[this is part a of the last of the Odyssey]
After about a week of eating crab meat and other seafood, going to a pig
roast, and doing a lot of sightseeing on the Virginia Eastern Shore we headed
north. Next on our agenda was Lancaster County, including the Pennsylvania
Railroad Museum in Strasburg, and Hershey, where the street lights are shaped
like candy kisses and the main drag is Chocolate Avenue. The railroad museum
was outstanding and a must see for any rail fans out there.
While in Hershey, a personal matter came up that resulted in our having to
return to Virginia. This gave us the opportunity to see Mixon and Carrie once
again. Mixon had just got his car back from the engine rebuild and was so
thrilled with the way it was running that he was driving it everywhere. Each
evening the four of us went Spriting to dinner, causing more than a few heads
to turn as the two Sprites passed by. During dinner one evening a fellow came
searching the restaurant to find the owners of the Sprites. Mixon immediately
staged a one-vote popular choice. Even though he shamelessly promoted his red
car the Nevada Beige won out to everyones amusement. Returning late in the
evening through the narrow streets of downtown the harmonics from the two
exhausts would reverberate off the walls of the building as we went by - -
what a great sound!!
At this point we decided to go through West Virginia rather than return to
Pennsylvania via a road we had now driven three times in three weeks. It was
also time to replan making up the time we had lost, and we reluctantly decided
that we would have to omit a large area where we had expected to spend
time--most of Pennsylvania and Ohio.
In Dayton, we also found the worst RV park of the trip, hands down. This also
cured us of considering transient space in Mobile Home Parks without carefully
checking it out. The parking spaces were mostly covered with water and some
sewer lines were overflowing. Even worse, a demolition derby car chase, a
near fist fight, and another car chase brought out the local gendarmes. We
did not want to leave the rig here, much less take the Sprite out of the
trailer to mingle with the junkers half its age. So we took RV, trailer and
Sprite to the car show again. After the meet, we moved about 10 miles down
the road to a lovely lake front park.
The Vintage British Car Show on May 31 was sponsored by the Miami Valley
Austin Healey Club. This event was held in Carillon Park, which besides
having a pipe organ and lots of grass and trees is also a historical park,
which contains such things as a covered bridge, a working 1930’s print shop,
and a replica of the Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop, where the Wright Brothers’
original 1905 airplane, the Wright Flyer III, forms a unit of the Dayton
Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. The weather was pleasant and lots
of nice cars were in attendance, including about 30 Healeys and Sprites. John
and Mary Ann Warner presented us with club patches in recognition of our
having come so far.
After a day to visit the Air Force Museum we were off to our next stop at the
home of Tim and Renee Mahnensmith, President of the Northern Indiana AHC near
Fort Wayne. IN. We had a great time with Tim and Renee along with Andi and
John Needler barbecuing steaks, talking and admiring Healeys. They
recommended that we stop at Auburn, IN to see the Auburn, Cord and Duesenburg
museum, and I am happy to say we took their advice. The museum is in the old
Auburn factory. The front of the factory was the showroom which is art deco
and makes a great room for displaying the ACD’s. The factory area has an
assortment of other cars including the Graham Page.
Next we were off to Bluewater land, where lakes and rivers take on a beautiful
turquoise blue color in the sunshine. We were instructed to come directly to
Ken Williams’ house, and when we pulled in the driveway Ken was standing there
telling us to come on in for dinner. The following day, true to his word, a
Bluewater Chapter AHCA event was held in the form of a barbecue with many
members of the club dropping in. Incidentally, Ken and Kathleen have a
beautiful white entirely-original BJ8 that they bought new in 1968. Even the
seats look like new and he drives it on a regular basis. The trip to Sarnia
lasted a lot longer than we had anticipated due to our mail not arriving when
expected. It was supposed to have arrived a day before us but it was another
week ‘til it made its appearance. We took advantage of the Bluewater Club for
a lot longer than any of us expected, but felt welcome and had a wonderful
time with our new friends. Ken and Kathleen graciously let us “camp” in
their driveway for this time. One day after having had fish and chips and ice
cream “under the bridge” at the mouth of Lake Huron a very disheartening
screech started emanating from the front of the Sprite on right turns.
Fortunately we were headed to Murray Schreder’s, the Bluewater Club’s prime
mechanic and a man whose mission in life seems to be getting all the Healeys
in driveable condition. After a short while we found that a small stone had
gotten lodged between the front brake disk and the backing plate. There was
just enough free play in the hub so that the stone was free until you turned
right, then the gap between the brake disk and the backing plate would narrow
and trap it. The stone was then forced to try and turn causing the brake disk
or backing plate or both to screech.
The club barbecue was certainly the highlight of our time there, but we did
get to do a lot of exploring and enjoying this beautiful area. It is very
different from San Diego and is another place we could learn to love--at least
in the summertime. We did get to know our hosts well and really hope we were
successful in convincing them that they should come to San Diego next year.
By now we were beginning to need to pay bills, which we couldn’t do
electronically from Canada, so we said goodbye to our host and headed
northwest.
Bob and Annice
1960 Sprite
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