2017 HRPT in a 72 Super with my wife and sons

[rustytruck50]

Looks like you had a great time overall...sad to hear about the accident and loss of a fellow rodder...hope I can make the trip one of these upcoming years! Thanks for posting all the cool pictures!

[tarafied1]

I hope anyone who wants to do it get the chance to at least make a stop or two. It's one the coolest things a gearhead can do!

[35boulder]

Thanks for taking the time to take us along on the tour. Pics were great. Glad y'all made it safe and had a good time. Someday......

[BILT4ME]

Originally Posted by tarafied1

we met briefly as you drove by! hope you made it home safe

Thanks Craig!

It as nice to meet you and I wish we could have hooked up to spend some time talking.

We only spotted your truck once on the entire trip, but you were nowhere around it.

This year seemed very disjointed for us for travel. We were looking for specific cars and trucks, only to see them once, and never again.

We had a safe, uneventful (meaning no break-downs) trip. We saw a LOT of great rides and had a great time.

Thanks for sharing all your pics!

You actually got a picture with my son in it standing in front of the blue 54 Studebaker Conestoga Wagon on the street. We were standing in front of it chatting with the owner. (Post #116)

[tarafied1]

We had a good trip too. No problem with either car/truck. We kept gaining cars and trucks who asked to drive along with us. Not sure why they gravitate to us but we enjoyed meeting new people. We are not ones to hurry or leave early. We like the drive. Often we rolled in just in time to watch everyone leave. With the heat I bet we missed a lot as I'm sure many didn't stick around the venues. It's been hot before but I seem to recal people sticking around later in past tours. We had a great time anyway and it was nice to meet even briefly. Maybe next year!?!?

[BILT4ME]

I am hoping we can do it again next year. If so, our son will be driving HIS 1970 GMC K2500.

We'll probably take along more people then.....

It would be great to travel in a group, but not being in a group also offers a great deal of freedom to take alternate routes and to come as go as you please.

Looking forward to next year!

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by tarafied1

We had a good trip too. No problem with either car/truck. We kept gaining cars and trucks who asked to drive along with us. Not sure why they gravitate to us but we enjoyed meeting new people. We are not ones to hurry or leave early. We like the drive. Often we rolled in just in time to watch everyone leave. With the heat I bet we missed a lot as I'm sure many didn't stick around the venues. It's been hot before but I seem to recal people sticking around later in past tours. We had a great time anyway and it was nice to meet even briefly. Maybe next year!?!?

I like leaving around 7-7:30AM, with a couple fuel and pee stops, maybe a cool detour, and lunch stop, that still puts you in the venue at around 2-3 each day. I like leaving early in the morning because it's cooler and a lot of the older cars have cooling issues and leave early in the morning. I noticed we saw/passed/followed a lot more classics when leaving early.

I usually pick one day (usually a short route day), get the venue early, set up a chair, and just watch cars roll in/out for a couple hours.

I'm planning on going next year. BG is only 6 hours away, and just about anywhere they go (*should* be northeast/east/southeast) I'll be within a good driving range for back home too. They've been "west" for the past 3 years, so I completely expect it to be something east of BG this year, the remaining question is just north, east, or south... some are saying Detroit...

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

I'm planning on going next year. BG is only 6 hours away, and just about anywhere they go (*should* be northeast/east/southeast) I'll be within a good driving range for back home too. They've been "west" for the past 3 years, so I completely expect it to be something east of BG this year, the remaining question is just north, east, or south... some are saying Detroit...

This is my hang up. I don't know if I'll go next year or not yet. It really sucks they wait until 2 months before to announce the route. It just depends if I have the project done enough to go that far, in the south. If it doesn't have AC, I won't even bother to try because our entire family will be going. A week with 4 kids and no AC will drive any sane person insane. Let a lone if anything else goes wrong.

[Fraud]

Thanks for sharing the pics, looks like you had a blast!

I'd love to do this next year, I'm actively petitioning my wife so that she eventually thinks it was her idea, or at least just assumes that its happening.

I'm trying to work out what my truck would need before I'd be comfortable doing it, and its probably not prohibitive, I just need to find the time to do that work, AND then put a bunch of miles on it so I know for sure that its solid, and maybe get some practice doing some roadside repairs/diagnosis... Especially since I'll most likely have to drive 2000 miles to get to the starting point, and then 2000 miles home at the end..

anyone got any feedback on whether the platinum/gold registrations are worth it? I'm tempted by platinum, mostly so I don't have to make my own accomodation arrangements! but I'm also conscious that the best way to meet people and see different stuff every day is probably to do the regular registration and park/drive with different groups along the way. Any other insight into preparation/costs/things to avoid while actually on the drive?

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

This is my hang up. I don't know if I'll go next year or not yet. It really sucks they wait until 2 months before to announce the route. It just depends if I have the project done enough to go that far, in the south. If it doesn't have AC, I won't even bother to try because our entire family will be going. A week with 4 kids and no AC will drive any sane person insane. Let a lone if anything else goes wrong.

