Tag Archives: California

Day 2 – ACA Pre-Rally – Nethercutt Museum (Valencia Travel Village, CA)

2015/03/22 davidhobden@mac.com 2 Comments

Warning! Today’s post is very picture-heavy… consider viewing on the website with your computer instead of on your mobile device.

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Day 2 of our rally started off with a fine selection of muffins, pastries, and more; all in the grand Alpine Coach Association tradition 🙂 And oh… I forgot to mention, yesterday we had breakfast burritos! Our hosts for this rally have sure outdone themselves already!

After our satisfying breakfast, everyone jumped in their respective vehicles or car-pools and headed out for the days scheduled activity; a guided tour of the Nethercutt Collection & Museum located in nearby Sylmar which is only 20 minutes away from our park.

Once again, here’s our itinerary for the week:

If you’re a “car-nut”, this place is for you! The Nethercutt Museum & Collection consists of two buildings of the finest restored vintage and antique automobiles in the world. They also have a huge assortment of mechanical musical instruments; but I was here to look at the cars 🙂

Be sure to click on the name above for a link to their website, or click here for a YouTube video tour that I found online taken in 2012. And if you are so inclined, here’s a link to another YouTube video of this fine car collection which was filmed for the TV series; My Classic Car from Season 9, Episode 10. On the My Classic Car episode, the host, Dennis Gage, tours the maintenance shop and restoration area of the Nethercutt Museum – which was something we weren’t able to see during our tour.

Streetside view of the Nethercutt Museum. This is across the street from the other building which houses the “car salon” and mechanical musical instrument.

We all gathered for our guided tour outside one of the buildings until they opened the doors.

I’ll let you read about the founders and how the museum collection came to be, from the website link I provided earlier.

So now… sit back and enjoy some of my favorite pictures from the day. But don’t worry, I didn’t include all 300 of them.. just my favorites, maybe 100, or so 🙂

Here we are listening to our tour guide inside an exquisite re-creation of an opulent automotive “grand salon” of the 1920’s and 1930’s.

Then we were set loose to browse the fine automobiles on our own recognizance.

It is my strong opinion that this is where the term “trunk” comes from. What do you think?

I’ve always liked the decorative “mascots” or hood ornaments… I’m sure some of these cost more than a new car nowadays.

Hope you’re not too bored with all the hood ornaments already, because there’s more to come…

But first, we ascended the semi-spiral staircase to the upper level(s).

Once on the first upper level, we viewed the fine displays and antiques.

And remember when I said earlier that there were more hood ornaments…

I have to wonder if there’s a larger collection of these anywhere else in the world?

We ascended yet another set of spiral stairs.

And found ourselves in the world of mechanical musical instruments, and they all worked…

But, before we listened to all the antique musical boxes in the huge room, we viewed the Louis XV style grand dining room.

Check out the infinite number of chandeliers effect in the mirror.

We viewed and listened to the various mechanical musical instruments that included: Nickelodeons; Cylinder & Disc Music Boxes; European Orchestrions; Grand Pianos; and more. Link here for more info on these devices if interested.

After viewing and listening to some of the finely tuned mechanical musical instruments, we got a mini-concert from the Wurlitzer pipe organ. All of these instruments were demonstrated by the museum’s mechanical music master technician/curator who acted as our tour guide.

After our senses were astounded with the visual and acoustic grandeur, we descended the many flights of stairs to depart the building.

We then went across the street to the second of the Nethercutt Museum buildings for a self-guided tour. By the way, did I mention that this is all free of charge? Here we were greeted by more finely restored automobiles and memorabilia that we wandered around gaping at.

I don’t think I’d kick any of these cars out of the garage for leaking oil on the floor, would you?

This 1936 Pierce-Arrow Travelodge trailer was a big hit with the Alpine Coach group.

And now, just when you thought there couldn’t be any more hood ornaments to take pictures of…

There were also display cases full of other types of antique automobile memorabilia.

Even headlights…

and horns…

spark plugs…

and more cars… Yay!

And then, just when we thought there couldn’t be anything more to astound us, we toured this cool train and luxury car that is stationed behind the building. Click here for more info on this 1937 Canadian Pacific Royal Hudson Locomotive and Pullman Private Palace Car.

We stood in line to get the free tour of the locomotive and the 1912 Pullman Private Car.

