FIREWORKS TOUR

 

JULY 2 TO 4TH, 200

Submitted by Keith Gumbinger

On Saturday morning, July 2, 2005, 17 hardy Model T'ers in 9 T's met at the Erin Auto Center south of Hartford and headed for Richland Center, WI for our overnight "Fireworks" tour.

        Present were: Keith & Carol Gumbinger, '26 Roadster Pickup
                    Dan & Phyllis Schultz, '26 Tudor
                    Jim Wright, '24 Tudor
                    Duane Fritz & Diane Scheid, '26 Coupe
                    Pete & Shelly Humphrey, '25 Coupe
                    Adam & Christine Doleshal, '24 Touring
                    Ron & Sandra Stock & Katy, '26 Touring
                    Greg & Ford Zangl, '13 Depot Hack
                    Jim Hess, '23 Roadster

The weather was great --warm and sunny-- as we toured on back roads for a couple of hours until our first rest stop at a crossroads known as Keyeser, WI. We stopped at a nice country park there and visited an 1890's general store that is still operating as a store and bar. Keith showed everyone a picture of the same place taken about 1920 with T's parked out front on the dirt road.

We continued on and passed the farm where Carol Gumbinger grew up. The farm is now owned by the University of Wisconsin and is an experimental farm. Can you tell that Carol laid out the route for this tour? We had lunch in Lodi and then took the ferry across the Wisconsin River. Driving through Devils Lake State Park, we had a nice view of the lake and the bluffs surrounding it. We stopped at Delany's a store that sells all kinds of different things. While some were in the store, others were working on their T's fixing some problems that developed along the way. Just south of Delany's is Dr. Evermore's Sculpture Garden which is loaded with metal sculptures and junk of all types. We drove through and found the things he creates with scrap metal very interesting.

Continuing on, we covered the last leg of the trip into Richland Center making a pit stop at Natural Bridge State Park. There is supposed to be an admission fee for this park, but since it is an unmanned park we felt we could make a quick stop and use the facilities and continue on. Well, all went fine until a woman park ranger showed up and asked us if we had put the admission fee into the box.

We said no, but we were only making a pit stop and not going to the Natural Bridge or anything else in the park, so we didn't feel it was necessary. After she gave us a verbal warning, we left there promptly!

In Richland Center, some stayed at the White House Motel and some stayed in a nearby campground. Both places were very nice and worked out quite well.

On Sunday morning we visited a private museum owned by Ken and Marilyn Houck that's named the "Fancy Creek Technology Museum". They have all kinds of 20th century electrical equipment including radio transmitters used from the 20's to the 50's, WWII military radio equipment, phones, appliances, movie theater projectors, etc. They also have several cars on display: an original, unrestored '26 Dodge coupe, a '27 coupe of another make, the name of which escapes me, but it's also an original unrestored example, plus they have a restored Model A roadster. All of this is kept in a new, climate controlled metal building. After that, they showed us the rest of the collection. They have 5 old fire trucks from the 20's and 30's including a '26 Pirsch fire truck made in Kenosha. The Pirsch has a water leak inside the block, so Ken doesn't drive it anymore, but he used to take it to parades. The Houcks' also raise Llamas and have about 35 of them.  Marilyn explained how they care for the Llamas, etc. We all were very impressed with their collection and the very cordial and personal tour they gave us. 

On Sunday afternoon we toured out to Steve and Carol Stevenson's place to see their private museum. In a word, it was wonderful!! Steve and Carol designed and built the museum themselves, and the quality, craftsmanship and attention to detail really shows. Not only that, but everything is super clean and spotless, thanks to Carol who is in charge of "streets and sanitation". Their museum includes: a jail, with bars from the old Hartford, WI jail; an early 1900's phone switchboard; a Post Office (for the Town of Stevenson, of course); a volunteer fire dept. bunkhouse with original furnishings; a 20's T fire truck, a '26 T fire chief's coupe (painted red, of course, and with a big bell mounted on the front); a general store and millinery (which hinted at Carols fascination with hats); a gas station; a John Deere dealership, complete with a John Deere "B" tractor converted to tracks instead of wheels (there's a story behind that too); a Model T repair shop with a  '15 T Depot Hack, stocked parts bins, workbench, tools and all in it (this T garage looks so inviting that you'd be tempted to bring your T in and go right to work); Santa's Christmas Toy Store; a huge model train layout with multiple, remote operating trains in a village setting; an electronics repair shop in honor of Carol's Dad, and much more. Cars on display besides the Fire truck, chief’s car, and Depot Hack include a '39 Lincoln Zephyr, T Snowmobile, Model A Roadster, '26 T Roadster Pickup dog catchers truck and a Model AA Fuel Delivery truck similar to the one Steves' Dad used to use. After seeing the museum, we saw Steve's repair shop, the wood kiln, their ample storage building, and their recently acquired '59 Ford Retractable. Last, but not least, we toured their home were they pointed out recent additions that had been made. Their home sits on a hill overlooking several hills and valleys to the south, a most beautiful setting. The Stevensons' home and museum complex is unforgettable. If someday you have the chance to see it, don't miss it.

On Sunday evening, Steve and Carol joined us for pizza and a good time was had by all. Later Sunday evening, several of us went to the Richland Center park and saw a nice fireworks display.

Monday morning right after breakfast we headed out for home, again taking great country roads. On the way, we were in Sauk County on Hwy. O, and there were corn fields on both sides of the road, when we came upon lots of people all over the road with cars and things parked all over. We continued on since that was our route and there was no other way to go from there. It turned out that they were forming up for a parade to go through the Village of Witwen. Their parade hadn't started yet, but we just continued on and in a way, we started their parade for them. We waved at the people and they waved back. Ron Stock had a great time with all his bells and whistles (that’s what they're for, isn't it?), and we continued on our way. We stopped for lunch in DeForest and met some of Carol Gumbingers friends and relatives including Royal Quam, who drove over in his '17 Chamlers touring car to meet us.

Total mileage for the weekend was about 220, including 90 miles each way, plus trips around town. In general, all the T's ran pretty well. Some had overheating/radiator problems, one had an ignition problem that was fixed by changing the timer, and another had carburetor problems that later was found out to be complicated by low compression on one cylinder.

This was a great 3 day weekend and we'll do something like this again for sure!!

 

Coffee Break
Gilbertson's Store---interior and exterior &  cars taking a break
FERRY TIME
Dr. Evermore's Sculpture Park

FANCY CREEK TECHNICAL MUSEUM
STEVENSON MUSEUM
MISC