Three years ago SLTOA member Joe G. called out the faithful for a drive the Saturday following Thanksgiving (or was it Sunday?), across the river to a great German restaurant near Waterloo, named (for whatever reason) Dreamland Palace. Had great weather, good temps (well, at least until the sun went down) and about five cars/seven members made the run.

This year, with Saturday’s temperature expected to exceed 60 degrees, we tried it again. Almost completely different cast from the first Post-Turkey Day Drive, but once again, we turned out five cars, albeit hauling nine members. Had a great time: up MO 79 to Louisiana with a stop in Clarksville to take in Lock & Dam No. 24 (as well as a rather loud domestic disturbance at the apartments directly across the street…ah, that holiday cheer, it’s definitely spreading), then back via Bowling Green and Troy.

Finding a meal in Louisiana proved daunting: turned our our planned stop shut down its “bistro” some time ago…the secondary option didn’t look too appealing, so we went charging across the river on the US 54 bridge…to find the tertiary option was also closed down. Sheesh…We ended up going on to Bowling Green where, on Business US 54, found a great ma and pa place named “Crystal’s” (the broiled chicken is the local favorite).

Afterwards, a couple of our merry band returned to greater StL via US 61 through Wentzville, while the TR8 and Z3 did the back roads/high speed/great fun thing to Troy, followed by more winding back roads into the north side of O’Fallon. All in all, a great day and quite probably the last club driving excursion this year.

Two observations: After doing 212 miles in the TR8, climbing into my daily driver – the ’14 Kia Forte5 – was like stepping up into a ’68 Impala…felt like I was sitting WAY UP in the air, surrounded by extensive sheet metal and glass.

Observation No 2: Candidates for the annual Darwin Award are always around us. When YFE stopped at a Phillips 66 station on Manchester to top off the tank, prior to putting the HSD back in the garage, a woman in a Chrysler mini-van two pumps over merrily sat in the driver’s seat and dangled her lit cigarette out the window…while her husband pumped the gas, some 10 ft aft.

Fortunately, YFE was able to gas the TR8 and depart the scene prior to any major detonations…Uniform Fox Bravo.