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Indiana Cool Roads Cruise--November 3-4


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Hi folks.....I was tinkering with the idea of doing a southern Indiana Fall foliage cruise before the end of October. It would be driving-instensive, with a couple stops here & there on some of the best roads macadam has to offer. Looking for feedback from anyone interested. Please let me know your thoughts if you could do a 1 day or 2 day cruise, and which weekend you'd prefer, the weekend of October 20-21 or October 27-28. Once I hear from those I think would be interested, then I'll come up with something in forms of a route. I've already got some sections of route figured out for a solid one day cruise, but if there's interest in a two dayer, then I have some ideas about expanding it from there. Thanks!

 

For a sampling of a similar trip my Corvair club took last year on some of the same roads, there are some pics in the Gallery here.

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Here's a funny thing. A fellow from Colorado who went to IU in the 60s visited my Web site today and wrote to say he remembers noodling around the roads in southern Indiana back when, and how his favorite was southwest from Bedford through Williams on the White River -- i.e., SR 450! He said there was a little cafe in Williams where you could get catfish, which wasn't as common then as now.

 

Anyway, neither of those weekends work for me. I couldn't make it until November sometime, unfortunately, and even then the scheduling is tight. :-(

 

jim

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Hi folks.....I was tinkering with the idea of doing a southern Indiana Fall foliage cruise before the end of October. It would be driving-instensive, with a couple stops here & there on some of the best roads macadam has to offer. Looking for feedback from anyone interested. Please let me know your thoughts if you could do a 1 day or 2 day cruise, and which weekend you'd prefer, the weekend of October 20-21 or October 27-28. Once I hear from those I think would be interested, then I'll come up with something in forms of a route. I've already got some sections of route figured out for a solid one day cruise, but if there's interest in a two dayer, then I have some ideas about expanding it from there. Thanks!

 

For a sampling of a similar trip my Corvair club took last year on some of the same roads, there are some pics in the Gallery here.

 

 

We could make it this weekend but next weekend, 27th and 28th, would be better for us. We prefer the two-day cruise as long as we're out and about. Please let us know asap. Thanks.

 

Cruisin' out to St. James tomorrow for an overnight at Finn's and a visit to Johnny's on one of our infamous tailgating outings....Bliss

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Upon further review, this may be too short of notice to get a significant crowd. There are a lot of great roads down there, and I'd hate for a lot of you to miss it because of the weekend it fell on. How does everyone's early November weekends look? Maybe first weekend....11/3-11/4? There's a family obligation the second weekend, so we couldn't go then (unless the boss tells me otherwise). Once you hit the third weekend, weather starts to get iffy, but not out of the question. Of course come November it'll no longer be considered a Fall Foliage Cruise as the foliage will long be gone, but something more like a Cool Roads Cruise. B)

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If it's a one-day cruise, I would do my level best to make it on 11/3. I'd bring my sons along, however, so I'd have to skip the wine at the end, if that's still part of the plan. jim

 

Just about the only plan in place would be the route. Everything else is just secondary. ;) Do you think the kids would be interested in a tour of the West Baden Springs Hotel in French Lick? If there's enough interest, I'd love to see the place as an actual functioning business. The last tour would be 4pm, but we should be able to get there in plenty of time.

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Since it now appears we have a cruise in the works, this thread's now pinned! I've got confirmations from Bliss, Denny, and mobilene for the weekend of November 3-4, 2007. As of now, we're planning on having a little gathering at our house Friday, Cruise Night Eve, in Speedway. Anyone coming from out of town may wish to stay at the Brickyard Crossing Inn, outside of Turn 2 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I'll be getting rate info for that night and will put it in a subsequent post. Saturday, the crew will depart Speedway and head for the first leg of our Cool Roads Cruise, IN-58 at the I-65 interchange. The only other part that is planned thus far is an overnight at French Lick, IN, for those wishing to spend the night. I've got the Lane Motel earmarked (unless you wish to spend $$$ at the French Lick Springs Resort) for the overnighter, and I'll be contacting them in the next couple of days for rate info & availability. Upon our arrival at French Lick, we're planning on touring the historic West Baden Springs Hotel. More details to follow....keep it right here!

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**UPDATE**

 

I called a couple of motels last night and this is what we've got. The Brickyard Crossing (for those coming into Indy on Friday) is $70 ($65 with AAA). The number there is 317-241-2500 and web site is here:Brickyard. This motel has some history to it, as the Beatles stayed here in '64, and several scenes from the 1969 movie "Winning" (Paul Newman, Robert Wagoner, Joanne Woodward) were filmed here. It's also not long for this world, as the area around the speedway will undergo redevelopment over the next 4 years, and the Brickyard Crossing Inn will go by the wayside. If that's too pricey for anyone, I'd look into priceline.com. We have very good luck getting a good room "for cheap" with them.

