Grizz's Redneck Express 1966 Chevy Short Fleetside RESTO-GO!

[CraigRK]

Originally Posted by grizz

Maybe not.

But it’s out on other forums already.

So I hope @craigrk won’t mind.


Cigarette lighter

Here you go guys

[Palf70Step]

Glad you made it home safe. Looking forward to the rest of the update/escapades.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Glad you made it home safe. Looking forward to the rest of the update/escapades.

So am I.

However.....

Would rather be returning to work in the USA


So from Andy’s place we headed South again, splitting the trip to St Louis as the rental car, which had performed faultlessly needed to be returned before 5pm on Friday.

Motorway rest areas are rather nice, and clean.

License plate art did it for me.





Remember Celeb, my house/cat sitter?

We decided to stop over in his home town of Republic, which is two miles down the road from where Adam, Dennis’ son grew up.

This,turned out to be another good and fortuitous decision.





We got there late, found an Americinn Motel, clean, efficient, and a third bed bought in for $10.00 extra charge as Craig and Imwere certainly not sharing a bed.

N e booked in, Dennis and I had a car park celebratory beer while Craig who was IT helpdesk the whole trip, found us a decent place to eat.



Selection made, we went off to find our feeding spot.

S10 conversion outside predicted a good time.





Three Amigos.



One of the nicest, most confident and balzy waitresses ever to cross my path was working, unfortunately not our table, we think she may be a senior or manager type.
I asked he a question about the old truck outside and she was straight onto the accents wanting to know everything.
She actually sat down with us for 10 minutes, delegating a new table to one of the other girls from her seat. And we had fun, a lot of fun as she kicked my proverbial butt all over the place.
I liked her a lot

Anyway.....

Meet Meghan, certainly one of my highlights of the trip, just because she gave as good as she got.

I actually tipped her $10.00 just for company after we tipped and paid little Holly, our server. Which surprised her, but fortunately the money went to her study fund.

Meghan.




I cannot recall what Dennis ordered, bit he was very pleased with it.

Craig ordered a steak type burger, cannot recall what it was.....

Huge certainly.



Holly, our very nervous waitress suggested I go for wings, half and half Teryaki and Hot Cajun.

What a perfect suggestion, even if she was not game for the selfie thing.



Before the food got eaten though.......

They agreed to a photo for the Guys on the forums.....



21 Wings were almost a challenge.

I won, that time.



After dinner we headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

Friday would be a long one on the road.

Friday Dennis drove via Adams old school.



Seems even the short bus is out of work there.




So we wrapped it all up and headed South as we had some distance to cover and some shopping to try get in at Antique malls along the way.



Loads to see along the way.



We also stopped by at one of Dennis and Adams old Sprint car racing friends’ shop where I got this cow poop covered vanity plate that had come of the back of a Dodge Dually that had its 5th wheel hitch break off during an emergency stopping procedure, just to have the trailer keep going and smashing through the rear of the Dually.



Next update when I get a chance to upload.

Later.

[flashed]

What a trip , waiting for more updates .

[Palf70Step]

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

What a trip , waiting for more updates .

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

I am away for the week.

Sitting in my lodge right now, updating.

Will do as I can.

[Palf70Step]

Looks like you need to unwind a bit more..........................yeah right

[Palf70Step]

Sorry for yours and Harley's loss Rian.

[Indian113]

Rian, I'm Sorry to hear about this! I know that your pets were precious to you and loved vey deeply. Ray

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Indian113

Rian, I'm Sorry to hear about this! I know that your pets were precious to you and loved vey deeply. Ray

Coming to our visit to your home now, I can also add that you are equally attached to your family and even more to your pets Ray.


Thank you for sharing


Thank you Craig for the insert.

Looks like most people have stopped reading and responding.

Onward we travelled.

The further we went, the more the Silverado proved itself to be the right choice for this part of the road trip.

Comfy, tall, panoramic views and an eager, very eager motor.

Passing some beautiful farms and homesteads.



Then we rolled into Monroe. Iowa.

Ray had already started up the gas BBQ back home.



Greeted like friends, not strangers, Ray showed us around, his LS powered S10 license breaker, our camper where we had selected to sleep, in order to give us and them privacy.

Then the Dogs, both the Duke and Duchess.

And finally, though one cold not miss it.....

His 1966 Cadillac Coupe De Ville with well under 40k miles.

Next thing he offered it to me.

“Take it for a good ride, don’t be scared to drive it” he said to me next......

