Anniversary Eve Parade
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Day 12: June 30, 2013 Anniversary Eve Parade Comment via blog |
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Phase 1 Staging took place not far from the hotel at Central Community
College. Cars were to depart in order of age. There were definitely some
"herding cats" moments but, in the end, the string of cars was
fairly well organized. My slot was between Don Reifsnyder's 1962 Corvette
and Art Ackerman's 1963 Chevy II. We rolled through some small towns on the
way to Kearney. Towns here are spaced about ten or twelve miles apart and
the next "Nebraska skyscraper" becomes visible almost
as soon as you leave each one. We pulled into Cabela's at the edge of Kearney for Phase 2 Staging and
to await a more precise launch time.
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The Classic Car
Collection shares the lot with Cabela's and tour members were given
free admission. We had about forty-five minutes which was enough for an
only slightly rushed pass through the collection. Cars I've pictured
include a 1909 International Harvester Auto Wagon, all three years of the
Ford Skyliner retractable hardtop, and a pair of Crosleys.
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The Valiant had been in the tenth position on the run from Grand Island
but left Cabela's in twelfth due to the inserting of the 1948 Tucker and
this 1913 Stevens Duryea. There was another difference, too. While walking
around the area, I noticed a dark spot under the Valiant and traced it to
a leaking fuel pump. I consulted a couple of other drivers and the
consensus was that it probably wouldn't catch fire although the car's
mobility might be in jeopardy. No sense pulling out now.
The next step was a drive-by meeting with the west tour which had been doing the same as us on the other side of Kearney. Keeping the sometimes rough idling Valiant running and waving to the other drivers kept me busy then, during a left turn after the east-west meeting, the right rear wheel cover took off on its own. I pulled over and a spectator came running with it just as I got out of the car. The wheel cover went into the back seat and I went into medium speed passing mode to regain the right slot. When we went into another long pause, I was back behind the Corvette with John Peters' '59 Cadillac quite visible just ahead. I shut the car off while we waited and was quite relieved when it started right up. I tapped the car into neutral a few time so I could keep the engine revs up a bit but the Valiant did not let me down as we cruised down the spectator lined street. Ka-chow! ADDENDUM: Aug 26, 2013 - There is a fleeting glimpse of the Valiant in a USA Today video. A screen capture from the video is here. |
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We went directly to a side street where the cars were parked with tails to
curb in a sort of car show arrangement. I sure don't consider the Valiant
a show car but I was sure happy to see it sitting there after a 2500 mile
run and a very satisfying parade. I grabbed a picture of Henry Joy's
Packard which, although on a trailer, had actually led our group along the
parade route. Some twenty or thirty minutes after parking, I made it back
to the parade route to see cars still going under the big flag. A few
people had recognized me and called out during the parade. One of them was
Cece Otto
who I now found performing on the sidewalk. I'll see her perform at least
one more time before leaving Kearney.
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