The Kiwis come to visit the Flats

They were a long way from home, when these two internet friends of mine showed up at my place in Kansas. Bryan (on the left) and Tim (on the right) had flown to Ohio, bought a very used cargo van and had been to the two largest automotive swap meets in the United States which are Hershey and Carlisle, Pennsylvania. I had known them from the popular hot rod message board known as the HAMB where Bryan is bt34 and Tim is 56chevykid. And Bryan had read my blog and was invited to come here someday so now was the time. And by the time they got to my place, they had been over here for 3 weeks and had visited 17 car museums and many hot rod shops including the biggest and best that Detroit, MI and Indiana had to offer.

So what do we in our small town of 400 people have to show two guys who have already seen it all? Not much except friendship and a chance to visit and learn about each other's culture. 

I was messing around in my yard when the boys arrived

and I showed them one of my vintage motorized bikes I had bought from my pal Larry in IL a few years ago and you can see me on one of them in this photo taken by Bryan.

But then it was his turn and he was soon roaring down the unpaved streets of my neighborhood much the famous Kiwi Burt Munro himself aka the "World's Fastest Indian."

I had a hard time getting a good photo of him because of the blazing speed he was traveling...

That was fun to watch and then my other guests started to arrive. We don't get foreign visitors everyday around here and so  it is a big deal to us and I wanted to share this with my local car buddies. The first one to arrive was my favorite brother in law Lawrence who drove up in his 54 Chevy pickup truck and the guys looked it over and Bryan got behind the wheel and started it up.

And then only a few minutes later my pal Tom who is Lawrence's brother showed up in his 46 Chevy pickup truck.

Also at his time, my pal Larry Swisher arrived but like me he did not get one of his cars out of storage and showed up in a late model driver instead. All this time Mrs. PF was preparing a big supper of homemade veggie beef soup and also a pot of chili in the kitchen here at the Flats. While me and the guys were outside in the screened in patio, her and the girls were in the kitchen having their own version of happy hour...

Just like us, the food was simple and not meant to be fancy and it tasted good on this nice evening of late October.

Bryan and Larry decided to exchange some currency and swapped $20 bills just for fun...

Tom was telling stories of his younger years which always involves many of the old cars he owned in those days.

After a time of this good conversation Mrs. PF said it was time for dessert and of course we had two kinds of pie to serve which was apple and cherry. Her sister Nancy had brought some fresh locally made frozen custard to put on it and it was very good.

And I posed with the two world travelers in this photo on my patio...

Sadly it was getting late and my guests started to leave but before they left I gave them each a PF t shirt which probably will not fit either one of them...

And this would have been the end of my story except I we agreed to meet for breakfast the next morning in Salina.

And we were just getting up after a very good meal when Tim had mentioned that he likes Hudson automobiles and with a touch of perfect timing my friend Dody walked up and I introduced her to the New Zealanders and she told them about the Hudson and Terraplane cars that she and her husband Mick own...

By now it was time for me to head to work, so we went outside and speaking of perfect timing,, that is when my buddy Rex Russell showed up in his 56 Cadillac hardtop and I introduced him to the guys.

I had pre-arranged for Rex to take them to his own car museum after breakfast so I left him in charge of my new friends and went on to my daily job of delivering medical oxygen. I found out later that they had a good time looking at his two Stanley Steamers and many other cool cars in his collection. And after that, the boys met up with Lawrence again to look at his car and truck collection. I hope they had a good time here on the Plains of Kansas. I know we did.......

Thanks for coming along for this visit with the folks at Poverty Flats and let's do it again sometime...

A visit with my pal Don (Dads53)

I was on a road trip with my son Poverty Flats Jr. and we were on a mission to buy some engines in Tennessee. I knew I was going to be passing near the hometown of one of my favorite buddies on the HAMB message board for hot rodders Dads 53 so I called up Don to see if he was going to be home and he told me to stop by. His place was on a nice corner acreage in a suburban area about 20 miles from Kansas City and overlooks a beautiful pond. 

I pictured the great man himself pulling big fish from this pristine body of water as I drove into his driveway where I saw him waiting for us near his shop.

He told me where to park and when I got out I saw this painted on the ground in front of my truck.

We had a good laugh and went into his shop to look around. It was large and neatly arranged and I liked it.

Don is retired from the paint industry and still dabbles in paint and body work when he wants to and has a nice paint storage room with a nice collection of paint guns too.

He also has alot of cool old signs and I enjoyed looking them over.

We walked past his well known 53 Chevy that is a veteran of many car shows in the Mid West.

I also liked his late model pickup truck that is lowered to a very tasteful stance.

We walked into his nice ranch style home where he made us some fresh coffee and I took this photo while passing thru the garage.

Don wanted to show us his finished basement so we headed down there next...

I really liked his foot rail on the soda fountain counter that was made from chrome lake pipes (custom side pipes for hot rods and kustoms) that were welded together for one long length. Way cool and a nice touch for any car guy to enjoy.

And I really liked the guest bedroom in the basement that was made to look like an old country store. Very clever.

Along about this time, his lovely wife Carol came home and we decided to go eat some supper on this Friday evening and we followed them to their local favorite joint named "Sandy's."

Once inside I could see it was a friendly place where everyone seemed to know each other. The waitresses were hugging the regular customers and the owner, Sandy herself got in on the action as well.

Everyone was in a jolly mood and the food was fantastic. This was my own meal of chicken fried steak. It came with a tossed salad too.

Sadly I was too busy eating like a hog to get a photo of the pretty girl walking around handing out free designer cupcakes which was a nice touch and not something I normally see.
As we left the employees and the owner told us goodbye and invited us to come back and see them. As simple as that sounds it is not often a common practice at most places anymore and in my opinion is one of the reasons this place is so successful.
I took a photo of Carol and Don outside by their car.

And of course I wanted to get in on the action and horned into the next photo myself.

Sadly it was time for us to get back on the road and continue on our all night trip. It was fun to see my friends again and listen to his stories. Never a dull moment is a good way to describe a friend like this....
Thanks for taking the time to visit with us and show us around your world Don and Carol and I will see you again soon I hope.