The car show was staged at a public park with a wonderful view of the State
Capitol building. As a bonus, and what I thought to be a particularly nice
touch, each entrant was given a professional photograph of their car with
the capitol building in the background.
I should have expected it, but on leaving for the show that morning the car
was running particularly rough. I passed it off to the cold damp air, but
leaving the show field for the hotel involved a fairly steep climb and it
was missing terribly by then. I immediately popped the bonnet back at the
hotel. Needless to say, I had more help than any one guy could ever use. I
again cleaned the carbs and emptied the settlement bowl. It helped, but not
enough to feel confident for yet another 2,500 mile ride. The diagnosis
became the duel of the representative clubs resident experts. Portland was
convinced that I had dropped a valve, Seattle said is was distributor
related. Very fortunately (for me), Seattle turned out right. We changed
the plugs and, for good measure popped in the spare rotor. One of the plugs
was way off gap. Anyway, it seemed to work fine thereafter.
My personal highlight of the show was being invited to the winner's field.
For the cocktail party and awards banquet they lined all the cars that had
one something up on the grass behind the banquet hall (right on the edge of
a beautiful cliff). Of course, my "award" was the longest distance trophy,
but my car NEVER wins anything, so it was very nice to be recognized for
something. I got the impression that it was a hands down winner. There
were a few cars there from California and a couple from Idaho, but nothing
else from really far away.
Sunday morning it was off for a personal accomplishment. I wanted to take
the car to the Pacific ocean. Last year, at VTR in Richmond I had made a
point of driving the last few miles to the Atlantic and taking a picture. I
wanted to say that this car had been "coast to coast." The original
itinerary was to go to the coast, follow US 101 south to Sacramento and then
pick up US 50 for the turn East. By the time I made the Pacific coast
realism had set in and I came to the conclusion that between being short of
$$'s and lacking confidence in the car possible performance through the
desert, rather than spending two or three more days cruising the coast, I
decided to cut it short and spend just one there before again heading East.
The drive down the coast was a bit disappointing as the weather was foggy
and cold. I did not realize that most of that portion of the coast highway
was, in fact, not within sight of the coast. Still, I got my picture and
had supper that evening was at a highly recommended seafood restaurant
(Gracie's Sea Hag) in I think Lincoln City Oregon.
A left turn on to US 20 at Newport Oregon and we were headed home.
(continued)
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