Welcome home and its has been great reading and wishing I was behind the wheel
myself Carl E.
Mowog1@aol.com wrote:
> 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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