We start the day with looking for a garage to solve the problem with the Land Rover.
They check the car with the computer but they can not find any problem. So they think that the problem is solved.

garage Landrover

We want to find a campsite in the hills, so the Land Rover has to climb a lot.
Again the engine failed, so the problem is back again.
The campsite is not what we want, so we decide to stay one more night in the hotel.
Today we have an appointment with Bill Sherril, the man from Houston where we started our tour in the US.
Bill has arranged, with the support of Jay Klehfoth, de Ceo/Editor of the Model T Ford Club of America, that we can visit the The Tonight Show of Jay Leno.
First we have a conducted tour through the garage of Jay Leno. He has a very rare collection of all kind of classic cars and motorcycles.
After this tour we go to the studio for the show.
It is a beautiful show with entertainment and music.
After the show they made a picture with us and Jay Leno.

Studio 1

together with Jay

Back in his garage Jay showed us his most favourite cars.
And of course we take a picture with Jay in the Model T.

Jay in Model T

Jonathan, a motor mechanic and a friend of Bill, tries to solve the problem of the Land-Rover and gives some advices to Dirk.

Jonathan 1

Jonathan 2

Las Vegas – Los Angeles

Wake up early, because it is a long trip from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.

Frank and Sukhi Ross say good bye and we start our 225 miles long trip.

departure

We leave Las Vegas and Kees, our mascot, checked the direction.

kees out of Las Vegas

We travel over the mountains into the dessert and take Interstate 15.

A lot of traffic and many big trucks are passing us.

interstate

During our rip we see the Joshua trees and the yucca’s in the dessert.

dessert

At once the Land Rover gives some troubles for the first time during our World tour.

The engine does not react on the foot throttle.

Dirk looks under the hood if he can find something wrong.

looking engine

Het stops the engine and than start it again. It runs and we continue our trip.

We decided to look for a Land Rover garage in Los Angeles.

We have to cross the Mountain pass of 4731 feet high, so we have to go in the low gear.

When we arrive in Los Angeles, we can park the Model T in the world-famous garage of Jay Leno, between al kinds of beautiful classic cars.

Garage

Here it is a good place for the Model T to have a rest after such a long trip.

Today we make the preparation for our trip to Los Angeles.

Dirk visited with Frank en Tera the Thunderbird Museum of The Royal Air force.

These jet-fighters are still often used for airplane shows.

Thunderbird museum

You can see that the cockpit of a Thunderbird has a lot of more gauges than a Model T.

cockpit

In the evening we visit the monthly club event of the Southern Nevada Model T Club.

We were spoiled by pie and ice cream

Garry and Steve with the pi

After the regular points of the meeting, Dirk gives a presentation about our World tour.

presentation

We got a free membership of their club and they offered a donation for SOS children’s villages.

saying goodbye

We have a nice, long weekend in Las Vegas.

Have some rest, do some shopping, visiting the Strip and of course some maintenances at the Model T.

casino

fountain

Because of the promotion of our tour, Dirk has made some appointments with several Car Museums in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

This morning Frank and Dirk were working together in the garage to mount the plaque of the Southern Nevada Model T Club on the Model T.

T-Brothers

We have an invitation to visit The Auto Collections of Rob and John Williams to visits their beautiful car collection. Frank Ross guides us through Las Vegas en we arrive in an enormous parking garage.

parking garage

John Williams is waiting for us and opened the gate on the 4th floor and we park the Model T inside between lots of old-timers.

We enter The World Largest Classic Cars Showroom.
John shows us his favourite car, a Pierce Arrow Model 66 A4 Tourer 1919.
Dirk took place behind the steering wheel.

Dirk in the Pierce

There are also a lot of Rolls Royce’s. Dirk likes the red one the most and there is even one with a toilet inside.

Rolls Royce

After the tour through the museum we say goodbye to John and say thanks for the invitation.

John with Dirk

We have a lunch at the Bonito Michoucan, a Mexican restaurant and Violeta, the owner wants to take a picture with the Model T.

