Hi All,
Been off the list since the day before we left for our MGB drive to
northern California. We left on 26 August, got back on Sept. 12th.
The round trip covered roughly 4,400 miles. Except for a broken
speedometer cable, replaced at the Taos Garage in Albuquerque, NM, the B
ran fine for the entire trip. Although they were closed on Mondays, the
owners of the Taos garage, Don & Carol Tyrack, had some catch-up work to
do that day and kindly let me use their facility and equipment to
replace the cable. They also sold me the cable at Moss's catalogue
price, since they're a Moss reseller. I was put in touch with them
through a friend of Kevin Sullivan, an MG Lister. Thanks Kevin!!
Unfortunately the broken cable froze in the housing and broke the driven
gear in the tranny, which Taos didn't have in stock, so I drove ~3500
miles using the tach for a speedometer. I sure got adept at converting
RPM to car speed, both in direct and OD! (G)
We called Walt & Marlene Goddard when we stopped for the night in
Elko, NV, on our way from Provo UT to Reno. They were kind enough to
pick us up at the Motel 6 the next morning and treat us to breakfast at
a local casino/restaraunt; thanks Walt & Marlene!! Then we went on thru
Reno, Susanville, CA and Mt. Shasta to Yreka, CA. We spent the night in
Yreka and went west to Happy Camp, in the Klamath River valley, the next
morning; ~2290 miles on the way up. Took us 6 day to get there, what
with the delay in Albuquerque and half a day spent in Provo, UT, drying
our wet clothes & sleeping bags after a 10-hour heavy rain made our tent
leak in a Nat'l Forest campground between Price and Provo. (G)
We spent a week in Happy Camp. We came home in 4 four days, mainly
running on I-5 & I-40 thru Albuquerque to Clines Corners, then south
thru Roswell, NM and San Angelo, TX to Kerrville. The B hummed all the
way, got between 25 and 28 MPG on the way home, cruising at 75 on the
freeways and 65 - 70 on the back roads. Not bad with the load we were
carrying and the large backpack on the luggage rack.
We saw some beautiful country (mountains!) in NM, CO, UT, NV and CA.
Had the top down most of the way, the only way to see the scenery!
Cheers,
Charley & Peggy Robinson
Dirty '69 B
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