After listening to our tour guide give us the details, we toured the inside of this fully-restored luxurious palace car:

We stepped out of the car and onto the massive locomotive.

Yes, we even got to ring the bell.

That was one awesome locomotive! See a YouTube video of it’s farewell trip here.

And what an awesome museum! This is definitely a must-see attraction and you can’t beat the price.

We finally exited the museum late in the day and headed back to the campground.

On the way back to the campground, we made a stop at the local Camping World to get a new flex-hose water connection. I replaced the water filter when we got here, but the short flex-hose that connects to my quick-disconnect, developed a leak. Apparently, I overtightened it. Oh well, it was only $7.

Then we pretty much just lazed around for the rest of the day recuperating from all the walking. At least, that’s the excuse we used.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post. Tomorrow we take a tour of the William S. Hart Park & Museum, so check back in for a full recap.

California

Day 1 – Alpine Coach Association Pre-Rally (Valencia Travel Village, CA)

2015/03/21 davidhobden@mac.com 1 Comment

Yoo Hoo! We arrived safely at the Valencia Travel Village for the Alpine Coach Association Pre-Rally to the FMCA Rally in Pomona. We made it here around 3 PM on Thursday after successfully navigating the bumpy and busy LA freeways thanks to our Rand-McNally GPS. Whenever we get near a major city after being in the wide open southwest – it seems that all the drivers are impatient and in a hurry… common-sense and courtesy seem to be things that are reserved only for non-urban areas. Oh well… we’re here, with only a few frazzled nerves from the sudden traffic jams and lack of merge etiquette.

Here’s an awesome sight… a long row of fine Alpine Coaches. I think there are about 30 Coaches in attendance, (I’ll confirm that number later). Our Coaches filled up the first two rows near the entrance to the park and we ended up in the front row with a view of the pool and spa across from us. 🙂

Everyone gathered at the designated meeting spot for our “Meet & Greet Social”. Once again, it was nice to see old acquaintances/friends and to meet new ones.

After an hour of “catching-up” with folks, it was time for our catered dinner from Panda Express. Great selections, great food, great people!

After our fine meal, we finished setting up the Coach and relaxed for the evening. We were lucky to get a shot for the satellite dish through the tall trees around our site. I thought we might have to move forward or back a few feet but it worked out.

In case anyone’s interested; here’s a view of our schedule for our time here at the Valencia Travel Village:

Since Friday is a “free” day, we decided to check out some sights in and around LA. I thought about downloading the Harley, but decided against it after recalling our freeway experience(s) on the way in here. So, we jumped in the Silverado and plugged “Hollywood Sign” into the iPhone. What did we do in the days before GPS?

After 35 miles and about 50 minutes later, we ended up at the Griffith Observatory parking lot which is also on the road to the Hollywood sign (which is closed).

Here’s some pics of our time at the observatory:

Hollywood sign as seen from Griffith Observatory.

LA skyline through the smog, from the Griffith Observatory.

Hollywood sign in the background, picture is from the top of the Griffith Observatory.

Memorial to James Dean at the Griffith Observatory.

Plaque on the Memorial to James Dean at the Griffith Observatory.

We each took turns walking through the observatory because little dog, Coach, wasn’t allowed 🙁

Giant rotating earth inside the Griffith Observatory.

Giant rotating moon inside the Griffith Observatory.

Stilla and Coach greeted me outside the building after my fast-paced whirlwind tour. Pretty cool place… wish we had more time without having to worry about the dog… it was too hot to leave him alone in the pickup. Another must-see place.

After we left the observatory, we drove a little ways up the road to the Hollywood SIgn. A park ranger said that this is the first time in 20 years that vehicles can travel part way up the road. It’s still blocked off about 2 miles from the sign. Then we cruised around Hollywood and found ourselves at the La Brea Tar Pits.

The Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits was pretty cool. But as usual, no dogs allowed inside the museum. At least we were able to walk throughout the grounds with him on leash.

I’m running late this morning, so I’ll close for now and join the group for our scheduled trip to the Nethercutt Museum. Stay tuned for Day 2 of our Pre-Rally…

California

Bro Time (Westley, CA)

2014/09/25 davidhobden@mac.com 1 Comment

It’s been a couple days since my last post. We’ve been busy hanging out at my brother Ron’s house in Westley, CA. Let me bring you up to date:

We arrived early Tuesday evening after our long day’s drive down I-5 and through Sacramento. After hugs and a tour of the house and adjoining machine shop, we made a trip to the local WalMart to replenish the fridge and more importantly – get some steaks for the BBQ grill. We spent time grilling and catching up. It was great seeing them again, it’s been a long time… years in fact.

