Chevy & GMC Vans

Day Two - Saturday June 5th
Woke up at 4AM, hoping to be rolling by 5AM, missed our time by 15 minutes. First bit of road had us on Route 66, made it about 5-6 miles before my dad lets me know that there is a rather warm puddle at his feet. He suggested turning around and returning to Chenoa while we still could. I made a uey, traveled a couple hundred yards then pulled the van over thinking it's just the heater core, we don't need that. Opened the hood, looked over the hoses and saw that they were held in place with spring clips. Removed both hoses from the heater core and the upper one at the block, then routed the lower hose back to the block to discover that GM used two different diameter hoses the smaller of which was still connected to the block. I compared the two hose diameters and thought that I might get lucky and have the small stretch enough it go on the bigger fitting. After a few attempts the hose slid tightly in place, but the smaller spring clamp wouldn't fit. Had to pull the hose back off to use one of the spring clips from the bigger hose. Once attached, I grabbed the emergency gallon of water and filled the reservoir. About a 20-25 minute fix and we were back on the road.

Not long after I was glad my dad applied the Rain-X. Heavy rain came down across eastern Illinois and western Indiana, and rain was common for most of our trip east. Our first stop was in Indianapolis, IN, first at a Kroger for lunch supplies and gas, then at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to take a picture of Grumpy in front of the sign. I thought about a side trip to Morrow as we passed through Ohio, but it added to much time to the day's drive. Since we were passing near Hershey, PA a detour was made for a pic, which made for some wrong turns and fun driving as a result.

Back on the interstate we pushed on, it was getting dark and my dad didn't like the idea of reaching NYC at midnight and finding a place to park and sleep. Just inside the Jersey border we pulled off into a Travel America, went inside to get ready for bed, then set the van up for sleeping. Circled the TA lot looking for a darker spot, but the only dark I could find was out back by the semis, which for some reason at this TA was off limits. My dad saw a indicator for a welcome center/rest area up ahead, so we drove to it. Turned out to be one of the no facilities/dark pull-offs that mostly truckers use. I've slept in these before so I pulled the van into a spot at the far end near the ramp. Not sooner had I shut off the engine than we see a police car cruising through, shining the spot light all over the place. Of course it ends on beat up old Grumpy. The officer gets out of his car, comes up to the window, in a huff and asks what I'm doing here. Being honest I replied that I was hoping to get some sleep before heading into NYC in the morning. Turns out that this rest area is a gay-prostitute hot spot, it had just reported that someone was running around naked and at that moment I was suspect number one. Great. Two more squads show up. Living out an episode of Cops, I get asked out of the vehicle to be questioned separately from my father to see if our stories match while another cop is flashing his light in the van asking why there is a bed in the back. The cops huddle together match our stories and after warning me that I better not be the naked guy that we can go ahead and sleep there. Yeah, right. My dad gets on the GPS and finds a couple hotels nearby, we pulled in behind a Holiday Inn and slept. This one night experience ending the van camping for the trip.

LMAO keep the stories coming bro

Aaron.......... Great story. Only funny if it turns out OK. Cops are such a PITA.

At least they didn't catch you while you were running around naked. Whew!

Day Three - Sunday June 6th - BABE Rally Day 0
Sleeping in the van we woke early. My dad headed into the Holiday Inn for the morning restroom visit and returned with coffee and the morning paper. We had breakfast at a Cracker Barrel then headed into NYC, destination Miss Liberty. After cruising through The Holland Tunnel, (best way into the city for a couple of Dutch boys) we cruised to Battery Park. Not able to find good street parking we pulled into a parking garage and although empty, drove all the way to the top to park. View is always better from the top. We rode the ferry to Liberty Island took a walk around, then headed to Ellis Island. It was really cool to tour the main building and read the descriptions and stories of those that passed through there. My father had previously checked the records and found a few of our ancestors had been there, one of them several times on his journeys for business. Ellis Island has a newer feature called The American Immigrant Wall of Honor, where we found a few family members listed. Back through The Holland Tunnel, we headed to a location that we could get a pic of Grumpy with The Statue of Liberty in the background. That done we drove towards The Staten Island Ferry. We originally planned on riding the ferry round trip, but had spent more time on Ellis then planned. Instead we set opened the van's slider, set out a chair and had lunch as we watched the ships go by.

Tourist stuff over we started on The BABE Rally content. First stop was the traditional starting point of The BABE Rally, The Staten Island Hotel. The rally was supposed to start here again this year, but a bankruptcy sale and restructuring closed the hotel and had the organizers scrambling to find a new host hotel. After a photo of Grumpy in front of the hotel's sign, we headed to the Philadelphia Airport Hilton. Upon arrival we noticed a few beat and decorated cars as the wrecks were rolling in already. Meeting up with the organizers, we set up in the lobby and started checking in teams. Meanwhile my dad used Priceline to get us room at the Sheridan a couple building away. Shortly after 11 we closed registration for the night, having checked in roughly 3/4 of the teams, but knowing that a few more are running behind and will check in the next morning. Cruising the lot proved that several glorious wrecks had infected the Hilton's parking lot. Grumpy fit in quite well.

Aaron any updates, is the rally over? did Grumpy make it?

Yeah, we made it need to spend time writing about it and editing photos.