Article 1 - Let's Get This Show On The Road
A sort of after-the-fact blog by Frank Colgoni

In a series of articles and photo slideshows (bottom of page), I'll share my remembrances of 10 days that took us from Vaughn, Ontario to Langley, British Columbia – Canada of course. It was a fantastic journey then and, in retrospect, maybe even better as I get a chance to review thousands of photos that can bring back intense memories. If you were along for the ride, thanks for helping to make it memorable and thanks to all of you who have shared your photo memories. If you weren't along, I hope these remembrances will give you an idea of where we were, who we were with and how we got there. I'll save my overall impression for the end. So, as the article title states, let's get this show on the road.

Day 1: Tuesday July 17, 2007 – Vaughn to Sudbury, Ontario

I can't say that I slept much the night before and was up early to meet Jamie and Stacey to finish loading up the trailer. We then picked up Judy, fired up the roadster and off we went. It was somewhat surreal driving to NASCAR SpeedPark for the start of the 2007 Canadian Hot Rod Tour. After fifteen months of planning and sweating over details it was time for the rubber to hit the road – literally. Thankfully, the weather was great despite a warning of overnight/early morning rain. I had promised myself that I wouldn't fixate over the weather as it was inevitable that we'd hit some bad weather over the course of ten days and through five provinces. We'll see.

As I'll be using their names throughout this coverage, I should introduce the people I mentioned above.

Judy Colgoni: my other half, my #1 supporter and multi-tasking Tour staff member.

Jamie Burns & Stacey Greene: good friends who supported this undertaking from day 1, pilot and co-pilot of the Tour support truck/trailer, also multi-tasking Tour staff members.

As we made the final turn into NASCAR SpeedPark, it was a relief to see that a lot of participants had already arrived along with well wishers, friends and family. I was finally allowing myself to get excited – not that I hadn't been excited all along but the planning and things-to-do had kept the excitement at bay. A year and a half earlier, the plan had been much simpler.

Our original plan, for Judy and I that is, was to get ourselves back to Northwest Deuce Day in Victoria, British Columbia for the 75 th . Anniversary of the 1932 Ford. A few years earlier, in 2004, we had ventured out to Victoria / Deuce Day as spectators and made a commitment that we'd be back in '07 with a car. In the fall of 2005, we launched the “Deuce Odyssey” roadster project which would, in theory, provide us with transportation to the west coast. Fortunately, Dream Machines Ltd. was up to the challenge of the aggressive build (www.dreammachinesltd.com). Somewhere along the line, under unknown circumstances, the idea of Canadian Hot Rod Tour was born. As Judy would say “another good idea”. Do you think she's sincere?

Our host, Teresa Kozovski, our NASCAR SpeedPark host, kicked it off with a few welcoming/good luck words and then turned it over to (surprise) my brother-in-law Terry Luno. In an emotional presentation (followed by my emotional acceptance), Terry presented me with a trophy that he had made commemorating my activities, during this year of the Deuce, the Tour and our friendship. Fortunately, the presentation was caught on film. While it won't be something I'll ever forget, it will be nice to revisit. After catching my breath, I took over to make some well deserved sponsor appreciations, a big welcome to the participants and then off we went.

It was very cool leaving NASCAR SpeedPark with well wishers lining the exit road and a long line of cars in my rear view mirror. Our first stop would be Orillia, Ontario for a participant pickup at the local A&W, then on to Parry Sound for our mid day stop then Sudbury for an evening at A&W and with The Sudbury Street Rod Association / Sudbury Classic Cruisers. Our route would take us up Highway 400 then west at Gravenhurst across scenic 169 then up 69 to Sudbury. After that, it would be the Trans Canada Highway all the way to British Columbia.

It was huge relief to finally get on the road and to enjoy some time in the hot rod. With the schedule being as it was, we'd only had a chance to get a couple of hundred miles on the car. Was I concerned? Not really. I knew what Dream Machines had done and had great faith in the major components outside our control. The car felt good and sounded good and it was fabulous to be driving with the group.

