Seattle to Talladega and back

[hergfest]

I know we have a Talladega thread but I thought I would make a new one and document the trip from Seattle to Talladega.  We are leaving Seattle on Saturday the 17th and will be in Atlanta Wednesday night October 21st.  We are taking a T7 Charger 500, a V2 4-spd Daytona, and a B5 Six Pack 4-spd Bird.  All driven, no trailers.  It'll be about 6,000 miles round trip.  I'll post updates and pics from the road as we go.  Might be meeting up with another Bird in Butte, MT.

[djcarguy]

 Sounds great all the best on the trip. about started a thread few weeks ago to see if any western state guys were going. I HAVE CASH an been driving an working on Mopars for 40 yrs...


    Need any backup Drives??? Very late now if ya leave the 17th?  dreamed of going. WELL  have a great an safe time in those awesum cars ,crossing america ,like a trip in time..

               awsum event to ya, DJ,oregon


please take an post lots of wing pixs...   MOPar pixs too  




                             
           

[hemi68charger]

to a safe and trouble-free adventure !!   

See ya there........

[moparstuart]

what route are you taking 

[hergfest]

We have nine guys in three cars so three each.  Makes the gas bill a lot better!  As of now, we are taking I-90 past Billings.  Then I-25 south, cut across to I-80 at Scottsbluff, then 29 to Kansas City, 70 to St. Louis, 64 then 24 to Nashville, then 75 into Atlanta.  We want to get off the freeways and do some two lanes but five days is a pretty tight schedule.  Going home is up in the air at this point.  I think we'll end up in Colorado Springs and do Pikes Peak if the weather cooperates.  Then across I-70 then Salt Lake, then home from there.

[moparstuart]

We have nine guys in three cars so three each.  Makes the gas bill a lot better!  As of now, we are taking I-90 past Billings.  Then I-25 south, cut across to I-80 at Scottsbluff, then 29 to Kansas City, 70 to St. Louis, 64 then 24 to Nashville, then 75 into Atlanta.  We want to get off the freeways and do some two lanes but five days is a pretty tight schedule.  Going home is up in the air at this point.  I think we'll end up in Colorado Springs and do Pikes Peak if the weather cooperates.  Then across I-70 then Salt Lake, then home from there.

if you hit Kc at a time im free or spend the night id love to say High , Other wise i'll meet you in Alabama on thursday evening

[hergfest]

I'll post some pics later when I have WiFi. Stayed in Burley, ID, last night. Just hit Wyoming and hope to be in central Nebraska tonight.

[stripedelete]

Try to hit that Chattanooga to Atlanta stretch between 10-2pm.   

What part of Atlanta are you headed to ?

[1970Moparmann]

I'll post some pics later when I have WiFi. Stayed in Burley, ID, last night. Just hit Wyoming and hope to be in central Nebraska tonight.

What a road trip!   Will be looking for the pictures!

[hergfest]

I think we are staying at a friend of a friend's place 45 minutes south of town.

[hergfest]

Somewhere in Idaho

[hergfest]

[hergfest]

Miner's Burger in Yakima, WA, the 1st day.  They have great burgers

[hergfest]

The Dodge dealer in La Grande, OR, wanted pictures of the cars in front of his dealer with his two Hellcats.  He happened to see us gassing up in town.

[hergfest]

Also somewhere in Idaho:

[hergfest]

Already halfway across Nebraska, hoping to make it past Kansas City tomorrow closer to St. Louis.  Made really good time, the new 80 MPH speed limits in Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming helped.  We made miles so we can screw around the next three days.  Supposed to do some garage tours tomorrow and if we have time get off the interstates and see the country on some two lanes.

[8WHEELER]

Miner's Burger in Yakima, WA, the 1st day.  They have great burgers

Hey Gary
Have a great time, what a dream adventure. Do you remember eating at that burger joint 15 years ago? I know Tom was there, we drove
over there together, he had the gold cop car.

Dan

[Lord Warlock]

Keep us informed, can imagine the amount of feedback from strangers will be strong and positive.  Look forward to reading more of the adventure.

