Texas Road Trip!

My first thought when I heard FreakOut 2022 would be held in Texas was ROAD TRIP! Many of my best memories are made driving or riding in “Little Red” my 2017 spider with my husband Luis. My second thought was how much can we pack into the 4000 + mile round trip drive?

Crack of dawn Sunday morning prior the FreakOut, we set out in Little Red armed with 10 days of clothing, snacks, car cleaning supplies, a GPS and new plates (FRK-OUT) to commemorate our trip. The smaller New England states flew by. I like to watch Little Red’s reflection in the hub caps of the big trucks. Luis makes sure we don’t get squished between them. With our Maryland destination for the day in mind, we cruised by our usual Pennsylvania haunts. Hershey Chocolate World is a fun stop to stretch your legs and the Carlisle car events are a destination on their own.

The end of day found us at a beautiful cabin in Maryland. Our reward for a day of diligent driving was sitting down to dinner at the country table set in the corner of the cabin and then moving out to the swing on the covered front porch where we watched the sun set behind Little Red and talked about our plans for the next day.

We were up and out on Monday before dawn. I was too excited to sleep because today we would drive into Kentucky, home of the National Corvette Museum. My first car was a 72 Corvette. I’m still kicking myself for selling it many years later. My second car was a Fiat X/19. Yes, I’m still kicking myself for selling that one too. Lesson learned, today I have a bunch of cars. I no longer sell my cars. The museum was great! I loved seeing all the cars and reading the history of the Corvette. They also have an exhibit about the huge sink hole that opened up in the museum and pulled some of the cars into it. It’s fascinating even if you’re not a lover of Corvettes. Is that possible?

Our second night found us at the Historic Wigwam Village No.2 in Cave City, KY, built in 1937. The owners are in the process of updating the Wigwams but I’m happy to say ours had yet to be done. Stepping into ours was like stepping into a time capsule. Although aged it was clean and had been well maintained. The beds and vanity were wood and looked handmade. The small although surprisingly larger than I’d expected bathroom and shower had original tile. If you’re looking for something different and nostalgic, I recommend checking out the Wigwam Village. If only the Ritz will do, you may want to cruise on by.

Again, we were up and out early on Tuesday. We wanted to go to Mammoth Caves National Park. Our plan was to go on the Frozen Niagara tour and have my National Parks Passport stamped. The tour was great, the stalactites and stalagmites were fascinating. I have to note, beware of the Mammoth pretzel. Luis and I bought one to share, good thing because it was mammoth. The warning is the salt. There was so much it looked like it had been covered in a thick layer of powdered sugar. We wiped it all off and still felt like we’d been licking a salt block. I’m still thinking, why did we eat it?

We hit our first bumper to bumper traffic in Nashville and again in Memphis. A reminder to avoid cities whenever you can. Tired after our long day and still feeling the effects of the salt debacle we stopped at the La Quinta Inn in Bryant, Arkansas. Very important, the parking was well lit, the spaces were large and we could see Little Red from our window.

Wednesday, we crossed the Texas border and made our way to The Woodlands and FreakOut 2022. Surprise! Rural 2 lane road, 75mph! You don’t see that in New England. First stop Buc-ee’s, we had a souvenir list from our kids. Before that we had no idea Buc-ee’s existed. I haven’t mentioned rest stops but we all know they are required. Buc-ee’s gets the gold star for best public restroom on our trip! Here we met our first ambassador from the Texas chapter, Brent Cahill after talking to him and checking out his silver 124 we knew we were with friends.

From Buc-ee’s we headed to The Woodlands Resort. What a treat seeing all the Fiats together. Over the course of the FreakOut we were fortunate to meet many new friends. We were also fortunate to have friends Kathy and Jim Custeau from our local chapter and many more from our sister chapters to reminisce and make new memories. The Concorso show field was beautiful. Again, with all the Fiats how could it not be. I’m still wishing I’d asked for a ride in the tow truck. I’m hoping they will bring it to FreakOut 2023 in New Hampshire.

