http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/080501/new_0805010031.shtml
Sunday, August 5, 2001
BLOOMINGTON -- Classic cars took
to a classic highway Saturday to raise money to fight multiple sclerosis.
Scott Sensing and his restored 1952
Chevrolet pickup truck, affectionately named Shelley, made several stops
in Central Illinois as part of his "Route 66 Drive for Multiple Sclerosis,"
a six-week journey on the Mother Road from Chicago to San Bernardino, Calif.
"The best thing about doing this
is you go to a place you've never been and meet hundreds of nice people
who roll out the red carpet for you," said the 37-year-old Sensing, who
lives in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Saturday's event kicked off at Bloomington's
Miller Park, where about 30 classic cars and their owners helped Sensing
begin the Central Illinois leg of his journey. Leaving the park in midafternoon,
the caravan cruised to the Dixie Truckers Home in McLean, then on to Lincoln
and Hopedale, picking up other classic cars along the way. The day's events
concluded at Minier's townwide block party Saturday evening.
Sensing also will be at the Minier
Corn Daze Car Show today from noon to 4 p.m.
On a leave of absence from his job
as a student services coordinator for a technical school, Sensing has hopes
to raise money for multiple sclerosis -- a lofty $250,000 -- as well as
awareness about the disease.
To date, he's raised about $10,000.
The drive is being done in memory
of a sponsor's brother who was diagnosed with the disease in 1992 and died
earlier this year. Multiple sclerosis, which attacks the central nervous
system, can have effects that vary from numbness in the limbs to paralysis
and loss of vision.
But the miles logged for a cause
will be familiar to both Sensing and Shelley. Last year, the pair traveled
more than 11,800 miles from Sensing's home in Murfreesboro to Prudhoe Bay,
Alaska, to raise money to fight cancer.
That trip was done in memory of his
father, who died of cancer in 1998 without having fulfilled his dream of
going to Alaska.
The journeys take a slow pace, and
Sensing prefers the back roads to the interstates and big cities. Shelley
has no air conditioning, no radio, no compact disc player and reaches a
top speed of about 50 mph.
"She really doesn't have anything
except dependability," Sensing said.
But the bond between traveling man
and forester-green truck seems to have grown with time. Shelley, named
in part to rhyme with Chevy, was Sensing's inaugural vehicle after graduation
from high school in 1982. While not the only vehicle he owns anymore, it's
the one that tugs at his heartstrings.
"She has a personality," Sensing
said. "She has her own creaks, rattles and groans.
"I've always liked the fact she's
quite different than anything out there."
On the Net
Route 66 Drive for Multiple Sclerosis
Web site: www.route66.bigstep.com.
"Reports from the Route" live Internet
broadcast at 8:05 a.m. Monday through Friday through Sept. 17: www.1450wgns.com
Copyright © 2001, Pantagraph
Publishing Co
By KAREN HANSEN
Pantagraph project coordinator