[Healeys] On the Road to Conclave (Day 5)

[BJ8 Healeys]

Lubbock, TX..... home of Buddy Holly, Mac Davis, Texas Tech University and 5-minute stop lights --- and plenty of them.  George's car finally succumbed to DLRS (Dreaded Lucas Rotor Syndrome) and died while waiting at one of the lights.   I watched George & Sherry push the car to the side of the road (hey, somebody had to control traffic!) but it only took about 5 minutes to diagnose the problem and pop in another rotor.   The more I hear of this problem, the more I like my Mallory Dual-Point distributor.

Today was our longest drive in mileage - 386 miles from Wichita Falls, TX to Artesia, NM.  It was a very nice, but hot, drive through some real prairie and plains full of mesquite and cactus.   I always think of Kansas when I think of sunflowers, but somewhere on this drive there was a whole field of them, growing like weeds and looking very cheery.  Hmm... I guess they ARE weeds!   There were some along the medians and shoulders, too.
These are not the big sunflowers that produce seeds for men and birds, but little guys of another variety.  Maybe I like them so much for the same reason that I painted my Healey yellow and black....

Once I saw what I thought looked like a scorpion running across the road in front of me, but I'm not sure there are scorpions in Texas.  It was much too big for an insect, but too small for an animal.  Later, I saw two of them in quck succession also crossing the road and I resolved to stop and chase one down the next time I saw one, but I never did.   I now believe these must have been the Texas tarantulas that Michael Oritt said would try to hop a ride to San Diego with any passing car, so maybe it's just as well that I never saw any more of them.  According to Michael, they will do anything to get a lift, except thumb (because they don't have any thumbs!).

An interesting sight near Seymour, TX was the concrete bridge that had various cattle brands molded all over its surface.   It was here by the bridge that US82 straight ahead was barricaded and the sign said "US 82 detour -->" and immediately after the right turn the sign said "Detour end".   A left turn at the detour end sign that put us right back on US82 but on the opposite side of the bridge from where we started.  I still haven't figured that one out.

One very nice custom in Texas that I haven't seen anywhere else but would like to is that slower cars will move over and drive on the shoulder to let faster cars pass rather than make them follow for miles waiting for a passing lane.   In our Healeys, we were more the overtakees rather than the overtakers, so we followed the custom, too.

Happy Healeying!
Steve Byers
HBJ8L/36666
BJ8 Registry
AHCA National Delegate