[DeTomaso] 2012 Summer Summit Recap 1

Tue Jun 12 11:44:19 EDT 2012

Dena and I got home from the Summer Summit at 10:00 last night.   Apparently our trip home to Iowa was better (but longer) than those traveling south from NC.   We had some light rain for about an hour but then had clear sailing to Lexington, where we got a motel.  There was light rain again when we left but it let up after an hour.   We were kinda hoping that we would drive in the rain when we hit Iowa but no luck (we need rain bad).

Like last year the Summit was great fun.  Got to see friends we made last year and make new friends with those who joined us for the first time this year.   Dave and Diane McManus (Indydave) were most gracious in inviting us to stop over at their home on the way down to break up our trip from Cedar Rapids into two 7 hour drives.  Although they extended the invitation for the return trip, we decided to go back a different way to stop and have lunch with Gary Walker and his family in Evansville, IN (where he showed us his magnificent Pantera restoration/customization project) and on to Dena's niece in St. Louis.  Also was nice to meet Bill and Marilyn Lewis and Rob and Kathy Dumoulin.  Having gone to the POCA rally in Phoenix in April and both Summer Summits, I've met so many fantastic people that the long drives from Iowa were definitely worthwhile.

Since the Pantera is in the shop to repair the damage from the "board encounter" on the drive to Phoenix, I drove my 1986 944T.   It made for a very comfortable and fun trip but it would have been nice to add to the Pantera count.

Hats off to Michael for putting together another great event.  I definitely think Pantera people would love to drive the curvy, mountain roads of Smoky Mountain National park and take in the great scenery (which is a little hard to do if you're driving).

I plan on doing the Summit next year and hope to meet more of you as the participation grows.

Tom 
#5186

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Lewis <lotus0005 at hotmail.com>
To: A-Billy Irving Light'n Lewis <lotus0005 at hotmail.com>
Cc: michael <michael at michaelshortt.com>; DeTomaso Forum <detomaso at realbig.com>
Sent: Mon, Jun 11, 2012 6:14 pm
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] 2012 Summer Summit Recap 1

I'm not home yet, but want to add:  this is a great rally/event/vacation!  I was 
pleasantly surprised to discover that this is not to compete with the official 
POCA Rally!  It was a great fun time with great Pantera folks. If possible, you 
should put it on next year's events on your calendar.  Great rides!  Great 
scenery!    ----Bill Lewis

Sent from my iPad

On Jun 11, 2012, at 1:36 PM, "Larry - Ohio Time Corp" <larry at ohiotimecorp.com> 
wrote:

