“The tour so nice, you could drive it twice,” especially for me who ended up two miles from home in Wicker Park with only 70 miles on the clock at the Tour termination point: Goose Island Brewery (actually brewpub), off of North Avenue and the Chicago River in Chicago’s north side. It was a breeze to cruise up the Eden's to the start point at the Panera Bread in Lake Bluff to join the 19 or so cars that started the trip, almost twice as many as anticipated. Ray Hansen, tour master on his first time organizing a tour, triumphantly brought a Chicagoland MG Club tour finally back to Chicago proper, the First Annual (and hopefully not the last!) North Shore / Lake Shore Drive Tour.

The Sheridan Road drive, past the Botanical Gardens, Ravinia, and many a North Shore mansion, is one of the most beautiful in the country, perfect for this kind of car. In fact, we saw many fellow vintage car drivers going by, especially the Rolls Royces who were having a show along the way. We stopped briefly for a meet and photo op at historical Fort Sheridan, which many of us vowed to return to tour. Then there was Evanston (and a stop for an ice cream at Evanston beach on this picture–perfect day) and Rogers Park, with the normal traffic lights and city driving, which only whetted our appetite for another of the most renowned drives in all the land: Lake Shore Drive. With the lake on one side and high rises on the other, the entourage cruised beautifully south in light traffic to exit at LaSalle, which everyone knows is North Avenue, for the short drive west to the Goose Island pub.

What stop-and-go driving? We didn’t run into a traffic jam once, due to the careful advance planning of Ray and his wife, and their partners on the tour, former CMGC members who brought up the tail. Lead and tail coordinated by radio, which was good considering the more light-infested urban atmosphere where the caravan could easily get separated – but didn’t. The tail could keep the lead advised of the progress from the end, so the lead would know when to stop for everyone to catch up and re-group. Good idea!

Setting down for a lunch at Goose Island Brewpub after the tour.

We can’t wait to see what feedback we’re going to see from those exiting the City from downtown, to see what improvements Ray may make for next year. But one thing is for sure, in one form or other, we sure hope to see a Sheridan Road /LSD tour as an annual event.

Thanks, Ray for a great job!

~~John Kerns