 

Saturday night's lodging is a little more sparse. Lane's Motel in French Lick is probably going to be our best bet, unless you want to hand over $229 at the French Lick Springs Resort. :wacko: Lane's is $66 (tax included) and as of 10/18, they have ample rooms for November 3. Their website is here: Lane's Motel.

 

The last piece of the puzzle is to verify the tour of the West Baden Springs Hotel. I'm contacting Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana (the folks who run the tours) to verify the tour schedule in November.

 

We hope to get a bunch of you on the forum to join us....it's open to any & all! We had 8 members for our "Bourbon & Coke" cruise in Kentucky in April, and we really hope to surpass that number. But the main point of this upcoming cruise is the pure joy of driving on some twisty two-lane roads in southern Indiana, which traverse through farmlands as well as the Hoosier National Forest. If you have any questions, just let me know! You can contact me at roadmaven@aol.com.

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**UPDATE**

 

This motel has some history to it, as the Beatles stayed here in '64, and several scenes from the 1969 movie "Winning" (Paul Newman, Robert Wagoner, Joanne Woodward) were filmed here. It's also not long for this world, as the area around the speedway will undergo redevelopment over the next 4 years, and the Brickyard Crossing Inn will go by the wayside. If that's too pricey for anyone, I'd look into priceline.com. We have very good luck getting a good room "for cheap" with them.

 

They also serve a great breakfast at a pretty good value! They have a buffet available for $6.95, but for $1 less, you still get an ample portion if you order "The Brickyard," which consists of two eggs, hash browns, bacon or sausage, three silver dollar pancakes and toast or biscuits. Perhaps we can meet there for breakfast before we leave? :ready2eat:

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**UPDATE**

 

I called a couple of motels last night and this is what we've got. The Brickyard Crossing (for those coming into Indy on Friday) is $70 ($65 with AAA). The number there is 317-241-2500 and web site is here:Brickyard. This motel has some history to it, as the Beatles stayed here in '64, and several scenes from the 1969 movie "Winning" (Paul Newman, Robert Wagoner, Joanne Woodward) were filmed here. It's also not long for this world, as the area around the speedway will undergo redevelopment over the next 4 years, and the Brickyard Crossing Inn will go by the wayside. If that's too pricey for anyone, I'd look into priceline.com. We have very good luck getting a good room "for cheap" with them.

 

Saturday night's lodging is a little more sparse. Lane's Motel in French Lick is probably going to be our best bet, unless you want to hand over $229 at the French Lick Springs Resort. :wacko: Lane's is $66 (tax included) and as of 10/18, they have ample rooms for November 3. Their website is here: Lane's Motel.

 

The last piece of the puzzle is to verify the tour of the West Baden Springs Hotel. I'm contacting Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana (the folks who run the tours) to verify the tour schedule in November.

 

We hope to get a bunch of you on the forum to join us....it's open to any & all! We had 8 members for our "Bourbon & Coke" cruise in Kentucky in April, and we really hope to surpass that number. But the main point of this upcoming cruise is the pure joy of driving on some twisty two-lane roads in southern Indiana, which traverse through farmlands as well as the Hoosier National Forest. If you have any questions, just let me know! You can contact me at roadmaven@aol.com.

 

 

 

I'm phoning this morning for a reservation at the Brickyard on Friday the 2nd and for another at Lane's on Saturday the 3rd.

 

Haven't actually finalized plans as yet but it appears we may leave STL on Thursday the 1st and do the National Road to Marshall, IL. More National Road on Friday to Speedway. Sunday will probably find us heading south to I-64 from French Lick for our return to STL.

 

Looking forward to it and sure hope we have a beautiful weekend weather wise. If not, we'll still have a great time!...Bliss

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Saturday after my Corvair club meeting, we journeyed south and scouted our 11/3 route, while mixing in a little bit of geocaching along the way. We finally got to French Lick sometime after 7pm and the resort was buzzing. It's amazing how the place has grown in the last couple of years with the addition of the French Lick Casino. So busy that upon checking at the resort for room rates for 11/3 (for the benefit of a potential cruiser who's always wanted to stay there), and all 450 rooms were booked for that night. So needless to say, things are going well in French Lick, which is a good thing, as it resides in Orange County, which is the poorest of the 92 Indiana counties.

 

While there, we booked our room at Lane's Motel. Based on the gal's reservation log, we were about the 5th person booked for that night, so there are plenty of rooms left at Lane's. Sadly, the Villager Restaurant in town closed last month, so we'll have to find a new breakfast spot for Sunday. Saturday night's vittles is up in the air right now. Both the French Lick and the West Baden Hotels each have several new restaurants. We also found a little hole-in-the-wall bar/grill in "downtown" French Lick.

