Hutchinson MN; May 27-29
Our second year at this great event!
Wednesday, May 25
Departing Decatur; 12:58pm.
Some remaining signs of the recent Mississippi flooding.
Then it got scary! Between Cape Girardeau and St. Louis, MO on I-55, I was watching this nasty storm system both visually and on the live radar feed on the laptop showing several of those red boxes indicating tornado warnings. This was 3 days after the monster that trashed Joplin, so the threat was very fresh in the mind. I had planned the itinerary with this system in mind, assuming that it would have passed on to the East before I got there. Unfortunately it had slowed enough that I was going to have to deal with it.
Soon after the third photo, it got really dark, I mean midnight black, although it was only 6:00pm, and the blinding rain began. Listening anxiously for the softball size hail to begin, I tried every overpass for cover, but they were all fully occupied! Still watching the live radar feed, I kept going, seeing that I would be through it shortly. Sure enough, it began to brighten up, the rain stopped and the sun came out. Whew!!!
I stopped for the night in Canton, MO.
Thursday, May 26
Arrived at the Best Western Victorian Inn in Hutchinson MN at 3:15.
Friday, May 27
I parked right out front...
...and set up a small display inside where Crow River Corvettes had registration &
Silent Auction items and Ivan Schrodt had the National Corvette Museum table.
Friday evening featured the Pirate theme party. A lot of great costumes!
Saturday, May 28
Morning featured a scenic road tour, stopping at Classic Rides & Rods
in Annandale MN. Coffee, donuts and lots of cool cars!
Afternoon was a Corvette show on Library Square in downtown Hutch.
Another donor of $25 to the American Cancer Society signs the hood; Thank you Ron & Pat H.
Looks like I'm the last to leave!
The evening featured the awards banquet. Incredibly, I received two: "Longest Distance Driven" (OK, maybe I earned that) and "1st Place, Modified"!
I also was high bidder on 2 Silent Auction items: The event Banner (see arrow, left photo) and Kermit!
Sunday, May 29
On the road back to Sweet Home Alabama at 6:21am.
90 minutes later the sun was trying to break through.
Arrival back home at 9:12, 1021 miles later.
The final stats (note: trip odometer resets @ 2000 miles)
Many thanks to Ron & Linda Cleland and the
Crow River Corvettes
for a terrific weekend, for a Great Cause!