No need to offer again. Pretty cool to be headed out in an iconic car less than half an hour after landing at our latest host.



After I came back, the car had left me gushing like a teenager at her favourite teen idols music concert, this land yacht was just so smooth, and the massive V8 just wafted along effortlessly. Craig took it for a drive too.

Both of us had silly grins on our return.



VIDEO. CLICK LINK.

https://youtu.be/3vv6EP3DIE0

After unpacking, settling in and enjoying the dogs, we had dinner, before Eve got home, well, really as she got home.

Those pork chops were just crazy good. Nothing like fresh, homewrown food.
The potato salad had me reaching over three times to load up again.

We relaxed, all of us just having such a good time.

I have to say publically that Ray is a lucky man (Eve probably a lucky girl) that he has a wife who is a nurse,but also has a natural mothering tendency.
She could not do enough for Craig and I.

The dogs were very settled, and little Duchess had formed some attachment to Craig, weird that.



After a good nights sleep in the massive camper, we showered etc.
Coming back into the house to breakfast and cake.....



What??

I hear you say.

Yup, Eve had baked us a cinnamon cake in the oven for breakfast as well.

My kinda girl for sure.

BUT THERE WAS A TRICK UP HER SHORT LITTLE SLEEVE.

We both had two pieces.

Then she innocently asked us if we knew why she had fed us cake for breakfast

We had both been bitten repeatedly by mosquitoes at Andy and other places, plus my back had been biting and bugging me since before we left 5e UK.

Seems cinnamon has anti inflammatory properties.

Thanks Eve.



So what do you do in the middle of Iowa??

Antiques of course.

So we headed out to the car.

Camper and Silverado in the background, as well as Eves work car with Ray loving his car.



And with his little pocket rocket, who is 5’2” tall or is that short, but larger than life.

He also built her a custom Harley.

When they ended up with a family of four daughters and the two of them, he added a sidecar for two to his bike, Eve took one on the back of her bike and they had two in the side car, one on the rear of his bike.........

Sturgis is their yearly fix.



Then we set off.



These American motorways really suit this car down to a T.






CLICK LINK FOR VIDEO.

https://youtu.be/PG5rdNF_qN0

CAR IN ITS ELEMENT.

Loved these signs, they are REAL America and indicated we had made it to places only seen in movies for most of us



50 miles later, windows down in the fresh morning air, via a detour to show us more of downtown Des Moines Ray brings to beast to a halt in a carpark outside the Brass Armadillo

This car is a dream.



This is antique store Central.



I do hope those of you still following and actually reading the words, will also enjoy the next photodump of random photos from inside the shop.

Well, it’s more of a massive warehouse with sublet shops and tenants inside.

[aggie91]

Sorry to hear about Dukey, pets do hold a special place in our lives and hearts. I know he will be missed.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Sorry for yours and Harley's loss Rian.

Hank you Bill.

That she will miss him, I have no doubt.

I certainly will.

Originally Posted by Indian113

Rian, I'm Sorry to hear about this! I know that your pets were precious to you and loved vey deeply. Ray

Thank you Ray.

Yes, I love all animals equally if they let me.

Dukey was,very special.

See Nicolas comment below,

Originally Posted by aggie91

Sorry to hear about Dukey, pets do hold a special place in our lives and hearts. I know he will be missed.

Very true Karl.

And some. More than others.


These animals are all there to make our lives better.

So the least we can do is be nice.

Even Harley was nice to him before Nicola took him away to the vets.

She wrote him a nice obituary as she got him as a foster kitten that would not let her let him go.

[Grizz1963]

Monday morning after a coffee, Craig and Imset off at 07.00 after saying our good byes to Dennis who was already headed to work.

He must have had so much on his mind at the shop.



Kept on driving for a few hours and then stopped for a motorway coffee and bacon and egg toasted sandwich that was just perfect.



Also saw this registration plate.



The country became flatter as the miles rolled over.

Bullet holes.



Random places and pictures.











Love me a Deere, John Deere



All too soon, we were in Amish country.











Street name, indicating county/State lines and motorway.







Another state.



Headed for Oskaloosa.



Not quite there.



Eventually.



Made it.......

Collected the letters for Dennis to use on his gas station from a seller.

Also spoke to another State Trooper to get advice on Antique stores.



Then we headed out for www.Kelderman.com to meet Derek.

I love the business hours.

Definitely in America.



More later.

Bedtime now.