We parked on the street beside their house during our stay. Ron graciously provided a power outlet so we could run one of the air conditioners or the microwave without having to start our generator.

Wednesday ended up being a full work day in the fully-appointed machine shop next to the house. I conned (I mean, talked) Ron into doing some modifications to the Silverado’s bed-rails and motorcycle ramp. Nephew James stayed home from work and helped out as well. Ron figured out how to slice a long piece of aluminum off the bed rails so I can better secure my tonneau cover when I’m not carrying the Harley. He also invented a quick-release mount for the motorcycle ramp to secure it on top of the rack. Now I don’t have to struggle with a bunch of bungee-cords every time I transport the ramp.

Here we put everything back on the Silverado after having to disassemble the truck rack to make the modifications.

The tonneau cover now rolls shut and and fits tightly between the bed rails. Thanks Bro!

Ron even took the time to modify the pivot bar that holds the three-piece motorcycle ramp together… the bar was too long and the hole for the pin allowed for too much movement between the individual pieces, so he cut it shorter and re-drilled a new hole for the pin. Now it’s much safer to use, and there’s no chance for a foot or even worse – a motorcycle tire to accidentally slip between the pieces.

I forgot to take a picture of the quick-release mount that Ron invented to secure the ramp on top of the rack during transport. But here’s some pics of Ron in action:

We closed out the evening with another great BBQ meal in the back yard.

It rained Thursday morning… just enough to make us not want to get packed up and move. But, we need to move on down the road and get back to Colorado Springs before our son William comes to visit us in October. So we slowly got packed up by noon, said our goodbyes’s and thanked Ron & Terry for everything. It was about 1 PM by the time we hit I-5 headed South.

Hopefully, I get to see my brother again on Thanksgiving… he’s planning on being in Arizona, as do we.

The roads between the many orchards in the area were muddy from the rain. Lots of vehicles coming onto the roadway from the orchards had made a mess of the pavement. Looks like I get to give the Urban Escape Vehicle and pickup a serious washing now.

The sun came out and it dried up quickly. It wasn’t long before we had to turn on the dash AC again.

We started going through our routine of finding a campground or RV park while traveling down the road since we had good cell signal on I-5. It looked like the Elks Lodge in Barstow would be a good destination for the day. The website said it had 77 RV spots in the Lodge parking lot. So I plugged it into the GPS and we decided to make it a long travel day. Also, we still needed to decide what route to take back to Colorado, and Barstow happens to be located at the point where we can either choose to go North on I-15 through Las Vegas and then on to I-70, then I-25 at Denver to get to COS; or – we can catch I-40 East at Barstow which will take us through Flagstaff and Albuquerque to get on I-25 to COS.

It so happens that my Mom, Stepdad, and other brother Steven along with his better-half Cheryl, are currently in Las Vegas on vacation. So I contacted them to be sure they are still there (they will be until Saturday) so that cinches it – we now have our next destination… Las Vegas, here we come!

Typical highway scenery after we got close to Bakersfield.

It was 7 PM when we finally rolled into Barstow looking for the Elks Lodge. We found it, but it was closed! We wondered why the Elks.org website didn’t show info on the Lodge but we did find all kinds of info and reviews on google. The place looked like it was being sold. Anyway, we chalked that up to another lesson learned… don’t trust google without verifying!

So we did a quick search for other overnight options and found a Flying J truck stop 4 miles further down on I-15. Good enough for the night since it’s late anyway. And besides, we now want to hurry up and get to Las Vegas tomorrow so we can get as much time as possible in with my Mom/Stepdad & other brother Steven and his better-half Cheryl before they go back to Phoenix and/or Las Cruces on Saturday!

We did 335 miles today… whew! I don’t want to do that too often.

Signing out from the truck stop… C U tomorrow!

Urban Escape Vehicle .com

Tag Archives: California

Day 2 – ACA Pre-Rally – Nethercutt Museum (Valencia Travel Village, CA)

Day 1 – Alpine Coach Association Pre-Rally (Valencia Travel Village, CA)

Bro Time (Westley, CA)

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