Team Blog

Before I really get into what transpired today, I must write about the fun we had last night! After arriving in Buffalo and getting checked into our gorgeous accommodations, we made our way to the Pierce Arrow Auto Museum. Our first site of the Spyker since Cobleskill, we were excited to be re-joining our fellow traveling companions who had ventured ahead of us.

We finally had a chance to meet Jim Sandoro our most gracious host in Buffalo. Jim had pulled out all the stops and then some for us! We were only saddened to have missed some of the festivities during the day on Friday. Fortunately, we had made it in time to join the parade of vehicles onto the Coca-Cola Field prior to the Buffalo Bison’s baseball game.

As Jim was assigning passengers to cars, Christie was thrilled to have the opportunity to ride in the backseat of the Spyker. I must say I was a little jealous! However, once I realized where I was riding the jealousy was quickly forgotten. I had the priveledge to ride with the Barrett family in their 1909 Stanley Steamer! I have always loved the Steamer and have never had an opportunity to ride in one. What a perfect chance and under such unique circumstances!

Not only did I get to ride in the Steamer but the Steamer was driven by Victoria Barrett a 20 year old young woman from Buffalo. Once I got a chance to check out the inside of the car along with the knobs and gauges I was dumb founded. Victoria explained how the car worked and what all the different knobs were for. Man- there is a lot that goes into getting that puppy running! The cool thing is that the car can go up to 60 mph however the downside is needing to stop to refill with water every 40 miles.

After driving around the field and waving at the crowd we cruised back to the Pierce Arrow Museum where I got to chat with Victoria awhile longer. Her dad jumped out and showed us how the pipe organ on the side of the car worked. An accessory item in 1909 the organ cost $350 - the price of a Ford car in that day and age!

Christie and I also had a chance to meet Lauren Fix and her daughter. Lauren has been a mechanic and race car driver for years. Known as the Car Coach, she also travels around the country consulting and speaking. So impressive to me as she is a mother as well and impressively juggles a lot of different things in addition to making a name for herself in the car community! Check her out her website! The mechanics is what I know the least about and Christie and I both vow to learn as much as we can during the course of the drive.

Okay finally onto Saturday! The baby was not feeling well during the night so sadly we didn’t get the best night’s sleep. We met the team for breakfast in the hotel lobby where Jim and his wife Marianne joined us. We also were finally able to meet up with the Kelso’s who had come up to meet us for the weekend. Finally back on track and with the entire entourage together again we were ready for some fun!

Jim planned a visit to Niagara Falls for all of us so we trailered the Maxwell as well as the Kelso’s Stanley Steamer up to the town of Niagara. We made a caravan of cars to protect the Spyker as it cruised along the highway. Once we were up and running in Niagara, Jim lead us over to the falls. He must have worked some magic as the whole team was able to drive along a side walk lead by the park service parrallel to the top of the falls.

Upon reaching the top of the falls lookout area, we parked the Spyker and the Maxwell for a photo opp. Sadly the Steamer wasn’t able to make the trek. A lot of people there and some good fun for the team as most of us had never been to the Falls before. What a sight to see! A lot of bystanders wanted pictures of the cars and asked a lot of questions so we had fun with the crowd.

One woman decided she could just climb up into the Spyker, sit down and have her picture taken without asking anyone. Jan (passenger in the Spyker from the Netherlands) took his video camera and went up to her filming all the while and asked her “Is this your car?” The woman immediately answered “oh no, no” and scrambled down out of the car and scampered off. We all got a good laugh out of that one!

The Falls were definitely the highlight of the day and Jim really made our experience special! After returning to Buffalo, some of the group visited the Pierce Arrow Musuem while others took a historical building tour of downtown Buffalo and a few more went to the Art Fair. I took Kaisa to the room for her nap and ended up falling asleep myself!

For dinner the entire group met up at the Pearl Street Brewery (good food and great beer!). Will had flown in from the Netherlands to join us and ride in the Spyker for a week. Always fun to have someone join the group - the more the merrier I say! So nice to have everyone back together again after being a bit disjointed due to mechanical difficulties. A very merry dinner with lots of story telling and planning for tomorrow’s long drive.

Although our time here has been fun, I am looking forward to hitting the road in the morning. Such a great opportunity to see the state of New York - something I have never been able to do before. Not only see the countryside but experience it a little slower via the back roads. Really beautiful country and rolling hills which have made for some fun touring. We’ll be heading into Ohio tomorrow and it feels a bit like we are about to close one chapter of the trip and open another.