> The Summer Summit 2012 was a blast!
> 
> Michael did a great job planning the event, thanks.
> 
> You can never have a bad time when you're with you Pantera brothers and
> sisters, Lov you guys. The look on Bill Lewis' face when he realized which
> "Larry" he was talking to was priceless.
> 
> Sheila and I got down to the Smokies early and spent time camping and hiking
> in the mountains. If you think there not mountains try hiking 5 miles up
> one, there mountains! Saw 4 black bears, lots of wild turkeys, (some on the
> road) but not a single "still"! 
> 
> Put on 600 miles driving in the mountain back roads. Somewhat uneventful
> till I was stopped at a large roadblock. The police were spending 5 to 10
> minutes with each car. When it was my turn to pull up I informed the State
> Trooper that I had a conceal carry license and was armed. He stooped down
> and looked me in the eye, then said "that's great, we need more people like
> you carrin". He thanked me and waved me right past the road block....gota
> love the south!
> 
> Took over 800 photos so give me some time...
> 
> If you did not come this year you missed it, so start planning for next
> year!
> 
> 
> Larry (black bear) - Cleveland
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] On
> Behalf Of michael at michaelshortt.com
> Sent: Monday, June 11, 2012 11:59 AM
> To: DeTomaso Forum
> Subject: [DeTomaso] 2012 Summer Summit Recap 1
> 
> The 2012 Summer Summit came to a successful end yesterday.
> 
> Unfortunately, the herd thinned a bit due to 2 attendees with personal
> or familial medical issues
> ( both with Red Panteras, let that be a warning).
> 
> On hand was Michael & Joni Shortt with #1660 (Yellow), Rob & Kathy Dumoulin
> #1488 ( Black Cherry),
> Dave & Diane McManus #4604 (Yellow) plus Bill & Marilyn Lewis Grand Sport
> C-6 Conv (Yellow), Tom
> & Dena Shinrock, 86 Porsche 944T ( Silver ) and Larry Homolak & Shelia,
> Honda Civic, (White).
> 
> We stayed at Fontana Village Resort at the foot of the Fontana Dam, it was
> the original work camp for the
> WPA workers who built the dam as a part of the TVA effort preceding and
> during WW2.  The accommodations
> were nice and the staff generally friendly.
> 
> Thursday evening Joni and I met Bill & Marilyn for dinner at the
> Mountainview Restaurant inside the Lodge,
> the next morning, we headed off to breakfast in Bryson City to
> the Everett Street Diner, then on to
> to Cherokee, NC to tour the Cherokee Museum and later that afternoon,
> the Cherokee Indian village.
> Bill does a mean war dance and I have it on video! After a brief stop at
> the T-Shirt, Fudge and T-Shirt
> strip of stores, we headed back to the Lodge.  The weather and clear and
> sunny, if not a tad hot, we drove Joni's
> MB 350 SLK so as to match Bill's Corvette soft top and went styling with
> the tops down all day, it was great fun.
> 
> We headed back to the lodge and met everyone else, then had dinner at the
> Fontana Grill, also on the property.
> The next morning, we changed the schedule due to the reduced number of
> participants ( we were scheduled to have
> a private breakfast in Robbinsville, but I cancelled it because we
> originally forecast 25 guests, then it was 16 and finally
> 12, not enough to warrnt the 2 hour drive or to put the restaurant staff to
> a special effort and expense ). After a quick buffet
> breakfast at the Lodge, we headed off to US 129, the "Tail of the Dragon",
> after a couple of fun ( accident and citation free )
> runs, although it was close, I was saved by a slow motorcycle who held us
> up, one turn before the next turn hiding an marked
> State Highway Patrol SUV who was lying in wait, ready to pounce.
> 
> I did get an opportunity to take Tom Shinrock for a ride up the Dragon, it
> was fun until we ran upon a flock of clueless
> mini vans who's sole mission in life seemed to be ruining other people fun
> and seeing how slow you could go while
> maintaining forward movement. Finally, we headed on to Pigeon Forge, TN via
> a long winding drive to Floyd Garrett's
> Muscle Car Museum.  Inside were over 90 classic cars, some of
> my personal favorite where the Gran Torino King Cobra
> ( 1 of 3 ), a perfect Sunbean Tiger Mk 1, with a rich SCCA racing history (
> including being National Champion ), a Calypso
> Orange Boss 429 and a Competition Orange Camaro ZL1 ( 1 of 69 ).
> Pigeon Ford is a sprawling tourist mecca (trap) and traffic is miserable, I
> couldn't wait to get out of there, neither could
> my car, it was hotter sitting in traffic than being thrashed on the dragon.
> 
> On the way back, there was some excitement in that Rob, Bill and Dave were
> witness to a car accident, a man in what
> appeared to be in later 70's dropped a wheel off a newly
> paved section of asphalt with a 7" shoulder drop and like most people,
> braked with one set of tires on gravel and the other set on pavement, then
> hit a wooded railing and rode that straight into a
> rock bridge, the entire right side of the car was sheered off.  Joni and I
> and Tom and Dena pulled up right after it happened,
> Rob was first on scene and checked on the folks, then Joni gave them a
> nurse's quick check up and I called 911 since
> Verizon was the only signal that worked ( barely ) and directed traffic (
> Tourist can be real jerks BTW ).
> Rob has photos, perhaps he will share.  After the US Park Rangers arrived,
> we took off andf continued on our journey to dinner at
> Naber's Drive Inn.  It is one of those iconic drive in places with a
> corrugated metal cover with menus and curb service and an eat
> inside area, the whole place perched on a river bank with flowing
> water passing behind it.  We ate ( pickle flavored milkshake,
> deep fried Indian corn on the cob and Hot Fudge Sundaes with TWO brownies )
> and we took a nice leisurely drive back to the Lodge.
> If I had one complaint it was the outrageous prices of the food, 1.55 hot
> dogs, 1.95 cheeseburgers and 3.00 double fudge sundaes. ;-)
> 
> The next morning brought rain ( LOTS of Rain ) and we decided to call an
> early end to the fun and had breakfast at the lodge.
> Bill Lewis was awarded the "long Distance Award for driving all the way
> from Hockley, Texas, his award was a Detomaso Grill
> Emblem on a business card stand custom made and donated by by Gary Walker,
> gow2 at rc-tech.net.  Get yours TODAY.
> I bought one, put my original grill emblem on his supplied stand and now
> have his emblem installed on the grill of my car, it is BELLA!!!!
> 
> The long drive home was wet and somewhat eventful with an road
> raging aggressive driver and a last minute part failure 2 miles
> from home ( stories to come later ), made it home safely after an 8 hour
> tense day of driving mostly all downhill, in monsoon
> like rain storm.
> 
> It was another Summer Summit, next year will be the 3rd one and we hope to
> see more of you participate, the location is
> subject to change.
> 
> Our Photos will be posted in the next few days.
> 
> Meanwhile, commercial photographers work several stations on the Dragon and
> have our photos posted,
> check the times between 10 a.m. and noon.
> 
> http://www.killboy.com/
> 
> http://www.dragonslayerphotos.com/
> 
> http://www.moonshinephoto.com/
> 
> http://www.zeefoto.com/
> 
> http://us129photos.com/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Michael Shortt
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Michael L. Shortt
> Savannah, Georgia
> www.michaelshortt.com
> michael at michaelshortt.com
> 912-232-9390
> 
> 
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