Day 2, September 19, 2014, Manhattan, KS

We spend a lot of time at gas stations on this tour. 
LaSalle tank only holds 15 gallons, give or take a few.

Touring is not just about getting there.  It's about what you see and who you meet on the way.  Today ended up being a winner for us even though we were a bit shy on miles under the (running) boards.  We only managed about 350 miles but that was enough to deliver us to Ken's home town of Manhattan, KS.

We started our day at a local breakfast nook in Hugoton, Jesse's Drive In.  Jesse's didn't even look like an open restaurant.  But all the pickups parked outside gave it away.  Inside, it was full of locals in bib overalls gabbing over coffee and enjoying breakfast.  We ordered a delicious and reasonably priced breakfast with the LaSalle parked outside.  As we enjoyed our meal, a local strode in asking who owned the LaSalle.  It turned out it was Greg Morris, a local car collector who offered to show us his car collection.  He had an Auburn plus a very unusual collection of 1932 Fords.  Naturally, we took him up.

Greg and his wife Sherry have a lovely home with a detached old style garage and gas station.  The

Greg and Sherry Morris' home gas station and garage

garage and station were architecturally beautiful.  Inside, we found several rare prewar Ford V-8's.  Most were modified with unusual period hot rod accessories, including cylinder heads from Ardun, Frontenac and Rajo.  All were beautifully prepped and preserved.  These cars are definitely driven, though Greg expressed his amazement that we were driving the LaSalle to Ohio. The cars were treat enough.  But the garage also included eyefuls of collectable memorabilia hung from every nook and cranny.  It was hard to absorb it all.

Sherry then invited us to visit her mother's former home right near the hotel.  We had seen this house the day before and noted how elegant it looked.  Inside, it was full of antiques and original features.  This home, built in 1928 was a time capsule.  The only significant update to the structure was to the kitchen.  Everything else was left as it was originally -- all in nearly perfect original condition. All this was so interesting, but finally we had to break it off and continue our road trip.  The diversion cost us a couple of hours, but it was definitely worth it.

Inside, Greg showed us lots of 32 Fords, including this Phaeton

Down the road to Manhattan, we turned off the navigator because Ken knows the area well.  We passed through Satanta, Sublette, Dodge, McPherson, and dozens of other grain elevator towns.  The LaSalle drove us elegantly and smoothly through all of them, only requiring generous donations of gasoline.  Fortunately, the price of gas here was reasonable, usually under $3.10 per gallon.

We finally rolled into Manhattan at dusk.  We checked in downtown in a luxurious Hilton Garden Inn and met with Ken's brother Jim and his wife Rosie.   Had a great meal and talked old times until 10 PM.

So, we are now tired and ready to get an early start tomorrow.  Good thing too, we really need to rack up a good 500 miles tomorrow if we want to get to the Glidden on time......

Bill, Manhattan, KS.