Day 22: We made it! Epiblog

There's no place like home!

Our last day was a cruiser.   The high passes of New Mexico offered no vapor lock challenges this time. An odd wind out of the NE and cold front chilled the ride home, making it little work for the LaSalle.

It took forever to unpack the car.  It had become less and less organized as we stuffed more and more junque into who knows where. The car now rests quietly in the garage.  We'll update the this blog after Bill inspects the car. Superficially, the car runs just about as well as it did 5610 miles ago after our shaky start. Sure, the car is filthy, the generator is still out and the fuel system is not trustworthy. But she still looks good, drives great and acts ready for another drive.

Bill did remove the generator and discovered that the field coils were stripped of insulation. The insulation had started to delaminate and got wound up in the armature. It was a good thing he didn't try to fix it on the road. That would have taken a lot of time that we really didn't have. Driving without a generator proved to be just a minor inconvenience.  For now the generator is in the shop for another complete rebuild.

Thanks for joining us, we appreciated your company and hope you enjoyed this trip as much as we did. See you down the road!

Day 21 Neosho MO to Guymon OK

Finally, a crisis free day!

We got an early start with some discussion about the best route home.  We finally agreed on northern route, continuing on US 60 through western MO and the northern half of OK.  We thought about sticking with US 60 all the way home (it eventually turns south and passes by Estancia, just a short distance from home) but it had a few problems.  It goes through big city Amarillo and wastes some distance as it drops well south of I-40.  We decided to stick to the northern route through the OK panhandle and on to Clayton, NM.  This avoids all the major cities, travel on I-40, and more congested truck traffic. And its shorter.

Original unrestored Rt 66 gas station

US 60 enters OK with a fairly brief section of Old Route 66, running parallel to I-44.  This section had many Rt 66 architectural remnants.  Too bad most of these are now ruins, not sure how long they will last.

US 60 is the road less traveled through OK.  We really appreciated the lack of traffic and congestion all day.  The relatively small towns of Bartlesville, Ponca City, and Enid are all on this route.  They were parts of the  Chrome Glidden Tour that Bill went on in June.  This area is rich in US western history. Indian settlements, the discovery of oil and oil barons, homesteading land rushes, wild west shows and Route 66 have deeply imprinted this area. The worst part was we had little time to linger, just enough to see a few physical remains flash by the window. That included many Indian casinos, oil pump jacks, and ancient main street store fronts.

Many elaborate store fronts, this is typical

We racked up quite a few miles today.  The LaSalle had no fuel supply problems, though we did run the electric pump most of the day. We did gas up ethanol free, there is a local rebellion about ethanol here and many stations offer "100% gasoline" for about 25 cents more per gallon.  I hope that trend spreads to the rest of the country. Weather was great until black thunderheads loomed ahead just west of Enid heading into the panhandle. Nance managed the drive through this storm with Bill adjusting the vacuum wipers and defrosting by rag.  There was no hail, but it sure looked like hail was coming.

We finally pulled into Guymon OK at dusk, tired and ready to retire.  We enjoyed ice cream and dinner at Braum's, and slept well in a clean Comfort Inn.  If all goes well, we should be home tomorrow.      

Day 20, Progress not Perfection, Kuttawa KY to Neosho MO

We managed to get on the road by 8:30, a great start for us.  The gas station near the hotel offered ethanol free gasoline.  We filled the tank, even though it was just below half full. (or empty).

These are old bridges were probably
built before 1937.  They still are
a tight fit for the LaSalle

Our route proved very interesting.   We left I-24 without regrets and headed west on US 60 just north of Kuttawa.  The road was rather pleasant, a great improvement over the congestion of I-24.  US 60 managed to skirt Paducah with little traffic or hassle. It offered an extremely scenic pass over the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.  The old truss bridges that cross these rivers are very old, tall and narrow.  They offer incredible views of these enormous rivers and terrifying encounters with oncoming semi trucks.  Bill was driving and was not able to enjoy the views.  He focused on staying in his very skinny lane.  He did recall that we passed this same route about 20 years ago in a cross country trip with David and Malli.  On that trip, we stopped for a picnic or hike between these two mighty rivers that define so many quadrants of this country.