Violeta

In the evening John en Shoralyn Craft, of the local Model T club, come to look at our Model T and have a lot of story’s about their Model T.

visit

Today we visited the shop of the Southern Nevada Model T Club in Las Vegas . We go there with the Model T with Frank Ross, the president of the Club, as co-driver.

samen naar de shop

In the shop there are a lot of special Model T tools and machines and also a lot of spare parts, to keep the cars going.

zoveel spullen

extra bouten en moeren

We see a lot of cars of the members. They can work on their cars here or just store it.
One of the members is Gary Cooper and he is already in the T business since he was 13 years old.

mooi oudje

Of course they talk a lot of Model T’s

overleg

de mannen

After visiting the shop we make a ride along the Strip.

welkom las vegas

After lunch we visit the Red Rock Canyon.

red mountain

During this trip we see a family of wild donkeys and beautiful Joshua trees.

wilde ezels

trudy bij Joshua tree

It is wonderful to be at the house of Frank en Sukhi Ross in Las Vegas.
Henk and Guus are writing the reports for the website for the last time .

voor het huis

Frank brings all of us to their Hotel, with casino of course, and we say goodbye to Henk and Guus and wish them a good flight back to Holland. We thank them a lot for their support during the first 3 weeks in the States.

afscheid

A friend of Frank, Steve Collett, has a garage full of Model T’s and Model A’s
Dirk find a Ford pick-up from 1936. This can be a nice car to continue his World tour.

de garage

Dirk pick-up

Dirk receives a licence plate from Steve as a souvenir.

nummerplaat

On our way back we drive along the Strip.

casino

skyline

At sunrise Dirk and Trudy made a walk through the park and they saw the clay mountains nearby.

gorge with dirk

We avoided the Interstate and took a short cut through Nevada, the 317 a very nice road where we even drove through water!! Later there was an unpaved road and it was difficult to find some shade.

road 317

shade

With the map and the Garmin we managed it to find the home of Frank and Suhki Ross. Frank gave us a warm welcome.

landrover

frank

With Frank we eat in a Mexican restaurant and did sightseeing on the Strip and Downtown.

vegas

Some figures: In 19 days we drove 2422 miles, an average of 127 miles a day.

Via the roads 12, 89, 14 and 56 we drove out of Utah. Near a petrol station we took a photo of some wildlife.

wildlife

Road 14 is a beautiful one. It shows us a chancing landscape and brings us up to 9900 ft. We pass the black lava fields and cool down the model T with some snow.

lava

snow

on the road

Further on, we drive on an endless, very straight and dull and boring
In Modena we didn’t take this hotel.

hotel old

Arrival in the State: Nevada.

nevada

We arrived on the earlier selected campground in the Cathedral Gorge State Park. A long narrow valley where erosion has carved dramatic and unique patterns in the soft bentonite clay.

First we take the traditional beer.

traditional beer

After a Dutch dinner we made a walk in the Park

cathedral gorge

Today we try to get to Bryce canyon. We have already annual passes for all the National parks.
First we met Allen and his wife. They invited Trudy and Dirk to come in Yellowstone and Thailand, where they have guesthouses.
Then we spot a hummingbird, no picture.

We stopped at the Utah border.

utah

By the town Hatch we spoke a cook that lives there for 52 years and was a Dutchman.

hatch

Then we drove further, through the Red Canyon and Bryce Canyon.

red canyon

bryce 1

bryce

The campgrounds in the Park had no vacancy.
So Guus and Henk hired a tipi out off the park and we make a simple meal on the fire.

guus by fire

The first part off the day we pasted Grand Canyon National Park on the 64. It’s incredible and breath-taking. I presume that more photos will follow in two weeks.

Model T Canyon

colorado river

In an empty souvenir “shop” we find some shade and had lunch. The Navajo flag is the same as the Dutch.

navajo hgw 63

After lunch: amazing nature like in the Wild West movies.

landrover

model T

near canyon

At the end off the day we camped in Jacob Lake and had a good meal in the nearby motel.

camping jacob lake

A day off, a non driving day.
Henk and Guus used the opportunity to visit Grand Canyon National Park.
It was a wonderful day with amazing views.

grand canyon

canyon 2

Trudy and Dirk stayed on the camping and made friends, they invited us for a party.

friend on camping

When we came back, we saw in Tusayan the Model T and Trudy and Dirk starring at a enormous pizza. Fortunately we could help them to make the pizza’s to disapear.

pizza

In the evening we had the party with locale beer and the explication off the word serendipity.
See: htpp://arnoldserendipity.blogspot.com.

