It was a bright sunny October morning after a week of cold rainy weather when a few members of the FLOSTL group arrived at the starting point for the Fall Color Cruise.

The Cruise was a quickly organized run up the Great River Road from Alton, IL to Pere Marquette State Park just north of Grafton.

The Beautiful morning brought out Danny Chiaradonna and his white Lancia Fulvia Ralle Coupe, Dean Wieneke and his burgundy 72 spider with all the right stuff, Kris Dickson's 76 spider with the Pinninfarina Hardtop, and of course "Red" sporting his new 30 year old FR wheels out for their first run.

We Started at the "Garage Mahal" in West Alton, MO and did a quick run down HYW 94 through the little community and over the Mississippi River on the new Clark Bridge. We then turned left and ran through Alton, IL past the casino and harbors, and swung onto the Great River Road, under the Mississippi River Bluffs which were in full Autumn colors.

Along the river route are the communities of Chatocqua, Elsa, Clifton Terrace, and Piasa. We stopped for breakfast at the newly restored Piasa harbor Yacht Club. They have an excellent restaurant with huge gift shop and a unique new/antique gun shop upstairs complete with WWII era machine guns that the guys thought would be perfect to mount on the front fenders of the cars to clear the road for some spirited driving.

From Piasa we pulled back on the divided highway and ran up to Grafton. Grafton is situated right at the convergence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers and is a popular stop for sightseeing, shopping and eating. There are numerous things to see and do for the person interested in good food and antiques. There was a Primitive Rondevous going on when we went through with the Teepees and camps down on the river bank. The smell of campfire smoke and sound of black powder shooting caused everyone to shoot a glance over to the left to see what was going on as we toured through town.

After Grafton, the road turned into a beautiful two lane country road perfect for the cars to get out and stretch their legs. We Wound up the river road to Pere Marquett State Park and turned into the lodge to check out the accommodations. The woods around the lodge were just beautiful in their fall colors, so Kris offered to take us on a driving tour through the twisty back park roads. This was a lot of fun going up the steep hills and tight turns through some of the most beautiful country. We then pulled back onto the River Road this time turning south back the way we came for the return trip.

All in all it was Just over 70 miles of the nicest country you could imagine. We left Deano in Alton, and Dan came back to the AutoBarn for some Fiat/Lancia BS and to check out some of the old cars that we have hidden away in some of the farmer's barns out here. Dan and Kris also took a ride through some of the back roads and woods around here on the 4wheeler just for fun and finally in the late afternoon we called it a day and closed the barn doors until the next time.

I know I'm looking forward to the wine run scheduled for early November. Be sure to contact us to get on the mailing list. The wives will love you for it!