 

Jennifer put up some of Saturday's photos online. There's still plenty of green left in the trees down there, so I'm sure we'll still have some good colors come cruising time in two weeks. The reason for the cemetery photos is because several of our geocaches were planted at several cemeteries. Enjoy!

Scouting Trip

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I was out and about in southern Ohio this weekend and a high percentage of trees were still green. I'm thinking that we might be fairly lucky regarding color in a couple of weeks. Yep, it is somewhat noticable that your new hobby has you hanging out in cemeteries a bit more than usual.

 

Do you anticipate any group travel on Sunday or will it be strictly a "headin' home" day?

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Do you anticipate any group travel on Sunday or will it be strictly a "headin' home" day?

 

If there's interest, I thought of doing a little more crusing up until about lunch time. I thought I'd gauge interest in leaving F.L. Sunday morning and meandering our way along the Ohio River and maybe having an early lunch at the Moonlite BBQ in Owensboro, KY. That might require skipping a big breakfast that morning. From there, it's probably no more than a 3-4 hour drive home for any of us. Any BBQ fans out there?? :ready2eat:

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Any BBQ fans out there??
Sounds like a KipTrip.

 

DeLorme says it's about a four hour drive for me but I can handle it. Of course, it routes me right through Dale, which is on IN-62, which will be fearsomely tempting, which would be longer than four hours. It might just be weather that makes that decision.

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Wow! Tony George would be pleased to hear you're staying at his motel.....maybe we'll get you to an IRL race yet!
:o You didn't tell me that Tony owned the joint. I may have to reconsider.

 

I've actually been to one IRL race in Florida and I've even visited Tony's home once post-CART for an F1 race. I've never been to a NASCAR race but my one IRL experience was in the early days when the cars sounded like NASCAR so I figure that was close enough. :)

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Unfortunately, I'm going to have to back out of the weekend trip. I had to have my water heater repaired yesterday and the bill made it not make sense to take a pleasure trip this weekend. :angry: I hope you all have a grand time -- should be a great autumn day -- and I hope to join in on a trip with everyone in the spring. jim

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Unfortunately, I'm going to have to back out of the weekend trip. I had to have my water heater repaired yesterday and the bill made it not make sense to take a pleasure trip this weekend. :angry: I hope you all have a grand time -- should be a great autumn day -- and I hope to join in on a trip with everyone in the spring. jim

 

Ain't home ownership grand?? :jk: If your Friday night's free, we're heading to Union Jack for some grub. We'll be there around 7:30-ish. If you can make it, send me a PM and I'll give you our numbers.

 

We're looking at an Illinois/Indiana National Road Cruise sometime in April '08. It'll be a fine way to kick off the '08 driving season. Aside from the usual cast of misfits, I'm hoping we can get Bucfan, Hudsonly Alex, Road Dog, Kip, the Repps, and (laying down the gauntlet) one KtSotR. And should the man from the northwest make it, I'll buy him breakfast at The Diner and we can discuss the differences between diners and cafes face to face. :ready2eat: But as usual, THESE CRUISES ARE OPEN TO EVERYONE! And it's not too late for anyone to join us for one or both days this weekend.

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We're looking at an Illinois/Indiana National Road Cruise sometime in April '08. It'll be a fine way to kick off the '08 driving season. Aside from the usual cast of misfits, I'm hoping we can get Bucfan, Hudsonly Alex, Road Dog, Kip, the Repps, and (laying down the gauntlet) one KtSotR. And should the man from the northwest make it, I'll buy him breakfast at The Diner and we can discuss the differences between diners and cafes face to face. :ready2eat: But as usual, THESE CRUISES ARE OPEN TO EVERYONE! And it's not too late for anyone to join us for one or both days this weekend.

 

 

We're headin' out for Indy in an hour or so and are excited about the Cool Roads Cruise, along with the fine weather that's been forecast and cruisin' with the usual cast of misfits again. We plan to do mostly slabbing but I know that old 40 will be calling to us and nearly impossible to resist.

 

Bring on the National Road Cruise next April! We'll be there and will attempt to entice some of the other STL cruisers to join in....Bliss

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Day one, all done.

Great fun, some sun.

Hot dog bun. My sister's a nun.

 

http://www.dennygibson.com/indfall07/index.htm

 

 

Well, it looks like you guys were having as much fun as adults can have with their cloths on! :rolleyes:

 

Jennifer leading the gang on a geocaching adventure in a graveyard......she must have been a fun date! :lol:

 

From the one tree on the pictures, it looks like fall is still hanging around. That fascinates me as here in Washington, we are watching the last leaves drop.

 

Did you know that they have tied sensitive microphones next to these last leaves and recorded the sound as they finally let go? Even with the best of microphones they aren’t sure whether it shouts “Geronimo!” or “I’m letting go......”

 

Keep the Show on the Road

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