"Live" from the Western Swing
 

Oh, you say the "swing" doesn't start til next week? We got an early start and are heading to Marion, SD to race at the combo races on Sat. and Sun. Of course we meant to leave yesterday to begin the first leg of our 5300 round trip journey. But getting everything ready to be gone for a month, the car ready, the motorhome ready and everything else just took longer than we thought. But we are now all the way to Illinois!

For a little background on the Hill's: Larry and I both turned 60 this year and we celebrated our 40th anniversary this year. So I thought it would be really nice to go on a European cruise this fall to celebrate our milestones. But then the engine blew up in Belle Rose and it has taken this long to get back to running so we missed all those early races that we usually get to go to. So we have been wanting to do the "Western Swing" for a while now, but just couldn't take off from work for that long. But now that our son, Chris, is working with us, and he is doing such a great job, we decided that we would head west. So this is my European cruise! Thanks, Chris, for holding down the fort. And thanks to the guys in the shop, too.

I plan to do kind of a travel log as we go along if ya'll would be interested to keep up with us. Tonight we plan to drive thru Illinois to St. Louis and as far as possible before we tire out. It is about 800 miles to Marion, so we should be there sometime tomorrow.

More later.
Patsy

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Patsy, enjoy the trip, and thanks for sharing it with us. You and Larry have earned it.

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Patsy -- What a great idea doing the "Western Swing" with your husband of forty years - I'm sure Larry knows how lucky he is...........and as far as the cruise goes -- look at it this way -- you are cruising but you're not floating ! ! !

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Patsy, If you need help finding the track or if gate is not open, Glen Rapp phone # 605-336-1515 or 605-648-3604 or home 605-648-3663 track owner. Tom

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Enjoy the "dry" cruise. At least you won't get seasick.

Marion should be a great time, you'll like the shut down area I'm sure.

If you have any troubles on the west side of Missouri as you're passing thru, my # is in your PM, feel free to call.

See you next week in Seattle!

Unk

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Patsy - I'm sure you can find a nice French restaurant in San Francisco.

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Wow! This is cool...Hope my parents get to do this someday too.

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You will LOVE it here out West!

Wish I could be there to meet you in person......

You guys come all the way from Kentucky, and I can't even make the race an hour away from my house.

Have a great time! I'll be rooting for you from the keyboard!

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Like Unk said, if you guys need anything when you're coming through the Omaha area, feel free to get ahold of me! It's too bad we have travel plans this weekend - I'd love to come up to Marion.

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Well we got 300 miles down the road last night before we stopped around 11:30 in Columbia, MO. So another 500 miles today and we will be in Marion. Should be there between 4 & 5. We had a turn signal light go out, so Larry has been Wal-martin' this morning. All they had were LED, so our lights are pretty now!

I guess you have heard about the saying "the best laid plans of mice and men" (or something to that effect). Well, I had these big plans to stop and make a picture by the "Welcome" sign as we entered every state. Well, the first one was Illinois, about 20 miles from home. There was only a very narrow shoulder and then a railing. Not even enough room to pull over a car, let alone a motorhome and trailer. Then in St. Louis, then "Welcome to Missouri" sign was on the bridge over the Mississippi River. So much for my plans!

Anyway it looks like a beautiful day for traveling today. 80's and sunshine.

More later

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Larry, you folks have fun and be safe. I know you will enjoy this trip. I was just thinking how much fun this must be. My wife and I did that in 1971 just before our son, first child, was born. We quit and sold everything after that west coast trip. That was nearing the end of what we recall as the Match Race days and racing every night somewhere. We are now back into racing again with my son and grandsons and yes the same young lady who traveled with me everywhere back then. I am going to Bristol in October will be the first time there in over 35 years.

Again be safe and enjoy the trip. It is really nice of you guys to share your adventure on the web site.

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A lot of die hard mopar guys in the northwest you are about to meet at Pacific raceways, I will be there in a Ford. Enjoy the drive Montana is a long state to drive through, the western part and Idaho to spokane are bueatiful as is western Washington. Drive safe.

