January 26, 2005
We left for Tom Marshall's (Auburn Heights) at 7 AM, Wednesday morning,
January 26, 2005. We got there around 8 AM with a slight amount
of snow on Tom's drive. Like little ball bearings (ice).
I needed the truck's 4WD to pull the trailer up to where we would load
the Stanley. We got it loaded and were ready to leave by around
10 AM. I drove and we went the Bill Rule way 'till we got to
Route 301 South. We stopped for lunch at the "New Yorker" restaurant,
Bowling Green - A.P. Hill - Virginia. We then drove until
8 PM or so and stopped at the "Iron Skillet Restaurant" in Florence, S.C.
After dinner, I said why don't we see if this motel next door has any
rooms available. The Rodeway Motel had plenty of space so we
stayed for $ 48.00 for the night.
January 27, 2005
We got up Thurs. AM and were on the road by 8AM. No breakfast
but we did stop for lunch at a Cracker Barrel in Brunswick, Georgia, exit
36A-I95 around noon. We got fuel at an "El Cheapo" gas station
(really the name). We arrived in Ormond Beach at around 3:30
PM or so. We decided we should stop at the "Casements" house.
Evidently the men running the event had registration there from 2 - 3:30
PM Thursday. We arrived just as they were about to leave. We
registered and met both Dan Smith and Stephen Sibley and got our banquet
tickets and a schedule of the next 2 days events. After looking
at the exhibits at the John D. Rockefeller summer house - "The Casements",
we headed out to the beach to find a motel to stay at. The
2 that Brent Campbell suggested had both closed and were being rebuilt
and enlarged. So we found another that the trailer and truck
would fit in.
 We settled on the "Ivanhoe Beach Resort Hotel" on the beach. After
registering, we worked on the CX some. Most of the insulation
around the burner had shaken off. We found the check straps
on the springs that we put on when we left had not let the car spring
up as it should have and the result was that the insulation came off
from the sudden stop when the body went up after a bump in the road
in the trailer. We removed these straps about ½ way down. Also
the exhaust steam pipe was loose and was hitting the deck lid at every
bump and knocked the screws out of the deck. We had to put
some bungie cords over it to stop it. We should have looked
under but were on the road. We then went to dinner about 7:30 PM at
Julian's slightly north of our Hotel on the west side of A1A. Very good
dinner, no wait and not expensive. We will get up early Friday morning
and go to the meeting at the "Casements". Then we will work on getting
ready to fire up the Stanley.
January 28, 2005
Friday. Awoke at 7:15 AM. Had breakfast at the IHOP across
the road from the hotel. We went and got a can of regular gasoline
for the Stanley. We then took the Dodge truck to the Casements
for a meeting with the two men in charge with setting up the event. It
did not look good at that time about the possibility of being able to
do the trial runs on the beach today. Evidently the Federal
government has the last say about where, when, and if anyone can drive
on the Beach. We were to meet again at 2 PM here to get the
final word if we could go on the beach. We then left to find
a copy place to make up some brochures about the organization to give
out at the race. Butch forgot to bring them along from home.
We found an Office Depot that Sue Davis suggested. They did
a fine job of copying Butch's file.
 We then stopped at an Ace Hardware store to get some
nuts, bolts, and washer for the car. Back we went to the
Casements to get a signed copy of the book "Racing on the Rim".
The authors were there. We went back to the hotel to work
at firing up the Stanley for the afternoon event. Slowly
but surely we worked the old fuel through and finally the new fuel started
to make a difference. By about 1:30 PM a man in a Model A
Ford drove in the parking lot to say that the beach trials had been
cancelled for today. We promised him we would drive to the
Casements in the Stanley shortly anyway. We finally left
for the Casements at about 2:15 PM with Bill Rule following in the big
green Dodge truck (with Bill Schwoebel driving the CX). The
steam car ran fine over there without a problem. Bill Rule
gave people rides around the parking lot in CX at the Casements all
afternoon. We stayed until about 5 PM and went back to the hotel (with
Butch Cannard driving the CX). We were very cold and tired
from all of the cold wind. But Sue Davis' film crew was there
and interviewed all of us about Tom's little car and what makes it tick.
After we put it back in the trailer we went out for dinner to the
great place we ate at on Thursday night, Julians. We are
supposed to meet tomorrow, Saturday, at the same time, 2 PM, to see
if we will be allowed to drive on the beach or not, and the race with
the horse is Saturday also. Dan Smith said that the insurance
costs for the two day event on the beach cost them over $3,000. The
weather today was very windy in the morning and overcast. The
wind became less but there were a few slight showers during the day.
