Car Watching - 1965 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport

Into the lot pulled a 1965 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport today.  It was a sight for sore eyes, being the middle of winter.  Do you know how hard it is to spot cool cars...especially vintage iron...when it's 20 degrees outside?

 This was a 327 V8 car, and the owner had taken the time to do a fairly nice job of restoring this wonderful piece of Chevrolet history.  He did it himself, although his son had started the project with him.  Girls soon took the boy in a different direction, so dear old Dad finished it by his lonesome.

 The body was great, and the "Super Sport" script was on point.

 The interior was dandy.  White vinyl.  And that cue ball shift lever gave the nod to a kick ass manual transmission.  I should have gotten a couple more shots of the interior, as it was really nice.

 Good looking fastback roofline has always drawn me to this years car.

 Oh, those individual circular tail lights....love them.  The bumpers were looking fine, too.

 Looking down the side of the car was a treat.  He did a great job on the body of this one.

Muscular, great paint, 327 V8, manual transmission....I was really, really happy to see this one today!

Final Post of 2014!

 This was supposed to be my last post of 2014, but I was under the weather so it's my first post of 2015.  The first photo is of my two favorite people, Ma and Pa Zimmer at Christmas.

 Eli, reading Christmas stories to the little ones.

 ....he gets easily distracted.  Love the hat.

 Hanna always has a smile for the camera.

 We took Rex for a hike at Laumeier Sculpture park.

 Cool pyramid thing that Tyson would have been climbing on if he had been with us.

 Miniature high rise apartment building.

 Chainsaw-cut Redwood trunk

 The remnants of a very cool swimming pool.  This is my favorite part of the park.

 It was a personal pool, yet it was nearly as big as a public pool.

 The view from the other end.

 The story behind it's inclusion in the Sculpture park.

 Another part I really like.

 Metal sculpture hanging in the trees. 

 A boat-like structure.

 That is a lot of metal.

 Hanna loved the eyeball.  It appears as though this eyeball belonged to a heavy weed smoker.

 Rex was beside himself with all of the other dogs that were at the park.

 Hanna was not down with the mud hut.

 But, she was willing to lend a couple of hands to the armless sculpture.

 Hanna and I at Joey B's.

 Like her hand tattoo?

 Me trying to be serious at New Years Eve.

 Didn't work.

A parting shot with Alex, Michael, Mrs K and I.

A Family History of Cars

 My wife found this photo of her father with his mother next to their 1939 Nash sometime in the early 1940's.  That sparked a conversation about his family's cars while growing up.

 I found a few photos modern photos of a '39 Nash.  This one doesn't show the really cool upright grill, but it is a nice example.

 Next up was this.  The 1946 Dodge was a real looker, and this modern photo shows off some of the fine lines and cool grill.

 They also had a GMC panel van from 1948.  It was the delivery vehicle for the family grocery store.  The story is that my mother-in-law had to ride on a crate while being driven around...it was a delivery vehicle, of course! No seats!

 Their next car was a 1955 Buick Special  Now we're talking.  I found this two-tone example on Google. 

 The '62 Buick Lasabre came next. 

Lastly was the 1969 Lasabre.  I remember seeing a lot of these growing up.  I'm pretty sure one of my neighbors growing up had one in a dull off-white color.

I will do the same thing for my parents cars when I get the chance.  They are not very cool, but they are memorable.

Candy Cane Lane and other Xmas Lights

 There is a small street in South City that is dedicated every Christmas to decorating to the maximum.  It's called Candy Cane Lane.

 Cares are backed up for quite a few blocks, waiting to trundle through and check out the scene.

 Cool Stuff.

 An archway of lights.

 Hmmm.  Who's that guy?

And then, away from Candy Cane Lane, there is this.  Experience much theft, perhaps?

Council Bluff Solo Adventure

 Anyone who has taken hwy 21 south and turned on "C" has certainly seen the odd school buildings that look like...well...you know.

 It's a nicely identifiable landmark on the way to Council Bluff.  Why would they build school buildings that look like this?

 I paid my three dollars.

This was the only moment of the day that the sun poked through.  It punctuated the deserted area.  I was the only soul there, with the exception of the Park Ranger who drove through before I set off.  I did two loops, starting from the boat ramp, clockwise.  I always liked clockwise better, as it was the old XC race direction.  23.4 miles later, I was so glad I made the trip.  Trail was in great condition, with only a few creeks to splash through.  I might go back this coming week, but it will be colder.  Then I will probably do the 12-hour Burnin' direction.

Sneaking in the mountain bike whenever possible

 The last few weeks have been hell for mountain biking.  Rain and leaves have made it really hard.  I have made some valiant efforts, and lately the only way I have gotten to mountain bike is by hitting the gravelly hills...and not much more.  A couple of times I have gone out to Greensfelder and pretty much stayed off of the normal trail system and ridden the Eagle Valley trail instead.  It's got sort of a gravel road/mountain bike mix going on and as you can see from my bike today, it's pretty okey dokey.  That was after 17 miles and 2000 feet of climbing.  It was really only the creek crossings that gave me the splatter.

There was just a bit of splatter on my clothes.  Nothing a little Tide won't fix!

Eli gets a Limo Ride

 It's always nice to have friends that invite you to birthday parties.  Especially in a limo.

 Why thank you, Sir!

 Whasssssssuuuuup!

 Are you comfortable, young man?

It's good to be a kid these days.

Running Track?

Word has it that the little one is going to run track in school this spring.  Very interesting!