1/9/19 -- Winter was in the windy Louisville
morning air on day 7 of our Drive Home IV trip. Joining us was Hagerty’s
Tabetha Hammer, our road boss from last year’s drive, and she replaced Brad
Phillips who left our cadre for business on Day 6. Up early as is our pattern,
we helped Shell celebrate the opening of one of its new prototype stores called
Shell Select. The store’s modern design (think upscale Starbucks, deli, and
fuel stop rolled into one) is certainly a cut above the normal gas/convenience
store, and the staff were all super friendly.
Shell corporate also brought along the
Rotella Gas Truck that is being raffled off, and it made a bold statement in
front of the store. This is a Tommy Pike Custom Ram 1500 with a hemi, full
wrap, and all the rack fixin’s to haul a four-wheeler. Bill is convinced he’s
going to win it, but I entered the drawing to help spoil his chances.
ESPN Radio Louisville showed up as part
of the festivities to do their morning show and interview David; beyond hearing
about our drives and America’s Automotive Trust, they got an extra bonus
courtesy of Monte Cristo, one of our sponsors.
Departing Shell, we pointed the trucks
west-northwest into Indiana with Bill as my navigator and co-pilot in the
strong-running F-100. At some point we realized that Barbie had been
sequestered too long in the glovebox so we brought her out to get some air, but
it’s obvious we need to take her somewhere to get her hair done.
Lunch at the 12th Street Café
in Muncie, IN offered home cooking and good conversation with Vonda and David
about our trip so far and how we can make future Drive Homes even more
successful.
In the parking lot of the café we
finally pulled the trigger on a prank that Dave engineered. A couple days ago,
he wired the International’s horn to the blinker with a switch that he could
activate at a strategic time. Our original target was Brad Phillips, but his
departure left Tabetha as our victim. Dave gave our group the super-secret
signal that it was time to execute the gag, and we watched Tabetha’s confusion
unfold as the horn blared in synch with her blinker. The only disappointment
was that Tabetha is a graduate of McPherson College and an ace mechanic so
after about 10 seconds of laughing she was under the dash and quickly disarmed
Dave’s work. It’s hard to pull one over on Tabetha.
Back on the road to Auburn with the wind
whipping up snow flurries, I contacted several State Farm agents to let them know
about our cars and coffee event at the Gilmore and National Automotive and
Truck museums the next day and invited them out.
One of them, Morgan Hefty (a
third-generation State Farm agent in Auburn) is the archetype State Farm agent
who loves to help people, and he volunteered to come to the Country Heritage
Winery just outside of Auburn to meet us.
He then gave us recommendations for
dinner, and when we parked our cars at our hotel (which was right beside his
office) he chauffeured us in his Suburban to dinner downtown. Morgan was so welcoming and personable
that two members of our team asked if I knew him. I’d never talked to him
before today, but as I reflect on my 33 years with State Farm, it’s people like
Morgan who have made my career so special. As huge as our company is, there is
still a sense of family among our agents and employees, and I’ve often told my kids
if they are ever anywhere and get into a jam, they can always go to a State
Farm agent’s office for help.
Thanks for “helping life go right” for
us tonight, Morgan – our team looks forward to seeing you tomorrow at the
museums.
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