Speaking about the “group”, we left with 32 registered participants and were picking up a half dozen more before reaching Sudbury – 22 of which were scheduled to all the way. Fantastic. Speaking about fantastic, we were honoured to have Canadian Hot Rods and Classics Magazine along with us for the duration. Specifically, Terry Denomme and his wife Patty. Great people.

In beautiful weather, we had an uneventful run to Parry Sound where we enjoyed a shop tour at Mike's Kustoms and then lunch on the shore of Oastler Lake at The Whitfield Resort. While we were running a little behind schedule at this point, we made it to our host hotel in Sudbury almost on time and were greeted by the local clubs, local cars, Sudbury's Best Rock Q92 and the Sudbury police! Don't be alarmed, we were about to be escorted to the Gaudreault's A&W. How cool is that. We had a huge procession of cars en route to A&W with the police letting us have the right-of-way at all intersections.

We had a great greeting at A&W with special parking for Tour cars with lots of local cars in attendance for the evening. After leaving A&W, we were invited to participate in the Claude Dufresne Memorial Cruise to Gary “Cooter” Lonsberry's garage for special presentations, tons of prizes and lots of local hospitality (including HUGE mosquitos). A terrific evening by all accounts. Thanks to Jim Frank for all his help and to Cooter and Mike Levesque for MC'ing at Cooter's garage.

Our Thanks To:

•  NASCAR SpeedPark

•  Mike's Kustoms

•  A&W Sudbury

•  Sudbury Street Rod Association

•  Sudbury Classic Cruisers

•  Travelway Inn

Day 2: Wednesday July 18, 2007 – Sudbury to Sault St. Marie, Ontario

We woke up to a beautiful morning and, even being only day 2, it felt like we were getting into a routine already. People were milling around the hotel parking lot waiting for the festivities to begin. We had a pretty easy day ahead with this leg, being our second shortest. Plans for the day had us being led out by our Sudbury club friends with our first stop being Blind River where we'd catch some lunch. After that, we were heading for Thessalon where the Soo Street Rodders would meet us and escort us in to Sault St. Marie.

The formal part of the day began with welcoming Tour newcomers and saying goodbye to those that had to leave us. This became a regular part of each day. After our prize giveaway/driver's meeting, we set off (after a humourous warning about the Blind River Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police – thanks Bob). We were now a group of 52.

We had a nice run across the top of the North Channel arriving in Blind River on schedule. And, yes we were given a WARM welcome by the OPP. After filling up with food and drink we left for Thessalon and found the Soo Street Rodders waiting for us at the Thessalon OPP office. Police involvement is getting to be a theme here. Soo Street Rods president Cliff Foltz gave us another warm welcome and outlined the route to our host hotel and the plans for the evening which would include our attendance at the Sault cruise night at the Station Mall.

Upon arrival in Sault St. Marie, we were directed to the Station Mall parking lot which was directly across from our hotel. A few member of the press (newspaper/TV) were on hand to greet us and, upon check in at the hotel, we were pleasantly surprised to receive a goody bag courtesy of the Station Mall. A big thanks to them and to the Soo Street Rodders for bringing it all together.

We had a great evening at the Mall with music, local cars and people. We were also challenged with our first breakdown. With a lot of people pitching in, and with the sun rapidly slipping away (make that gone), the driver and car went successfully down the road. Special thanks to Clarke Pringle for his help. Some of the tools in our support trailer came in very handy.

Another good day everything considered. Day 3 was going to be our longest drive so it was definitely time for bed.

Our Thanks To:

•  Soo Street Rodders

•  Station Mall

•  Travelodge Sault St. Marie

Don't leave before checking out the slideshows from days 1 & 2

Slideshow for July 17, 2007 - Vaughan to Sudbury, Ontario is HERE

Slideshow for July 18, 2007 - Sudbury to Sault St. Marie, Ontario is HERE