The opening banquet was held at the Trapp Family Lodge where we are staying for the whole tour. In 1938 Baron von Trapp decided to leave Austria when Hitler invaded. With nine children and one on the way, they reached America and settled in Philadelphia. The family hobby of music became their profession for nearly 20 years. In 1942 they settled in Vermont and became the Trapp family singers. Their story inspired the musical the "Sound of Music".

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The Trapp Family Lodge	The golden dome of the capital building in Montpelier	Rock of ages - the Barre quarry	Car talk - Doug and Matt

We started up the cars on a cool morning and drove to the Vintage Garage in Stowe where we got some insight into rebuilding Bentley engines. At our leisure we departed for Montpelier, the capital of Vermont, it boasts a beautiful golden domed capital building. The drizzles started requiring full rain gear, goggles, gloves, second sweater etc. as we were headed south towards Randolph for lunch at the Three Stallions Inn. Very scenic roads and not much traffic thru the Vermont farmland and villages.

We noticed many cemeteries with ornate granite gravestones. After lunch the temperature dropped even further, by the time we arrived at the Barre Granite quarry, Rock of Ages, we were frozen to the bone. The quarry of this type is the largest in the world, several square miles wide and 7 miles deep. The granite is pale gray and largely used for headstones and mausoleums, apparently the Chinese competition is felt here, they are able to supply rock for lower cost. We arrived safely back at the hotel with heavy rain and 38 degree temperatures. The top never went up leaving the driver and navigator slightly under cooled. The 4/8-litre got 9.5 miles to the gallon which is good, Richard Greens heavier 8-Litre with four passengers averaged about 8 miles to a gallon. Matt Sysak organized a dinner at the Pickwick Pub in Stowe where we recalled old car and tour stories.


We woke up to sunshine but it had snowed over night, so our drive thru Smugglers Notch was very impressive. On the mountains we could see the ski runs covered in snow. We drove north towards the Canadian border and a wrong left turn (we followed an other Bentley!) landed us in Canada. Luckily we had our passports in hand. The village of Derby Line is unique with the border running thru the middle of the library and opera house. Lunch was at the Derby Cow Palace, out back there was a big elk coral.

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Smugglers notch	Fresh snow in May	The Brass cars

The flowering fruit trees, dogwoods and mayflowers are magnificent. The large variety of deciduous trees give a patchwork effect to the hills. The woods are filled with ferns and spring wild flowers. There are plenty of lakes, ponds and streams and that of course means plenty of rain water. Today the temperature was around 60 degrees. Made a quick stop at a woolen mill for warmer hats and gloves.

In the afternoon we visited Bill Alley's impressive brass car collection, the 1914 Locomobile sported 5 1/4 inch wide pistons and in its day was one of the most luxurious cars in the world. We covered 175 miles today without a drop of rain and were on the road for 9 hours. There are 35 pre 1931 Bentley's on the tour with the people coming from all over the States and even the Caribbean.

Definition of the day: Vegetarian is an Indian word meaning "poor hunter"


Last night we watched Eric Forsyth's (Bentley driver and yachtsman) "Trip to Antarctica". He was there in 1999 and wanted to see the effects of global warming in the area. For those interested he has a website www.yachtfiona.com . The movie was accompanied by rum and apple juice. His theory is that we are in a natural warming cycle which accounts for 50% of global warming, the other 50 % is from burning fossil fuels. His solution is to harness nuclear energy with improved technology such as the french are developing.

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May 21, 2008
Luncheon line up	Lake Champlain with 4/8, 4½ SC, 3	6½ is ok to proceed

Today we started out under blue skies toward Burlington and Lake Champlain. Drove over Grand Isles via several bridges. The roads were lined with flowering white and purple lilac bushes. First the roads were well paved but once we got into the hills by the Canadian border they quickly deteriorated requiring slalom navigation. The last driver in the group claimed he found many valuable Bentley spares on the road! The route passed many open farms and dairies. Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream factory is very close to our hotel, this was formed by two high school friends who paid 5 Dollars for an ice cream course and turned it to a worldwide company. Stopped for a hot clam chowder for lunch before we drove over Smugglers Notch again, getting shoulders to work (heavy steering around the many curves). We had a dry run to the hotel, some of our colleagues enjoyed a short downpour. Kurt relaxed with some other drivers in the hot tub, one of the Blower drivers sold Novartis (Kurt's employer for 35 years) the Bombardier jets.

The route selection and guide was prepared by Doug Magee, Jr from N.H., he did such a well and detailed itinerary that it is impossible to get lost plus we always run into some other Bentley's and follow them.

Fact of the day: For vintage Bugatti driving you need strong hands, for Alfa driving you need strong arms, for Bentleys you need strong shoulders!!


The last day was a mystery tour organized by Peter & Yoko Harnik. We traveled for three hours on back roads with several stretches of gravel (in some parts of Vermont the gravel roads are often better than the paved ones!). Several of the clues were located at the various sites (dates of bridges, name of library etc.), so there was no skipping of any part of the itinerary. We motored up and down the Sugarbush Ski Resort area extensively. It stayed dry all day but still 20 degrees below normal. Lunch was served near Bristol at the Inn at Baldwin Creek. After lunch Tim McCann arranged for a few of us a visit to RPM, a Ferrari restoration shop in Vergennes.

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May 21, 2008
Old RR station with matching color W.O.	Good gravel roads on mystery tour	Parking lot at the Lodge

Doug Magee presided eloquently over the final banquet back at the Trapp Family lodge, several members were honored including Eric Forsyth for traveling furthest to the meet, Sharon Sahl for winning the mystery tour. Nic Moller honored Bill and Aneice Lassister for their special participation and Dale Powers reported on club activities in his trademark good humor.

This was our first NAVBM and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting the interesting members and having the opportunity to share car and live stories. We all had good fun.

P.S. After the official tour finished Heather and I drove to lake Winnepesake to see family. We toured the White Mountains and the Kangamangus highway, wonderful Bentley road (55 miles per hour plus, uphill and around curves) in 70 degree weather. Ran into Bill and Diane at the McGee Garage where they showed us around, Ford Model T and A snowmobiles their specialty. Across the road ten Stanley Steamers! Brass heaven in Melvin, N.H. Drove back into Vermont thru the Green Mountains in 80 degree weather (another Bentley road) to Summit, N.J., where we spent the night at our old neighbor's. Had breakfast at the famous Summit diner and continued on to Pennsylvania via the Delaware river. Met up with Matt Sysak and Bob Brod at ashington Crossing for lunch. Bob guided us thru the Philadelphia traffic to Springfield, Pa where the car is getting loaded up at Karl's garage for the trip back west. Did some 1850 miles on our first big outing with our 4/8, no issues at all except the fishtail exhaust needed to be raised after excavating gravel a couple of times, rotated the tires as the rear tires suffered from the torque more than the front ones. Great motoring.