Power Tour 2009: Day Three, South Bend

Power Tour 2009: Day Three, South Bend

Getting up today, I looked outside to see it had been raining again. I don’t think I’ve ever woken up to a dry parking lot on either Tours.

Skipping the driver’s meeting, I headed out on my own to Kenosha Wisconsin to hit up a diner from the show Diners, Drive ins and Dives. It was a little out of the way, but every week I go to another place that was on the show. I also wanted to hit up Kenosha to see their antique street cars that still run through the town.

Finding the place wasn’t a problem, trying to eat there was! It was packed, and is a typical old diner. Half of the place was an old railroad passenger car, the other half was added on at another time. I got seated at the end of the diner. The people were wonderful there, they had character and were really funny. I actually had a good time there, and the food was excellent. Though it did take a while to get my food and get out of there, I will be going back.

After my hour and a half in the Diner, I went over to the downtown area, where the street cars run through. I camped out at a corner and wait for one to go right by me. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long, as an orange classic street car came by just after a few minutes.

It was really interesting to see the old street car running, I almost wish I could have jumped on one for a ride, but time wasn’t on my side.

I headed back to the route, knowing I was way behind everyone else. But it didn’t matter to me. So I made my way south along the lake shore. Going into Chicago was a disaster though, just to get ten miles, took almost an hour. Once I got past Chicago though, it was smooth sailing. I even cruised with a new black Challenger SRT-8 and a black 2010 Camaro SS. That was really cool.

Cruising along with no other cars from the tour was a little sobering (even though I don’t drink). Here I was on a road I had never been on before, all by myself. It was fairly boring.

Making my way through Illinois and then starting my way south through Indiana on a major highway isn’t exactly a bunch of fun. The time just flew by.

The last part before hitting South Bend was the best part of today’s route. I finally found some of the Tour to finish off the Tour with.

We entered the fairgrounds and it was hot and windy. But looked like the rain was going to miss us. After being so late, I just wanted to find everyone and see if I missed anything. I started my way through, and found Don and his son. They told me where some of the group was. The fairgrounds were very nice, so walking around wasn’t such a big deal.

I finally ran into the MoPower Tour Challenger, even though no one was there. I was getting closer! I made my way through at least half the show when the clouds started rolling in. It was getting dark and I wanted to see the rest of the show, and get my time card punched.

I ran into the guys from the Gearheads, they had setup camp and I talked with them for a little bit while. It was beginning to sprinkle, and I had yet to get my card stamped and see a the rest of the show. So I continued on through the crowds and found JoAnne with the 69 Charger Daytona. We had missed each other at the previous stops and caught up a bit.

This didn’t help matters any. I got through the show and made my way to the Hot Rod stage, got my card stamped, and then began going through the show again to see if I had missed anything. I was getting close to the Caprice when the clouds opened up and it began to pour.

I made it back to the Caprice soaking wet, it was then I knew I couldn’t enjoy the show anymore being completely soaked. So I went and said goodbye to a few people back in the show, and headed to find my hotel.

When booking on the Internet, I must not have seen how far I am from the fairgrounds, but it is a little bit of a hike, in the middle of nowhere. Making it there was an adventure in and of itself.

Getting checked in and settled in wasn’t a problem, going to sign in to put up the blog and get everything put up, and my hotel only has Internet, if I plug in. Of course I didn’t bring a spare high speed cable, so I’m going to head out to dinner and upload this at whatever free wifi place I can find.

BTW I found a place to eat, a Sonic! There are not any by me, so this was a real treat. But I am currently typing this up at a McDonald’s down the road.

So tomorrow we hit up Warren Michigan, or where ever Hot Rod decided to send us after GM filled for bankruptcy, so fun stuff tomorrow!

To view all the pictures, go to

Ryan Brutt
http://www.ryanbrutt.com