From my Facebook posting early this morning:

“I am Superman in the ZR1 — I can leap tall buildings in a single bound; rescue women, children and cats from trees (at least I would if I liked cats), and help little old ladies across the street. There is nothing I can’t do, assuming I have enough gasoline.

Yep, that’s me. Superman. And being Superman, I carry the responsibilities of the world on my shoulders. The responsibilities of getting to the next stop on time, and in one piece. Those responsibilities also included getting to the driver’s meeting early enough to catch some of the cars coming in,

and of listening to the instructions. “Remember, drive friendly, obey all the laws and use your blinker,” he said.

“Now, who needs to use the porta potty before we go?”

“Yeah, me too.”

That’ll teach ’em that 3-bean burritos are not breakfast food.

We took a quick spin around the lot, checking out an interesting Fiero,

and a Mark VIII sporting a supercharged Lightning motor that didn’t quite fit under the hood.

With a 1957 (what a great year) Chicago Police Car looking on,

we checked out the smallest truck in the lot

and made for the exit, Jim following behind.

Despite my being a direct descendent of Daniel Boone, I sometimes take the, uh, road less traveled. I understand some at the office run a pool guessing how many times a day I will take that road. Today the over/under was 3.

Road less traveled #1 occurred when we left the Alliant Center and got on the highway. Despite the directions saying “Go East,” I chose the less-traveled way of West. Jim was not happy. But, Superman soon had us headed in the right direction.

Smart people often go to Oxford or Cambridge. We went through Oxford (Mississippi) several years ago on the Tour, and today we went through Cambridge (Wisconsin).

Seeing no one in distress, Superman left Cambridge in his mirrors

with all the mere mortals trailing and headed out. The road less traveled #2 occurred when my copilot for the day, Glenda of Source Interlink Media,

confused highways 43 and 45. That happens to mere mortals who don’t have x-ray vision.

Jim showed his displeasure

and we headed back the other direction.

Just outside of Union Grove (home of the Lions)

we arrived at Great Lakes Dragaway.

Please note this was not a dragstrip, as its name was dragaway, and if it were a dragstrip, it would have need more than one ink pen to sign the release form with.

Since it was not a dragstrip, there were also no numbers in white shoe polish on the window of Superman’s ZR1.

And no animals were harmed in the taking of these photographs.

While I was not at a dragstrip, Ken found Shaggy and Scooby on the job in the parking lot.

We never saw the Mystery Machine, but we did see this 1964 Impala with signatures from lots of Power Tour folks.

After leaving the dragaway, where no drag racing took place, we finished our jaunt into Racine, and our stop on the lakefront. Despite stopping at a place where there was no drag racing, we still managed to arrive before most of the Tour.

I scouted the venue from the top of the big rig,

and thanks to my keen vision saw Ozzie Osbourne in the crowd.

We noticed the crowd seemed a little thin in front of the stage,

and realized it was because many of the folks were up on Main Street having a good time.

Mark noticed a stylin’ Olds 88 pulling in

and I noticed AMC’s answer to the Charger — a Marlin.

Since Superman did not drive the ZR1 down a dragstrip, washing it wasn’t necessary to remove the shoe polish on the windows.

With deionized water in the tanks on the big rig, washing is a snap without worry of water spots with our low-pressure sprayers.

Soon it was clean and dry, and the El Camino followed suit.

With the Rat Patrol ready to help save the day,

we headed for the hotel. Rather than drive with the Tour tomorrow, were leaving before dawn to stop by Manteno, Illinois and a visit to some old friends and craftsmen extraordinaire — Jack and Troy Trepanier — before visiting the Fighting Irish.

I’m sure it’ll be a road less traveled once or twice. But it’ll be worth it. Stop back and see for yourself what they’ve created.

Your humble and obedient servant,

Forrest Tosie
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