(23) N2K9 Day 3 - Rockford Sightseeing, Car Show & Group Picture, Parking Lot Alignment

Here's a breakdown of Day 3's activities...

On the docket for the day was a car show competition again at the 'cottonwood park' in Belvidere at noon. The Indiana crew, being the tight knit group that we are, decided to squeeze more activities in today to get more bang for our vacation bucks.

It all started out with breakfast at Kegel's Harley Davidson Dealership & Diner. This diner is built right into the Harley dealer there in Rockford. Amber and I had scoped it out the day before, and it was really cool looking! We had a group of 8 head out for breakfast. I had the 'panhead breakfast' which really hit the spot.

After breakfast, the 8 of us headed across town for the Anderson Japanese Gardens, proudly acclaimed as the #1 Japanese garden in the USA. It definitely lived up to its name. It was astounding with lots of greenery, stone statues, waterfalls, and bamboo structures. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking, as they are the best way to describe a place like this.

After a couple hours checking out the gardens, 6 of us decided to go check out the Discovery Museum in Rockford. It turned out to be more of a children's museum, but we had a great time nonetheless. There was a mock 'crime scene' where you had to study evidence in different methods that the investigators use, and try to solve the mystery. There were also several exhibits related to physics, electricity, light, sound, and more. It was both educational and enjoyable.

It was about time to get headed back to Belvidere for the car show, but we decided to stop by Applebee's for a quick lunch. Once we got to the hotel, we jumped in our Neons and took them across the street for a quick car wash. Then on to the park to park em with the group and walk around and look at cars. There were some very nicely built cars there. Much cleaner than the Indiana cars, but ours are either daily drivers or well seasoned race machines. After a couple hours, they gave out the awards and trophies for the best cars in the show. I'm fairly certain I had the 'best in show' for tow dollies, except they didn't have a class for tow dollies. No trophies for me.

We headed back to the hotel and parked the cars in the parking lot. I decided I'd fix my alignment issue before I put the Neon on the trailer for the morning march to the drag stip. There was a good size group of Neon pals standing by to give me a hand, which was quite nice. I had to borrow a few tools to get the job done as well, as I'd only brought along a basic socket set. It only took about 30 minutes to get everything fixed back up, and it looks pretty good for an 'eyeball' alignment. We did have an alignment pro on hand to perform the 'eyeball' measurements.

Enjoy the pictures of all the events covered today! They are good!

Until next time...