A rainy, but fun day at Automania in Sioux Falls

The Classic cars took over the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds on Saturday and it was a blast to see all the outstanding cars on displays. This early 50's Hudson was in excellent condition.

There were many restored classics and probably as many hot rod conversions in attendance. This rod was beautifully converted and featured a hot 350 V8 that sounded great. I suspect it has a "bit" more power today than back in the 30's.

This Ford had a real flathead V8 -- well customized as you would expect. You can see the rain on the hood reflecting off the perfect black paint. I bet that the owners were cringing to see their beautiful cars in the rain.

This '47 Lincoln was outstanding. This car looked absolutely new and was really cool to see.

After looking at the hundreds of cool cars outside, Rick went into the auction area where cars were being auctioned off. There were cars ranging from great condition to "ready to restore" and needing a tow to the auction block. This 62' Caddy caught my attention and was in pretty good shape. Unfortunately, I don't think it would work well as a dingy to tow behind the motorhome -- heck, it was almost as long as the coach!

This is an early 50's Crosley pickup and as you can see, is TINY! Powered by a 44 cubic inch engine (yup -- 44), this little truck could get over 55 mpg. This was the first one I had seen actually running and it looked like new. Great job!

This was a great combo! an original Mini towing a period fiberglass boat. These date from the early 60's and were fun to look at. Perhaps he brought the boat incase the rain continued!

Sioux Empire Fairgrounds and Automania Prep

While staying at the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds, we were asked to move to a different part of the camping area to make room for "AutoMania", which is billed as a very large collector car meet -- very cool! We have enjoyed camping at the Fairgrounds due to the low price (about $25 a night, stay a week, get a night free) for a full hook up site. Works great to visit the Sioux Falls area.


Rick has enjoyed the movement of the Ellis and Eastern Railroad which moves gravel products on a short line railroad. This 1957 GM Electro-Motive Diesel is a great piece of rail history and we get to see it a couple times a day. Fortunately, these transits only occur a couple times a day, so do not really bother us while parking here.

Cody and Orinda show our coach while at the Fairgrounds. We have had a good site here and were curious to see what Automania might present as we approach the weekend.



We now have a couple of neighbors in the form of these Newell Coaches. Nice coaches for sure, but Rick is more interested in what might be in those lovely trailers! He suspects there might be some cool, classic cars! We will keep an eye on these.

The Newells are not the only new arrival. This large Mobil ONE truck showed up today and was quickly staged to their assigned location. It looks like a number of other rigs are ready to come in.



WOW -- is that what I think it is? Yes, Batman has arrived! This is the original Batmobile as seen in the 1966 series and will be displayed in the Automania show. I was really surprised to see this one!
This car looks pretty good and I was surprised to learn that the car is actually based on a 1954 Lincoln show car called the Futura. I will look forward to learning more about this unique car during the Automania show this weekend.

The Sioux Valley Model Engineers Society in Sioux Falls -- COOL!

While set up in the Sioux Falls Fairground, Rick saw a sign advertising a Model Train Open House at one of the buildings on the grounds. Of course, he was drawn to this like a magnet and it turned out that the Sioux Valley Model Engineers Society, a local model railroad club, has a wonderful layout in one of the buildings.

This is an incredible model railroad with many, many tracks, outstanding trains of all types and excellent workmanship. The layout features a number of local areas and it was fun to look for all the small dioramas, such as this small construction scene, that make up the large layout.

This picture gives an idea of the scope of the railroad and shows about 1/4 of the entire layout. Rick was very impressed at the level of completion of the pike and with the beautiful hand-laid track.

This shot shows a part of Sioux Falls in past times with the water tower and loading dock. The structures are well painted and weathered and look like they are quite old.

Here is a view of the station as a passenger train hustles by on it's run. Notice the rock retaining wall below the train which is typical of the high level of craftsmanship displayed on the railroad.

