The Lane Motor Museum

Every year, the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee lets several dozen enthusiasts rent one of the cars in the collection and drive it on public roads for an afternoon. What could be better than that?

This September, a bunch of my online buddies drove or flew to Nashville for the event. One came from Atlanta, one for Dallas, two from Kansas and one from Rhode Island. We had a fellow who started this ball rolling from western Canada, but family issues kept him home at the last minute.

The Lane specializes in the offbeat, the weird, the strange and flat out whacky. My group signed up for a bright orange Citroen DS fitted out as a rally car and known as La Belle Orange! At about 9 am, we were turned loose on a twisty set of back roads through the Tennessee countryside, ending up at the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg where we had a sumptuous lunch. Then we switched drivers and motored back home over another selection of country roads to the museum, where we were invited to roam the lower level that the regular patrons don't see. Here are all the cars that are undergoing refurbishment and restoration and may be added to the collection someday.

It was a rather long day that started at 7 am and did not end until after 10 pm when we got back from a delightful banquet hosted by the museum staff at a local restaurant.

Kudos to Jeff Lane and his organization for putting on such a well run and fun event. If you're interested, visit the museum website as www.lanemotormuseum.com and see what they have planned for next year's adventure.

For photos of the museum and our rally adventure, please visit this link:  Lane Motor Museum

Make sure to browse the sub-albums as well.

Motorcycles
In The Basement
Micro Cars
On Display

A Return To Puerto Rico - 2011

After I came home last February with glowing reports about Puerto Rico, we decided to forego a cruise this year and just go park ourselves on a Puerto Rican beach for a week and dip our toes in the warm waters of the Caribbean. Cruises are nice, but we really like the beach and you don't get much beach time aboard those big ships. Usually, stops are in some exotic port where you have 3 hours to sightsee and shop before piling back on board before the ship sets sail again.

Yes, it's true. We didn't get to eat 14 times a day. But we did get some quality beach time near San Juan and at Loquillo. We even rented a car and visited the rain forest that rises up to the south from the road to Fajardo.

We stayed mostly in Isla Verde, a beachfront community east of Old San Juan. It offers lots of dining and shopping opportunities and, of course, miles of unspoiled beaches to stroll or just relax on. We did both.

Come share our photos as this link:  Isla Verde