Steve and Debbie Harter along with Jon Kligerman led us on a wonderful spring tour through Bucks County in Pennsylvania and Hunterdon County in New Jersey. We gathered early Sunday morning in Peddler’s Village and enjoyed some cookies made by Debbie as well as coffee and conversation. The turnout continued to grow as our destination time approached. Among the Alfas we had several round tail spiders, a couple GTVs, Quinn deMenna’a lovely blue GT Junior, a Sports Sedan, a Giulia, a 4C and of course, a clutter of Spiders. With the driver’s meeting complete, tops down and directions handed out, we left remarkably on time and headed east, across the Delaware to Stockton.
From Stockton we headed north and then deep into Hunterdon county, enjoying the twisty roads and green canopy of shade. Those who might have though of New Jersey as flat were surprised to see the rises and falls we traversed on our way to our first stop for fuel and rest. This gave our tourists another chance to admire the Italian alloy in the parking lot and forget to turn off their lights (no worry, one unnamed driver made the rounds turning them off).
Back on the road, we continued north through some cute towns and were greeted by some vintage Land Rovers. Then, we headed west, along the Delaware and crossed back over into Pennsylvania into Riegelsville.
Our final leg had us heading south along the river and eventually diving back into the rocky hills of Upper Bucks County until we arrived at Van Sant airport.
If you’ve never visited (I hadn’t), Van Sant airport is a jewel. It’s runways are grass. It’s hangers and fields are full of biplanes and gliders. And, it has a quaint snack bar. This day, it was hosting a “Wings and Wheels” event and even though we arrived towards the end, it was still full of interesting cars and even more interesting airplanes. Strolling around the machinery on display, you could watch the planes take off and land in very close proximity. Rides were even available though I’m not sure anyone partook – my wife gave me a terse “no” when I suggested she go up in a Stearman.
It was a great destination and a perfect ending to a lovely Sunday drive with the Alfas. In a break with tradition, there were no mistakes in the directions and we didn’t lose a single Alfa, though one of those “reliable” German cars had to drop out due to a mechanical problem – go figure?
Many thanks to Steve, Debbie and Jon who made it all happen. Also thanks to Jack Stoll who helped develop the route.
For some photos you can go to: https://www.alfabb.com/threads/dvaroc-spring-tour-may-26-2024.733912/?post_id=8894120#post-8894120 or here: https://www.facebook.com/rockingchairmotors/posts/867003568794968?ref=embed_post