I will do my best to post something about MG's and the
roads we run them on, and avoid such questions as overdrive
and towing. (Even though I will with regards to wear and fuel
consumption of an internal combustion engine: it is a
non-linear system.)
My MGB has known some great roads. Some are famous, Highway 1,
on the coast of California, a legendary road, whose views and
corners are beautiful to the point of seeming unreal. Driving
north to the Laguna Seca Raceway, keeping pace with a buddy's
Boxster, a great drive, and one that I must repeat. (Which
brings up-- 8-10 Oct '99 will be the next Oktoberfest/FIA GT
race at Seca. Anyone in SoCal interested in a tour and
camping weekend?)
The roads back home, in Arkansas, I do miss. Fall leaves blown
out of your way on back roads in the Ozarks, limestone bluffs
with little waterfalls, the cold crisp air molding your face.
Small towns with rural people, people who work hard at what
they do, friendly and curious as your unfamiliar machine
rumbles into town. Spring runs through the Ouachitas, hot sun
glaring at you, the humid air thick with the scent of honeysuckle,
surrounded by the intense green of a landscape truly alive.
Dirt roads and real two-lane blacktop, twisty roads without the
crowds I see here in California.
I too have driven the big loop around Missouri, in the Missouri
Endurance Rally (of '96?) that Kim Tonry mentioned. Foggy roads
that went on forever, running through the oddly damaged earth
near the Mississippi (after the great flood), sunrise in the Ozarks.
Country girls who seemed to be flirting more with the car (a Mini)
than us.
The 'B has been on dirt, in the desert, and surrounded by Sequoias.
It's cruised at 85 MPH on empty highways, and trundled slowly home
through the speed limits of suburbia. It's even enjoyed running
on "roads" that are really parking lots, artificial roads of
orange cones.
I was watching some TV show filmed in England with my wife recently,
and I noticed how I repeatedly commented on the "great roads" the
show's hosts always seemed to be motoring down. It's an interesting
philosophical point, for all these great roads and views and corners
are transient things, it's not that a piece of tarmac is great, but
that it provides an excellent stage for acting out the play we
love so much.
-Keith Wheeler
Team Sanctuary http://www.TeamSanctuary.com/
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