Fall Cruise 2019 is another great event for the books! 13 club members 23 total people and 12 Vipers headed to Central Southern IL on October 5 for the last cruise event of the year. We all met up in Champaign, IL to begin our journey to Effingham, IL. Our first stop was the Heartland Classics Car museum. Well, that turned out not like we had hoped for. Upon arrival, we couldn’t locate the museum, no one around to ask because the place looked like an abandoned car lot. Then a guy came out and told us there was no one there and the owner was in Branson. But he called someone and let us in. The place wasn’t a museum, it was more like a place to sell old vehicles. Oh well, off to lunch which was very good. Our second stop was My Garage Museum. This museum was full of Corvette and VW Bug memorabilia. There was a 1920 gas station where we lined up all of the cars for a group photo, then a Vet came roaring into the parking area, guy jumped out and said: heard the some Vipers were invading his museum! He was the owner of My Garage and he told us great stories and all about how he started the museum. Great guy! After our visit at My Garage, we headed to the Tuscan Hill Winery. What a lovely place! We either wine sampled or got a glass of wine, had cheese n crackers and cheesey and garlic oil bread. A great way to relax, chat with our friends, watched a wedding outside and just enjoyed our time together.

After checking into our hotel, we headed off to dinner at the Firefly which is a farm to table restaurant. Think everyone enjoyed their dinner, very tasty.

Sunday morning, we headed to the Cross at the Crossroads. What an inspirational place. We watched a video on how and why they started the Cross and watched how they erected the Cross. Pretty amazing! They are in the process of making the grounds into a garden area. Once completed, it will be even more amazing! Then we headed to Casey, IL to visit the world’s largest “things”. We walked along main street and posed by the Minion, the mailbox, the golf club, the wind chimes, the bookworm, the rocking chair, the barber pole and the bird cage. We asked the guys to get in the bird cage but they all sorta looked like they were in jail! LOL After our main street walk, we headed to Sunday Brunch at Richards Restaurant.

Our cruise was coming to an end and we started home. Just as we were getting on the interstate, Rob’s car went “limp” or lost power. We exited the next exit and JohnG looked at it and suggested we not drive it home. John and Barb left for Roanoke, picked up their truck and trailer and came back and picked up our car and took us home. JohnG is the best and we couldn’t thank him and Barb enough to take care of us. Our Viper family is the BEST!

Another great year of cruises with great friends! Just as our motto says: We come for the cars but stay for the people.

See ya all in 2020 for another year of club meetings, racing events and cruising!!