From: "mOPAR mIKE and mELISSA" <collyman1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: IML: Our trip to Lowell Howe's
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 15:12:03 +0000
Hello Everyone,
Today I am back at work after a really fast drive down to Lowell Howe's
Imperial Open House. For a quick recap, my wife Melissa, our son Jack, and
I, left Portland Oregon Friday October 14, early afternoon. We headed south
on Interstate "5" cruising at about 70 mph in our little Honda. Gasoline
was about $2.80 a gallon average in Oregon and California at the cheaper
stations. We headed south non-stop and made it to Tracy California (near
Sacramento) in about 11 hours. We cruised along at a leisurely pace, and
that included the slow climb up Mt.Shasta to about the 6000 foot elevation,
a total one way distance to Tracy of about 600 miles. We made it to the
Motel at 2am, looking forward to some much anticipated sleep and an early
breakfast Saturday morning. Saturday, we spent the day in the city of San
Francisco, walking around all day and enjoying the sites and sounds of
Chinatown,
North Beach (the Italian area), Fishermans Wharf, and Nob Hill. After all
that walking we were ready for a good dinner, and our new Imperial friend
George (GeoNort on the IML) had pre-arranged reservations at an awesome
Italian restaurant near our Motel, where we relaxed and talked "cars and
Mopars" and enjoyed a very nice Italian meal with him. (THANKS AGAIN,
George !!) The next day was Sunday, and it was time for the short drive to
Lowell Howe's Imperial World of Cars in Patterson California....... we met
Chris on the way and he led us toward Patterson, and it wasn't long before
we were there. Lowell's place is just like the pictures on the ImperialClub
website, and within a few minutes of arriving, many Imperials of various
years began appearing. Lowell, George, and Kenyon provided the food and
drink, and everyone proceeded to enjoy themselves and greet each other as
if they were old
friends. I'd like to take a minute to try and remember some of the
attendees, Sorry if I only mention "first" names, some of the people I only
know by their first names, and I'm terrible with names anyway....so.... In
no particular order,... Lowell (the master of all things Imperial and some
other lesser makes also, with a wonderful sense of humor, a BIG "stow-ghee
cigar" and a very quick wit, made everyone feel at home)... George, with
his very nice '64 Crown (a man of the world, our guide and new-found
Imperial friend, our most gracious host while we were in the San
Francisco/Sacramento area)... Chris, drove a nice '65 Crown from Manteca
and brought his two daughters along, and led the way to Lowell's Place from
Manteca,... Mark from Texas, one of the IML Webmonsters (very nice to
finally meet you Mark !!)... Kenyon, it was great to finally meet you,
sorry we didn't have more time to
talk !!, Kenyon from San Leandro drove a '64 Crown, if I remember correctly
(Kenyon also brought guests who flew in).... Bernard, Ken and your wife,
Mary and her husband, sorry we didn't have much of a chance to talk, but it
was very nice to meet you !!....Henry Hopkins brought his newly restored
dusk mauve and white '60 Crown Convertible show/magazine car (WOW, what a
car in person, it looked like it just rolled off the showroom floor !!!, it
was great talking to you Henry !!)....Dennis brought his awesome restored
'58 teal and tan Hemi Crown Convertible.... Bob Metzger, it was great to
meet and talk with you !!, and HELLO again to all the other folks I didn't
have a chance to talk to.....well, we wandered around Lowell's Farm and
took lots of pictures, I saw another Imperial that I'd love to own, (a '54
with metallic blue paint that needed plenty of TLC, but it was?begging me
to
take it home !!) ....we examined all the different bodystyles and compared
the different features of each year. I think Lowell had at least one
Imperial of each year, from 1951 to 1968...Melissa and Jack were taking
pictures and enjoying the warm sunny weather and the good company of
friends.....but then it was time to think about heading back on the freeway
and getting an early start on our trip back to Portland.... We said our
goodbyes to a bunch of really wonderful people and headed back to "I-5"
northbound.... On our way back, it was about 8pm as we were crossing Mt.
Shasta and we decided to do something different and spend the night in an
old fashioned "mountain cabin" style Motel in the forests of Mt.
Shasta..... We saw the place tucked in the woods as we were driving by on
the freeway, so off the exit we went, to check out the "Shasta Lake Motel".
The owners were a friendly couple
and happy to have another room rented in their secluded Motel.... just a
short walk away was a nice modern General Store, and beautiful Lake Shasta
full of trout waiting to be caught. We had a great sleep in the mountain
air and were up early to finish our 6-7 hour drive back to our little farm
in Boring Oregon. THANKS to everyone for a really fun time at Lowells
Imperial Acres !! I hope we can do it again sometime !! .....Michael,
Melissa, and Jack.....the Howlett's, proud owners of a '58 two door coupe
and a '77 NYB, and maybe a '57 four door in the near future.........
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