MARIAH's "Great River Road" Adventure 2018

[MARIAH]

Lengthy Road Trips in a HOT, bouncy, cramped, spare tireless, few amenities, build your own vehicle…..are not for everyone. She is a donor build from an 88GT, carb, no PS/PB/AC. Just wipers, heater, radio, hardtop, luggage rack and Cobra Earl’s dropped trunk and enlarged passenger footwell. We consider the trips as Adventures as they all have been. No reservations. No schedule. Retired and with grown children and only a cat to manage, we relish the chance to see America from a FFR perspective (although we did cheat and drove the Subaru Forrester to Alaska and back in 2014). MARIAH is not a show car or trailer queen so freshly asphaulted roads, gravel roads and new dings are of no concern. We have been wet many times, but in heavy rain we are always concerned about a drowned carb which has happened at least twice on previous Adventures. AAA and Visa cards are our constant companions.

Well, we had a wonderful Cobra Adventure stretching over 12 days and 4600 safe, trouble free miles. Saw lots of corn. Our destination was to travel The Great River Road from Lake Itasca State Park in northern Minnesota where we stepped over the Mississippi at its headwaters, then follow the Mississippi down to Natchez before coming home. Leaving Taylors, SC about noon on the 1st of July we made Lexington, Ky for the night after a real “frog strangler” of a storm in Tennessee that caused us to pull off the Interstate with some other concerned drivers. The hardtop and windows help, but we still got wet. The trunk stayed water tight but my suitcase, after many Cobra Adventures, began to show signs of failure (my clothes were in a plastic bag there). Twice on our trip, the wipers did not come on and I will pull the dash and inspect the switch/wiring etc. and check the boxes for lubrication. The motor may even have a thermal overload. We’ll see. Lots of corn. Do they not sell fresh corn drowned in warm butter like the New Englanders sell lobster?

3 days of Interstate hauling for 7-8-9 hours a day at 70 mph got us there after other stops in Davenport, Iowa; we spent the night in Independence, Iowa and the next morning took our chairs to their 157th? July 4th Parade. No horses! The next day produced some DARK sky and another “frog strangler” of a storm so that night we reached Baxter, Minnesota wet and were we ever tired.



So on day Five, we joined a crowd at the headwaters to get our feet wet, turned South and began following the GRR signs. Interesting, it was FDR in 1938? who designated the Great River Road. I can only imagine the quality of roads in 1938. We were continually surprised at the folks who knew nothing of the 80 year old GRR. The upper Minnesota lake country was impressive and the Mississippi was still small enough to chuck a rock across but widening as we went. We enjoyed the river front towns/villages but as we went South the towns moved further back from the river and many times it was way off beyond the tree line. There was MORE CORN, the Dutch windmill, several locks/dams to view, breaks to take, motels to locate, dinners to search and beer to drink. Since our space is limited, we washed clothing once but folks expect wrinkles when you crawl out of something as small as our FFR.

MARIAH is always a rolling car show and most gas stops raised the usual questions. The Tremec display guy had just come from a Good Guys event but was stranded with a frozen (and unavailable) axle but loved the Cobra. One commenter was a test driver for Mustangs coming off the line. Another family was out in a ’66 Rambler convertible to share stories. At the Dutch Windmill in Fulton, Wisconsin an admirer gave me an accurate verbal history of Shelby and the cars. Several kids and two adults had the photos taken in the driver seat.

We had a number of places we wanted to stop and others were added to our list as the states rolled by.
South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Wisconsin again, Iowa again, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee again, Georgia, North Carolina again and home to South Carolina.

Of course the Headwaters, County Fair in Aitkin, Minnesota, Loved the Bluffs areas, The National Eagle Center in Wabasha was fantastic. We saw many eagles along the river over several days. Took an afternoon break with onion rings & beer at the Great River Roadhouse. Took a paddle wheeler ride up the Mississippi in La Crosse, Wisconsin, toured the George M. Verity paddle wheeler, laughed in the Mark Twain museum in Hannibal, Missouri, ate lunch at the Arcade Café (Memphis’ oldest café), enjoyed the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi but didn’t catch the 41-61 Crossroads where Robert Johnson reportedly sold his soul to the devil for music ability. Interestingly 3 different cemeteries have tombstones for him. Took the Hickman Ferry from Missouri to Kentucky. River was too wide to chunk rocks across!

We finally found ourselves in Natchez where we decided we had seen enough and headed back up the Natchez Trace, peeling off through Chattanooga, Tennessee, across the Georgia mountains and back to our upstate of South Carolina.

We never expect a perfect trip, we just hope to make a memory or two, see new American places and her people, return safely home having enjoyed the experience that only driving a Factory Five Roadster you built yourself can provide. Wahoo…… till next time.

[MARIAH]

Some more photos.............and thus ends the Adventure.

[Jacob]

Great story, congratulations on doing something that most can only talk about!

[mburger]

Great pics. Thanks for sharing your adventures!

[AZREALTOR]

What a great story! My wife and I are also long distance travelers although our travels have been in a 56 Chevy pickup. I'm not sure how much long distance travelling we will do with the 33 hotrod I've acquired but we will definitely keep travelling whether driving the pickup or hotrod. As you said it's like travelling in a rolling car show and it creates conversations with others that we probably would not otherwise have. Thanks again for a great read.

[phileas_fogg]

What a great trip. Until you've driven across this great country, you have no idea just how big it really is.


John

[John4337]

Fantastic read, thank you

[Al_C]

Wow, what a great trip! Thanks for the story and the photos. I look forward to similar trips myself. Hopefully next summer...

[Bob-STL]

Way to Cool!.....Great story and great pictures!

[IowaBen]

Nice!!! I live in Muscatine Iowa, and I crossed your path as you came through downtown - I was on a bike and waived - I'm sure you remember

I contemplated waiving you down to get your story (and make sure there wasn't another Cobra in town) - glad I found your story here.

[MARIAH]

Hey, Ben. Minnesota was necessary for the beginnings, but Iowa? Now Iowa was the best!
Once we got around the Quad Cities our favorite stretch was down through Iowa on 61.
I did not remember Muscatine, but we did stop at the Toolsboro Mounds for a lunch that we picked up somewhere, perhaps Muscatine.