OK, Here is the story and pics of the road trip to Indy 8-28-12.
We left the house at 4:45 AM and headed to Indy. We were going to pick up a couple sewing machines at the GW pickup place there.
The trip was uneventful until just before the Indiana border. We had a huge tractor trailer rig come up behind us that wanted to pass. I was cruising at 70 ish and bumped it up to 75 but he still caught up with me. So since he couldn't move right I had to move left to the white line to let him by.
As usual we stopped at the first rest stop just inside the IN border. The big thing that passed us was there but we never did find out what he was carrying. It was a very large square thing on a low boy trailer. All wrapped up in white plastic.
We headed out and didn't get more than a mile or two when the traffic flow just came to a sudden slow down. We saw there was two Indiana State Police cruisers doing a rolling road block. For some 20 minutes or so we crept along between 25 and 35 MPH. Tractor trailer, 4 or 5 cars, tractor trailer, 4 or 5 cars for as far as we could see. Finally we got a glimpse of what was causing all this nonsense. Another very wide load. It was part of the tower to one of those windmill generators that's popping up all over the place.
A precede car, then two IN State Police cars then the big then, then two more IN SP cars then a follow car.
We got past this and and got back up to speed and maybe 10 miles down the road saw one of the traffic warning signs that said there was a traffic slow down ahead due to an accident clean up. Slow down is a fib, we eventually came to a dead stop and sat there for 15 minutes.
There was vehicles sitting to the front as far as I could see:
And to the rear as far as I could see:
When we finally got to the accident site they were just getting to towing away the trailer and the chassis of the tractor that was involved in the accident. Only the chassis, no cab, no engine, no transmission, only the chassis with the trailer still coupled up to it. Weird. I was driving and could not get pics of that, my wife wasn't ready with the camera and got a view of a worker through the windshield.
After that we had no further troubles on the road.
Got to GW about 9:30 or so I think. And picked up our machines:
Aldens;
American Home:
When we left there my wife got on the phone with Miriam and she gave us directions to her shop.
We got there after a very scenic trip on the outer loop freeway - I think it would have been quicker to just drive across town but freeways are nice. I love dodging early morning, half asleep drivers.
At the shop I have to admit I was a bit over whelmed. Miriam's got more machines and cabinets in her shop than my LSMG and he's been there for over 30 years. I did take a few pics of her stash, but I can't post them
. We had a really great visit. Saw some interesting machines and one in particular, a silver Sewmor 404 that I all but drooled over. I want one like that some day.
We bought a Singer cabinet someone had painted white. It will be stripped and refinished .... Oh Glennnnnn, HELP!
And Miriam gave me a derelict WIZARD brand Japanese ZZ machine. It is rusted up in the needle bar end and has a broken hinge on the bobbin hook part. I suspect this might be one even I can't resurrect. But I've already got some parts off of it in the Evapo-Rust. And the rest of it is out in the garage soaking in oil.
After the visit we went to Yummies restaurant and ate. Different and good stuff. It was all I needed to satisfy my hunger. After sitting there eating and talking for quite a while we headed to the Salvation Army and rooted around there. After sitting in the Pathfinder for so long I wasn't moving very fast and Miriam beat me and my wife into the store. Before I got 10' into the store I'm pretty sure she had almost everything sewing related inventoried. She pointed out a blond Singer 4 drawer e-machine cabinet, we bought it. I didn't really want it, but my wife did. My wife was looking for any sewing accessories along the back wall and I was looking at the cabinet when Miriam found the Elna. Before my brain could process what she was so happy about she had picked it up, cradled it in her arms and was giving it a good look see. After paying for the cabinet and some small storage containers we had to rearrange the disaster in the Pathfinder to get it all in. But we did it.
We then went to the DAV thrift store only to find they had moved. At that point Elaine and I checked the clock and considering how tired we were we decided to call it a day and head home.
We said our good byes to Miriam and hit the freeway out. HA!!!!!!!
As we circled around the 74 West exit we ran straight into the 5:00 PM freeway rush hour:
It felt just like driving in the freeways in Phoenix. I felt right at home.
Just under 4 hours later we were home. Got to see a really nice sunset too:
I was cruising along at 75 MPH when Elaine opened the window and stuck my camera out side to get the pic.
I was not really thrilled at that. If she'd have dropped it I would have cried.
We made it home before it was totally dark. WOW!
We unloaded the Pathfinder Wednesday and took a pic of the goodies:
The white cabinet with the Aldens in it with the blond cabinet setting behind it with the American Home on top of that. The derelict Wizard machine is setting in the Pathfinder.
That was two days ago. Since then I have been fixing things. The case for the American Home had a bad bottom. It literally fell apart. I reglued that. Looks horrible (somebody painted it chocolate brown) but it works now. I had to rewire the motor on the American Home, and rewire the light on the Aldens. The Aldens needed a spool peg and a replacement bobbin winder tension, and a new belt. We found that out when we were testing it out last night and the rubber belt broke.
The American Home needed a bobbin case and still needs a belt. The rubber one on it was cracked so I put one of my used ones on for now.
Both will get new belts later today.
Well, I'm not a tease, never was too good at that. Just been busy. Hope you enjoyed the trip story and pics.
Joe