[flashed]

Wow ,killer stuff in that shop ,that massive truck was awesome too.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

Wow ,killer stuff in that shop ,that massive truck was awesome too.

Especially when you compare it to the regular sized Wrecker next to it.

Yes, it certainly is both large and long.

[Palf70Step]

These darn fangle computer thingies! Good seeing more posts. I would need a much larger hauling vehicle (and money) if I visited all these souvenir places you guys have.
Really enjoying the pictures Rian and Craig

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

These darn fangle computer thingies! Good seeing more posts. I would need a much larger hauling vehicle (and money) if I visited all these souvenir places you guys have.
Really enjoying the pictures Rian and Craig

Trust me.....


If I lived and worked in the USA which of course I would love, I would be a hoarder for sure.



Well, I am sooo pisssed off now, third time the Internet has reloaded itself and deleted a load of writing for a new posting that I had done, every time I just write less and less.

Now trying on Notes on the iPad.

Long winded and a PITA.

So these massive antiques warehouses have vendors rent space by the square foot, and whatever they do in that space is their choice.
Some, like the guy below has a few stalls, catering to different markets, so Cowboy and Western mixed with automotive and farm, as well as fine antiques and records and music etc.

They often offer discounts that range between 25% and 75% before taxes, but it all helps.



He had this spur trophy for $25.00 which when I asked about the discount at the front desk, I got told discounts only start at $30.00
Needless to say, I returned it in principle after venting my spleen at them for misleading and incomplete advertising.
I still want a real working spur(s).



Counter girl,had some cool tattoos, including this one. (No selfie this time)



Back to business.....

All sorts of random stuff, I liked this, but too long for baggage and I already had the 9th street sign for me garden.



We all looked out for stuff for each other too, and WhatsApp and the free WiFi in the shop (most shops have free WiFi now) helped us shoot pics of finds back and forth.

Craig found this flag.........

Know where it is from???



$60.00 Tuba?



Beautiful spurs.....

Pricey though.



Stunning toy, and rare too.



Shop stool, presumably from a shoe shop.



Beautiful and cheap saddles, but too bulky for hand baggage



Many many of these streets, this is not even the full length of one.



Read the description



I love a Stetson hat, would love a new or used one, in my size.

This was too small.



My mate Kevin Woodsie collects all forms of measuring sticks and equipment, he may have had a small trouser accident here.



Random stuff.







Found some stalls with a small selection of Strawberry Depression Glass.

One handled bowl, unusual.





More spurs.





I managed to find two pieces of Strawberry glass for Debbie, which like many other items on the trip, Craig and I went halves on. He is the IT guy and kept a few spreadsheets running, mainly for his own mental health, not at all for financial concern.

Also found a tiny little horse bit, look at it compared to the one I already had here at home.



And when I got to the counter to pay, the tattoo girl told me that the vendor who owned the Spur trophy was in the shop and prepared to do a deal.

To me, the willingness to do a deal was irresistible, so I went back into the shop and found him at his second stall and said I was the spur guy, he then walked back to his first stall with me and took the item, changed the ticket to $18.00 which meant it cost me under $20.00 so I bought it as well.

The girls wrapped all the pieces carefully and we left the shop, Craig with his bounty, and Eve empty handed, to find Ray out front on the porch.

Back into the Caddy and onto the motorway by 1.30pm as we still needed to get home, pack and head for Le Claire to the American Pickers shop which for me was a bit of a bucket list, pilgrimage, box ticking exercise. Craig and I had done a lot of debating about doing another 300 mile detour in the last week, but agreed to go in the end.

We did make a motorway stop before heading back to Monroe to say goodbye and hit the road with a vengeance, tempered only by the fear of motorway policing.

[Palf70Step]

[flashed]

Their Nashville store is the same , 10 minutes and I was done . Your friends had some cool toys ,loved the Caddy best . Love all the antique shops you visited , one of my things to kill time .

[CraigRK]

Originally Posted by flashed

Their Nashville store is the same , 10 minutes and I was done . Your friends had some cool toys ,loved the Caddy best . Love all the antique shops you visited , one of my things to kill time .

Thought it would be...

Originally Posted by gtviva

Great update and some nice finds, its always good too bring back stuff that will always remind you of that trip, what happened under Craigs nose? don't remember seeing that before you guys went!

As Rian said, feeble attempt at a Burt Reynolds tribute...

Originally Posted by grizz

Well.

What can I say??

