The Stovebolt Site Forums The Side Lot Southern Bolters On the Road with PaPa Joe.

Wrap Up... We can put another event in the Books, this was more of a Pilgrimage than a show. I started out in South Georgia, on to Statesville NC, from there to Alcoa TN and finally Franklin Indiana.. A whirlwind to say the least.

The trip up to Franklin marked a couple Buckets List items for PaPa Joe. "Old Blue " had a true road test with the T5 Transmission upgrade(a thank you to Lugnutz), and it cemented his trust in his Truck. "Old Blue" performed flawlessly, we went up I-40 and I-75 in 5th gear, never needed to grab 4th. We averaged just over 14 MPG even with all the climbing. We didn't use any Oil and had no major issues.

We had a great time at the 10th Annual AD Nationals. We met up with some Old friends and made some new ones. Set over breakfast talking with Mark (Just Mark), Tom (1954 MI) and father Jim was a great way to start the morning. We enjoyed some beautiful weather throughout the weekend.

There was no shortage of Trucks on hand. I counted 12 inline 6 powered Trucks, the most I have seen at any show. The abundance of Stovebolts is encouraging, many owners are choosing to keep things simple. The quality of the Trucks on hand was fantastic. Many were built by Folks just like us.

Friday afternoon we were afforded the opportunity to visit a private collection of vintage Muscle and Race Cars. The collection was absolutely overwhelming. The Driver's names on many of the cars was a history lesson in itself. A J Foyt, Mario Andretti, David Pearson..WOW! Even the cars in the shop area had prestige, one had once belonged to Steve McQueen.

That evening those in attendance were treated to true Southern BBQ. The Blalock folks from Calhoun GA pulled a smoker behind their 1950 AD just to cook supper. A 110 LBS of pulled pork and baked beans..

Saturday morning found us at the Swap Meet. Treasures were everywhere just waiting for a new home. More Trucks came into the show grounds. We had time to take pictures and talk with the owners. The event drew to a close with the presentation of awards. Our own John Lowery took "Best Big Truck" for his flatbed, Congratulations John..

PaPa Joe and I said our "So longs" and headed out. Down through Louisville, stopping overnight in Knoxville. Sunday morning found us on the road again, I-40 is getting pretty familiar. About 1:00 we pulled into PaPa Joe’s driveway in Statesville. I still had another 350 miles to go. All told "Old Blue" had traversed 1181 miles, it was deserving of a good rest.

I got to Brunswick about 6:30, worn out, beat down , and HAPPY. Another great adventure with my Stovebolt family...