Hi Brad,
Congrats on the successful trip. It's not just a drive in a Sprite, it's an
adventure. Wish I could have joined you all to initiate the new members in
to the Wrong Way Ricky club. We went on a tour out here in Calif. in your
honor. Had a great time. Sounds like we will have to try to make it next
year. It will make my wife happy as she is from that great state. We go
back to visit every few years. So with any luck we will try for next year.
That is If Elizabeth can handle another one next year.
Sure do miss the barbecue back there, it just ain't the same in CA. Don't
get me wrong Californian's, I grew up out here so it's my home state. But
the Bar-b-que is great back there. We don't have the cut's of meat out here
for it. You also got to try their Shrimp and Sea food. Best Shrimp I have
ever had.
Fond memories of Texas
Wrong Way Ricky
Brad Fornal wrote:
> Just got home from SpridgetStock 2000. The tired old 68 performed
> admirably well considering it's condition. I left on Friday close to
> noon, I was to meet Robert Houston before 1 pm in Waco. I had installed
> 1 week previous an oil cooler to try to help the pressure, MAN did it
> make a difference!! Before at 65 mph the pressure would drop to 28-30
> lbs and to 5 at an idle. With the cooler in place the car was running 70
> mph with 58 lbs of pressure (I did switch to Castrol 40 w. from Castrol
> 20-50). About 30 miles into the trip I got to the area where I35 out of
> Dallas and I 35 out of Ft. Worth meet up. There is lots of construction
> taking place there and when I slowed down for the bottleneck I noticed
> the pressure drop to 40, I was concerned but not to badly. As I got past
> the merge the pressure dropped to 20 even though I was now accelerating,
> now I am worried!! I am still in a road work zone and don't have any
> shoulder to bail to as there is that large concrete "jersey wall" 3 ft
> off my right side. When the pressure hits 5 lbs I am sweating bullets, I
> kill the engine and am coasting at 65 hoping to get to the exit real
> soon. Fortunately one presents itself and I wave to the SO that I need
> to exit and coast off the interstate. I pull into a restaurant parking
> lot and to my shame and embarrassment about 10 "big" Healeys are pulling
> out to get on the interstate. It seems that the cooler hose developed a
> split right as it came out of the cooler fitting and spewed all my oil
> into the radiator and the fan completely coated the engine compartment
> with oil (I had oil dripping out from behind the fender onto the sills
> the rest of the trip down). I had to take the hoses loose and bypass the
> cooler by running the remaining good hose to the block fittings (I am
> having another long hose made keep in my spares kit). I met up with
> Robert and his cousin Don (both great guys BTW, they followed me and my
> family the rest of the way down to Spridgetstock and all the way home in
> Don's pickup in case we had trouble and needed a tow, THANKS AGAIN GUYS)
> The way to San Marcos was uneventful though our group got separated in
> Austin's rush hour traffic. After a quick bite in San Marcos we took the
> back way in to Elizabeth's house. If you have never been in the Texas
> hill country, the 2 hour drive through Devil's Backbone is beautiful.
> the sun was setting and the valleys drop to the forests of green trees
> in this undeveloped area of south Texas. The road along the "Backbone"
> has alot of S curves and hills and sharp turns, the Sprite really did
> well on this road but since the only others with me were our Dodge Colt
> and a Ford pickup, I had to hold back a little so as not to lose them. I
> was leading the way and in the tradition of our Spridgeteer Leaders, got
> lost, but just a little (Wrong Way Ricky, I am now a member of the Wrong
> Way Club)!! When we arrived at Elizabeth's at a little past 8 pm the
> place was jumping with Bugeyes, 'B drivers and I even saw a Jensen
> Healey. I met Bob Brown who brought a 67 Sprite and a Bugeye, both
> dressed in "Team Thicko" regalia. I saw an interesting Bugeye that had a
> Datsun 5 spd in it with a plate and kit completely designed by
> Elizabeth's husband Fisher. Fisher is one of the nicest people that I
> met, next to Liz of course. He made this kit for this guy cuz he wanted
> to help him out. He dug in his parts stock for a replacement hose for me
> to get my cooler up and going again, even though it was a weekend to
> relax and visit. I met Annice Kitterer who was also very nice. I met
> several people that are not list members but hopefully soon will be.
> Every meal at Liz's was full tilt, she is a wonderful cook and sets a
> table that would be hard to beat. After supper we moved outside to have
> a couple of Shiner Bock's ( The Official Drink of SpridgetStock ) and
> get to visit with each other more. Ed Kaler called to give his regards (
> Ed, it was great to talk to you and FWIW, I had a couple more cold beers
> for you after you hung up <G>). Saturday we went to see the Healeys but
> my repairs being rendered to the 68 slowed our departure to Kerrville
> and so some of us only were able to see the rally group as they were
> lining up to leave. I spoke with several of the listers that were in the
> rally (how did you guys do anyway??) That afternoon John J. Black
> (transmancat to some of you) came by for a visit and he is a very
> interesting man to talk with, although I admit it was fun to meet anyone
> off the list. Later that evening we sat outside after supper and talked
> till it was to cold to stay out any longer. That's Texas for you, get
> sunburned in the afternoon and then have frost/ice on the cars that
> night. Sunday morning after another smashing breakfast ( if you are
> thinking of dieting, SpridgetStock is evil <G> there is so much good
> food to eat!!) it was time to say our farewells. I GOT PICTURES OF
> LIZ!!!!! She claims to have cursed my camera cuz she didn't want her
> photo taken, I guess we'll see. Down the road about 45 miles from
> Comfort the Sprite got to acting up again. It was surging like a fuel
> problem so I pulled over in a gas station to see if I could get it
> fixed. I finally ended up changing the points and condenser (Robert
> thinks the "made in England" stamp means there is a small industrial
> community in India called "England") The ones I removed are the new
> LUCAS ones that I installed 2 weeks ago and had less than 400 miles on
> them. When I called Fisher for advice he immediately offered to drive
> out to where we were and help to get us up and running (remember, this
> is a gentleman I had only met less than 48 hrs previous, what a great
> guy!!!) I fumbled through it and that was the last mishap of our trip. I
> was hoping to meet more list members and hope that next year that we can
> make better arrangements to make it possible for more folks to attend.
> It was loads of fun and you can bet that next year, I will be there!!! I
> have 153 emails to read, Later, Brad
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