You could almost smell the smoke as steam locomotive 909 blasted by as it moved a pong train of coal cars to the steam plant. This was a great visit and I would certainly recommend dropping by if there is an open house while you are in the area.

The Iowa 80 Truck Stop -- WOW!

We traveled west on I-80 as we entered Iowa and soon saw the Iowa 80 Truck stop -- the largest in the world! Of course, Orinda had to see this!

This is an incredible truck stop with over 800 parking spots of large trucks -- and yes, even some room for a motorhome! There is just about anything inside that you might need -- including a doctor, dentist and barber.

There are even several great restored trucks inside the store area that Rick was very impressed with. Of course, Orinda thought this was pretty nice as well.

Here is a 1931 Ford that looks like it is ready to roll. In addition to the trucks, there are all kinds of things to looks at in the store such as truck accessories, all manner of food items, and lots more.

Cody waits for us like this--it sure seems that he is worried! Or, perhaps he is just tired and catching up on his sleep. Either way, he does not look like much of a guard dog!

Our next stop will be Sioux Falls, SD where we will park for a couple weeks and catch up with friends in the area.

Air Force Museum - Dayton, Ohio

Orinda and Rick recently visited the fabulous US Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. This is the largest air craft museum in the world and is truly amazing -- plus, there is no charge for admission! The museum is structured chronologically and starts with the birth of flight, and of course the Wright Brothers (who lived in Dayton). This WWI example is from the same museum area.

The SPAD WWI fighter was state of the art in the 1918 period. It is amazing to see how fast the aircraft developed in the 15 years that followed the Wright's first flight.

Moving right along, this P-51 illustrated the WWII era. There are hundreds of aircraft displayed and it is almost impossible to really see all of them (and read the many displays) in one visit.

The Sabre Jet fighter was a cut-away model and Orinda was amazed at all the components under the skin. You could certainly see how every inch of space of was carefully utilized in the plane's design.

Rick was astonished by the main landing gear of the huge B-36. This is the largest wheel ever used on an aircraft and was so big, that the plane could only land on a couple of special runways. The gear was re-designed (you can see the newer design on Rick's right which solved this problem).
Fighters of the modern era were of course displayed as well such as this fearsome looking craft. There was even a new F-22 Raptor displayed. This is a great place to visit and learn about the Air Force, aircraft and the amazing folks who flew them.

Traveling Cross Country

We are on the road tonight and in the state of Illinois. Our accommodations tonight are courtesy of the Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino where they allow self contained RVs to spend the night for free. Of course, we had to make our voluntary contribution in the casino, but had a great time playing the penny slots for a couple hours.

When you think about it, this is pretty amazing - here we are, parked in a secure parking area, running the generator and living the good life.

Located in Peoria, IL, the casino is easily reached from I-74. Once there, the Kingdome found our Direct TV signal and the AC is working well. We had a nice dinner in the coach and are taking it easy tonight. Life as fulltime RVers is good!

Tomorrow, we plan to head to Forest City, IA to spend the night and then head toward Sioux Falls, SD to spend a few weeks. Our current plan is to base at the Sioux Falls Fairgrounds which has a full hookup campground and is well located.

Riding the Strasbourg Railroad -- Steam Power Lives!

Take a ride with Rick as we ride directly behind #89. I was reminded how loud these steam engines were, but that steam whistle is a great sound!

Rick loves steam trains, so he had to ride on the Strasbourg Railroad, located right across the street from the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum. One of the great things about this tourist railroad is the chance to see a real, coal fired, steam locomotive in action -- in this case Engine #89.
Engine #89 was built in 1910 -- 100 years old this year! Fully restored, this is a great chance to ride behind a real steam engine and think how folks traveled 100 years ago.

As you can see, folks can get up close and personal to the railroad and experience it in person. Here, #89 is pulling the train into the station, ready for us to board and depart.

Rick rode this open car which was right behind the engine on the trip out. This car, as will all the equipment on the railroad, was is perfect condition.