Power Tour 2009: Day Six, Somerset

Power Tour 2009: Day Six, Somerset

Waking up around 7 I realized it was still way to early to get up, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. I rolled back over to see what time it was after this little nap, and it was now 9:30 am. So I was late.

Rushing through everything. I got the Caprice loaded, checked out and on the road right around 10 am. The look on the desk ladies face was priceless as I came almost running down the hall with everything I had to check out.

On the road I thought I would be near the end of the pack, I was wrong. I was immediately greeted with throngs of Power Tour participants. I settled into a group and we headed out of Ohio for Kentucky.

Driving on a major highway is never the best option, but it was all that we had at first. Sometimes you do miss it though, especially when your right leg gets tired and starts cramping up from the constant brake pedal motion of small towns.

The weather was overcast, it had rained the night before and they were expecting rain in the future. So I was pretty sure it would come sooner or later, I just couldn’t tell when in the trip it would be. I did see some interesting clouds though.

After about an hour, we finally got off the major expressway and onto the more country roads. I enjoy them more, but that’s me. We were to travel on this one road for a majority of the day. So it didn’t require looking at the directions a lot.

Cruising in the group was nice, I didn’t lead and I wasn’t at the end. Just part of the pack. Kentucky is a beautiful place to drive, the roads are in fair to good shape, and there are actually some pretty good hills and turns to go around. It was far more fun then the plains of the past few days.

In one of the little towns I saw my friends ( they may deny that ) from Wicked Rides in the Shell station. Pulling into the gas station I came upon a cool sight. A 80’s Plymouth Gran Fury Cop Car. I guess it was a friend of theirs that had joined the Tour on this leg.

The group was of course surprised to see me, I grabbed something to eat and they all made their ways to their cars and we all headed out, me at the rear being with the least horsepower so I don’t hold everyone up.

The group drove through towns and farmers fields, but the roads were actually curvy and hilly, so you had to be on guard the whole time. I was follow the cop car most of the time so I knew he could stop, me, I was a little hesitant. We made it through most of this leg together, but got separated going through a little town with a ton of lights.

Making my way with another group, we worked our way through the hills of Kentucky, making it to the split where we went onto a two lane road through some incredibly hilly country. This looked like fun… at first.

Just into the twistys, a huge backup was going on. I could see at least 20 cars in front of me, and I couldn’t see the end behind me. I was hoping no one was injured. As we all made our way forward, after about 20 minutes, I finally was able to see what was causing the backup. It was an Amish buggy. They were going down the road, and since we were still in somewhat hilly terrain, no one could pass except in spurts. I did finally make my way past the buggy and continue on my way.

Then the hurricane came.

Going through the twistys, the rain started. At first a light drizzle, then a complete downpour. The trees were going sideways, my driver side wiper decided to have a big dead spot in the middle. I could barely make out the LeMans in front of me. The group slowed down to compensate, but it was still crazy. My nerves were on edge the whole time. Finally we made our way out of the hills and the rain began to diminish.

Driving into Somerset was not as bad as in previous cities. There were large signs showing us where to go, long enough signal lights to let large groups of cars go through. So after entering Somerset, we were to the venue fairly quickly.

Pulling in I found the guys and girls from Wicked Rides. I parked across from them, grabbed a drink and my hat and then set fourth to hit up the show.

Right near my car was a pretty well frakked up Chevelle. The owner wasn’t around, but from what I was told, a young girl spun out in the rain and hit him. I don’t know the circumstances or what was going on, but I can’t believe he drove the car to the show. But that wasn’t the only disaster.

The vendors and Hot Rod Power Tour stage was set up away from the rest of the show, you actually had to cross the street to get to them. And they were not just across the street, you had to walk a ways to get to them.

Once making my way to the stage, getting my card stamped I was sitting around drinking a pop trying to figure out in the confusion that was this stop, where the actual show was. Stuff was off in all directions. There was no sense to any of it.

Making my way around, I found a few of my friends from the Gearheads. Apparently all was not well with them. One of the members, in his El Camino blew up the rear end the night before doing a burnout. And today en-route someone blew out a tire. I didn’t know any more, the guys told me that everything was going to be alright though.

I continued on my walk, running into a few guys from Bangshift.com and a few other websites. This venue wasn’t as large as I was hoping, but it was turning out to be a beautiful day. Sun was out, getting a bit warm, but wasn’t anything to bad.

Going through the show, there were fewer and fewer cars I had yet to see, so I take fewer and fewer pictures. But there are still many interesting cars coming in at each stop. I hope I didn’t miss any in this round.

After twice through, I pulled out my chair and sat in front of the Caprice as I watched the cars drive by me on their way out. I can see why people enjoy this instead of the walking around.

Eventually my friends from Wicked Rides came back from walking around and we all sat around and talked for a while, it was getting late and we were all starving. Their hotel was a distance away so we parted company.

I headed to my hotel, but not before grabbing dinner. Blackened Chicken sandwich. Yum.

Time to hit the sack and actually wake up at a decent time!

Ryan Brutt
http://www.ryanbrutt.com

To view all the pictures, please check out the link below.