In a message dated 06/21/2001 9:44:43 AM Mountain Daylight Time, kcook@signalgraphics-hou.com writes: > <<Call it Coors.>> CALL IT "ROCKY MOUNTAIN KOOL-ADE !!" ) Well, whatever. Dave Ross

On 21 Jun 2001, at 12:05, Newtross@aol.com wrote: > In a message dated 06/21/2001 9:44:43 AM Mountain Daylight Time, > kcook@signalgraphics-hou.com writes: > > > > <<Call it Coors.>> CALL IT "ROCKY MOUNTAIN KOOL-ADE !!" ) > Well, whatever. I'll tell you guys something. No way am I going to touch a drop of alcohol in that for us unusually high athmosphere. I spent time at a meeting once in Timberland Lodge on Mt Hood. Had a Gin & Tonic and felt pretty good. Had another one and thought I was going to die. :-) I became unbelievably sick and had a hangover which cured any further such adventures with even limited alcohol intake. In the Grand Canyon area I also got sick, was vomiting like crazy and had one hell of a smashing headache to boot. No alcohol there - just too much thin air. :-) This time around I'd like to take precautions and I'll go with plenty of water for now. While I'm here - today we arrived in Columbia and witnessed the lunch break for the www.GreatAmerica.com race from Atlanta to Pasadena. We spoke with some of the drivers and took lots of pictures. There were all kinds of cars involved from a 1949 VW to those big giant road and racing machines of the 1910s. It had been raining earlier and these open air cars present a special challenge to the drivers and navigators. The directions sort of bleed in the rain. It's all about accurate speedometers, odometers and clocks. Top prize is $250,000. Basic entry fee is $5K, a sponsorship is $10K. With expenses we figured that you can't run the race for less then $25-30K. The team my friend was taking to lunch as a sponsor was on the third of three water pumps and they were just hoping that their three mechanics could either locate another one of fix one f the old ones. All the critical parts which drive the cars have to be original. But I can tell you this, those cars all purred like little kittens. They probably run better now then they did brand new. They are babied nd rebuilt while the driver/navigator team sleeps each night. Fred PS BTW the History Channel is the main sponsor of this annual event and they show this on TV also but I don't know when. PPS I just read through the program book we bought. There are no odometers allowed but the speedometers are accurate to 1/4 of a mile per hour. Tires are nitrogen gfilled to avoid heat expansion and changing the circumference. Engines are supertuned to run cleaner then today's modern cars without any of the electronics. There are no electronic anything permitted. Brakes are hydrolic for safety. Seatbelts are also a new addition. The race is really better called a timed endurance rally-race where seconds matter. The daily winner may have a few seconds over his next rival in accurate timing. All cars are times electronically at various checkpoints using Qualcomm equipment tied to a central computer database.

