Sycamore Car Show - July 31, 2011

Here we are in downtown Sycamore, Illinois. Norm III wanted Norm & Jules to come to the show to see some of the cars he has been working on for the past year. Norm III works for a local restoration place called RPM Restorations.

This is Norm III's bike. He did the paint on it at home rather than at work. All together there were around 10 cars & 3 motorcycles in the show that Norm III had painted or worked on.

It was hotter than the hinges on the gates of the devil's house the day of the show!

This is the '63 Corvette I was talking about at the Vintage Camper Rally. I am so special that Norm III let me sit in the car! I could just imagine tearing down the road in this beauty.

Although there were over 700 cars and motorcycles entered, I think this was one of my favorite cars. Norm said it wouldn't be a good choice for pulling vintage campers. I told him I didn't care, I don't own any campers.

Brock and his family attended too. Brock was on a mission to find his all time favorite car too with Jules (aka Ama) in close pursuit.

Brock even wore his hot rod shirt for the occasion.

This is the car that Norm III drove to the show. It belongs to a collector and client of RPM. Not really what I had expected Norm III to be driving, but a cool car anyhow.

There were some really nice rides at this show...

Although it is beautiful, I think this one should have been black. When I said that, Norm told me I better watch out. He didn't want me to offend the guys that worked on it or the people that owned it.

I didn't want to offend anyone either, but I still think it would look better black.

Chicago PD never looked so good!

This was one of Norm's favorite cars, a 1960 Chevy. There were a couple of them in the show. I liked the black one better, but we already had that discussion.

As I was getting my picture taken with all the cars some people started to realize that I was a celebrity. With celebrity come requests for photos and autographs. I have to accommodate my fans. I didn't get her name, but hello again!

Although I would like to say that I am the celebrity, I also know that there is a difference between celebrity and legend. This is Mike, the legend. He's the proprietor of the fine establishment behind us.

Hink's bar sponsored the motorcycle part of the car show.

This was the street in front of Hink's.

I'm pretty sure Brock liked this part of the show the best. Sitting on Uncle Norm's motorcycle with him.

This was Jules' favorite car in the show. A 1956 Ford Crown Victoria.

I have to admit, it is a great looking car. This would be a perfect car for towing vintage campers to rallies.

Did I mention that it was hotter than the hinges on the gates of h--- during the show?  I started feeling a bit light headed. It was a good thing Brock had brought his stroller with. Jules gave me some water too.

This was Jason's favorite car in the show.

The fun thing about this car show is that there were more than just cars, trucks and motorcycles. They even had golf carts!  I liked the RPM golf cart best. I'm sure it had a lot to do with the flames painted on the front (plus it was black).

Nice looking Pontiac!

Even Herbie the Love Bug made a guest appearance.

Normally Brock isn't a big fan of having water poured on his head. But this was a HOT day! We took a break from the sun & the heat and found a shade tree to sit under for a little while.

Brock isn't a big fan of sitting for long. So we played while the others rested.

I found that this Fiat is just about the right size for me. Norm said it looked like a toy car. I told him that I wasn't going to take any more of his vertically challenged jokes. When he asked what I was going to do about it, I told Jules. That shut him right down! Hah!

Near the far end of the display area was a gorgeous little truck. It was my favorite truck in the show.

Not only was the owner of this great looking truck nice enough to suggest that Norm & I get our picture taken INSIDE his truck but he even gave Norm his hat to wear! Then he gave everyone a slice of watermelon!

The owner  of the truck suggested this shot. Watching Norm crawl under the bumper to get between the bumper & grill was worth the price of admission! Maybe if he was more vertically challenged it wouldn't have been so funny.

I thought they had bumper height limits in this state? And who uses their truck as a canopy?

I know I said earlier that I had found my favorite truck. Well this was my favorite trailer!

Brock suggested that we go exploring alleys for a while because there was a lot of shade and cool breezes in them. That was when we all realized that we would never see all 700 plus entries. We called it a day at that point.

I forgot to mention. The '63 Corvette at the beginning won a trophy as did a few other entries by RPM. These were just a few of RPM's entries.

A good car show all around!