After the river crossings, US 60 went four lane divided across southern Missouri and carried us many miles directly into Springfield MO.  US 60 was very light on traffic and trucks.  We were able to keep rolling mostly non-stop at 60 MPH.  The LaSalle did exhibit a few fuel supply stumbles on the modest hills on US 60.  It seemed to do a bit better with a full tank and just slowing down to 50 or so was enough to smooth out the engine.  This was not a problem while driving on US 60, but after Springfield, we jumped to I-44.  This did not work out well.  The traffic was very heavy on I-44 and the LaSalle's tendency to lose power suddenly on hills put us a risk with aggressive truck and auto traffic.   We quickly got off the interstate and followed secondary roads to the south to rejoin US 60. It was a good call.  We motored on until dark and settled in Neosho, MO in a comfortable Super 8. Rooms were scarce here, there are various weekend events (including a VW show) planned for tomorrow.  We were lucky to find this one.

Nance the gardener noticed that tent worms
were thriving in Southern MO; trees not so well.

Bill decided that the car was not vapor locking but rather the two fuel pumps we use simply cannot keep up with the demand for fuel.  The car only stumbles on hills and recovers quickly when we slow up a bit.  This is not the case with vapor lock, once the fuel starts boiling recovery only happens when the engine cools to condense the fuel. The electric fuel pump we installed back on Day 1 is an Airtex, not known to be as good as the Carter pump we replaced.  What's mysterious is why the Airtex worked so well for so many previous travel days.  There are a couple of fuel filters on the car that Bill thought might be restricted.  He tried to change them but they are located under the car near the gas tank and they are very hard to reach. It was too much for the limited tools and access we have in the motel parking lot.

So good night to all; we hope we are only two days from home.        

Day 19 Disaster Day, Knoxville TN to Kuttawa KY

What could go wrong on our trip today?  Let me count the ways.

Actually the day started well with a nice good-bye breakfast with Nance's sister Holly. We got cleared out of the Executive Inn 1/2 star hotel and were on the road by 8:30. Shortly we gained another hour as we passed into the Central time zone.

It was smooth sailing until the LaSalle started to have some vapor lock issues on the rather modest hills that surround Nashville.  We have an auxiliary electric fuel pump we hardly turned on since we left the high country of NM.  When we did turn the pump on, the car had no problems dealing with long grades.  We even  drove up Mt. Washington in that mode.  But suddenly in Nashville, even with the pump on she could barely hold 50 mph on Tennessee's mild hills without surging and stumbling. We did not want to take on Nashville's traffic this way, so we pulled off to try to find ethanol free gas and see if we could bypass the city. Did we tell you that Nashville was experiencing a gasoline shortage due to a pipeline failure to the south?  Fortunately, a bit of regular gas was left, but no ethanol free variants were found.  Still, we topped up hoping this new batch of ethanol laced gasoline might work better.

Cooling off in the I-24 jam.This car
never experienced this in 1937

The potential for more gas shortages and hotter weather in the south pushed us to consider vectoring to the NW via I-24.  The road was wider, and cooler with fewer trucks. On the way to I-24, Nance noticed a small electronic sign saying something like "I-24 closed 20 miles ahead" that Bill discounted. He thought it was probably some old advisory and surely they we will get road open soon. NOT!  I-24 came to a nearly complete stop that lasted about four hours. Nance read her book by the roadside while black vultures, common in these parts, circled overhead.

Vapor lock complicated our attempts to inch forward. The LaSalle could only deal with the crawling traffic for 10 or 15 minutes. After that she would heat up enough to boil her ethanol and the engine would die.  Once that happened, the only option was to find the shoulder and wait an hour for the engine to cool. We made some new friends with all the bored folks who crawled by in the traffic offering us water, sympathy, and compliments to the car.

Unfortunately, a trucker was killed about five miles ahead in the major accident that caused this jam. When the multiple wreckers and hazmat folks finally finished their jobs the dam broke and we were able to get the LaSalle rolling and headed to Kentucky.  For some reason, vapor lock was not a problem once we got up to speed again. Darkness ended the journey at a very comfortable Comfort Inn in Kuttawa KY.  We only managed a frustrating 280 miles this day.

We mismanaged some of our consumables today.  We didn't have as much water as we needed, Thanks to those folks who gave us some more.  Bill didn't recharge our booster battery and its voltage dropped to the point where our Garmin died and we couldn't charge Bill's phone.  No harm, no foul, but we are busy recharging all this stuff in this comfortable hotel room tonight.

Wonder if we'll have vapor lock problems tomorrow...                

Day 18, Radford VA to Knoxville TN

We knew this would be a short day, it was a mere 220 miles from Radford to Knoxville where we planned to meet with Nance's sister Holly for the afternoon.  Our war with trucks on I-81 continued with some relief: A lane or two got added on some sections and quite a few trucks were siphoned off onto I-77 which headed SE.  The net effect was a much friendlier day of driving.  We particularly enjoyed a stop at Chilhowie VA convenience store.  Here we found a very friendly restaurant inside the store with a great short order menu.  The "Hey Y'all it's Fall" apple festival was the event dujour. Folks gathered around to check out the visiting LaSalle and ask questions about New Mexico and the VMCCA.

