Travelogue...part duex

[olive]

I'm happy to say the start of the 2nd leg of the FJ40 cross country expedition went off with out a hitch on Sat the 8th. I hit the road on my way to Marshall MI to meet up with some fellow Cruiser heads at a not to early 9AM. I'd love to post some great senic pics of NW Ohio and SE Michigan but this is farm country and it is flat with corn and bean fields as far as you can see. That's not to say there is nothing worth noting in this area. Some of these farms are thousands of acres and stretch across multiple states, and the tractors are huge (and unbelieveably expensive).

 

[olive]

Got to Michigan without much fan fare and headed up to Marshall. My first stop was the Honolulu museum...I know, a Hawaiian museum in Michigan?? The museum is actually the former residence of Abner Pratt, the Chief Justice of the MI supreme court and the first US consul to the Hawaiian Islands. Built in 1860 the pics do not do it justice, this thing is massive!! Defiantly a must see if your in the area and its open 7 days a week.

 

[olive]

My next stop in MI was to Dark Horse Brewery were I met up with some fellow Mud members to have some food and a few cold ones while we discussed our rides(of course!) and talked about how to get together every now and again. The guys who showed up were (from R to L) @dogfishlake, @Classic85, @olive, @drock2, and @ElviMcCoy . Also present but sans his LandCruiser (starter was out..been there) was @69LC.

 

[olive]

So a little about each LC that was there:
1- @dogfishlake - Awesome supercharged 80 series!! freaking supercharged!! who drives around in a supercharged LC??...I mean besides him obviously... plus a 4" lift, snorkel, roof rack, oh and a methanol sprayed intercooler. WOW!!!
2- @Classic85 - His was the one you had to take a second, or third, look at. When he pulled in I thought his wife was driving because it's a right hand drive. Honestly the first RHD I've ever got to take a close look at and it's a diesel to boot! Nice roof rack on his and it also had all the cool Toyota toys including the factory winch(with the factory winch cover, how rare is that!) plus this guy drives the crap out of it..We're talking New Mexico, Colorado, Texas and he drove in from Chicago for this!
3- @olive.. that's just me and my DD old 40 series.
4- @drock2 - He came over from Rochester Hills (N. of Detroit) with a super nice 63(?) FJ40 survivor from southern Cali. I was awestruck by how much Isn't on this LC. I mean where mine has a heater he has a fuse box. Under the hood is the same story, I thought mine was simple but there is NOTHING but the bare minimum. It is a great example of how far the LandCruiser has evolved.
5- @ElviMcCoy - He had a super nice FJ60 that is exactly what I would drive if I didn't have olive in the driveway. I didn't find out how much of a lift was on it but it was lifted and running what looked like 31's. The body was all stock but he does have a roof rack on it and the color was what looked to me a tan/greenish(I'm actually pretty color blind so take it with a grain of salt) and just looked "right". Really liked that 60 series a lot. Oddly enough he bought that 60 off of @dogfishlake neighbor this past summer and the two never met till Saturday..Small world.

 

[ElviMcCoy]

2 inch OME and 31s. Good eye Troy! Mine isn’t super charge, but I do have a bottle opener on the rear bumper that I installed right after purchase..... everyone has different priorities....

 

[olive]

So I'm going to continue this little tour of NW Ohio right in my back yard, so to speak. Has anyone ever heard of Dum Dum suckers made by the Spangler Candy Company??? Well that candy factory is about 5 blocks from my house! I know a candy factory in walking distance, how's that for convenient? They have been in business since 1906 I believe, and are also the number 1 producer of candy canes in the good old USA. They make some other candies as well like Circus Peanuts and Saf-t-pops. If you look in the pic below you will see the electric sign says 2.08 on it-that's 2.08 BILLION Dum Dums this year so far!! And for anyone who gets to hold the baton from me I tossed in a pound of suckers for everyone to enjoy.

 

[sggoat]

So do you think that pound will last til the baton gets to Fl.????--Almost like a hat, or something--cruiser driver with a dum-dum in their mouth--you know where they are going--I'm thinking I need maybe 50 of these(I have no radio)
Man I love that bottle opener!
Thank you for the pics!!

 

[olive]

And on to Toledo OH. I'm sure anybody my age(43) and up watched the tv show MASH when they were growing up..great show about a medic unit in the Vietnam war. So we all remember Clinger...the cross dressing goof ball who was always trying to get thrown out of the Army. That guy would be Jamie Farr and on the show he was known to add lib and drop the names of his hometown hang-outs. Well arguably the most famous was Tony Pacos restaurant on Front St. in T-town. They serve great Hungarian food which is for the most part huge all beef franks and warm(!) potato salad. They also have a good chili that you can buy in about any decent grocery store.The original place still stands where it always has and is still the place all the locals go to eat, definatly worth stopping if you find yourself in Toledo.

 

[olive]

I noticed that bottle opener right away!!

2 inch OME and 31s. Good eye Troy! Mine isn’t super charge, but I do have a bottle opener on the rear bumper that I installed right after purchase..... everyone has different priorities....

 

[dogfishlake]

2 inch OME and 31s. Good eye Troy! Mine isn’t super charge, but I do have a bottle opener on the rear bumper that I installed right after purchase..... everyone has different priorities....

The door latch hooks in the door jambs are built in bottle openers on the 80. I have my priorities straight! Still, the bumper opener on yours is pretty cool

 

[OGBeno]

Solid. Real solid.

 

[Walkerm916]

I can only pray that there is a dum dum left when the baton gets to the West Coast.

 

[hecrod]

Most awesome! Thank you for sharing this...

 

[olive]

Throwing in another pound of Dum Dums

 

[brian]

mash used the korean war as it's back drop.

 

[sggoat]

mash used the korean war as it's back drop.

thank you--

 

[sggoat]

Throwing in another pound of Dum Dums

I still don't think that is enough. I'm thinking I may have to order a few pounds to fuel the trip out of Fl.- and to pass on---

 

[Speeter]

I think I am the next sucker in line.

 

[olive]

So I made my way down to Columbus today for the pass off with @Speeter and everything went very smooth. Not to much to show on the way down because like I said before this is farm country and there were corn and bean fields as far as anyone can see, but I did happen on a couple neat photo shots. The first one is a early 30's Ford truck sitting in front of an long ago closed down gas station...maybe that's were he ran out?? I snapped a quick pic before heading on my way. The second was just odd...it's hard to tell but there is a Gas station/Chrysler dealership/restaurant/air field in one building!! I kept thinking " I suppose you could buy the car online, fly in to get it, have some lunch, and fuel up before driving back to wherever" The owner of that place must be one busy guy. As for the actual hand off of the baton I'll let @Speeter pick up and take it from here

 

[DSRTRDR]

......
Awesome supercharged 80 series!! freaking supercharged!! who drives around in a supercharged LC??...I mean besides him obviously...

we got 2 of them