Dutch Chapter goes Route 66

The Dutch arrived in Chicago

After some delay and an 8 hour flightwe arrived in Chicago on the 27th of June at 1 pm.

Our transportation

first they wanted to give us a KIA, but after some nagging the best we could get was a Mercury!

Sears Tower - Chicago

with the speed of lightning the elevator was shot to the 103rd floor of the Sears Tower! We enjoyed the view....amazing.

Day 2 - visit to Bloomington Gold

after an hours drive we arrived to Bloomington Gold. Very impressive show, only it was the last day so we missed the biggest events.

Searching for parts

Of course the Dutchies were also looking for parts. Mike and Sander found a matching intake manifold for Mike's car....and that only for USD 75....unbelievable!

St. Louis here we come!

After a 4 hour drive we saw the arch....St. Louis.

Friends meet friends

Via het NCRS for we made the an appointment with Joe from the St. Louis chapter. Joe is the owner of a 66 big block, which he took over from his uncle. Joe and his kids we met at the most famous ice salon on the route 66, Ted Drewes.

John...nice to have met you!

Also St. Louis member John arrived to th scene is his restored 60 fuel injection. John and his wife Susan invited us to their place for a beer and a nice tour through is incredible collection of rides. John we enjoyed yours and Susans hospitality!

Visit to St. Louis

On the 29th of June we visite St. Louis, the birth place of the C1,2 and 3 Corvettes. After a short visit to the classic car dealer Daniel Schmidt we drove to the city center to see the arch. Here sander adn walter in front of the arch.

The Arch!

The driving view

This was our view for 7 long hours during the drive to Fort Knox, were we arrived around 7:30 pm.

The best pic of Fort Knox

We stood op early to visit Fort Knox. When we arrived Walter and Sander started to make pics and Mike stayed safely in the car. It did not take long untill some MP's sufaced who got extremely worried about the fact that some foreignors were shooting pics. All pics needed to be removed of the cameras, so this is the best pic we could take.

The Patton museum

You should not be a military fan to find this site impressive.

Private Walter

German land marker

The National Corvette museum

After a short drive of 80 miles we arrived in Bowling Green KY. There we visited the local flea market and drove around the assembly plant. The plant was completely closed, clearly a crisis effect. Next stop the NCM, which is really an amazing location. The tour started with paying an ode to the father and mother of the Vette, Zora and Elfi Duntov - may there soles rest in peace. At the end of the tour Mike, Rene and Sander bought 2 bricks which were from the original Flint factory.

C2 section

Visiting Graceland - home of THE KING

July 1st was a day never to forget, we visited Graceland. Also this visit surpassed all our expectations.

Just a small part........

Various parts of the buildings were full of the golden & platina records and awards. This pic only shows a small part. If all awards are added then it can be concluded that the King sold more then 2 billion records.

Showing our respect to the King

A nice authentic route 66 tank station

The unique meeting with John Neas and his SR-2

Through the NCRS forum we received the invitation to visit the collection of John Neas in Tulsa. John's collections consists out of various cars and the most unique ones being the SR-1, Sebring racers and the only SR-2 racer. For us Corvette fans it was a unique moment to see these cars. John, Sally and Don we thank you for your hospitality!!!

SR-1

A real texas style hotel in Amarillo

During the night of the 3rd to 4th of July we stayed in a real Texas Hotel.

The evening dinner

Real Texas buddies

Caddilac ranch

4th of July is the national holiday in the States, so we expected traffic to be less. This would be good for us since we needed to drive many miles this day. We departed 8 am sharp from Amarillo and paid our first stop to the famous Caddilac ranch. Also our chairman Rob Musquetier arrived today in Denver Colorado, since he will drive the route 66 from there with our international member Jack Humphrey.

Typical route 66

Salvage yards

Route 66 is known for the many salvage yards along the route. This one we saw today.

Amazing landscape in New Mexico

Today we drove through the states of Texas and New Mexico. In Texas you see only flat landscape but in New Mexico the scenery drastically changed to hills. In total we drove 510 miles on July 4th.

Typical route 66 - Wigwam Hotel

5th July - another day of early rise and shine. Based on New Mexico time we drove off 8 am, but half an hour later we were in Arizona and since the time zone is changing there it meant we departed at 7 am. First stop Wigwam Motel near Winslow.

The largest map.....

Meteor crater

First real sight seeing of today, a visit to the 10.000 year old Meteor Crater in Arizona.

The incredible Grand Canyon

We thought the crater was impressive, but when after 2 hours driving we arrived to the Grand Canyon we all were stunned by the massive, impressive and most beautifull view we ever saw.

In the middle of nowhere.....a 1956 Corvette

We were driving one of the most scenic parts of the Route 66 towards Kingman when we suddenly saw a Corvette next to the road.

Visiting Hooverdam

Hooverdam was impressive, but we could not stay long due to the incredible temperature of around 50 degrees celcius.

Viva Las Vegas

After the dam we drove to Las Vegas. When we arrived there we first drove the STRIP up and down to get an impression. This was our hotel THE LUXOR.

The Strip

Some extra miles - Death Valley

It wasn't planned, but we decided to drive an extra 200 miles to LA and this via the Death Valley. Here a pic of the view on the valley.

We made it!!!

7th of July was a heavy day, after driving for 10 hours we drove onto Santa Monica boulevard around 5 pm. Rush hour traffic just started so after 2,5 hour of frustrations we finally arrived to the end of route 66 - Santa Monica pear!!

Walking on the Walk of Fame

Strawling the streets of Hollywood

Remembering.....

The KING of POP

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