loess Hills Fall Driving Tour such a success! The weather was perfect, and the foliage was in full color (even more so along the afternoon route).


Things went smoothly for the most part, by all accounts. Chris and I were "tricked" by the new signage in Sioux City, which led to an incorrect route instruction, but most of you found your way with a minimum of trouble. We were also "tricked" by the public parking lot at the lunch stop being full of trucks and trailers (it's been empty every time we have been there before!), but fortunately there was plenty of street parking on a Sunday morning and early afternoon.


Here are the stats. We had 29 cars assemble at the starting point, and 46 drivers and co-drivers (and several children in car seats) participated in the Tour.


Bill Cox gets the "Mechanic in Action" award for repairing his copiously leaking fuel line in the parking lot at the starting point and still starting on time, and for managing his drive home after a temporary loss of brakes on arrival at the lunch stop. Many thanks to Armen for pitching in to help Bill.


For all of you who took pictures, please send them to Chris and I so we can forward them for inclusion on the Missouri Valley Chapter BMW CCA web site and for possible inclusion in the Missouri Valley Chapter BMW CCA newsletter. (Our e-mail addresses are on this e-mail.) Please also send us your full name when you send us the pictures so we can give proper attribution.


Until the next Driving Tour...


-Your Favorite Road Chasers,
Dave Gannon and Chris Olsen


Pictures coutesty of Mike Holtmeier, if you have more pictures post em up!


https://cid-85955fda6edb6815.photos....pub=SDX.Photos