Greetings from Chattanooga,
Good golly, guys and gals. There are MGAs prowling around all over the
place down here. What a hoot!
Monday morning I took a quick dash from Nashville to Chattanooga (about 2
hours) and kept on going. Another hour farther east and I was checking
into Ocoee Outdoors rafting center with a reservation for a 4 hour white
water trip down the Ocoee River rapids. Great way to spend a hot
afternoon in the sun, sloshing down the rapids in a rubber raft, hopping
and dancing over the waves (and sumetimes under or through them). I only
fell out of the raft once (no excuses), but I did manage to dive out
intentionally several times for a nice swim in the 65dF water.
Early evening found me and the MGA in the rafting company's campground
where we would spend the night. With a little spare time (for the first
time in a month) I spent a little of it polishing the rubbing compound
off of the MG, then settled down for a nice quiet snack, a little rest,
and a chat with a few of the guides about the local roads. Cruising
weather was so nice that I couldn't wait for midnight for the traditional
run up route 40 along the Ocoee river, so I pulled out around 8 pm after
the river was closed and the traffic had subsided. Heading east on route
40, I met two other MGAs obviously enroute to Chattanooga.
On recommendation from one of the guides, I tried a bit of Tennessee
route 30, running north from route 40. If you're the nervous type when
driving, I wouldn't recommend this one, but if you like a challenge,
bring on the MGs! This was about 20 miles of two lane blacktop following
along a creek, and very little of it had been graded before paving, so it
still had all of the original humps and valleys and tight curves and
switchbacks that nature built along with the creek bank. On the right
was a sharp drop with rocks and trees and the water below. On the left
was often a sheer wall of ragged rock. A few inches beyond the white
line at the edge of the pavement was a short drop of several inches (or
more), so no cheating on the lines here. And if you met an oncoming
vehicle on a curve, you might not see it until within about 50 feet, so
also stay in your own lane.
And the paving engineers didn't give us any breakes here either. A few
of the curves are good for 30 mph, others maybe 15 mph with grit in your
teeth, and you never know until you're there. Just pop over little
hill, and there's the turn, sometimes nicely banked, sometimes not, and
occasionally off camber. Sometimes you can see 3 or 4 switchbacks in
advance and have at it like your own private roller coaster. Much of the
time you don't see more than 100 feet of road before the next turn. Now
I find that If I'm a moderately agressive driver (which I am) I can run
this road in about 30 minutes, mostly either flat out in second gear or
on the brakes for the next turn. YAHOO!! Must have left at least a
week's worth of tire rubber here, and the hot brakes smell really neat
just before they fade away into oblivion.
Back out of the woods, I take a casual drive down the main highway and
another little shortcut back to camp. As the evening light was fading
and my pulse and breath were returning to normal, I was fighting an
almost everwhelming desire to yank the race tires out of the trailer,
slap them the car and have another go at it. Well, maybe another day.
Tuesday morning deserved a nice sleep in, until the sun peeked over the
trees and started to toast the tent. Quick pack and hit the road, and an
hour later I'm back in Cattanooga checking into the Choo Choo Holiday Inn
for GT-23. By mid afternoon I had a casual count of 38 MGAs, including
at least 4 Twin Cams, and they just kept coming. Haven't counted again,
but it looked like about twice as many here by sundown, and still coming.
At 2:00 pm Todd Clarke/ Clarke Spares was giving a tech session an
different types of MGA side curtains and modifications, repairs and
restoration parts. As usual, the best part of the day would be the
impromptu parking lot tech sessions and meeting old friends and new
friends. The only disappointment for the day was when John Twist missed
his 3:00 pm rolling tech session, but he got a reasonable greeting anyway
when he came rolling about 4:30. We all had a nice evening buffett
dinner at Grand Central Station, a little fun at the crap tables and
roulette wheel (with a bit of funny money), and a Lucas inspired auction
for the door prizes, also negotiated with the proceeds of the funny money
from the evening of gambling.
A splash in one of the hotel's three swimming pools would have been
nice, but as these parties and parking lot chat sessions go, the pools
closed at midnight, and most of us MG nuts weren't there yet. As always,
maybe tomorrow.
Wish you were here,
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
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