Alfa Romeo Convention Write-up & Pix from Skip...

MAARC (DELAGATION) CONVENTION TRIP

Sat July 24th
Five Alfas left the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel toll plaza at 7AM. The four Spiders of Rich and Mary Minor, Jerry and Betty Lake, Bill and Jane Kissinger and Skip and Phyllis Patnode and the GTV-6 of Kent Decker. Three tops up, one top down and one hard top. As soon as we hit the North toll plaza, the forth top went up. Mother Nature made sure of that!
Before we left Jerry Lake presented each of us with a beautiful trip booklet complete with a spiral bound cover, trip directions, places of interest and cell phone numbers.
After pit stops at the Va/Md line, Smyrna, Del. and I-476 we finally arrived in Binghamton, NY at 4 PM. There we joined with Don and Ev Melia who have transplanted from Hampton Roads to Blacksburg, Va. We also met for the first time Bernie and Diana Bennett from the hill country of Texas in their automatic Spider who also joined us for the remainder of the journey. Bernie tells us they have made something like 27 of the last Conventions.

Sunday July 25th
At 8 AM 7 Alfas headed North thru the finger lakes area of New York headed for Rutland, Vt.
This group was photo op crazy. The first rest stop north of Utica was no exception. The next stop was the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, NY. We discovered it would take 3 hours to tour the museum. That was exactly 2 hours and 59 minutes more than what we could spare, so you guessed it. To the top of the parking garage for another photo op.
Our next stop was in Long Lake, NY for lunch. A gentleman sitting next to us overheard us discussing our trip plans and explained that due to an Iron Man Triathlon in the area, the roads between Lake Placid and Elizabethtown were closed for the day by the State Police. We quickly changed to a more southerly route that took us just North of Ticonderoga. It turned out to be a great route and the view of Lake Champlain and the Champlain Valley as we crested the mountain was priceless.
As we approached Ticonderoga, Don and Ev headed south to visit relatives in Glans Falls. The rest proceeded on to the Crown Point Revolutionary War Restoration Site which produced two more great photo ops. One with Lake Champlain and the Champlain Bridge in the background and the other at the Crown Point Light House.
Once we arrived in Vermont, I coerced Bill Kissinger into leading the group on into Rutland, Vt. since Phyllis and I had to make a quick stop in Orwell to help my brother with a piece of property we own there.
The group made it to Rutland OK and were already at dinner when we arrived.

Monday July 26th
This was set up as a Day of “Rest” but there wasn’t much resting! We scattered to the four winds. Some went to the Ben and Jerry’s factory, the Shelburne Museum, Friends in Vergennes, etc. etc. The Patnodes and the Kissingers ended up in Middlebury visiting my mother for the afternoon.
That evening we gathered everyone back up and met at the Middlebury Inn for dinner along with my Mother and Brother and his Wife.

Tues July 27th
We met at the Norman Rockwell Museum at 9AM for a 3 to 4 hour Vermont fun drive. It turned out to be a dreary and rainy day but that didn’t dampen the Alfa fun.
We first stopped at Moss Glen Falls, a real pretty waterfall along Rt. 100 in Granville Gulf and you guessed it. Another photo op!
As we were driving along Rt. 100 we met someone in a Ford Rent-a-Something with an Alfa decal on the hood and much noise coming from the vehicle horn. From what I could tell from the lead, he seemed to go on down the road. Come to find out, he turned around and followed us for a while then turned around and went on South. We found out at the Convention that it was Gordy Hyde from the North West Alfa Club (who are doing the convention next year). He and his daughter were touring Vermont and visiting relatives.
We stopped at the “Lord’s Prayer Rock” in Bristol and the Pulp Mill Bridge in Middlebury for photo ops.
Since we were so close and I knew the food was good, we ended up at Rosy’s in Middlebury for lunch.
Then we went back into Middlebury to the Maple Landmark Woodcraft toy factory and then on to the Waybury Inn which was used as the Façade for the Bob Newhart show.
On the way back over the mountain we met a Red GTV coming down at a rapid rate of speed and bearing a driver with a grin a mile wide. We never saw him again until the Convention.
We stopped at a beautiful park called “Texas Falls” yup, another photo op.
When we got to the Hancock General Store we just had to stop and get some hand dipped ice cream or Bill Kissinger would have had a hissy fit.
We ended the “3 hour” drive in Brandon after 6 hours and headed back to Rutland. It seems everyone had enough ‘road straightening’.

