We were on the road at 7:00 this morning...three Cougar's, period. We immediately stopped for breakfast, and still had plenty of time to make our 9:00 appointment.

After a thirty-minute ride through the countryside, we arrived at the Wild Turkey Distillery for our 9:00 Tour.

We're not really sure how to say this, but we learned about driving a bung into the hole! It's done with a wooden mallet!

The tour was great, but the crowning point was having Jimmy Russell, the Master Distiller, sign a bottle of WT, and then come outside, and take some pictures with us.

Pressed for time, we said our goodbye's, and headed for Knoxville, where we had lunch at the Pizza Palace (another place featured on the Food Network). Great pizza, and the onion ring's were even better!

By now, we were way behind schedule, and still had a couple hundred miles to go! After a couple wrong turns, we were heading south on I-75, and planning to meet up with The Truck in Marietta.

Dinner was at the Marietta Diner (yet another Food Channel favorite). Be sure to see the photo album for the dessert pics...words here won't do them justice!

The trip is coming to an end tomorrow, when we head south to Florida. It's been a great week. We renewed some friendships, and made a whole lot of new ones.

As we always do, we ate (and drank) way more than we should have, never got enough sleep, drove a couple thousand miles, and paid about $4 a gallon for fuel wherever we were. We even found a new use for vaseline...please don't ask!

Last night, Sonny and I walked the hotel parking lot, and learned just how proud some people are of their rides!

We saw a '71 Torino wagon in fair (far from decent) shape, but it was a CJ car. As we walked over, so did the owner.

We chatted, and he said he's had it since 1985, but drove it for the first time a week ago. It ran a 14.0 at 99 MPH, and he decided to bring it to Carlisle to see if he could find a buyer.

He asked what I thought it was worth, and when I told him in the high-teens or low 20's, he got annoyed, saying that a serious Ford collector told him it was worth between $80K and $100K, and he was looking for about $125K!

We hope he reads this blog. Although I hope he DOES get $125K, he's really got no clue! And people who have no clue about their cars have no business owning them!

Then this morning, Sonny almost got bumped out of his position as Club Drunk! He found some guy passed out onthe floor in the hallway, and had to check to make sure he was breathing.

After a few minutes, he woke up, stumbled backward through the exit door, and wandered out through the courtyard!

Fortunately for Sonny, we didn't have a chance to get his name and address, or his membership dues!

Our first big stop of the day was nearly 400 miles from Carlisle...Hillbilly Hot Dogs...where we planned to have lunch. Bad news...they were closed today! But take a minute, check out their website, and see what we missed out on!

Swami removed his SSCC front license plate, we all signed it, and he screwed it to a tree, with dozens of other plates that customers have put there.

Our drive today was 520 miles (took us more than 11 hours), and you know the Old Guys are only good for about 400, so you can imagine how we all feel, especially since it's another day of close to 100 degree temps.

Later this evening, we're going for a Crave Case. For those that don't know, that's a box of THIRTY White Castle burgers. That's enough for three of us; Julie will have to fend for herself!

Tomorrow is another big day. Be sure to check back...we're going on a tour of a factory!

Last night, the gang arrived...Paul from Jersey, Mark from Massachusetts, Jeff from Louisville, and a few others. Renewing friendships, which is something the Old Guys really enjoys, took until about midnight!

This morning, we headed out to the show field...three Cougars and a truck. We quickly found our parking places, and Sonny did a burn out with his wagon! Okay, okay...so he did it onthe wet grass, but he DID do it!

We shopped the vendors...said hi to Lin and Felix, Scott, Randy, John, Bob, and a few others, and as usual, bought some stuff we didn't know we needed until we saw it!

Those who've been coming to Carlisle for the past several years said that the number of show cars, as well as the number of vendors, has significantly decreased this year. I wonder if it has anything to do with $4/gallon gas!

We spent the rest of the day renewing friendships that we've made over the years, and watching a bunch of new-to-us Cougar's filling the show field.

We called it a day about 4:00, and headed back to the hotel. While Phil and Nancy went to dinner in his truck, we opted to order from the pizza place again (hope they deliver faster than they did last night).

If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on finding all the gang in the hotel lounge tonight. We'll let you know what happens tomorrow.

Three Cougars and a truck. That's the way we started out, but it WASN'T what we planned.

Sonny's Cougar wagon is going, Mrs. Swami's '68 Cougar is going, and my Cougar wagon is going, too.

But last-minute work plans forced Jayson out, and a last-minute oil leak forced Phil to drive his truck...guess he and Nancy will have to split their time between the Cougar and the truck people.

We met in Jacksonville (major thunderstorms...thanks, Mrs. D for the chauferring), had dinner at the Cracker Barrel, planned tomorrow's trip to Lexington, North Carolina, and will probably spend the rest of the evening watching it rain.

Tomorrow has got to be better weatherwise, although it looks like rain all the way to Pennsylvania...not the way we like to travel!