Greetings!
We left Green River, Utah about 6:30am and enjoyed an early morning drive
through the remaining 108 miles of Utah and into Colorado. Dane was concerned
about overheating through Vail Pass, but his worries were unfounded as both
MGCs made it through with no difficulties. (He only had to downshift to third
twice...I only put the automatice gearbox into second twice....a MAJOR
difference from the last time I drove and MG through this pass.) A minor
traffic delay about milepost 240 and it was on through Denver to the plains
of eastern Colorado and western Kannnnnssssaaaaasss. We overnighted in Salina
after a brief stop in Russell (home of Bob Dole and one of our MG buddies,
Scott Williams). Unfortunately, Scott had recently moved to Topeka and our
visit reverted to a phone call.
Our final day of travel in the MGCs. We left Salina, Kansas about 6:00am to
attempt to avoid the heat of the day. On towards Kansas City and Lenexa (home
of Victoria British....I mistakenly thought that Lenexa was a suburb of
Salina). We missed the first exit but recovered nicely and found an
alternate route. Upon visiting the showroom, Dane and I each placed a small
order...then back to the road. First mishap of the day happened shortly after
we entered Missouri when Dane's MGC once again overheated. (I had removed the
grille on my car, finding it would reduced the temperature my about 2 needles
on the gauge.) After allowing the pressure to decrease in the cooling system,
we replaced about a gallon of coolant, and it was back on the road, not to
give us any more trouble the remainder of the day.
I-70 in MIssouri had sprouted numerous orange cones and barrells....a sign
warned of an hour delay about Columbia, so we took an alternate route on SR
50 to Jefferson City, then to SR 54 where we crossed the Mississipi River
into Illinois and joined I-72. (We passed through a couple of small towns
which had been on one or two Missouri Endurance Trials....even one which Team
Fokowie missed this year!) Final mishap of the day occured only 20 miles from
Springfield when Dane hit a pavement fault, kicked up a chunk of concrete
about the size of a grapefruit, and destroyed his exhaust pipe just under
the driver's seat.
As we passed through Springfield, I waved farewell to Dane and Ellen and
continued solo for another 90 miles on to Champaign and St.Joseph, arriving
about 6:30pm.
Our excursion was just under 5300 miles round trip. Trouble-free?....NO!
Enjoyable?....YES! Would I do it again?....IN A HEARTBEAT! WIll I fix the
dash lights, tachometer, and speedometer?.....DEFINITELY!
At home, recovering, and ready to change fluids in the MGC......
rick ingram
vancouver vagabond
1969 MGC tourer
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