We managed it to visit Russ Firstnow in Flagstaff. He showed us his collection model T’s and Mustangs. He also has a wonderful garage, little factory and boys room
Russ and Dirk made a drive in a 1912 fire brigade red Model T

Russ and Dirk

With the home made cookies by Kathy we went on to the Grand Canyon.

depart Russ and Kathy

We saw a few cows and stopped near a corral.

no cows

The Park ranger of camping Ten-X give us the best place to stay and didn’t charged us, because this world trip. This is the cheapest camping so far. We decided to take a day off.

ten x

Before leaving Globe we washed ourselves with cold water from the garden tube. It was the cheapest camping so far.
We left Globe and after a while a huge cactus along the road. A photo shoot.

cactus 1

cactus 2

Because of the heat and the steep hills is the engine to hot, which happens once in a while.

dirk with fan

After this stop we went on via Lake Roosevelt, Payson, Pine en Strawberry with the lunch in Pine.

lake roosevelt

Further through the pine forests on a height between 6000 and 9000 ft. on our way to Flagstaff.

pine

In Flagstaff, we build our camp en started to cook diner.

kitchen

Goodbye Henry Ford, he had several times problems by booking a hotel room, if there was a Model T meeting. They didn’t believe him.

with henry ford

We thank for the hospitality and leave El Paso and drive through the valley Rio Grande. More sand then water. (28 Hwy). Pecan orchard and even winery’s and a few nice little villages.

pecan

bean

After Hatch highway 26 to Interstate 10. It was a pity that there was no alternative.

We arrived 6 p.m. at the campground and there was free barbecue and beer, because of Memorial Day.

cabin

free food

We continued the Texas Mountain Trail.

dessert flower

Coffee-stop at junction 54 180

junction 54 180

We passed salt lakes and dunes and suddenly Dirk stops because he saw some very old dusty and rusty cars. He climbed over a fence and shot some pictures, nobody shot him.

cars on salt

The world-famous Carnudas burgers tasted good at the Mays Café.

cowboys cowgirl

Dessert for today’s trip were the beautiful Franklin Mountains,

franklin mountain

Finally we arrived by Henry Ford himself in El Paso. The nice Scotsman was a very friendly host.

We played a table soccer game. After a view minutes is was 3-0 for the red-team. De question off the day is: what was the final result after 15 minutes. The winner will be announced on the website.

table soccer

Yesterday we met Megan and her child Neva, the mother bicycled 50 miles a day through USA and we made this picture and wishes her good luck.

megan

We got to Marfa. Henk came all the way from Holland to visit the Donald Judd Foundation, but unfortunately it was closed.

We proceed the Texas Mountain Trail and Bob Dylans music is on the cd player.

on the road

cactus 1

Because of this photo-shoot off road, Dirk has to remove needles of his 4 tires.

cactus 2

We passed a secret? project off the American airforce…

zeppelin

Koa van horn is our finish today.

From 4 a.m. till 7 a.m. thunderstorms in the middle of nowhere. Everything was wet but not broken.

Then on the road again in a temporary cooler weather.

on the road

Point of interest was where we had lunch. An old café etc. where we saw the struggle for live.

wagon wheel

The border control cars where always there and this time we had to show our i.d.

We stopped at RV park Canyons in Sanderson and shopped in a typical grocery.

Today from San Antonio to Del Rio. 140 miles.

Of course we had to go to the Alamo in San Antonio. Hugh was in the front and we followed him in San Antonio, made some pictures and picture and continued our trip. The weather was very hot. 90 K.

alamo

The temperature raised, we passed Castroville and in Uvalde Dirk and Trudy became certificated to Colonel by the Uvalde County Judge William R. Mitchell.
A locale journalist interviewed him.

uvalde 1

uvalde 2

T became warmer and warmer and we hade to make a cooling stop. Then drove to find a campground near Del Rio. There hadn’t fallen any rain during the last month and the campground was hot and dry and there was no water.

What will tomorrow bring?

We had a very quiet morning in mc kinney fallspark where we had our camp.

After breakfast Trudy, Henk and Guus made a walk to the upper and lower falls. A beautiful walk but very poor falls. In the lower river was enough water for a schoolclass of girls to swim. Who came by bus.

falls 1

falls 2

We had some troubles to find our way to San Antonio. Our maps and reality did not correspond but around 5 p.m. we arrived at Anton en Marian Hajek’s place.

