I am happy, and very sad, to say that the Hot Rod Power Tour is over! Hot Rod hosted the ceremony for all of the Long Haulers who made it to each and every stop along the way to honor them in a way and to give them a little recognition for being the guys who made it the whole way. It takes a lot of time and money to do the entire thing as I have found out. It is a huge sacrifice to do the long haul, but definitely worth it. I may not have experienced as many Christmases as some, but this was the best week I have experienced in my 21 years. If you ever have the chance, do the long haul. Save all your pennies, plan ahead and drive the crap out of your car for a few weeks before the tour to work out the kinks. It is the road trip of legends. We may not be able to experience the awesome car culture of the 60’s and 70’s now, but you can relive it to some point with all of these awesome guys who go on the tour.
Now, it is time for the speculation… Every year people start to take their guess at where the Power Tour will go next year. Traditionally, Hot Rod starts it in the same place that it ended, but there have been quite a few exceptions. This year, people are thinking that it will start in Baton Rouge and end up somewhere in south Florida like Key West. This is a fair guess because that’s roughly 1,100 or so miles on the highway, so it is the right idea as far as distance goes. I wish that one year they would do a West Coast run. I’ve always wanted to take my car and do a whole run of the West Coast, but it is a far stretch just for a road trip. If they ever took it to Cali, I would make sure I wouldn’t miss that one. From the looks of it, the tour will take an easterly route along the Gulf coast, which means I need to get my air conditioning working before next year for sure.
We’ll see what Hot Rod decides will make the best tour for everybody. Either way, I will try my best to be there. Here are a few pictures from the Long Hauler ceremony today. Keep an eye on Hot Rod’s site for info on how many long haulers, how many total cars registered, etc. – Kaleb