Until next time,

Travis

Northern Indiana Rally 2011 - July 28-31

Naughty Gnomes here we come!

I was really looking forward to this rally. I had heard about the naughty gnomes but didn't know what they did that made them naughty. Plus, one of the events was going to be a toga party!

KC helped me get ready for the toga party so all I would have to do the night of the event was to get dressed quick.

It really helped a lot!

Thanks KC!

After arriving we got the campsite set up. We brought Bob the Burger on this trip.

I'm still trying to figure out what it is about flamingos that everybody has them.

These two kept to themselves during the rally and wouldn't let anyone near the cooler. The one on the left told me that if I wanted a beverage I had to give him the password. I spent the entire weekend trying to guess the password. When the cooler was empty they told me the password was beer. Duh!

Because this rally is so well attended and the number of campsites is limited so we shared a campsite with BJ & Bee Bee. BJ had a friend from college (whenever that was) come with this time, her name was Dawn. Dawn was very nice and we all got along great.

Here is Jules, Holly & me right before we went to see a presentation about the history of campers.

The presentation was given by the curator of the RV & Mobile Home Museum in Elkhart, Indiana, Al Hasselbart.

I have to admit, BJ makes a killer beverage for these events! Anytime this pitcher is around good things to drink are at hand.  This was during the presentation.

This is me and Al.

Each evening during the rally there is something to do. After the presentation Jules, Norm and I went for a bike ride. We stopped at one of the little cabins that were at the park. Some rally members still attend, renting the cabins, when their campers are down for repairs. I thought the $3 a week was pretty good, but this one also said it rented by the hour too... Erins' mom & sister were in this one.

Ah, relaxing before bed. The pitcher was still in full swing. I met Sampson, BJ's monster dog.



Norm actually had an air conditioner set up for this rally because the other Indiana rallies have been so hot in the past. When we went in for the night we got a BIG surprise. If you can't read the thermometer it shows the temp to be 56 degrees! It was still in the upper 80s outside!

We had our complimentary breakfast Saturday morning, rather than Sunday. Pancakes, sausage, coffee & juice. Mmmmm.

Saturday there is a Show & Shine where anyone can walk through the attendees campers. There is also a little "garage sale" sort of thing where folks put different items out for sale. Joni sent along flower pens that she made for Norm & Jules put out.

Each one of these flowers is actually a pen! Who came up with this idea? Not only are they beautiful, they're functional!

During the show & shine I met the two "naughty gnomes" that were wandering around the campgrounds. I really didn't think they were all that naughty. A bit in need of a bath maybe, but other than showing up at peoples campers unannounced, they were pretty cool.

I tried to schedule a small poker game between us for later that evening. They said they had heard about my poker skills and decided it was best to not play.



Larry & Bob


I met a lot of great folks during the show & shine and got to see some of the campers.

I really liked the sticker in Larry & Bob's camper's window!

If you ever have one of these rallies near where you live, even if you don't have an old (oops, vintage) camper it is worth the time to go see them.

These campers and the rallies are beautiful reminders of bygone times.

I don't know this guys name but he was sharing watermelon with anyone that wanted some. He said there was a picnic nearby that was supplying it. It was really good too!

After the show & shine it was party time; TOGA, TOGA, TOGA...

Norm, Jules & I arriving. Yes, the togas were McDonald's themed to go with the burger camper.

I think a lot of the rally attendees are a bit off center.

Some are flat out crazy!

This is BJ & Dawn. I have to apologize to a lot of folks here because I didn't get everyone's picture during the event.

I will add those that I did.





See what I mean? The beer cans were still dripping!



Our wagonmasters for the rally were Mike & Sandy. I will not comment on WHAT Sandy was doing to my hat...

I didn't take any pictures after this. The band was great and we had a fantastic time. We did take a small road trip just before the band started, to the local McDonald's. We just HAD to see the reactions.

I really liked the play area of the restaurant.  Norm & I even got to go down the slide....

We had to leave first thing Sunday morning so we could attend a car show back in Illinois that Norm III was involved with.

The rally was great, but I think the naughty gnomes are getting a bad rap.

More about the car show soon,

Travis