On August 13th, several of us had our doubts about the Butch Roth prophecy: “It never rains on a Honk, Rattle and Roll tour”. If you recall that day in August, it was REALLY HOT and we were in need of rain to cool things down and restore the water tables. It looked like this could be the day. As 44 members drove away from Tom’s Retreat, we wondered if we might break the string of dry tours. We wandered the hinterlands, skirting around Murfreesboro to avoid traffic and enjoy a mixture of curves, hills and country scenes things, which started very well. However, after crossing the Woodbury Hwy. one of our members developed a mechanical problem. While just a rear brake issue it meant that he and Tom hung around to wait for a flatbed. To everyone’s delight they and their “navigators’ were able to round up another car and meet us at the first stop by taking the direct route. (They took the short cut) While they missed the views, they were able to get to Shelbyville to the King museum about when we arrived. It shows how HR&R pulls together to play together.
At the Garland King museum we were in awe at the collection that this former 30 year fire chief had accumulated and put on display. The list would fill a book and just a few items were: signs, photos, vehicles (cars, trucks and fire engines), former business essentials (cable driven drill equipped dentist chair, cash registers, advertisements, star cars, politician limos, workers tools and many, many items from the world of fire fighting), just to name a few items. The photos that Arleen and Ronnie took show so much more. It’s heartwarming to see a family maintain and expand a treasure like this. Garland’s son Gary and right hand man Robert Wessner were there to answer questions, such as how did Garland get the world’s longest pencil? As well as tell us tales about the Bedford County and Shelbyville historic items on display with stories that we could tell were endless. As a footnote: there were many paper items (diplomas, licenses, awards, photos, signs, advertisements, etc) in the museum and for those that may not be aware which need to be properly cared for. That means that air conditioning and heat need to be on 24/7/365 to maintain them. It was just one more sign of the families respect to support the history of the area and the love of the man so future generations can share these treasures. I could personally relate to items I recall from the 50’s and 60’s, but seeing tools, or family items from the 30’s and 40’s always brings back memories of my parents and grandparents and how they lived. I can see how far we have come and progressed. Honk, Rattle and Roll was impressed and honored to be able to have the doors open for our club.
The next stop was on the historic square of Shelbyville for lunch at The Coffee Break. For those that couldn’t make it; the Shelbyville area is a wonderful example of a small Southern TN city that still reflects earlier times. However many of the restaurants are chains which don’t work well for a group like ours. And in a small city there are small Mom and Pop places, but suddenly 44 people overload those places and they can’t manage to get us in and out to meet a travel schedule. In this case the owner of The Coffee Break, Edwin, came in at 4:30am to start the preparation for lunch. Having only one grille he had to prepare our items long before we got there, but still have them fresh and some items warm. What he created was a variety of delicious custom sandwiches, two scrumptious salads and banana pudding that was ready for us at 12 noon and we were out the door by 1:15. It helped that he had two private dining areas that he opened for us because Saturday is his BUSY day in the main dining area. I heard many great comments about the food and we were in and out on time. IF you ever need a catered event in Shelbyville go see Edwin.
We were back on a curvy, hilly, twisting area of middle Tennessee and arrived at the George Dickel distillery at about 2:00pm. I arranged this tour to meet the many survey requests for stops that were non-car as well as car oriented. With so many having been to Jack Daniels, it was a great tip that Carole Hughes gave me to try George Dickel. It was like the difference of going to see a Nissan plant vs. the shop of a small restorer. The quality, cleanliness and care was everywhere and showed how one man made a unique product that has survived for decades. As a bonus, for a small fee, some of US got to taste the various blends from sharp to mellow. (Hiccup, stagger) Following your requests we will try to mix up some of the future tours so we do the car theme, but also a few tourist stops each year. We had about 30 take the George Dickel tours, but some of the others had to leave early with having other commitments to meet.
When everything was done the clouds had disappeared and the sun was shining. There might have been a few sprinkles, but I don’t remember using my wipers. Actually the clouds were great to keep the temperature on what could have been another HOT August day a little more comfortable. Once again Butch came thorough and we had a great, rain free tour.