Still, very windy at evening. Wind from the north in the
AM, shifting to from the South in the evening. Supposed
to come from the West tomorrow, Saturday, but bring rain with it. We
will see.
January 29, 2005
Saturday morning. Weather today is sunny and warmer. Wind out of the south but not too bad.
Forecast is for rain all day but at the moment, beautiful here at the Ivanhoe Hotel on the beach. Tide is near
high and up to the sea wall. Low tide today is around 4:38 PM. We are supposed to meet at 2 PM
today at the Casements with the Stanley to find out if we can go out on the beach for the trial runs and the race with
the trotter horse. Looks good from here. The weather channel shows a large storm dumping ice and
snow from Georgia to Maryland and snow to PA. We might stay here until Monday before we start for home.
South Carolina has no snow removal equipment according to Bill Rule. Walkathon was this morning nearby, we
aren't into that and aren't walkers. We will fire up and drive to the Casements for 2PM. CX siphoned
OK. Looks like the oil pump is pumping well. Bill
Rule enjoyed his first driving lesson yesterday at the Casements parking
lot. He gave many there a ride in our 100 year old Stanley.
 Saturday evening - We had a great day !!!! The sun came out and the wind died down. Bill Rule got up
at 7 am and took a walk on the beach. We knew we had to be at the Casements by 2PM to see if we could drive
on the beach today. So we decided to drive the Dodge truck over early (10:30-11AM) and see what else was going on.
When we arrived, everyone else was there with their old cars having a display. Brent Campbell also arrived
around then. They all wanted to know where the 100 year old Stanley was. So, we went back to the
hotel and got the little car out and fired her up. Meanwhile, the 2PM meeting was held early, so by the time we
got back in the CX, we had missed it. The word was that we couldn't race on the beach, but we would be permitted to
drive single file for about 1 mile on what I believe was Daytona Beach. Butch and I took the Stanley (Bill S
driving) and Bill Rule said he wouldn't go along but would just go back to the Hotel and wait for us to return.
We proceeded to drive back past our hotel down A1A to the first beach entrance there. Here we drove on the beach
and headed south. At the next ramp we got off the beach. Many people were on the beach to cheer us
on and wave and photograph us. It was really exciting for us all. We then drove back onto A1A North
to Route 40 West toward the Casements. I figured that was the end of the run but was I ever wrong.
At the drive entrance to the Casements, we turned right and went north along the inter-coastal waterway. We
drove approximately 12 miles north and then over the waterway and back to the town of Ormond Beach. About
2/3 of the way we started to have backfires and had to stop in the middle of the road, of course. The police
and officials that came along couldn't have been nicer and directed traffic until we corrected the problem.
We did stop at a park shortly afterwards and found the peephole cover screw was stripped. Butch used some wet
insulating material to cement this door shut. That cured the back fire problem.
 We then took Sue Davis as our passenger and Butch said he would sit in the front seat. What a ride he had.
We saw Brent Campbell stop to get water and decided it might be a good idea to do the same. While
getting water, I looked at the fuel level in the car and found it almost dry. My fuel pressure had not
been staying up to the usual 90 lbs. A man was standing in his driveway across the street from where we
were getting the water. So I went and asked him if I could buy some gasoline from him for our Stanley.
He said I could NOT buy gasoline from him but could have a can of his for free. He would not take a cent
for it. After adding this to the fuel tank, I pumped by hand the pressure back up to the 90 lbs like before.
It stayed there the rest of the way back and we made back to the Casements in fine shape. What a day
for the CX! The cars stayed in the parking lot until we had to leave so we could go to the banquet
at 6:30 PM that night. We had a very nice dinner and also some very good speakers attended, Dan Smith,
Stephen Sibley did a great job at promoting and running this event. We all had a wonderful time and
do want to be at the big event next year that Sue is helping with. She also spoke to all at the banquet
about next year, 2006.
January 30, 2005
Sunday. We stayed for another day because of the large storm to our north of snow and ice in Georgia, South
Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. We finished the tie downs
in the trailer. Butch was checking the tires on the trailer and noticed the left rear wheel and tire
loose. As though the bearings were not tight enough. Closer inspection found the outer wheel
bearing to be loose because the axle nut was not tight enough. The tire had worn more on the inside
because of this problem. The bearings seemed okay but the inner one was stuck on the axle but the
bearing seemed okay. Bill Rule repacked the bearings with new grease that I had brought along and
we reassembled the hub. Hope we get home with it this way. We plan to leave for home
tomorrow morning, around 6:30 AM or so. We will drive as far as we can or until we get tired.
We had a very nice time and hope that we can come back next year for the big Steam car event of 50-100 Steam cars.
-WOS Jr.
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