Beverly and the Road Rally

Today, Reynald talked me in to going on a road rally.  Neither one of us have ever done anything like this, and he was much more excited about it than I was.  But, I have to say, that it was really fun!  It was a beautiful day today.  Sunny, with big puffy clouds against a blue sky and a moderate temperature.  We drove Roni's mustang, Beverly, and she was so happy to be out of the barn and stretching her legs!

Here's Andy, our John Deere parts guy, and one of the organizer of the rally today!

Reynald and Beverly

So, I didn't know how these events worked.  This one was a poker run, which means that at every stop you picked up a card and that was what made up your poker hand.  There were five stops. We started in Ritzville, WA and went the back way to Sprague, which was really interesting.  A road that neither one of us had been on.  Here are some of my favorite cars, waiting to be registered for the days event.

Group photo of everyone that started the day.  A few didn't finish for various reasons.

Our first card draw was in the Sprague city park.  Oh, and another fun thing, there was a scavenger hunt as well.   We all had a sheet of paper with clues for certain things to look for along the way.  Reynald and I didn't do very well!  Too busy looking at scenery, and well, I slept just a tiny bit!

Some of the cars parked along the Sprague city park.

And, a few more.

OK, this is a really cool car, but the coolest part is the air conditioner, which wasn't needed today!

So, you fill this aluminum tube with ice and then open a vent on the inside of the car, and as the car goes down the road, the wind  rushes by the ice and cools the car!  A 1949 air conditioner!!!!

Next stop after Sprague was Long Lake damn.  We have driven past this several times in our life, but never pulled in.  It's really pretty there.

Long Lake Dam

Oh look who got to go on the trip today!

I'm not a fan of International brand anything, but I really did like this pickup!

Beautifully restored.

And this Ford Fairlane was wonderful.  Love the red interior and the dice hanging from the mirror!

Also love the little bit of red strip on the door.  

Next on to Chewelah for lunch and another poker draw.  Again, I've been to Chewelah a number of times, but it was 40 years ago, when we used to go skiing there every weekend.  Of course our focus was the ski slope, not the town.  It's a really cute town with a beautiful little creek running through, and a huge public park on either side of the creek.

Reynald eating his Subway sandwich.  Next time we will pack our own lunch.

Hunters was our fourth stop.  Kind of a wide spot in the road really.  There was a cute little park, a tavern and a small grocery store, oh and a post office!

Hunters parking lot and people lined up in the background for their next poker card.

Last poker stop was Fort Spokane at the confluence of the Spokane river and the Columbia river.

It was spectacular at Fort Spokane today.  Warm and sunny and NO WIND!

Our final stop was in Harrington where prizes were awarded and winners of the poker hand announced.

One of the traveling trophy awarded to someone who's car breaks down on the trip!  If you receive the trophy, you are expected to add to it for the next year!

Another traveling trophy.  There were three cars that broke down and had to be hauled or towed back home.

We one the prize for the newest vehicle.  This was called "The Gumball Car Rally" so the prizes were jars of gum balls with painted pink spark plugs glued on top!

We didn't get home until after 6pm.  A long but fun day.  I'm not really in to cars, but I enjoyed visiting with people that are and learning the story of the treasure that they were driving.  I'm sure another similar event will be in our future.