Roadtrip complete! (pics inside)
 

Lets just say mother nature kicked my butt this year!
Sat am, left northern MN. -13
Day 1. Met member 718jwh in Altoona IA to drop off some doors. So far so good.
Day 2 Getting pretty windy but still decent out. Meet up with joesjunk at his place in independence MO. Haven't been there in about 10 years. Very impressive collection!! We hung out and talked trucks and parts for 2-3 hours and I dropped off a couple of nice mid 70s tailgates for his collection... still getting windy, something must be moving in? Get to Miami OK and meet up with board member dozerbill72 and drop off a door for him.
Day 3 hoping to hit a junkyard, but there is rain, thunder and lightning and seems unusually warm out? Did a little picking indoors was it. Hit the road and went southwest towards Amarillo. Went from 70 degrees to about 40 in a matter of hours. And yes, still windy.

Pics from joes place... Have some from inside his place I can post if joe is ok with it.

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Day 4. Hoping to hit a couple places around Amarillo. Wake up to a windchill of 3. Keep an eye on the weather and see that OK city to dallas is getting a lot of rain. The swap meet is in Decatur, not far from dallas. Found a few more parts and kept watching the weather for my next stop in Decatur... Looks to be getting worse with a winter weather advisory there now, not to mention a flood advisory.
Looks like more rain in the forecast for the first day and a half of the swap meet. Hate to drive 5 hours for that.
Morning of day 5. Windchill of 2. Loading up my other parts and heading back to MN! Storms and freezing rain and blizzards all over between here and there. If I stay west, I should be able to miss most of it... Wrong!

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Imagine driving in that and only getting worse for 14.5 hours straight. Turned to heavy blowing snow about 5 hours from home. Got home to about 12" of snow to plow since I left.
Hope you enjoyed going on a roadtrip with me, here are some of the goodies...

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Last pics. The tailgate pics are a teaser for joe.
Was a nicely optioned truck if that glove box door is correct.

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Thanks for sharing your trip adventure Eric and the big thing is you arrived home safe and sound.

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Thanks sharing- looks intense! Nice pile of parts!

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Glad you made it home safe. The rain just let up mid day today here in Dallas.
Been raining for last 8 days. 8" here at the house. Gotta say i could not have done 14 hours in the ice/snow.

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Glad to hear you made it home without any major problems. It has been nasty all across the midwest. Luckily we missed most of the bad stuff today. I think it is supposed to turn nice for a while now. They had three major pileups North of Des Moines on I-35 in the last couple of weeks.... The last one was 90 cars & trucks.

LockDoc

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White knuckle 14 hour return trip on the road to Hades. Nice parts!

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That is one loaded spid. Looks like you were still able to pick up some nice goodies. Like others said main thing is you got home in one piece. Even more nerve racking pulling a trailer.

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It was great to visit with you again. Glad you made it home safe. Driving in snow/ice with a trailer is awful! I don't mind if you post pictures.

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Glad you made it back home alright. Thanks again for the door and it was really nice meeting you. It's been wet done here for sure, we hit rain about half way back home the other night and basically hasn't stopped. Looks like you got a few goodies for your troubles though.

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Glad you enjoyed the trip. Felt good to get home.
Yeah, a little intense at times.

Did you or anyone you know go to Decatur swap? Curious how or if it turned out.

Pretty sure one of the pile ups was the morning of the day I drove through. I saw a lot of "carnage" in one area. They were still plowing the shoulders of the road when I came through.

Glad I found some parts without getting to the swap meet.

Pulling a trailer definitely adds to the "fun". I think the trailer does help keep the back end of the pickup in line however.

Good to see you again. Will add a couple more pics. Did you see the gate pic I threw up here?

Was nice to meet you also. Too bad time is so limited sometimes.

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Couple more pics...
Not sure if the grill is a repro or GM any for sure way to tell?

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I would say it is a repo or late GM. The black bars on top and bottom of Chevrolet go all the way to headlight buckets on an original. Here's a picture.

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That is why I am unsure if it is GM or not. I have an nos grill from 1975 and it looks like the one I just bought. (short lines and the paint is not the best)

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Did not make it to Decatur due to the rain. We saw the sun yesterday for the first time in 9 days. Maybe next year.

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Do you know of anyone that went or what the outcome was? Hated to drive that far, be that close and not make it.

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Wow, that was an epic winter weather trip. Too bad you get enough of that where you live. :lol: It definitely looks like you got some great parts though. That 72 cab! Sweet!

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Cool road trip....you're a better, stronger person than me for making that 14 hour trip in such great conditions!

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Yep, scored some good parts, but hate to go back to Minnesota to warm up...

Its hard to know when to make the decision to push on or call it quits. Guess I am not too bright...

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Amazing! Great photos!

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I saw on your SPID "special Promotional" whazizat?

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Thanks for the pictures from Joe's place. But what I'd be interested in seeing is his junk!

Weather can kill a swap meet. I set up a Fall Carlisle and last fall was the first time I had set up since '14. Both '15 and '16 were calling for solid rain or all but one day. I decided not to set-up for '15 but went to check it out the first day which was the when the rain started later in the day. In the area I set up none of my neighbors were there. Probably 1/3 the vendors were there and very few shoppers. Mostly vendors hanging out talking about how crappy it was. I'm glad I didn't bother setting up. The next year the report looked worse so I scheduled work and didn't even run up. I heard it was a wet washed out waste of time. Then this year had no rain and great weather straight on through.

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Looks like you had your hands full driving in the winter weather. It's good to know you made it safe back home. Nice parts score!