Making Memories on Wheels at French Lick Resort


 Rides are free on French Lick Resort's road and rail trolleys, which move nearly a half-million people each year.

When you visit a resort town, chances are the highlight of your trip won’t come from the time spent inside a vehicle. Travel time is merely a means to an end; the bridge between restaurant reservations and horse stables and spa appointments and everything else you really came for.

Yet every now and then, you can make memories in motion.

Those are the focus of the next in our series of “At Your Service” stories featuring the special touches that French Lick Resort associates carry out to create unexpectedly memorable guest experiences. The first story on wheels comes from a couple that visited the resort to celebrate their anniversary. They just so happened to board one of the shuttle buses being driven by Sam Ray, the resort’s Director of Support Operations who occasionally jumps in as an extra shuttle driver when extra help is needed.

“They were talking to me, and I was explaining the resort and the history and all the neat little things there were to do. They said they were here 20 years ago and that the resort looks a thousand times better than it did when they were here,” Sam explained. “They showed me a Polaroid of them in the back seat on the driver’s side of a trolley. They said we took this little selfie — back then it didn’t have a name, really — and it’s too bad (the trolley) isn’t here anymore; we’d like to take the picture again to kind of recreate the memory.”

French Lick Resort Director of Support Operations Sam Ray with the open-air road trolley, which was first used in 1986.

Fortunately, they ran into the one guy with the access and the knowledge to transform the longshot wish into reality.

Sam dropped them off at their destination, and returned to pick them up in the exact shuttle that the couple posed for in the picture 20 years earlier. It’s a 1986 Molly trolley, and Sam knew it had to be the same one from the photo judging from the flaps on the rear-side windows. It’s the only open-air trolley that we own, and it makes appearances occasionally when the weather’s nice or an extra shuttle is needed.
The 32-year-old old open-air trolley is still used
occasionally in warm-weather months, so keep
an eye out for it if you're visiting this summer.

“We’ve had it for many years. It was actually in the movie Blue Chips when Nick Nolte and them were here in town doing the French Lick scene for the movie,” Sam explained. “She’s been around a long time. We like to keep her around, because everyone has such memories in it.”

And in this case, a truly serendipitous memory for one couple.

“They got to remake their honeymoon picture in the back — but this time with a cell phone. Exact same seat, exact same picture.”

If you visit French Lick Resort this summer, keep an eye out for those older vehicles in general.

Sam takes the resort’s couple vintage cars out on the road occasionally just to make sure they keep humming properly, and if it’s a Friday or Saturday night and he’s planning to be here late, he’ll drive the mile-long path between French Lick and West Baden Springs Hotels, offering to give guests a spin through town or between hotels. Occasionally they get even more of a close-up view, when Sam hand-cranks the Model T to demonstrate the old-school method of how to start a car.

They only come out every so often, but summer is a great time
to see some of the resort's vintage cars on the road. Several old
cars are also on display currently as part of Preservation Month
at French Lick Resort.
One elderly guest noticed the 1928 license plate on one of our blue Chevy trucks and informed Sam, “that’s the year I was born.” So she and her family scored a ride through town in the ’28 truck — and going on 90, the woman even climbed in back with everyone else to squeeze into the bench seats.

Then there was the man who saw the old Model A and got to talking about the stories passed down by his father about their family’s Model A, and the memories of piling into the car for a family road trip from Illinois through the Northern Plains.

“He said, ‘Man, it’d be nice to have one of these so we could kind of have the memories my dad had.’ I said, ‘Well I’ve got 10 minutes free, so let’s go for a ride.’ They got to ride in the rumble seat like his dad did,” Sam said.

Given that the transportation staff is responsible for providing the complimentary rides to almost a half-million guests throughout the resort every year, that’s a whole lot of opportunities for those unexpected memories to pop up. For those times in life that require immediate action — forgotten car keys need to be rushed back to the owner, or a vehicle-less guest has a family emergency and needs a ride a few hours away — the transportation department has driven a couple hours to take their service show on the road.

“Small things like that; we’re always doing something,” Sam said.