We got a refreshing welcome with a big box full with cold beer.

We had a great dinner en after that a number off clubmembers arrived.

Together we had had a nice evening with a lo0t of talk about The model-T en our world tour.

The club members wished us good luck en did spontaneous donations for the SOS children’s villages.

hajek 1

hajek 2

hajek 3

We say goodbye tot Ben and Nancy and thank them for de two nights we could stay.

depature Ben

Ross Likkerer and his staff accompanied us to Caldwell with his Model T.
We met his wife Jennefer and daughter Vivian. We drank all coffee with kolaches czeck pastery.

Ross and staff

kolache

We carried on to Austin and found our camp in Mc. Kinney Falls State Park.

Joe Pinnelli invited us to visit the Model T club members in Catfish Parlor.
Dirk told them about his adventure and dream. They all admired his Model T.

Austin club

Bad weather forecast makes everybody disappeared suddently and Joe brought us back to the campground.

camp Austin

The hospitality of the family Hardeman is great.
Nancy makes a very nice breakfast for all of us.
We find an unrestored Model T roadster in the garden with a tree that has grown through it.

Under the Tree

Dirk gives an interview to a local television station about their World tour.

After the interview Dirk went to the Model T garage of Ross Lilleker in College Station to put new tyres under the car.
It is very special for Dirk to be with his Model T in a real Model T garage.

changing tyres

in the garage 1

in the garage 2

in the garage 3

Ross has also a lott of spare parts of Model T in the barn behind his garage.

T-Parts 1

T-Parts 2

After the tyres are done we took a nice picture in the front of the garage with Ross, his wife Jennifer and daughter Vivian.

family Ross in front of garage

Before leaving Dirk thanks Ross for his help.

Dirk thanks Ross

Today we start after breakfast on the terrace in the neighbourhood of the motel (Galveston inn).
We like to start the trip officially from Bill’s property.

Bill depature

Bill has written and drawn four papers with country roads to Bryan. We could find the route easily and did not need the Garmin. On the road we take a coffee stop and lunch break. There we meet the Birdman.

Birdman

On the country roads we see we a lot of churches of all kinds of different faiths. I even saw a cowboy church!

church

The landscape is a bit like some parts of Holland. The temperature increases up to above the 86 degrees F and the water of the model T almost cooks. Dirk had to test his invention, a fan to the front of the radiator.
The traffic lights have been horizontally hung instead of vertical like in Holland.

crossing

Bill telephoned between the model T friends and at a junction close by Anderson stands Ross Lilleker with its model T and accompanies us for the last stage.

Ross

We arrive at 6 PM. Ben Hardeman and Nancy of Texas T Parts invited some friends to meet us and a have a nice cold dish together.

Today we are invited at the Annual Ice Cream Social of the Space City Model T club in Houston.
Bill en Pat Sherriff are our hostess.

Bill the chief

Pat welcome

On a beautiful location at the Galfeston Bay a lot of Model T lovers came to meet us.
Some of them came with their Model T.

Model T’s

There was nice home made Ice Cream, and off course hotdogs and hamburgers.

ice cream machine

nice cakes

Special the men looked in and under the car.

under the car

The president of the club, Rick McCracken, wished us a good trip through the States and Canada and he gave a spontaneous gift for SOS children’s villages.

Rick McCracken, the president of the club

America here we are

This afternoon at 1.30 PM. We have picked up the cars at the customs.
First we had to pay $960 cash before the released the cars.

auto Trudy en Dirk douane Houston

auto’s bij haven Houston

After we got the cars we made a little tour to The Independent Monument.

monument Houston

Back at the hotel it was time for an official moment that Henk en Guus, the crew of the Landrover, put on the sticker with their names on the hood of the car.

namen plakken

Guus en Henk sticker

We are waiting for the cars, they are in the harbour now and we hope that we can pick them up today or tomorrow.

Bill Sherrill from The Space City T’s club, here in Houston, brought us from the airport to our hotel in his big Ford Pick Up.

Saturday in the afternoon we are invited to visit their Annual Ice Cream Social.

That will be our first meeting with Model T people here in the States.

Just like in South Africa is feels that Model T drivers are one big worldwide family.

Bill Sherill and Trudy in Houston