Pub Crawl 2010

Morgan Southern Pub Crawl

(#2 in a series by Charlie Miller, Springfield, OH)

MAY 2010

2,255 Miles

Epilogue by William Howard Boyles

The complete Pub Crawl commenced in Annapolis, MD on April 29th then went to Williamsburg, VA, Ocracoke, NC, Wilmington, NC, Charleston, SC, Savannah (Hilton Head) SC, St. Augustine, FL, Tallahassee, FL, Mobile, AL, Natchez, MS, Tupelo, MS, Murfreesboro, TN, Asheville, NC, Hillsville, VA, Staunton, VA, and winding up in Manassas, VA on May 18th..

A 3 car Texas contingent elected to join the Crawl for a portion of the way (All from MMCC of course -who else drives). At 9:00 O'clock Monday morning, Bill and Judi Boyles in their 4/4 4 seater (Sophie) met up with Daryl Van Dyke in his ECOTEC Morgan at the Ankur Inn on hwy 175 southeast of Dallas. From there, it was on to Natchez avoiding interstates (on hwy 84 principally) to meet up with the Crawlers.

Meanwhile, Art and Patsy Kampschafer, who said they weren't leaving until the 11th, decided to start in their Morgan on the 10th also. Alas, 65 miles from home, the Moggie erupted with overheating problems. So they returned home to pick up their Solstice, determined to make the trip. Reportedly, to duplicate the Morgan experience, Art insisted that the top be lowered and the heater turned on.

The first night was a meet and greet session with all welcoming the Texas interlopers. The next day was a free day in Natchez and we found some of the weirdest bars you could imagine. This was topped off with a catered dinner at the Monmouth Plantation Mansion. As the group proceeded to the Monmouth, Art and Patsy had just arrived in town, saw the procession in their rear view mirror and joined us - prior to even checking into the hotel.

Wednesday it was up the Natchez Trace to Tupelo. The Trace is very scenic, not too fascinating, but there are no commercial vehicles, i.e. trucks. At a rest stop about 20 miles out of Tupelo, Sophie began to race her engine. Still we proceeded to Tupelo without incident, enjoying the iced down beer, that was available each evening, . In fact, in addition to the Crawl provided beer, the hotel provided 4 beers for each person. Most were not collected.

Sophie's problem was merely a broken carburetor return spring, which was easily rectified, and then on to Murfreesboro, TN. Between Tupelo and Murfreesboro, Art, Patsy and the Boyles left the Trace, which was the official route, to explore more countryside. We toured Franklin, TN, which was of interest. The next day Ashville, NC is targeted.

Midway to Asheville, just south of Knoxville, Jim and Ginger Thompson graciously hosted all the Pub Crawlers to a Bar-B-Que lunch at the Knoxville Boat Club. Although we had stopped at the Cup & Saucer Cafe in Monterey, TN for coffee and a late snack, this didn't deter the hunger for lunch.

Daryl had stayed in Murfreesboro to explore Civil War sites. Art and Patsy were with the main group and the Boyles again took off exploring with Al Marsh of Washington DC.

Al and we headed up the "Tail of the Dragon" pass, which was reportedly closed due to rock slides. And it was. With two police cars and a sheriff stopping further traffic. So it was off to an alternate route. (That's why Bill picked going to Asheville. He had traveled in MOA (2000) over some awesome roads there.

So we backtracked and went over to route 360 to the west, where we then encountered the Cherohala Skyway across the Snowbird Mountains. And a skyway it was. Sophie labored through the continuous switchbacks up to the summit at some 4,800 feet. I question whether the Tale of the Dragon could have been more challenging than this route.

Finally we arrived at the hotel, where a group pizza and beer party was in progress. Here we met up with the MOG South group, who contributed more than 30 additional Morgans, including 2 Aeros, 1 Family 3 wheeler and 2 flat rads.

The next day's schedule was a "rest day" with several activities planned. After all, this was the MOG South "Texmog" event. There was a comic book/fantasy festival downtown, which drew quite a crowd, especially when the participants enveloped the Morgans, when they appeared.

Lunch was at a proper venue, and next to a small antique auto museum. That night, it was off to the Fiddlin' Pig for Bar-B-Que and Bluegrass music and country dancing.

Finally, the uneventful trip home. Scattered showers were encountered in Tennessee and Mississippi and we overnighted in Clarksdale Mississippi, home of the Blues. There, we encountered 14+ bicyclists going from New Orleans to Minneapolis. Then home, 2,255 miles of wonderful road trip experiences! (We picked up Daryl at Chattanooga, who escorted us home.) Art and Patsy were going to finish the Crawl to Manassas, so their report will come later. (Don't hold your breath.)

