TF 135 USA Tour. part 1

Hi All, well its only just over 9 weeks before me and my car arrive in the US,
It all kicks off on the 12th May, I will be landing wednesday evening and picking the car up from Baltimore docks thursday 13th in the morning and will be staying in Baltimore at the Sleep Inn before starting my tour on friday.

Part 1 covers 12th to the 29th May.

5/12/10 wed, Land Baltimore and stay at Sleep Inn, Belle Grove Road, 21225
5/13/10 thur, Collect car from Baltimore docks in the morning, check out the area in the afternoon/evening.
5/14/10 fri, Drive from Baltimore up to Dover NJ, for two nights.
5/15/10 sat, Taking part in the Cecil Kimber run, Blairstown NJ.
5/16/10 sun, Drive from Dover down to Mt Laurel NJ, for two nights at Residence Inn, Bishops Gate, Mt Laurel, NJ.
5/17/10 mon, Visit Motorcar Garage, North Pine Ave, Maple Shade, NJ, 08052.
5/18/10 tues, Sight seeing down through Delaware and over Chesapeake Bridge to Virginia Beach.
5/19/10 wed, Sight seeing around the Virginia and Richmond area's.
5/20/10 thur, Drive down to North Carolina, staying in the Greensboro area for the next 3 nights.
5/21/10 fri, Sight seeing around NC and a visit to Flying Circus, Durham, NC,27703. (Hooters Greensboro?).
5/22/10 sat, Just hanging around,
5/23/10 sun, Join the Blue Ridge P/kway drive north over the next two or three days.
5/25/10 tues, Take a look around Washington.
5/26/10 web, Drive upto New York.
5/27/10 thur, Sight seeing around New York area.
5/28/10 fri, Drive upto Bennington VT, for the next two nights.
5/29/10 sat, MG Meet at Hemmings parking lot from 10 am.
That's part 1, Looking forward too meeting some of you during this part of my tour.
Roger

I was thinking, "Task Force 135 is coming to town? Cool!" This is even better. :beer:

Sounds like it's going to be a helluva trip, Roger.

Roger, sounds like a great trip ! Cant commit to your schedule but when in Northern Virginia, maybe we can meet up.
I'm not far off the I 66 corridor you'll probably be travelling from the Blue Ridge Pkwy to Washington.
I may also add..if you find you need any car service (good to have in an emergency), I would recommend to keep
this # handy while in Northern Virginia/Washington area; R&R Auto Service. 703.430.0770 Great LBC shop.
You're in for a helluva lot of driving but should have fantastic weather at the end of May. You should'nt have any trouble hooking up with many members along your route. When travelling from Va. Beach to Richmond, you may consider Williamsburg for some sightseeing.
RS

Roger, Sounds like fun so far. I understand Robin hooked you up with some super deals on the hotels in NJ. Glad he could help. I plan to run the Cecil Kimpber event as well, so I should see you there as well. We can return to Mt Laurel together if you wish.

Have you been in touch with the folks from Hemmings Sports and Exotic Magazine? I'm sure they would love to do a story about your trip.
Let me know, I know Craig Fitzgerald and can put you guys together for a story when you are at Hemmings.
Pete

Thanks for that Robert maybe bump into you along the way.

Pete, yes Robin was a great help with Hotels, are you traveling back home on saturday or sunday? as for Hemmings I have only been in touch with Rick Morse about booking the parking lot.

What part of New York will you be in? If you get near Rochester let me know and our local centre of MGCC will be glad to welcome you and put on an informal garage tour and meet and greet! Send me a PM if interested. George

George H (the younger one)

I've already been in contact with Roger and he may be stopping
in this area on his way back from MG 2010. More details as things firm up

George H (the oldest one)

Bump

Roger, I will be heading to the Carlisle Import swap meet on Thursday the 20th and returning on the 23rd. Thats when you are going to be closest to my location. Maybe I can come back to the area a day early and we'll meet again. Thanks again for getting us a tour at the MG owners club last fall. Bob

Let's try to get a big group together at Hooters in Greensboro to welcome Roger May 20th around 6:00-9:00pm. Spread the word.

Ah you found it OK then PJ, did you find part 2 & 3 as well.
It was great to meet you and wife Brenda and family members today in Stowmarket for lunch, hope you enjoyed the drive down the lanes and I am looking forward to meeting you again in just over 8 weeks time in Greensboro.

ps/ maybe the 21st would be better than the 20th as the 21st is a friday but that might be a bit busy.(just a thought) I'll leave it up to you to pick the best night for the gathering.
Roger.

yes, Roger found all 3. I think the 20th of May for the gathering at Hooters is best to avoid the crowds on a Friday night.
Everyone is welcome, please spread the word to local clubs all marques, to join us in Greensboro at Hooters from 6-9:00pm, located near Four Season mall on the north side of I-40. I'll post a couple more reminders as we get close to the scheduled date.

I now have a web site up and running, it has photos and some videos of past events, shows and places I have been and will be where I will be posting photos, videos and a blog of my trip to the USA and Canada that starts in 6 weeks.
click on www.mygraffiti.co.uk in my signature.

I assume you overcame your insurance problem?

Just curious.....how much does it cost to have a car shipped across the Pond, and how long does it take each way?

<Edit>
Oops. Meant to post my reply in the Part 2 thread.