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Well we stopped and fueled up outside Kansas City and Larry made the first mess of the trip. When he went around to put the nozzle on the other side, the drivers side nozzle came out and spewed diesel all over the side of the truck. So he had to get out the hose and clean it all up. Hopefully that is the worst screw up of the trip. LOL

Hey Paula Cotten, We bought diesel for $2.69 at one of your QTs. We got 7.56 mpg for that fill-up. Pretty good!! Paula, we are looking forward to seeing you and Mike at Sonoma. We will have to try out some of that CA wine!

The topography here in NW MO is rolling hills. Pretty country. Oh Larry said the best cars seen in the weeds so far was a 64 Dodge Polara outside Concordia, MO. Also a 67 Mercury Cougar outside St. Joseph.

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Patsy,,,Not too sure which way you're coming,,,Montana is a long ride through if you're using I-90,,however you may be coming a different way, such as I-80 to I- 84 then to I-5 and north from Portland, still very senic. Let us know how you've mapped it out.
Today its raining and in the 60s,,but better weather coming next week. Enjoy your Fourth of July weekend on the road, I'd love to make a trip like that someday.
Catch you later,,,,Danny Durham

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Put this under the heading of strange things seen on the road: In northern MO--2 people on bicycles towing a canoe on a dolly.

Awful things seen and smelled: In Iowa--corn drowned in the fields from the flooding of the Missouri River. The price of corn whiskey's gonna be up this winter!

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If you thought you smelled something bad, just wait until you roll through Sioux City, IA! Referred to as the town of 7 smells. And not one of them is good.

Anyway, if you need to stop near Sioux City, let me know. Enjoy Thunder Valley in Marion, SD. I grew up there as a kid watching my dad race. A lot of good memories there. I know alot of racers planning on racing there this weekend. It should be a blast.

Good Luck and maybe we'll see you in Earlville again.

Thanks,
Brad Rose
Rose Racing

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Going to drive up sat and watch no car yet, will have c12 c11 at the track with Bick and Monty Jones. If I have time I will bring a bottle of wine for miss Hill for her pit reports. Hope to see everyone tomorrow. Tom

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Patsy, Glad to here you stopped at the QT and had a good experience. I retired from QT yesterday after 35 years. This is my retirement trip, same deal I preferred a racing trip to a cruise. I too look forward to sharing CA wine with you. We are leaving next week to be there early, I will start tasting the CA wines to make sure everything is OK! Keep us posted and safe travels. Paula

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AT&T may have more bars in more places, but not in Marion, SD!

Mom and Dad made it there Friday afternoon around 4pm, but they have not had cell or internet service since leaving the interstate. They will post when they have coverage again.

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Not to change the thread, but congrats to Paula on retirement from kirk and the rest of the Div. 4 boys and gals.

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Paula, Barbara and I are sitting in Morgan Hill, Ca waiting on you guys to get here. Trust me we have tried to drink all of the wine here before you guys got here. Did NOT work. Still plenty left. Hope to see you soon. Mike & Barbara Mcmahan

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Chris Hill, Larry won first round, then had bye second round, I lost second round and I`m at the Motel, 41 cars today, Tom

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Just updating here...Larry got beat the 3rd round. Patsy says has all kinds of pictures so once she gets some service will be busy posting. Hope the weather holds out so we can get a full day in again tomorrow.

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It was Doug Engals over Scott tippy Dugdale , Rod Negabaur was the lone semi. Jamie Findale was #1 qaulifer in the 41 car field. Tom

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hope to meet the hills someday on the east side of the country NEED SOME PICTURES OF PINK CAR we race a pink 80 grand prix in et bracket chuck

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Plenty of pictures of the "Pink Car" thats working its way west here:
www.autoimagery.com Type in Larry Hill in the box and PRESTO! You're there!
Danny Durham

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i hope you have a safe trip and have fun

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Hi Patsy,

This is Mike Loge's wife, Debbie. My family races in DIVISION 7. Mike showed me your post and I just had to reply. Like you and Larry, Mike and I both turn 60 this year and celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary in January as well. When considering what we wanted to do to celebrate this milestone year, our picks came down to taking a cruise or an extended race trip. I have been going to the races with Mike since we were 15 and although Mike and our boys have traveled to many races across the states, I have not been able to take the time for these long trips with them. Ever since Chad and Jamie made their "race tour" several years ago I have wanted for Mike and I to be able to do a shortened version of what they did. Mike has never been on a cruise and we couldn't quite work out the race trip to attend the races and see what we want this year so we are going on the cruise. I am hoping for next year. We look forward to your posts and wish you a safe, fun, and sucessful trip. Welcome to our part of the country and see you in Sonoma.:rolleyes:

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Well, we are back on the road again and out of internet and cell phone jail. According to Bev Picht, in Marion we were in God's country and he didn't need cell phone to communicate. and BTW, thanks to Bev for letting me use her phone to call Chris and let him know we were ok.

