Central interior Oregon is a paradise. The small towns and rolling
countryside were particularly inviting.
The first night was spent in another mom and pop motel in Lebanon, OR. They
had the one feature that every motel should consider mandatory, a recliner.
:-)
The remainder of the trip home really was a bit boring. The next night was
spent in Glen's Ferry, ID (where I was the ONLY patron in the local bar {I
guess things are a bit slow in Glenn's Ferry, ID on a Monday night :)) and
that morning I had to stop long enough to do laundry. It was beautiful
country, but by now I was back on the Interstate (I80 this time) and just
wanted to rack up the miles.
Tuesday marked the first precipitation in 12 days. It was 61 degrees and
raining in the middle of the day. Not exactly TR3 weather, but not bad
enough to justify stopping and digging out the side curtains (In fact, they
were never used).
Tuesday night was Lander, WY. Wednesday morning I came out to find a large
pool of fluid under the car and what I thought should have been 3/4 of a
tank of fuel down to 1/4. In looking I could see that either the connection
to the electric fuel pump was loose or the hose had failed. The bad part
was that to get to it I needed to jack up the car and remove the rear wheel.
While it was a problem that could have been easily remedied in the motel
parking lot, it was early enough in the day that I knew if I could find a
shop with a floor jack and a supply of tubing and clamps, they could have me
back on the road in half the time. The local Ford dealership was just
opening when I arrived, and although they charged handsomely ($50) for the
work, I was back on the road with thirty minutes.
Wednesday night saw Kearney, NE and the only "name" motel of the trip.
Golly, Wyoming and Nebraska are BIG.
By Thursday "get home itis" had set in and that ended up being one of the
longest days (671 miles). It was a relief to see corn in the field in
central Nebraska and I cut around in such a way that I had US 36 for the
last 350 miles or so. For anyone looking for a fast (non interstate)
crossing of Missouri, I recommend that road. It's straight and boring (hey,
it's Missouri :)), but almost all of it is 4 lanes and very little traffic.
Supper was a celebratory steak in Pittsfield, Illinois and the last 4 hours
or so represented the only real night driving of the whole trip. Rain in
central Illinois slowed me down, but only a little.
Lessons learned include that when you drive an old car you have friends (at
least folks willing to help) at every stop. Also, it is impossible to for
see every problem and the trick is just to not get to excited or upset when
things don't go exactly as planned.
More time and more dollars would have made for a better trip, but it's one I
won't soon forget and I am encouraging every one to get their Triumphs out
and DRIVE them.
4,988 total miles, 15 days on the road (9 actually driving). $597.24 spent
on gas ($2.13 to $3.09 per gallon) 4 quarts of oil.
I have also decided that there is only one award to be coveted at our shows
and that's "long distance." Watch out guys, I'm going for it again. :)
Thanks for letting me share this little story.
Ken Gano
1959 TR3A, with a little over 40K miles in the last three summers :)
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