May 5 & 6: Two days different than we planned, but really great anyway. After being towed in to the hotel in Springfield, IL, and deposited in the foremost parking site where everyone who came to the hotel had to walk right past Aardvark. It was a SUNDAY; we called for help from the FFR community and anyone else with ideas. Mark Dougherty and Jeff Kleiner sprung into action on the phone, with suggestions for a DIY repair which squared with my idea for a fix. We bought some material and tools from a local hardware store, then stopped by a HUGE car show at “Motorhead’s Bar & Grill”, met Motorhead’s owner through a Factory Five owner who was showing his Cobra. He loaned us a heavy-duty floor jack and some jackstands, so we hustled back to repair Aardvark at the hotel. Nice things kept happening: A traveling nurse, named JET, walked by and wanted to help with the clutch actuation repair … he was an old motorcycle gear head and handy with wrenches AND crawling around under the car! We were eventually successful with fabricating the needed repair part, and got the clutch working enough to drive it to a professional shop for more refined solutions once MONDAY rolled around. How to kill time waiting for Monday to come? Ride folding bikes around Springfield, IL, State Capital and home of Abraham Lincoln! We found the enormous grotesque statute of a young Abe holding an ax, called Rail Splitter Lincoln. AND the State Fairgrounds had a small replica of all Route 66 sights in Illinois…gotta see that.
Monday, May 6, we drove to two repair places, and hit pay dirt with Dennis McQuinn, a hardcore race driver and serious race car builder. We explained the problem, he put Aardvark on a huge lift to work underneath, and we both decided the best solution was to cut some steel out of the bell housing, which was interfering with operation of the clutch arm. BOOM: Dennis pulled out his acetylene torch and burned the offending steel away! Clutch now works perfect! So we went looking at all his trophies, race photos, and one of his prize race cars, a pristine drag-racing prepped 1967 Corvette he’s owned & raced more than 40 years. Sweet!
We loaded up all our gear and hit the road with our three cars, intending to make up for the lost days by driving hard to catch up with our schedule. About 550 miles today, I think. We did it, no problems arose, but we DID have an amazing experience. A small sedan was following us on the superhighway, and continued when we pulled off on a side road, then into an empty parking lot. Turns out, the folks in the car noticed our Cystic Fibrosis graphics on the car , and wanted to meet us somehow, because their daughter Samantha in the car with them is a Cystic Fibrosis survivor! WOW, we were blown away. Samantha was a delight to talk with, and knew all about CFF, Team Boomer and Boomer Esiason Foundation. We gave everyone Team Boomer bracelets, and brochures about the c3on66.org mission, and any other swag we could think of. What wonderful folks. This was another of the incredible encounters we continue to experience on this trip!
We hit the road hard again after leaving Samantha and her family, and finally made it to our hotel in Tulsa. The ONLY Route 66 tourist site we got to visit today was the BLUE WHALE just outside Tulsa. Mitch took some fantastic pics, so I’ll let him show you our experience there much better. We made it to the hotel tonight, just missing a huge storm front moving through the area, causing a tornado watch… Lucky guys again! Tomorrow, big plans to meet old friends, and make new ones.