So about Marion---a great little race track. The people were friendly, lots of different racing there, the track hooked after the first run and they started working on it a little. The air was bad, tho, just gettting us ready for Denver, I guess. The altimeter read 1500'. Yesterday the DA was around 4000' most of the time. Hot and muggy. But we are having a great time. I have lots of pictures to post, but it will probably be tomorrow before I get them on. It is hard to do with cell phone service going in and out. We are on our way now west on I-90 towards Rapid City, SD.

I will let you know more about the race later. I am going to post before I lose service again.

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I want to thank you guys for stopping at our stk/ss shootout on your western swing,,, it is always nice to meet other people from across the country that love this sport...I was the guy with the silver duster in staging lanes when we talked , again wishing you folks well and have a safe trip until we meet up again...Bryan Dixon stk 5010

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Just leaving Rapid City, SD. Only 1168 miles to go, I still have very poor service and still don't have the pictures ready. If we finally find some internet service today thru Montana, I will post some more. We usually don't see other racers on the road, but we stayed for a while yesterday at the same Wal-mart with a motorhome and small trailer that had Allen Johnson #7 Prostock. Also we saw Jason Line's rig at a rest area in Wasto, SD. This morning Vance and Hines rig is at a Harley dealer close to Sturgis.

Service is about gone again, so more later.

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Larry and Patsy......If you have time and are close you should stop in Jackson Hole Wyoming. to sight see. It is beautiful there. I flew out of Rapid City after a western tour vacation a couple of years ago and cant wait to go back to the Grand Canyon and yellow Stone Park. Enjoy and be safe.

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I just saw my first antelope! We just went thru Gillette, WY. For any of you who live out this way, what are the roads made of that makes them red or pink looking?

Lots of oil wells and huge coal mining here!

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We have a little bit of internet service now, so I will try to catch you up. After leaving Marion, we drove thru SD thru some really beautiful country. Lots of rolling hills and wheat fields. Being on the 4th of July it made me want to sing "America the Beautiful". Then we stayed at a Walmart in Rapid City and rented a car and drove to Mt. Rushmore on Monday. It was spectacular! We also drove thru the Badlands. If we ever have service for long enough, I have some pictures. Also the ones I took in Marion.

Today, we have been in Wyoming and now in Billings, Montana. We started out at Mile Marker 550 something and will go all the way to 0 in MT. It is amazing how far you can see here in Big Sky Country.

Now for racing. Who won on Sunday at Marion?

Brandon Bernstein's rig passed us this morning. Then he had to stop at the scales and we passed him back. Then Larry had to stop to pee and they passed us again.

I will try to reply to everyone once we get stopped to where I have constant service.

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My sister lives in Bozeman MT - if Larry would like to pick you up an appropriate anniversary "bobble", she is a manager of a very nice jewerly store in town . . . . . :) Yogo sapphires can only be found in Montana and they are GORGEOUS! Would make a nice souvenier!

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The last time I drove through Gillette, I counted close to 500 antelope.

If you notice, a lot of locals driving trucks all have huge grille guards on the front of their trucks.

Antelope are fast but not too smart...

_______________________________

Andy Stone 1102 A/S 1112 SS/C

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Mr. Ryan from Aberdeen in his olds won sun. at marion

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We had a great time at Marion SD. The track hooked every time, I had car problems first two runs. I lost to Rod Neugerbauer Sat. and Sun.

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We have stopped for the evening in Missoula, MT. We drove 802 miles to get to Marion, 320 to get to Rapid City, then 706 today. I think it is still about another 440 miles to the track. Hopefully we will get in and parked tomorrow.

Montana was a pretty state to drive thru today. Lots of mountains, rivers running along beside the road and snow-covered mountain tops in the distance. We didn't see a lot of animals besides cows and horses, a few sheep and a fox that we almost ran over.

Well, I am going to try and post a few pictures from Marion.

Re: "Live" from the Western Swing