They've kept the actual route hush hush until just before the tour for quite some time, but back when it was "family events planning" they used to at least announce the cities around December. Now they make us wait until late Jan/Feb. I too don't understand the hangup on announcing at least the END city within a few months of the tour ending. That would at least give people an idea if they can go, schedule vacation, etc. That way they can at least keep us guessing on the "middle cities" for a few months. I used to work at a plant that required you sign up for vacation in Dec. for the next year. You didn't have to but you ran a very very high risk of not getting the time you wanted, especially if it was for more than a day or two, because they didn't allow more than 2 people off in an area of about 40 people on the same day. So even if two people were off on a WED, you couldn't take that whole week off. Stupid, I know.

Fraud:

Tons of good info here:

http://www.bangshift.com/forum/forum...r-first-timers

[BILT4ME]

Originally Posted by Fraud

Thanks for sharing the pics, looks like you had a blast!

I'd love to do this next year, I'm actively petitioning my wife so that she eventually thinks it was her idea, or at least just assumes that its happening.

I'm trying to work out what my truck would need before I'd be comfortable doing it, and its probably not prohibitive, I just need to find the time to do that work, AND then put a bunch of miles on it so I know for sure that its solid, and maybe get some practice doing some roadside repairs/diagnosis... Especially since I'll most likely have to drive 2000 miles to get to the starting point, and then 2000 miles home at the end..

anyone got any feedback on whether the platinum/gold registrations are worth it? I'm tempted by platinum, mostly so I don't have to make my own accomodation arrangements! but I'm also conscious that the best way to meet people and see different stuff every day is probably to do the regular registration and park/drive with different groups along the way. Any other insight into preparation/costs/things to avoid while actually on the drive?

Depends on your finances and your ability to plan and schedule.

We've done it 2 years in a row.

Last year, we did the VIP GOLD. Then we used their Hotel Company to schedule the hotels. I registered in January (about 2 days after it was opened), then I scheduled the hotels about 4 months ahead of the trip. You will get a selection of the hotels from the Marriott levels to the Holiday Inn Levels, to the Motel 6 levels. We chose the Holiday Inn levels.

The VIP Platinum gets all of the above PLUS 1 meal per day and a gift card for a meal. If it's important to you to SCHMOOZE with the upper crust (particularly 'Vette owners) then do the Platinum.

If you want "more" attention and a LITTLE bit better parking, go with the VIP GOLD.

If you like parking like sardines in a can and as far away from the venue as possible, do the plain registration. We did this this year because we weren't sure our car was going to be ready (we finished it the day before) We then had to choose hotels as we went. Since I don;t like anything LESS than a Holiday Inn, we had to drive FORWARD at the end of the day at LEAST an hour (one day it was 3 hours) to find a hotel we could book. Otherwise ALL hotels were booked in a 20 mile radius.

I think if we do it again, I will do the VIP Gold again and schedule the hotels right away.

I liked being at the hotels with a LOT of other street rodders, as it was kind of like a mini car show each night at that hotel. You can also see a few of the "celebrities" in some of the hotels. The Roadkill guys stayed in the same set of hotels we were in.

If you look at it from a COST standpoint, the Platinum is overall the MOST expensive way to go.

The GOLD is only SLIGHTLY more expensive (total of about $200) than the basic long-hauler. The Gold is about $150 more up front, but the hotels are slightly less expensive as a whole.

The Basic Long-Hauler has to find your own hotels that WILL be away from the main population of the other cars. You also still have to find your own food (so does the GOLD), so that part is a wash.

[Fraud]

thanks for the tips guys.. I was tempted by platinum just to make life easy (lazy) for myself, but if it is predominantly a schmoozefest then I'm not real interested, I deal with enough of that at work.

67ChevyRedneck, I've been reading through that thread as well, thanks.

Getting the time off work shouldn't be a problem, its having the time between now and then to be confident enough/comfortable enough with the truck (both driving it, and working on it/knowing where things are/what things are broken) that I think will be the issue...

[tarafied1]

I travel a LOT for my job so I use my hotel points and rarely have to pay for a room. We do have to kind of pick hotels based on the city announcements which come out way before the route is announced. We have ended up being a bit off the route this way but the amount of points needed goes up the closer to the date you want so we have to get them early as possible.
This was our 7th long haul and we have shorter Power Tours too. As the participants grew in number that VIP package is more attractive but again we typically roll in late and sometimes the VIP's are gone and we get to park close cuz everyone is leaving! For us its about the journey and not the destination. My wife and I discussed doing the next power tour not even as a registered participant but just drive the route and stay in the hotels close by and skip the venues all together. We'll see

[LAID-BACKC10]

I was on the HRPT (working..) but did have my 11 yr old with me and my 1970 c10 in our Laid-Back booth. This was my 6th year and loved it as much as the past years.

Very cool to see many awesome C10s out there this year.

Travel safe!

[tarafied1]

Originally Posted by LAID-BACKC10

I was on the HRPT (working..) but did have my 11 yr old with me and my 1970 c10 in our Laid-Back booth. This was my 6th year and loved it as much as the past years.

Very cool to see many awesome C10s out there this year.

Travel safe!

I bought a couple Laid Back shirts with C10's and a Burb on them from you guys. And I really enjoyed the day at the fairgrounds when you guys were next to the pavilion where the band was playing. Sat in there cooling down and jamming. those kids were pretty good.

[davischevy]

Originally Posted by tarafied1

My wife and I discussed doing the next power tour not even as a registered participant but just drive the route and stay in the hotels close by and skip the venues all together. We'll see

What he said.