Darrel's Diary (for those over 60 yrs old)

Darrel's Blog (for those Under 60 yrs old)

Morgan Pub Crawl in the spring of 2010

Being aware of the term “pub crawl” from my days visiting and working in the U.K., I was thinking that a Morgan pub crawl might consist of parking our cars at one end of a street, hitting every bar along that street, and then crawling back to our cars. Well, this was essentially what this pub crawl was except for the fact that the bars were 150-300 miles apart!

After being told how much fun I will have, I signed up – not really knowing what to expect. Bill and Judi Boyles, Art and Patsy Kampschafer, and I signed up from the Dallas club. As everyone knows, any Morgan event is fraught with intrigue – usually involving a mechanical issue of sorts. Bill, Judi, and I met at the beautiful and romantic Ankur Hotel south of Dallas slightly before the agreed upon time. Art and Patsy had decided to leave the following day, so the aforementioned 3 were off and driving. Art and Patsy were not so lucky, though, as their next started with their trusty Morgan overheating fairly close to home – which was lucky for them. Being the troopers they are though, they crawled into their other newer convertible and made it to Natchez just fine.

Our first day’s drive was taking us to Natchez, Mississippi – a mere 350 miles or so from Dallas. As we neared the mighty Mississippi, I realized that even though we did not have to set our clocks ahead for any time zone differences, we did have to adjust our calendars back by about 20 years. Ah, life in the south – some things just never change.

Our drive to Natchez took us through the piney woods of east Texas, and into serious logging country of Louisiana. We go used to the log trucks, but we were in a little shock to see police cars approaching down the middle of the road in central Louisiana. Being no fool we pulled off to the side – and we were glad we did. About ¼ mile behind the police escort was the U.S.S. Shreveport being transported on the back of a truck. It took up all lanes of traffic, and all cars could do were to sit and watch this monstrosity pass by. Wherever it was going I hope they had enough water to hold it! The rest of the day’s journey went fine with us arriving into Natchez around 5:00 PM. It was a fun day’s drive. We met up with the other Morganites, and we spent two nights in this wonderful city. (For you folks who haven’t been to Mississippi, granted it doesn’t have a lot to offer tourists; but what it does is simply charming! Natchez and Vicksburg are great river cities and worth a drive from anyone to visit.)

Our next stop was Tupelo, MS, so up the Natchez Trace we went on our next day. The speed limit is 50 mph, but there are absolutely zero stop signs along the way! It is a wonderfully, scenic drive that goes all the way from Natchez to Nashville, TN. We arrived into Tupelo late afternoon, and everyone was on their own for dinner. People who know me well know that I simply abhor Elvis Presley. Don’t get me started, as this is another story. But, still, here I was in Tupelo – the original home of Elvis Presley! So out of some sickness that came over me I found his house and now have pictures of me standing on his front porch. To be honest with y’all, a strange feeling came over me, and for the rest of the day my legs kept twitching and I hummed Jailhouse Rock. Odd, very odd.

The next part of our journey took us to Murfreesboro, TN – another gem of the south. There is much civil war history there, and I decided to bail out of the official pub crawling whilst others headed over to Ashville, NC. I drove over to Franklin, TN, one day to do more exploring on my own and found the most incredible tour guide ever! If you are in Franklin, stop by the Lotz house and ask for JT – and you’ll be in for a treat. The next day I headed a few miles north and toured the Stones River battleground. Both Stones River and Franklin were significant civil war battles, and it was interesting to stand at these places and imagine the fighting and strategy of these battles.

Judi and Bill met me just outside of Chattanooga for our drive back. The morning drive from our meeting point to outside of Birmingham was amazing – beautiful, winding mountain roads filled with fog and low hanging clouds. And then we hit rain. I had my top up (yuck) from my earlier encounter with rain in Murfreesboro, but Judi and Bill (being the open-roaders they are) refused to put up their top. I felt sorry for them for about a minute, but I soon realized they actually enjoyed getting wet! They are true Morgan drivers in all definitions.

Our day took us to Clarksdale, MS. I only wish I had more time there – what a great, historic city in its own right. For you fellow music lovers, you know what I’m talking about. This is THE birthplace of the blues – the real blues – the Delta Blues! The music history in this area formed all that we have today in the U.S., but I’ll let you do your own research on this.

The following day started early with Morgan tops off, and we had great non-freeway roads all the way to Texarkana. Then we jumped on the interstate and made our way back to the Dallas area just in time for rush hour – a fitting way to end the trip.

It was a fun trip – but a long trip. A trip I could not imagine me repeating anytime soon. But within a few days another email came out asking if I would be interested in joining another pub crawl in the upper Midwest toward the end of summer. Absolutely!