'67 Duetto on rally at St Ann's church near Washington MO
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'67 Duetto on rally at St Ann's church near Washington MO |
It all started at John and Willa Fitzgerald’s for breakfast, coffee and the beginning of good Alfa talk. My GTV, of course, decided it needed some attention, so it turned on its alternator light on the way to John and Willa’s to get it. It turned out the cover on the voltage regulator had come loose, and only required refitting and retaping. John loaned me a spare just in case, a sure way to keep from having problems with it.
We decided to take the northern route for a change, mapped out a course and charge on with Gene and Patricia Patton in that other Spider in the lead we were never so glad to get off the Interstate, traffic was not fun. Tops and/or windows down we charged down the back roads.
High points of getting to Hermann: A lady in Higginsville asked if there was a car function going on, we said yes in Washington. When she gave us the puzzled look, we responded with “we have all day to get there”. She smiled. As typical for Alfa trips, the group got separated, and the second half unwittingly arrived at the pre-Boonville truck stop before the first. It seems there were two slightly different routes around or through Marshall, and the second group bypassed the first without knowing it. Phyllis’ spiders low fuel pressure light was temporarily cured with a full tank of gas. Once past Jefferson City John F. decided the group was not going fast enough, and took the lead. When Barb saw it she said “Go with him, I am ready to get there”. And away we went.
K. Brawley and T. Zeiters at Blumenhof Winery |
Once at Hermann things slowed down. We had lunch at Hermannhof, and bought wine there, and at Stone Hill and Roebler Vineyands. Team Phyllis and Bruce, seemed be one tasting behind Team Barb and Glenn, closely followed by team Maridee and Bob, and Sharon and Albert. Roebler was the last stop before Washington. We sat on a hill overlooking the countryside sipping a small glass of wine with a peAs pleasant as it was, we went on the hotel and met with the rest of the group, and our St Louis friends. Dinner was outside with a good view of the river. As nice as that was, it was exceeded with a good meal that was priced night.
The next day was a tour of an interesting used car lot. Actually this is a misnomer This used car dealership, Wilson Motor Company, contained dozens of cool and unusual cars indoors. There were three Ferraris, two Shelby Mustangs, a Yanko Stinger Corvair, an Avanti, a Lotus 7 and a ’58 Fairlane convertible just to mention a few. The ’75 914 that was there only had 22k miles on it, and the ’53 MG-TC was a one owner car.
The rally followed, Mike and Sue Houser organized a really great rally, on some wonderful roads. Bob and I put 110 miles on the car to do a 50 mile rally. Needless to say we got lost once or twice, due to our own fault, but we felt the rally was great (the main reason will follow). The rally ended at a winery as usual, this time Blumenhof in Dutzow across the river from Washington. Bob and I were the last ones in. The group went to Walt and Marian Hatchers’ next, where the art contest was held. Viewing the river and Alfas made for a real pleasant afternoon and time seemed to go all too quickly. It was tough leaving to clean up for the banquet. The banquet was good, and the KC group seemed to clean up on the door prizes. [KC Editor’s note: well, most of the Kansas City group did. Your editor got the last door prize, an Alfa door key blank, one so rare that nobody else among 40 Alfisti wanted it. I’d always wanted a rare Alfa...]
R. Hirsch, JD Crownover, & R. Coldewe at Wilson Motors, Washington, MO |
Sunday morning something different happened. It did not rain. It was kinda cool having the autocross and Contours with sunshine. It was another wonderful morning of pretend racing, and looking at beautiful Alfas.
The awards brunch followed. The Kansas City group did well: Bob and I got first on the rally, followed by John Fitzgerald and Albert, and the Hatchers’ in third. Rich and Janet Hirsch won frst in concours with theiy Arno and Martha Leskinens’ ’92 Spider, and in third David LeMasters’ ’84 spider, of the spectacular alarm system and paint job. The autocross was won by JD Crownover, followed by Crash Beckendite and Terry Zeiters. The Shades of the Serpent art contest winners were Marian Hatcher, Sue Houser and Janet Hirsch. A tip of the shift lever to Sue Houser on the trophies - they were once again great.
The trip back was the basic blast home, a few took the back roads while others took the interstate. The weather held and we had no rain until we got home. A big tip of the shift lever goes to the St Louis group for another wonderful weekend. The only bad thing is it went way too fast.