Smokey and the Bandit Run — Day One — Our Route
Posted by David Kinney
If you never saw the movie Smokey and the Bandit, or, like most of us, you saw it so many years ago that you have forgotten the storyline, it might be wise to hit Blockbuster or Netflicks up for a copy right about now. Better still, get those old boxes filled with VHS movies out of storage, your copy is most likely still there.
One essential plot element is the Coors beer that is being trucked from Texarkana to Atlanta.
Thirty years ago, Coors beer was brewed in just one location, Golden Colorado. It was distributed in Western states only. Coors kept their beer refrigerated during shipment, and it’s vendors would keep it cold as well. With no easy way to truck Coors to all corners of the nation, the east coast was left out of Coors distribution, thus creating a demand as well as a mystique surrounding the brand.
The guilty pleasure. The forbidden fruit.
But I digress…
Today’s route takes us through El Dorado and Lake Village, Arkansas. We drive through Winona, Mississippi and on to the college town of Oxford. Our final stop for the night is Tupelo, MS. At that point, we will have covered at least 382 miles, our longest drive of the event.
It is not an early start for us today as we plan to check out of the hotel at 9:oo AM and head to our gathering point, the Texarkana Classic Car Museum. We need to clean off the collection of bugs that gave their lives to the grille of our Trans AM, and figure out a way to attach our AUTOMOBILE and Cars That Matter magnetic signs. The magnets don’t hold quite as well as they do on new sheet metal, layers of paint (and possibly more) are to blame here.
We had a magnetic CB radio antenna placed on our roof for the trip down, it gave way at perhaps 70 miles per hour, creating one of those great moments of instant panic as Joe used the cord to reel it in.
Just part of the appeal of adventure on the open road.
Dave Kinney