If I can manage to get my B put together and on the road by 5/29 I will try and make it to the Hemmings stop. Its only an hour or so away from me. First things first thought, need to stop finding problems with the car as we put it back together after the trip to the paint shop, currently waiting on A arms for the front suspension that we had not intended on replacing but found we needed to once we started taking them apart to replace bushings.

"Just curious"
Around $1100 and 10 days.

"I assume you overcame your insurance problem?"
Not yet Joe, but still looking.

Neil, hope you do get the B finished in time but don't worry just come up in your everyday car and say Hi.

Roger,

I met you in Belleville during NAMGBR's AGM. If you would like to get together with a group of local MG owners while in Baltimore, please contact me.

Richard G. Liddick
Chairman, NAMGBR
President, MGs of Baltimore, Ltd. Car Club

[quote=mgbgttf]

"I assume you overcame your insurance problem?"
Not yet Joe, but still looking.

Have you contacted Davis Tetlow yet? He solved a similar situation when he shipped his MGB over 2 summers ago.

Paul

I just put the 29th at Hemmings on my Calendar, I'll try and drive over, as Neil noted it's about an hour from my home.

Also, when you drive from NYC to VT, I would suggest you take the Taconic Parkway. It's an older road that pre-dated the interstate system. It's alot more fun to drive than the interstate.

Is Hemmings promoting this event? Or just something you're putting together? I could let my local club know about it.... Brits on the Hudson might also want to drive up.

I hope to see you there!

Mr Chairman, only kidding Hi Richard, yes I remember you from the AGM, I should be getting the car from the docks by lunchtime on thursday so anytime after lunch or in the evening would be good for a get together.

Hi Paul, yes he went to Grundy but they won't cover my car as its too new.

Hi John, that would be great to see you at Hemmings, its something that I am organising myself just to meet up with fellow MG'ers in the area so the more the merrier, but I have had a chat with Craig from the Hemmings Sports and Exotics mag and I believe he is going to cover the event and my trip.
As Bennington is on I.7 and that road runs from Norwalk along the coast from NY up to Bennington I thought that would be a good route to take.

Roger,

I just sent a email out to my british car club about your visit to Hemmings. I'll see if any of those guys want to come by and say hello! Keep me posted on your plans.

I read on Hagerty's website that they provide insurance to cars that are brought in from overseas. Have you checked with Hagerty's? I know they are in the UK as well.

Hi Roger,
I sure did enjoy riding in your modern MG last month in Stowmarket. Do you want me to ask my State Farm agent if he can help with insurance for your tour? I attended several car club meetings since I returned home and I reminded fellow lbc friends about our guys night out at Hooters in Greensboro, NC on May 20th 6-9:00 pm. Hope to fill the car park with British iron. There may also be a few who want to meet you in Blowing Rock.
pj

TTFN, have tried Hagerty's no go car is to new. But that was before they joined up with Aviva UK, so I may try them again if the currant application with Chartis is turned down.

PJ, State Farm gave me the same answer as above car is to new.

"Hope to fill the car park with British iron"
That sounds like it will be good fun,
A meeting in Blowing Rock town or (Jack's ?) as well even better (saturday) would be good for me as I intend to start the drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway on sunday.
only five and a half weeks until I land in the US.

ps/ have you had a look at th web site.

This is wierd because every summer I see UK/European vehicles on the roads of Ontario; new and old. Someone must be insuring them.

I agree TTFN but I've yet to find them.
But I'm still planning to see a lot of you at MG2010. and a lot more on my travels around the USA.

PJ. Had a think about Blowing Rock, how doze this sound.
Meet at Hooters parking lot Greensboro around 9-0 am saturday for a 9-30 am departure, for those who want to caravan over to Winston-Salem and meet anyone else who would like to join the caravan, and then on to Blowing Rock to a prearranged parking lot so anyone coming from the north-south-west will know how to find us. Let me know if you think that would work.
Roger

Roger -

I'm about 1/2 hour from VA Beach. Please send me a PM if you need any information.

Also, you should stop by the historic York Town Battlefield area when you head up toward Richmond. That is where the Revolutionary war ended, and there is a nice scenic parkway going from there to Williamsburg that is worth the drive. You can then get back on the interstate to Richmond, or just drive the back roads.

Thanks for that William I'll take a look at doing that, and I'll PM you nearer the time to maybe meet up and have a coffee.










ps/ not to forget the doughnut.
Roger

A Saturday drive from GSO to Jacks place in Blowing rock is fine with me, will you be there Mr. Austin?

Hi Freddy,
Thanks for the info on Flying Circus, and yes PJ is organizing the Hooters meet on the 20th and posably a convoy (caravan) over to Blowing Rock on saturday 22nd.

Yes, I recently posted details at NCMGCC google group, pm me if you want more info.

Roger, try giving Progressive Insurance a call.

I have some friends from Sweden that purchased a Suburban to tour around in here in Texas. They don't have U.S. Identifcation, or social security numbers, just passports, and Progressive was able to insure them and the truck.

I know your situation is different since you AND the car are coming from overseas... but they might be willing to work with you.

I wish you were coming over to the west side or doing a cross country trip! I leave for California from Austin, TX in 2 weeks in my GT. It would've been cool to pair up with another car. :D

Good luck and keep us posted with pics!

-Chris

I'm sure that PJ will be doing that Tim, I haven't seen any posts from Flying Circus for a while so I suppose it was Desmond that went on line more than Max, so can someone let Max know if he is up for it, and that his shop is going to get invaded on friday 21st May.
Roger

Update,
Hooters 20th May
Flying Circus 21st May
Blowing Rock 22nd May