Got to American Pickers the Television programmes shop in Le Claire at 5.30 and had 30 minutes to look around.

Simply put.....

100% Disappointing

Very pretty, clean, tidy, and just like it looks on telly....l

Originally Posted by grizz

So,

In summary, this was a bucket list visit, based on great television and expectations.

We made a significant detour, short changed friends who we could have given a second evening to, as we had such limited time to wrap up and complete our Roadtrip

My personal experience, after all the other junk and antique stores on this trip, it sucked big time.

There is none, and I mean none of the actual magic created by the programme to be found in the two buildings, housing personal collections with NFS labels, a few random, over priced imho items for sale and a bunch of mementos, none of which would impress me, if you brought me one home. And look closely at the prices, hmmmmmm.
Even the staff are purely functional, and I suspect not on six figure pay packets.

The rest rooms though, are clean and tidy.

I will continue to watch and enjoy the programmes, but if you want to know the truth, don’t ask me, ask Google or Wikipedia.

We were out the shop before closing time so less than 30 minutes in all.

To re-iterate, this was a joint assessment.  The reality of it was that we had set our expectations low (very low) and we were still disappointing.  This store is nothing more than a place to buy some overpriced souvenirs and be able to say you were there.

That said, I don't regret going there as I would always have wondered and the route meant seeing some different places and meeting some more people (Like Office "Norris" above). I would though have happily spent some more time with Ray & Eve instead.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by flashed

Their Nashville store is the same , 10 minutes and I was done . Your friends had some cool toys ,loved the Caddy best . Love all the antique shops you visited , one of my things to kill time .

Agreed.

And I think most people would find it the same, but that’s fine too.

Generates income for smaller businesses in small towns like Le Claire.


Ray, with the Caddy and Eve with the 65 C10Stepper of course, is Indian113 on here.

Like so many of our friends on the forums, generous to a fault and real,stand up people.

They make these trips worth doing, and some 300-500 mile days easy.



[quote author="@gtviva" source="/post/2449081/thread" timestamp="1537692595"]Great read as always, cant believe the trip was over so quickly!

Its a shame the American Pickers thing was a disappointment but like you say at least you've done it![/quote]


As Craig said,

Wait for the next day.........

It will never be Gas Monkey Garage like in 2015 where we got to spend three hours with Aaron and some of the other guys, but a box ticked after a lot of deliberation as we are both big fans of the programme and will continue to be so.

We had a grand day in Hannibal after saying good bye to officer “Norris” who certainly is a great Ambassador for Le Claire and Policing.




Brekkie then more updates.

I had a visitor till very late last night.

[CraigRK]

Originally Posted by craigrk

Truth be told, I didn't really know what I was buying, all would become clear two days later when I spotted another for a different price, in a different store, in a different town, in a different state (but that's another story!!).

I'll leave the story here for you guys to guess what it is. If you follow me on Facebook, then please don't cheat, rather leave it for others to guess.

Originally Posted by 76

Coca Cola reusable ice cube???

The trip looks epic guys, Thanks for sharing, I've enjoyed

Nice try, but I'm afraid not...

Originally Posted by hotrod rick

ive had one of them before, came in a tobacco related collection i brought once, i wont say what it is lets see if others know.

There's in clue in here folks!!!

[Indian113]

Rian, It seems as You have a way to find All kinds of Pretty Ladies! Eve and I appreciate the kind words and really enjoyed our time we spent with you and Craig. It humbles me that so many people like my Caddy as I thought I was one of Few to feel the way I do about it. I have met many people on this Forum and haven't been disappointed yet, we all have many things in common one of which is our Love for Vehicles mainly Trucks. Thanks Again for making our Home one of " The Stops" on your Tour of the Midwest. You guy's are always welcome to stop by again! Ray and Eve

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Indian113

Rian, It seems as You have a way to find All kinds of Pretty Ladies! Eve and I appreciate the kind words and really enjoyed our time we spent with you and Craig. It humbles me that so many people like my Caddy as I thought I was one of Few to feel the way I do about it. I have met many people on this Forum and haven't been disappointed yet, we all have many things in common one of which is our Love for Vehicles mainly Trucks. Thanks Again for making our Home one of " The Stops" on your Tour of the Midwest. You guy's are always welcome to stop by again! Ray and Eve

Thank you Ray, Eve and the babies for welcoming us in and back.

The Caddy is loved on all the forums I post on.

PS. Yes I do love women, old and young.

[Grizz1963]

Tourist mode.