Hey Fred -- sounds like you are having a great time!! Claire ----- Original Message ----- From: "W. Fred Rump" <FredRump@earthlink.net> To: <GERMAN-LIFE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2001 10:51 AM Subject: Re: [GERMAN-LIFE] the Great America Race > On 21 Jun 2001, at 12:05, Newtross@aol.com wrote: > > > In a message dated 06/21/2001 9:44:43 AM Mountain Daylight Time, > > kcook@signalgraphics-hou.com writes: > > > > > > > <<Call it Coors.>> CALL IT "ROCKY MOUNTAIN KOOL-ADE !!" ) > > Well, whatever. > > > I'll tell you guys something. No way am I going to touch a drop of > alcohol in that for us unusually high athmosphere. I spent time at a > meeting once in Timberland Lodge on Mt Hood. Had a Gin & Tonic > and felt pretty good. Had another one and thought I was going to > die. :-) I became unbelievably sick and had a hangover which cured > any further such adventures with even limited alcohol intake. > > In the Grand Canyon area I also got sick, was vomiting like crazy > and had one hell of a smashing headache to boot. No alcohol there > - just too much thin air. :-) > > This time around I'd like to take precautions and I'll go with plenty > of water for now. > > While I'm here - today we arrived in Columbia and witnessed the > lunch break for the www.GreatAmerica.com race from Atlanta to > Pasadena. We spoke with some of the drivers and took lots of > pictures. There were all kinds of cars involved from a 1949 VW to > those big giant road and racing machines of the 1910s. It had been > raining earlier and these open air cars present a special challenge > to the drivers and navigators. The directions sort of bleed in the > rain. It's all about accurate speedometers, odometers and clocks. > Top prize is $250,000. Basic entry fee is $5K, a sponsorship is > $10K. With expenses we figured that you can't run the race for less > then $25-30K. > > The team my friend was taking to lunch as a sponsor was on the > third of three water pumps and they were just hoping that their > three mechanics could either locate another one of fix one f the old > ones. All the critical parts which drive the cars have to be original. > > But I can tell you this, those cars all purred like little kittens. They > probably run better now then they did brand new. They are babied > nd rebuilt while the driver/navigator team sleeps each night. > > Fred > > > PS BTW the History Channel is the main sponsor of this annual > event and they show this on TV also but I don't know when. > > > > PPS I just read through the program book we bought. There are no > odometers allowed but the speedometers are accurate to 1/4 of a > mile per hour. Tires are nitrogen gfilled to avoid heat expansion and > changing the circumference. Engines are supertuned to run cleaner > then today's modern cars without any of the electronics. There are > no electronic anything permitted. > > Brakes are hydrolic for safety. Seatbelts are also a new addition. > The race is really better called a timed endurance rally-race where > seconds matter. The daily winner may have a few seconds over his > next rival in accurate timing. All cars are times electronically at > various checkpoints using Qualcomm equipment tied to a > central computer database. > > > ==== GERMAN-LIFE Mailing List ==== > Complaints: > Contact the list administrator at: GERMAN-LIFE-L-admin@rootsweb.com > > ============================== > Search over 1 Billion names at Ancestry.com! > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist1.asp >

On 22 Jun 2001, at 11:52, CJ Lisa wrote: > > Hey Fred -- sounds like you are having a great time!! That's the whole point of life, right? :-) Yesterday was a gem. The weather was absolutely perfect. We went to our friends in Columbia who had also assembled one of their granddaughters and off we went with 6 bicycles strapped to the rear of our respective Grand Cherokees to the MO Katy Park System. This is something really unique in that some private individuals (mainly a Ted Jones) saw to it that 200 miles of abandoned railway of the Texas, Kansas Missouri Railway, were converted into a long pathway accessible only by foot or bicycle. We went to a particularly scenic portion of the trail including a long tunnel, chiseled through the rock, and then drove about 6 or 7 miles along the Missouri river. The rail was basically cut into the riverbed with a solid wall of sandstone going way up on the other side. In some cases the wall was natural from the eons of water raushing along and in others they had to cut into it some more to get the rail through. As spectacular as the trail is, I was absolutely fascinated by the river. We've all read about the floods they recently had in parts of Missouri. Well, all that water has to go somewhere and we saw it rush down the river towards St Louis and the Mississippi. I've never seen such a huge river run so fast and could oly imagine being out there hopelessly rushed down without a chance of getting to shore. I timed the river by the speed of the huge tree trunks which were being ripped down stream to be about 7 mph. It almost looked like the great big cleaning of the valley as everything imaginable was floating down river. There were barrels, tubs, buckets, plastic milk bottles, cups and jugs along with tires and then the immense number of trees all going somewhere fast. Under the I70 bridge across some of the junk had piled up and one could easily park a few cars on the pile but most just rushed on to an uncertain destination. I was simply captured by the majesty of the river taking along whatever it could find. After we doubled back we had lunch at a nice trail side cafe and then went back home to prepare for the next event of the day. We had tickets for the Lyceum in Arrow Rock, MO where Mame was playing but first dinner at the John Huston Tavern which he built in 1834 at the start of the Santa Fe trail in Arrow Rock where passengers debarked from their boats to go further west. The whole town today is a National Historic Landmark with a permanent population of 70. The whole place is very authentic almost as if time forgot. It is really out there in no-mans-land and yet they have maintained the repertory theater for over 40 years already. The tavern is authentic with many of it's former sleeping rooms decorated as per the period. One really gets the feeling of what it was like out here in the early 19th century. We are now off to Sedalia. Fred