Well my longest drive was a 1700-mile jaunt from Palo Alto->Death
Valley->LA->Stockton->Palo Alto last March. And of course, I drove Goldie
my '69 MGB, as opposed to a fragile "modern" car, for this grueling 5-day
journey! The trip to Death Valley was particularly memorable, esp since
I needed to get to the start of a 200-mile bicycle ride by 3:00 in the
morning and was hence under some time pressure.
Detailed nostalgic blatherings are on my home page (now at
www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/1547... see "From the Logbook") but
here is a recap:
1. I first chose the Yosemite route to go to Death Valley, only to learn
that it was closed! So I had to backtrack 60 miles and hence wasted 120
miles and 2 hours of valuable driving time. MISTAKE #1
2. I get to Bakersfield by sundown, only to decide to take a "shortcut" to
Ridgecrest via Highway 155. Whoops, MISTAKE #2! Highway 155 has to be
one of the STEEPEST, TWISTIEST highways there are in Southern CA, and it
would take >2 hours just to go 60 miles. We often found ourselves inching
along in 2ND GEAR and I was apologizing profusely to the B for straining
her engine so much.
3. I get to Ridgecrest by 10:00p and stop atMcDonalds to grab something to
eat and review my directions. Ooops, I have a ton of maps telling me how
to get to Death Valley but for some reason the directions to the start of
the bike ride are NOT in my backpack as I thought. MISTAKE #3! This was
somewhat disturbing, esp. since I had already traveled 500 MILES at this
point. So I frantically called several of my friends at Stanford U. who
had internet access... finally I got ahold of a friend who couldn't find
the directions to the start (a casino) on the Web but was able to find the
casino's phone number. So all is not lost, *phew*!
4. I call the casino... apparently it is not exactly in Death Valley, it
is a wee bit farther... like half a mile ACROSS THE NEVADA BORDER! How I
missed this small detail earlier is beyond me... MISTAKE #4!
5. Anyway I got to the casino a 2:00a in the morning (consider that I had
been driving since 11:00a the previous day), and figured I could sleep
for, say, 45 minutes before the start of the ride. Until, that is, I pull
out my bike's front wheel out of the B's trunk, only to find that it is
flat. Whoops, I guess I shouldn't have used those "trick" ultra-light
latex tubes in my bike tires... MISTAKE #5!
6. Okay I finished the ride in 16 hours (nearly died). Since I hadn't
slept for 40 hours straight I fell asleep immediately in the B, only to
awaken at 6:00a to head for Baker. It's only after I pass a sign by a
closed gas station that says, "NO MORE GAS FOR 60 MILES" that I realize
I'm direly low on fuel! Er, that's not a comforting thought in a desert
with no phones around... MISTAKE #6! But I manage to get to Baker with
0.5 gals in the gas tank.
Well, that was pretty much it for my "minor oversights" during this
adventure. BTW, Goldie performed remarkably well, only requiring a quick
change of distributer points (45 minutes in a parking lot) while I was
visiting a friend in West Covina. She definitely earned the ironman award
for this one. Brit cars rule!
-Felix
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__ Felix Wong Now in Berkeley, California, USA!
|,\_O (415)528-9768 My web page is now at:
( )/ LL http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/1547
( ) '69 B, '92 C'dale 3.0 R (stiff, light, and FAST)
Fw = mg "Safety fast!"
|