This town has so much to offer.

History, friendship, friendly people, shop keepers that actually want your business, who will talk to you and listen to you.

Craig got the bulk of the conversations done on this day.

We passed a couple of shops and saw things, pretty things.

Quilting is not my thing, but I certainly get it and was glad to see it is still alive here.
Beats walking into a shop and buying new clothes and soft furnishings.
The fabrics and their colour vibrancy caught me eye.



Next shop we walked into was small, cluttered, filled with the most random of stuff, but would offer most people something interesting to look at, touch or buy.



While Craig and I were discussing the little bat, above, a lady overheard our double accents and enquired about origins etc.
So started another 30 minute conversation with a stranger, after a bit Craig moved on to look at the shop content, a mix of real antiques and tourist niknaks.
I carried on speaking with Lee, our new friend and Craig made an interesting discovery when he saw a newspaper article dated 2014

With Lee, whose identity will be further protected. Lovely, intelligent and friendly St Louis lady.



The newspaper article quoted “Shop Owner celebrates 95th Birthday”
And below it a write up and photo of a lady.

Craig realised that the lady who was behind the counter, was Ila May Dimmitt, owner of Show me Antiques and Gifts. And so ensued another long conversation.

She was now 99 years old and still ran the shop single handedly.
Seems pretty much everyone around her had passed since losing her husband in 1974.
For her the shop was not making money as it used to, but it certainly beat seeing doctors, psychiatrists or various other costly therapies of old age.
Work is what keeps,her alive.

What an awesome young lady she turned out to be, and absolutely charming.in the most Southern of ways.



Her business card, which people do not throw away.



Back on the street, the next shop had another very interesting widow shopkeeper who owns two Toyota Prius cars, but told us all about her wild driving life and being caught many times for speeding over the years and walking away from every event, free.

Fun safety.

Pic taken for Craig’s daughter Elli.







Provisions.







Randomness abounds.



Remember the Strawberry Depression Glass?

Well, here is a much much rarer variation.

Green.







Studebaker truck, clearly 100% working truck.







Back,to tourist stuff.








We carried on
Poking at shops, cars, architecture, all the usual,stuff, then walked down a side street toward the railway lines.

Another antique shop mall where loads of sellers have stalls.

Outside on a bench was seated the counter girl, having a cigarette, chatting to a guy.
So we asked if the shop was open, yes it was, just finishing my cigarette, where are you from?
Many conversations had started thus.
So we started to,chat to her and Male companion who was just passing by, but knew her.
Next thing he disappears into the carpark over the street and comes back from a new Camaro (I think it was) with two Indianapolis Speedway stickers, one each for Craig and me.
Of course you accept, carry on chatting, show photos of our cars, trucks etc, and he shows his stuff, looks like his l60 years had been spent on the NASCAR roadshow, knows a lot of people, built some cars etc.
“How Long you still going to be here?” He asked next, so we said no more than an hour.
OK he says, it takes me 20 minutes to get home and back in that there car, I have something to give you both.
We tried to protest, but it is also rude to do that.
So we agreed to come back before heading out.

Came back later and he was there with the bag of goodies for us, that Craig was carrying below, from Allen Vince.



Random Acts of Kindness.




Unpacked the bag, only when we got back at Dennis’ place.

This is crazy, we all give gifts, but some of the stuff in the bag is limited edition, collectors grade stuff.

From a complete stranger, who likes cars and the same stuff we like.

LIFE IS GOOD.




Really random, this show was an artists shop, and had awesome stuff.

Mermaid anyone?





Geo-Caching is big across the USA as well.

Seen on our way back to the truck.

The reference is to the local Hannibal Tourist board.



Once we started to get out of town, we passed this guy, he also had been in town and was now bombing along the motorway.

Perfect.



Advertising is big.





The rest of the trip back to Dennis and Debbie’s place was uneventful.

We had lunch on the run, sodas from the cooler box and a party sized pack of Cheetos.

Perfect.



When we got home, the dogs and Debbie’s mum were all equally pleased to see us.

The unpacking done, Craig in typically organised style pulled the Challenger out, that he still needed to take for a drive, so as to tick that rather awesome box.

In its place though, inside the garage.....

The party pooper that he is, he laid out all our purchases from the last two weeks, that till now we had just tossed on an ever growing pile in the garage.
Thank you for that mate.



This created a feeling of dread, mixed with panic as I realised we were both potentially in trouble

More later.

Time for a walk.