Sunday morning in Bozeman, MT and I came out to do the usual pre-trip
inspection to notice that the fan was running, but every slowly.
Apparently, while finding the short the night before, I had hit the electric
fan override switch and it had ran all night. Needless to say, the battery
was flat. A stranger in the gas station next door saw my plight and kindly
offered a jump-start. Once we got it started I did not turn it off again
until the far side of Missoula, MT.
The left turn at Missoula and then fun really began. One of the show
attendees (Thanks Rod) had suggested US 12 from Missoula (a/k/a Lochas
Trail). Man, what a blast. After a short climb I stopped at the rest
station at Lo Lo Pass. It was just after leaving that rest stop I saw my
favorite sign of the whole trip, "Windy Road, next 77 miles." No kidding
about that either, it was 77 miles of hard, down hill switchbacks. Just
exactly the kind of road this car was built for. Again, I would highly
recommend this road to anyone who enjoys driving a sports car.
The remainder of the run to Moscow, Id was uneventful. At some point I
would like to go back (yeah right :)) and run the "Old Lewiston Grade" as it
looked like another very interesting road (from what I could see while
transversing the "New Lewistown Grade."), but that will have to be another
day.
The true "point" of this trip was to some spend time with my oldest son.
Some you may remember Jake as the youngster who use to hang around show with
me, particularly TRF's Summer party three different years in the late 90's.
You will probably also remember him as shy and overweight. He has grown
into a very confident and self actualized young man. He is a junior in an
Engineering program at the University of Idaho, working part time and has a
lovely girlfriend from Alaska. It's one of those stories that makes a Dad
proud.
I spent four days in Moscow, basically just laying around and recuperating.
I went to the local Jiffy Lube for and oil change and ran the car through
the car wash, but otherwise it was just nothing but sleep and eat well.
On Thursday, the 11th I split out of Moscow and headed west to Olympia, WA
for the 25th annual All Triumphs Drive In. (see part one). Thursday was a
leisurely day spent seeing the sights of Southern Washington. The highlight
was Mr. Rainer and lunch at the lodge the National Park Inn. As the show
did not start until Friday, I made an early day of it, stopping in Yakima,
Wa. My apologies to anyone who lives there, but that town left a lot to be
desired.
Friday midday I arrived at the host hotel, the Red Lion Inn. It was far and
away the nicest hotel all trip. I immediately started meeting people and
sharing lies, but it helped when the TR6 pulled into the parking lot with a
truck full of beer. :)
Olympia was one of those magic towns. After the contrast of Yakima, I very
impressed with Olympia. As I mentioned above the show was a real treat.
There was NO concourse judging and every one seemed genuinely interested in
my saga.
(continued)
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