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Hey Auto Enthusiast fans! Continental Western Group is proud to sponsor the 2012 MotorMemories vintage vehicle tour which will kickoff in Des Moines, Iowa on June 13, 2012! This is the first of two tours we're sponsoring this year. In June we’ll have the “CSI: Crime Scene Iowa” tour and, in October, the “Quad Cities Odyssey” will take place. Click the link above to register with us for either tour!
The June tour will take a closer look at some of the better, as well as lesser known crime stories in Iowa. Crimes and criminals fascinate us, even though they are tragic events full of sadness and evil. They are a mainstay of popular culture and criminals like Jesse James are sometimes seen to have Robin Hood qualities; robbing the rich—paying the poor.
Ironically we will visit Villisca, Iowa 100 years to the week after six members of the Moore family and two young houseguests were found bludgeoned to death in their beds with the Moore’s own axe. The murders, never solved, spawned nearly ten years of investigations, repeated grand jury hearings, a spectacular slander suit, and murder trial ending in an acquittal. Prior to visiting the murder site, we’ll spend time with Dr. Edgar Epperly, a retired Professor of Education from Luther College. Dr. Epperly has devoted over 50 years to meticulous research on the crime and qualifies as the foremost authority on the 1912 Villisca, Iowa Axe Murders.
Next we’ll visit Templeton, Iowa. When Prohibition outlawed the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages in 1920 many enterprising residents of Templeton chose to become outlaws— producing a high caliber and much sought-after whiskey known as Templeton Rye, or “The Good Stuff”. It was Al Capone’s favorite, knowing these Western Iowa farmers continued to make their product with a lot of pride and a lot of care. Legend has it there were 10 truckloads a week heading from Templeton to Chicago. We’ll get to the bottom of that legend and maybe sample a wee bit of the “Good Stuff” ourselves!
We’ll finish our tour traveling the White Pole Road, one of Iowa’s earliest highways; learning some of its lore from a local historian… Jesse James in Adair and the world’s first train robbery . . . Bonnie & Clyde robbing the bank in Stuart and the Dexfield Park shoot-out where his brother Buck was mortally wounded. Among the tales some have hilarious consequences and one has a surprising connection to Iowa’s revered football hero, Nile Kinnick.
CWG® collector car insurance will be hosting an opening event at our Urbandale Home Office campus, plus inviting area car clubs to join us on the evening of Wednesday, June 13. Here’s the rest of our schedule:
Thursday, June 14
Urbandale to Red Oak with stops in Prescott and Villisca
Friday, June 15
Red Oak to Denison with stops at Hitchcock House, Kimballton, Manning, and Templeton
Saturday, June 16
Denison to Perry with a stop in Coon Rapids
Sunday, June 17
A drive on the White Pole Road, including stops in Stuart and Adel,
The Quad Cities Odyssey Tour, October 3-7 will be based in downtown Davenport, with day trips into the surrounding Iowa and Illinois countryside. We’re still working on the itinerary, but to be sure we will learn the complete John Deere story, make a leisurely lunch stop at the Bishop Hill National Landmark Village, visit the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum and tour all the intriguing places that comprise the Rock Island Arsenal, largest government-owned weapons manufacturing arsenal in the western world.
Throughout the year we organize other single and multi-day events. All of our events focus on our common interest in vintage vehicles. We don't judge them, nor do we encourage any form of competition. To us every vintage vehicle, whether it has been restored to showroom condition, preserved as a family heirloom complete with decades of minor road scars, or a recently acquired "summer driver" is to be prized, driven and shared with others.
The MotorMemories tours had their beginning as the MotorIoway 1000, an Iowa Sesquicentennial celebration in 1996. It became an annual event, and has now evolved into multiple vintage vehicle tours each year. ‘ShineTimes’, where this ‘traveling museum’ is on display for the public take place at formal stops. Tours are open to any licensed, insured motor vehicle manufactured in 1986 and before. Additional tour information and registration details can be found at www.motormemories.com.
"You Gotta Know the Territory," a quote respectfully borrowed from Meredith Willson's The Music Man, is our touring philosophy. We design our tours as people events, not motoring rallies. Your driving time is broken into reasonably sized segments interspersed with lunch breaks and pit stops. Communities roll out the red carpet for us, teachers turn our stops into transportation history lessons and we get to soak up plenty of Iowa Midwestern hospitality.
We provide detailed route guides and support services to make your experience pleasant. Your time behind the wheel is marked by the discovery of new places and hidden beauty spots. We encourage you to take notes, and then plan a return visit to enjoy these sites in greater depth.
Perhaps the best part comes by sharing this experience with your co-driver or passengers. All quickly learn that a team effort helps greatly. Sharing the responsibility for driving and navigating increases everyone's appreciation for the task at hand, as well as for each other.
Continental Western Group (CWG®) is proud to be an on-going sponsor of the MotorMemories vintage vehicle tours. We’ve been providing insurance protection for collectible vehicles in the US since 1974. The CWG® program has been designed to insure most collectible vehicles, including classic cars, show cars, modified and exotic vehicles, farm tractors, motorcycles and even vintage Military vehicles.
The supporting sponsor is Willis Auto Campus in Des Moines. Keep Iowa Beautiful is the charitable ‘riding partner’ for the event. |