I don’t know how because there were so many beautiful cars in our class but we were awarded First in our class. Thank you to all who voted, it was a real treat for us. Thank you to everyone who made FreakOut 2022 in Texas a success.

Luis needed to be back at his desk Wednesday morning post FreakOut. But the trip wasn’t over yet. Leaving early Sunday, we made our way into Louisiana and the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area. Our goal was to see a plantation and New Orleans. We were pleasantly surprised when we stopped at the welcome center and found a quirky animated puppet show and short movie about the area.

We stopped at the Laura plantation. Looking beyond the heartbreak and history that can’t help but make you angry. We learned about the architecture and the layout of the plantation. Previously when we thought about plantations it was always tobacco and cotton being harvested. Not so along the Mississippi, in Louisiana it’s too wet so they grow sugar cane. There were many tractor trailers on the road pulling full loads of sugar cane. Eventually we were surprised to come across their destination, a sugar cane processing plant on the wayside so we pulled over to watch. The trucks with full trailers of sugar cane would drive across a platform then unhitch the cab leaving the trailer load behind. Soon the platform began to turn until the trailer of sugar cane was almost upside down and the sugar cane slid out. The empty trailer was then righted and the cab backed in, hooked up and was off, allowing the next trailer to be driven in. It was interesting how efficient it was, maybe 5 minutes between trucks.

I really wanted to see the architecture of the New Orleans, French Quarter. Thank you, Luis, for indulging me and driving into the French Quarter. Thank you again for not stopping. The parking was too tight, I was not going to leave Little Red in an overcrowded parking area. Imagine the dings! The History and the architecture are amazing and I enjoyed snapping a few photos but was happy to be back on the open road. Luckily, I’d had excellent gumbo and beignets at a Cajun restaurant near the Concorso field. Thank you, Karen and Vince for suggesting the restaurant and ordering the beignets for everyone to try.

We ended the day in Hattiesburg Mississippi with a plan to make our way to the Cherohala Skyway and eventually to the Dragon and Tail of the Dragon. I know many of you have experienced these roads before so when I say they need to be driven more than once you’ll understand. Amazing roads, amazing views, something you don’t want to miss. It wasn’t until we came to the end that we noticed it was time for dinner and we were still in Tennessee. So, we had a quick dinner and headed to Morristown TN where we would stop for the night.

At 5:00 AM we were on the road again. Having decided the night before to drive from Morristown, TN to our home in NH a 945-mile trip in one day we wanted to get an early start. Our plan only left room for rest stops, (unfortunately no Buc-ee’s) and food. This left us with a lot of time to talk, make notes and work on FreakOut 2023. The enhancements and ideas were endless and we didn’t have to wait to share them with our fellow Chapter members. On the spot we were texting ideas back and forth resulting into some great ideas to implement into FreakOut 2023. We arrived home at 10:00 PM, a little behind schedule due to heavy rain in Pennsylvania and New York but still a respectable time for the day.

Thank you, to all of the Texas chapters who worked so hard to make FreakOut 2022 a success and prompting Luis and me to make an amazing road trip totaling 4387.9 miles in Little Red. Little Red was amazing as well, smooth driving all the way.  I hope to see you all in NH for FreakOut 2023 and would love to hear about your road trips! You never know what you’ll find on the wayside.

Best wishes, Lisa

This article will be published in Ricambi issue 92. I’m sharing it now for those of you who are planning a road trip to FreakOut 2023 in NH

• A few thoughts for planning a Road Trip.
  • Rough out a start to finish route.
  • Are there any bucket list destinations along the way?
  • Break the route into the number of miles you want to drive each day.
  • Whenever possible plan where you are staying for the night. It works well to have daily goals.
  • Share your plans with others who may want to caravan with you.

Leave a comment and share with others. We are enjoying hearing from those of you coming our way.