Saratoga Tour USA 2009

Steaming In Saratoga

July 5th – 11th 2009

Earlier this year David and I were delighted to receive an invitation from tour hosts, Mark and Lisa Cantor, and also from our friends Don and Nancy Bourdon, to join them on the Eastern Steam Car Tour to be held at Saratoga Springs in New York State, USA. Of course, it didn’t take us very long to make up our minds to go as we haven’t been on a tour in the USA for several years, and we were looking forward to meeting up with our many friends and acquaintances in the USA once again.

We arrived in Woodstock, Vermont to stay with Don and Nancy just in time for the 4th July celebrations. Brent Campbell and his friend Monty Page broke their journey to Saratoga from Massachusetts at Woodstock and so in the evening all six of us went out in Don’s magnificent Model 85 Stanley for a strawberry supper in a local village hall. Of course, the Stanley was a real conversation stopper! The evening ended with fireworks going off all around the area. As Brits we thought that perhaps we should keep our heads down, as they were celebrating independence from Britain!

On Sunday morning Don steamed up the Stanley, and we all set off for Saratoga, a journey of about 120 miles. We had been joined for the tour by Don’s sister, Diane Bourdon Tiezzi, and she, David, Monty and Don set off. Nancy and I followed in the truck with the entire luggage (I really must learn how to “pack light”!) Brent had left earlier, and was all set up with his big trailer when we arrived. Saratoga first became famous for its springs of healing water and a place for the rich and famous to be seen during “the season”. At present it is famous for both thoroughbred and harness racing, and is a very “horsey” town, with horse statues all over the place. That evening the Fire Up banquet was held at the Gideon Putnam Hotel where the tour was based and we had a busy time meeting up with all our old friends. An excellent evening was enjoyed by all.

Monday’s tour was to Lake George, a distance of some 73 miles. We were booked to go for a trip on the authentic paddle steamer the Mini-Ha-Ha on Lake George, and arrived exactly at the departure time of 11.30 am, just at the same time as our friends Mike and Kathryn May in their 1912 Stanley Model 88 30hp Mountain wagon, complete with daughter Heather, son-in-law Pat and Granddaughter Sarah (aged 2) on board. Fortunately our wonderful hosts, Mark and Lisa managed to hold the boat up for a few minutes so that we could all get aboard. Quite a number of people missed the first boat, but managed to amuse themselves eating ice cream etc. until the next trip. The boat had a steam calliope which played when we reached port, but sadly it was very out of tune. When we arrived back at base we were delighted to meet up with Art Hart and Rosie Esposito who had come to join the tour for a couple of nights. The sensible thing to do seemed to be to all travel by Stanley to the ice cream shop, and so off we went, together with Brent and Monty in Brent’s magnificent sporty 1911 30hp Stanley Special once owned by F.E. Stanley’s son.

On Tuesday we toured around Saratoga Lake, followed by a thunderstorm, but managed to avoid the worst of it. Others were not so lucky and got a real drenching.

After a visit to a local rose garden we set off to climb the hill up to the final home of General U.S. Grant, he of civil war fame, who became the 18th President of the United States. He was suffering from throat cancer and his Doctor recommended that he should take the mountain air, and so a friend lent him his house on the mountainside, and this is where he completed his memoirs just a few days before dying in July 1885. Only two Stanleys (Don’s Model 85 and Mark’s 1909 Model R,) made it up the steep hill to the top, others preferring to leave their cars in the car park below and taking a shuttle bus to the top. Before allowing us to go to the top, the gateman said that we would have to leave someone with the car at all times, because Grant’s cottage was right, and I mean right, next door to a prison, and they were concerned that a prisoner might escape and make a run for it in the Stanley - I don’t think so!!! However, we checked underneath before leaving and didn’t find any stowaways!!

On returning to base we all parked up outside the Saratoga Auto Museum for a public display. There was a model T ford with a steam driven popcorn maker in it also in attendance. In the evening we all went out for a BBQ, but sadly the weather was not very kind and so we didn’t stay long, which was a good thing as we almost ran out of water on the way home. The pumps were just about managing to lift what little water was left.

Wednesday’s tour was to Howe Caverns, a tour of about 120 miles, so an early start was called for. It was a day of sunshine and showers and we put the top up and down several times and found shelter under both a railway bridge and a petrol station canopy. Only 9 cars managed to complete the full trip, one of them being John Linderman in his 1910 Stanley Model 70 who ran out of pilot fuel at the caves - was it a senior moment John, when you forgot to fill the tank in the morning? However, help was to hand as Don had a spare tin of Coleman fluid (which is used in pilot tanks in the USA) in the car. John was very, very pleased indeed to see it as we were miles from anywhere at the time. We got very low on fuel ourselves, but as Don is always very lucky, a gas station appeared right on cue. We also stopped at a house for water and the owner offered us all a beer - I think that has to be a first! We didn’t, however, take him up on his kind offer.

On Thursday we were joined by our friend Tim Martin from Vermont and had a lovely tour of the local area, including a picnic lunch beside a lock on the Hudson River. We were joined there by Walter Winship in his 1922 Stanley 740A, and his helper Arthur Funai. Walter is almost 90 years old, and Arthur is 89. They are two remarkable gentlemen who completed the whole tour. Another much respected gentleman also joined us by the lock, and that is Tom Marshall. Tom, and the team from Auburn Heights had five Stanley’s on the tour and Tom was at the wheel much of the time. After lunch we visited the Saratoga Battlefield which was made famous during the American Revolution when the British were soundly defeated in 1777. It was quite eerie driving around the Saratoga National Park and thinking of all those young men who lost their lives there. We ended up at a column put up to mark the spot where the British actually surrendered.
All rather sad.

On Friday it was just a short tour, after some people had visited the race tracks early on. We saw all the very grand mansions of the rich and famous on North Broadway and finally managed to get a little shopping time in the afternoon. Sadly, the time had come to say goodbye to everyone after a splendid Blow Down banquet and Saturday saw our team on the road once again going back to Vermont.

David and Don spent Sunday morning cleaning the Stanley, and in the afternoon we took it out and had a picnic at Texas Falls. After all the rain that they have had in New England during June the falls were spectacular with water tumbling down and swirling around. Not a place to fall in!

On Monday we left for the airport and home. All good things come to an end. When can we do it all again, please?

A huge, huge thank you is due to Don and Nancy for their very kind hospitality all week and also to Mark and Lisa for being such excellent hosts during the week. I know that they had a considerable amount of stress, and hope that they are both fully recovered by now. Thank you all so much.