[70Sbird]

Looks like fun! and quite a lengthy adventure. Stuart and I are leaving St Louis around 7:30 Thursday AM but you all will be in Atlanta by then.
Travel safe and I look forward to seeing you in Alabama!
Scott

[Nwcharger]

Man I would love to make this trip. I got a lot of attention just towing my c500 from Kentucky to Oregon last month. Can't wait to start driving it.

[41husk]

I plan to get some pics of your cars in my yard before you leave Thursday morning.

[moparstuart]

I plan to get some pics of your cars in my yard before you leave Thursday morning.

load yours up on the trailer and come with us 
 

[41husk]

I would love to just can't take the days off.

[500Jon]

Safe trip Guys!
The C500 looks STUNNING!!!
Hope to see you in the future.
Limey 5J

[fc7_plumcrazy]

looks like a great trip.

Have fun !

Carsten

[Stevearino]

Somewhere in Idaho

Cool that you can see the wing of the car taking the picture in the beautiful sides of the 500.

[hergfest]

Ha, didn't even notice the reflection of the Bird on the 500.  We didn't make many miles today but toured a couple of outstanding collections today in Lincoln.  But first we stopped by Reed Koeppe in Kearney and saw his 76 Aspen factory backed AWD ralley car.  Drove to Lincoln and toured a 100+ car collection, then got a VIP tour of the Smith Auto Collection which was put together by the Speedway Motorsports founder.  Made it to the far side of Kansas City and will do some touristy things in St. Louis tomorrow then hopefully near Nashville for the night. 
Sunrise in Nebraska

[hergfest]

Smith Collection

[hergfest]

The Peeps

[hergfest]

Reed's Shop in Kearney, Chrysler Factory Race Colt

[hergfest]

The Hurst Shifter

[hergfest]

Lunch Pails at the Smith Collection

[hemi68charger]

Continued thanks for sharing........ Truly an adventure for sure........... 

[Ghoste]

Cool that you can see the wing of the car taking the picture in the beautiful sides of the 500.

Yeah, I did a "right click- save" on that one myself.

[hergfest]

Made it to Western KY last night. Did the Arch in St. Louis. Heading to Nashville then Atlanta for the night. Hope to see a lot of you in the morning!  A pic north of KC:

[hemi68charger]

Made it to Western KY last night. Did the Arch in St. Louis. Heading to Nashville then Atlanta for the night. Hope to see a lot of you in the morning!

Continued safe journey.... See ya Friday...

Troy

[XS29L9B2]

nice trip

[taxspeaker]

Any chance you are coming through Louisville on way back? I am working through Wednesday night but would love to bring 1,2 or even all 3 of our old Plymouths to meet up for pics Thursday the 29th? Looks like great trip, and like everyone else I love the reflection picture.
Thanks
Bob

[hergfest]

Sorry won't be going that way.  If the weather is OK looks like we will be doing I-10 on the way back.  This rain in Texas has us a little nervous.
Sorry, been way too busy to post updates.  I'll try and do one later.  All I can say is that if anyone missed this meet you should be kicking yourself.

[fc7_plumcrazy]

thanks for the pics

[hemi68charger]

Sorry won't be going that way.  If the weather is OK looks like we will be doing I-10 on the way back.  This rain in Texas has us a little nervous.
Sorry, been way too busy to post updates.  I'll try and do one later.  All I can say is that if anyone missed this meet you should be kicking yourself.

t

Yeap.. It was surely great !!!  Nice meeting the Seattle Posse.....

[hergfest]

Some video from the Atlanta Track Day...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87aVvtdh3iw

[hergfest]

We did the St. Louis Arch the next day.  Its under construction so we did a few detours to try and find the place.

[hergfest]

Wednesday we stopped by the American Picker Store in Nashville then cruised into Atlanta.

[hergfest]

Thursday at the Atlanta Motor Speedway was amazing.  We got two 15 minute sessions on the track.  The car I was riding in hit 100+ MPH at least once on the banks.  Everyone behaved themselves and had a blast.  I posted a video of the last session but here are some pics:



Drafting:

[hergfest]

We then cruised to Alexander City.  Made a stop in Warm Springs, GA, and toured the little White House
The lunch stop:

[hergfest]

Friday was at the Wellborn Estate.  Some pics:

[hergfest]

Saturday was at the Museum.  I was there in 09 for the Grand Opening and its still impressive six years later.  Inside:

[hergfest]

Outside:

[hergfest]

Sunday was at the track.  We left Alexander City at 7:15am and cruised up to the Speedway.  We had a State Trooper escort into the track and it took 15 minutes for all the cars and trailers to make it into the parking lot.