Wed July 28th
It was raining again off and on so we decided to drive to convention via Rt. 4. This not only was the quickest route to Manchester but it goes right by the old covered bridge in Taftsville which stands next to a dam that provides a great reflecting pool for picture taking.
We stopped for a few minutes at Quechee Gorge for refreshments and a walk across the bridge over the gorge.
After discovering that the exit we wanted into Manchester only exits from the South and we came in from the North we stumbled our way along and finally found the hotel. Somebody compared this maneuver to ‘herding cats’!
After checking in, Bill, Kent and I went to the Drag races. Now, Alfa Romeos drag racing is a sight to see! Unique but very enjoyable.

Thurs July 29th
Instead of taking one of the prearranged tours, Bill Kissinger suggested we modify one and end up at a place called “The Castle in the Clouds” which is a beautiful old mansion on top of a mountain. Cars must be parked in the parking lot at the foot of the hill and access is provided by a tram. Somehow, the elderly lady tour guide that greeted us spotted the Alfa Romeo shirts and exclaimed, “My son used to have one of those”. Well, one thing led to another and she got us permission to bring the cars up to the mansion. She even rode the tram down with us and then rode back up with Bill in his Spider. We parked them in an arc on the front lawn and another photo-op! Even had a couple of other Alfisti who were driving non-Alfa type vehicles get in on the photo session.

Fri July 30th
This was the first of the track days at NHIS. I volunteered to be a corner worker in the morning. What an outstanding way to get to watch the cars on the track!
Dana Loomis was there with his TI and ‘Doc’ Martin was giving a Lincoln Rental car a good ride! Did I mention he was drag racing it on Wed. nite?
The gentleman I was working with has raced on this track and gave me some pointers that were really helpful when I got to go on the track for the Parade Laps at noon.
As I was pulling out I spotted Mateo Martemucci with camera in hand standing at the entrance gate. With a small amount of arm twisting I got him in with me and away we went. Usually, parade laps are just a few laps and they run you off. Not this day! I finally quit after almost a half hour and they were still going.

Sat July 31st
This day was Autocross in the morning and Road Rally in the afternoon. Since they both happened at the same place, we got there early and watched the Autocross until it was time to leave on the Road Rally.
Kent, Dana and Bernie all participated as did ‘Doc’ Martin with his Lincoln.
I ‘coerced’ Mateo into being navigator for the road rally. We didn’t win it but we had a great ride as did everyone concerned.
The day culminated with the traditional banquet and speaker. One great day!!

Sun Aug 1st
Since it was raining, the Concourse was held inside the parking garage. Not quite as neat as the city park would have been but a lot better than standing in the rain.
There were a couple of cars that really caught my eye not only at the concourse but all week long.
One was a spider with a twin turbo V-6 installed. A really neat professional job. I noticed it on the track at the Time Trials but didn’t really know what he had until I got into the paddock in the afternoon and got to nosing around.
The other was a GTV from Canada that at first sighting I declared “A Sacrilege!” But then I got to looking it over. It had a 5 Liter Ford V-8 engine and transmission, Mustang rear end and wheels and just enough body modification to make everything fit and work. What workmanship!! Everything was done right, looked good, fit perfectly and was painted to perfection. The suspension was all Alfa with the Ford pieces adapted to it. He even built a tunnel thru the oil pan for the steering drag link to go thru. I don’t know how it would handle in the corners but he showed us a couple of times how well it handles on the straights!!
There was also an art show in which Bernie Bennett took third place with a collage of pictures of our group on the trip to the Convention. Then to top things off, he gave everyone of us a copy of the picture and gave Phyllis and I the matted original that he entered in the contest.
Then came the Clam Bake, the awards and the tears and good-byes. Since he wasn’t there, I picked up the News Letter award for Bruce Sharer.
Everyone went their separate ways except for the Kissingers and Patnodes. We decided to leave on Monday.

Monday Aug 2nd and Tuesday Aug 3rd
We (Kissingers and Patnodes) decided to make our return trip a two day deal.
We went cross country to Brattleboro, Vt. then South and West across Mass. to the Taconic State Parkway in NY. From there we crossed into Pa. and the Delaware Water Gap area. We ended the day on I-476 at Quakertown, Pa.
On Tuesday we skirted the outer edges of Hurricane Alex and retraced our original departure route down the Eastern Shore and home.
For most of us it was a pretty problem free trip. I exploded a windshield wiper blade in Vermont, Bill blew one low beam headlight and Kent had a tail light go out.
I ended up driving 2,158 miles, using 73.559 gallons of gas and getting 29.336944 miles per gallon. Not too bad for a ’67 with carburetors.
Bad news: After we got home we discovered that Kent’s GTV-6 died just outside of DC and had to be towed to Aren’s in Richmond. Luckily, Betsy was following in her Miata so they had transportation home. I won’t repeat what Betsy says about Alfas!!
See ya next year in Seattle!