I left work at noon. As usual, there were a few items to take care of before actually heading on my way. The bank and gas station for example. I was finally headed toward Elkhart Lake about 1pm. With a full tank of gas, I planned to make one stop at which I'd grab something to eat and fill the tank again - a one stop strategy.

The nasty looking weather to the west turned clear and sunny as I passed Kalamazoo, only to be replaced by nasty traffic as I neared Chicago. After surviving an hour and a half of stop and go bumper to bumper traffic past Chicago I breezed through Milwaukee and started wondering if I'd make it to Road America before dark.

I expected to pass Chicago about 4pm, thinking I might miss the rush. Turns out I'd forgotten about the 1 hour time change, which actually made it 3pm as I neared Chicago. Even so, I may have missed a little of the rush going toward the city, but it sure thickened up on the Skyway, and continued, bumper to bumper halfway to Milwaukee!

I started to get worried that my Yahoo Maps directions were dodgy, but when I got onto the county highways and cross roads identified by numbers and letters with farm fields all along both sides, it felt so much like Mid Ohio I knew I had to be close. Finally signs: Elkhart Lake and Road America. I made a left turn into a beautiful sunset and within a few minutes was looking at the main gates into the track. I pulled into the second gate, where a gentleman in a beautiful green (what else?) Elise was pulling out. He rolls down his window and says - Next Gate! So I followed him out and into the other gate where we got our camping passes and directions to the camping area. Also directions to food and beer, in the main garage area.

I drove into the infield, up the main paddock hill, and into the camping area. There I settled between several other little car hauler trailers, parking with the tail of my trailer uphill to facilitate unloading. I quickly unloaded the Seven, which road perfectly on its previously untried trailer, and drove it back down to the garage for food. The chili was gone, but there was some sort of Road America Ale on tap. I had three for dinner, and promised myself a big breakfast!

I chatted with William Taylor, and bought a copy of the first edition of 'The Lotus Book' retroactively known as Series One. They had a few, though the 'Series Two' book is apparently available now - or perhaps sold out as you read this. They had, however, run out of Series One book jackets, so what I ended up with was actually a Series One book with a Series two cover! I'm calling it a Series one and a half. I didn't realize William was English - for some reason associated him with an American distributor who I had previously exchanged emails with. It was nice to hear his accent, and it added to my interest in the book, knowing it was written by an Englishman. He told me about the S1 Seven they drove and photographed. The owner had bought it new, drove it little and barned it. His wife dug it out, and had it cleaned up and fired up for his 70th birthday. William went for a ride in it and said it was just like 'being in the '50s'. Not a restored car, but an original that was cleaned up a little and made road worthy - a true 'time warp' car as he called it.

I spoke also with William's publishing partner, Jim Bennet, who owns the Jackie Ickx Lotus 72. It was sold to him by Classic Team Lotus as a Ronnie Peterson car - Peterson apparently drove it once or twice. Classic Team Lotus fully disassembled and inspected the car, as Jim intended to take it on track. They tested/magnafluxed everything and replaced only the two upper suspension links. Jim had the option to have the entire car repainted, but chose to leave one side panel untouched. He further explained that the gold striping was completely recreated by the man who had originally painted the car. I would consider that to be pretty true to original!

A nice older woman who was apparently around near the start of Road America explained how a fellow called Duck Waddle (yes that's right) walked around on the asphalt after it was laid, dragging his feet and saying 'There are no bumps!' I'm not exactly sure what Duck's position is at the track, but he seemed to be everywhere and know everything. Probably another of those people I really ought to know, but didn't realize who it was a the time! I heard about how the track was built on quarry land, and the road bed was some 90% original - new surface of course but the road bed is on solid rock. Evidence of the quarry lines the back side of the track, along the stretch known as Kettle Bottoms. I mentioned my knowledge of Elkhart Lake came mostly from Burt Levy's book, 'The Last Open Road' and was told that he was very accurate in his description and how he portrayed the events and times.

As the tap dried up and the group thinned, I was talking with Jim Bennet when another fellow came up, who I hadn't met yet that evening. Someone who I'd already told about my SimpleSevens site said - Hey, you oughta talk to this guy - he's got a Seven, and a mini Seven too! I turned and told him I'd heard of the mini Seven, that someone already on my web site had told me about it. He looked at me and said 'You must be the SimpleSevens guy.'

It was Ross Robbins, one of the 'listers' (member on the Lotus Seven email list) who had told me to look him up at Road America this year. Ross seems to be bitten by the Lotus bug as badly as any of us. He had driven from Colorado with his Elan in tow earlier in the week. He parked truck and trailer in Chicago where he caught a plane for a business meeting in Boston Friday morning. He then caught a flight back to Chicago, where he hopped into his truck and drove on up to Road America where he showed up about 10pm. That's dedication!

Well, we broke up by 10:30 or so and I returned to where I'd parked the station wagon and crawled in for a night's sleep. Looking out the windows of the car as I fell asleep, I could clearly see the milky way, and watched Orion rise into the sky.