The Road to ZookiMelt 2004with Bill Johnston
It all started pretty innocently, a family trip to the 2004 ZookiMelt. Almost 1600 miles each way with my wife, 2 teenagers and a 3 month old puppy. Prayed for no tornadoes this year, but forgot to ask for no rain. It still turned out to be well worth the trip!
If a bottle cap tells you “A thrilling time is in your immediate future”, then you know its gotta be true!
Driving cross country can show you some great Americana. Too bad we made by the Big Texan (Amarillo, Texas) in the morning, they have great steak that is known nationwide. They serve a 72 oz. steak that you can get for free as long as you finish it (and all the fixins) in an hour…
The literature said this was the largest free standing cross in the western hemisphere… then we found another on the second day that looked just as big.
We also found this Chevy El Camino with the ‘monstrously oversized roof mounted rooster’ option. The owners turned it to their advantage by making the nine foot tall cluck-mobile into a rolling billboard for their restaurant. Aren’t they lucky that it worked out that way?
We past a truck that had been pulling a camper until it suddenly caught fire. Although our windows were all closed tightly and the air conditioner was going full blast – we could still feel the heat as we passed the flaming mess. Looked like everyone was OK, but I felt bad for the owner. When I finally made it into the land of corn (Illinois), I knew we were almost there. Attica, Indiana is only about 20 miles east of the Illinois border. So The only casualties for the trip were a couple of trailer tires. One turned out to be a great pelt for the trophy wall and the other went to pieces. Pieces so plentiful that we couldn’t find enough on the road to pick up.
Despite the rain, this was another great ZookiMelt. Well worth the trip to wheel with friends that I have met over the years.
08/11/10 15:33:16
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