Doug on the big screen:



Video of the parade lap
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm9UUY-8-ko&feature=youtu.be

[hergfest]

I had Hot Passes for the race so I got to be on Pit Road.  Unfortunately it took forever to get to the "Secure Parking Lot" so we missed the 1st 10 laps of the race.  But still a really cool experience.
Kasey Kahne's Pit:

[hergfest]

We waited for traffic to clear out after the race then spent the night in Montgomery, AL.  Unfortunately the Daytona decided that they wanted to beat the traffic after the race to they left early, heading North.  The other two cars decided to head south.  The next morning we cruised down to Mobile to see the battleship Alabama.  We got caught up in the remnants of the hurricane and tropical moisture and hit some pretty bad rain.  The main drive to the battleship was closed due to water over the roadway so we went in the back way.  Unfortunately, there was also water there.  So what did we do?  We forded it.
The SuperSub:

500:

The Battleship complex was really cool.  They have an airplace museum and you can go on a WWII Submarine.

There is a walkway all around the ship and as you can see the sea was taking it back:

Here is some video I took just north of Mobile when we stopped for gas.  Ignore my stupid voice...haha
https://www.facebook.com/gary.hergert.9/videos/10203896893903193/

[hergfest]

Heading West we were going to do Bourbon Street in New Orleans but the lead car didn't make the turn so we ended up skipping it.  The next morning, Tuesday, we hit up Mopar Collectors Guide in Baton Rouge, LA.  Randy and Rob were both great and Rob took us out for lunch before we headed out.

[hergfest]

We only had one more destination we all wanted to hit before we went home and that was Carlsbad Caverns.  We scooted West making good time and staying in Abilene, TX, that night.  Made it to the Caverns around 1pm and it blew away my expectations.  You walk 850ft down into the earth.  And the best part is they have an elevator on the bottom to take you back out.  Totally worth the trip.

[hergfest]

We split from the 500 at this point.  They had to take Sean Machado back to Palm Desert and we wanted to get home.  Spent the 1st night in Alburquoque then Ontario, OR, the 2nd night getting home at 1pm on Friday.  Great trip and between the 3 cars zero breakdowns. 
More than half the cars at the reunion were trailered.  I challenge everyone who has a street wing car to drive them in 2019.  We just drove a 500, Daytona, and Superbird from Washington with zero breakdowns.  All three cars were road tested and sorted out before we left.  Its totally worth it, much more fun, and rewarding to be driving your old car.

[Homerr]

Wow!   ....and you have done a full wash of the underside after the foray in the water, right?!   

[skip68]

I love that picture of driving in the water.   Priceless memories. 
I just love seeing people actually drive their cars like they want to.  It's not abusing it, it's enjoying it to the fullest.     
Thanks for sharing.   

[Nwcharger]

We split from the 500 at this point.  They had to take Sean Machado back to Palm Desert and we wanted to get home.  Spent the 1st night in Alburquoque then Ontario, OR, the 2nd night getting home at 1pm on Friday.  Great trip and between the 3 cars zero breakdowns. 
More than half the cars at the reunion were trailered.  I challenge everyone who has a street wing car to drive them in 2019.  We just drove a 500, Daytona, and Superbird from Washington with zero breakdowns.  All three cars were road tested and sorted out before we left.  Its totally worth it, much more fun, and rewarding to be driving your old car.

When the 2019 meet comes around we need to get together and I'll join the northwest aero car convoy. Would like to have the Daytona on the road by then. If not the 500 will be for sure. 

[daytonalo]

I assume that was salt water ?

[WINGIN IT]

I assume that was salt water ?

What he said 

[djcarguy]

MORE PIX ??  Sorry    an how miles did ya guys log on this trip??  

[hergfest]

More pics on the reunion facebook page.  It was over 6,300 miles Round Trip.