Entering Tennessee, we took a short diversion to the Bristol NASCAR track.  This enormous aluminum bowl is a NASCAR icon.  It features a rather small oval at its apex and many steep rows of grandstands that put the spectator very close and above the racing surface.  It is known to be an raucous sonic and visual experience.  Alas, there was no race today, so this coliseum was quiet and abandoned.  Stopping at Bristol is becoming a tradition; we did it with the Mercedes on the Maine trip in 2014.  After the usual photo op we moved on.

As we continued, we could see that this sliver of Tennessee and western VA was booming.  We drove through miles of box stores, hotels, and Wal Marts.  We both wondered what drives the economic engine here. Is it education, mining, scenery or ???

Around 3 pm, our GPS navigator found the O'Connor Senior Center in Knoxville. There we

Nance, the center director
and Holly meet and greet

connected with Holly who is a regular volunteer.  After a tour of the excellent facility and a brief LaSalle Q&A with some seniors, we went to dinner and stopped for the night at a very rough Executive Inn near Holly's home.

LaSalle report:  Bill has been quiet about the LaSalle for quite some time.  To paraphrase a Mercedes commercial: "Sometimes the best cars deliver to you simply nothing.  No problems, no issues, just steady enjoyable performance day after day, month after month". Well, this is not the case with the LaSalle or any old car that we have.  They all have their moments that put you on edge: a new rattle, a strange vibration, an odd engine surge or stumble. Most anomalies like this just come and go, but any one can expand and turn into a quick show stoppers. But so far there are none. We don't want to jinx the car, but we must say the competence of this LaSalle continues to amaze us. She just runs and drives so smooth and strong that we forget we are in an 80 year old car. Still, there are a few issues. The engine's oil consumption really bothers Bill. She takes at least a quart every 200 to 300 miles, way too much for a car with new pistons, rings and fresh cylinder bores. Not sure what's going on here, but she does not smoke much, just a puff or two at the bottom of a long hill. We are still doing fine without our generator, but the starter turns over very, very slowly when the engine is hot. She always starts right up, but it feels like it is all the starter can do to turn this monster over. We also have lost our LED brake light, a casualty of the generator failure: without the generator working, the battery voltage is too low to trip the relays that turn on the LED's.

We are now a mere 1400 miles from home. Much of our remaining trip will be on I-40 or secondary roads in parallel.      

 

Day 17 Frederick MD to Radford VA

Traffic and construction
builds on the way to DC

Our big treat for the day was a visit with Bill's friends Joe and Marion ,  Les, and Bill L.  Joe and Les went to high school with Bill and they have kept in touch with each other for many years. They gathered at Bill L's home in Oakton VA, a good choice enabling the LaSalle to keep to the west of DC's most oppressive traffic.  Still, the foggy trip took us near Dulles airport and an army of huge "Beltway Bandits R Us" office buildings.  There was plenty of congestion to keep us on edge.

We enjoyed a delicious Subway sandwich lunch at Bill L's house. Bill had an eclectic car collection to share:  it included a very clean, original XK 150S roadster bought new by Bill's father; a rare DOHC Porsche 356 Carrera 2, an unusual 1952 Siata roadster, and an original Mercedes 250SL.  Oh yes, there was also a Triumph powered Morgan Plus 4 roadster that Bill L continues to race occasionally in VSCCA races.

Bill L, Nance, Marion, Les and Joe

We would have liked to enjoy this company longer, but the road beckoned.  We are still 2000 miles or more from home and need to get back before the LaSalle melts down and the pets and garden leave Albuquerque completely.  We planned a mostly interstate day, taking us west on I-66 through DC's northern Virginia suburbs then turning SW on I-81 through the Shenandoah valley and blue ridge mountains.  The scenery was spectacular but the truck traffic on I-81 rather frightening. Most of I-81 is just four lanes and trucks dominate the traffic.  We drove the LaSalle at 60 MPH, but the trucks would barrel toward us having to squeeze into traffic aggressively to the left just to get by.  There weren't the usual friendly toots and waves here, this is a serious road with serious people on the way to somewhere important.  We felt like a virus that needed to be purged.

This is a 1952 Siata, body by Bertone

Why so much truck traffic here?  Not sure, but the nearest NS alternative to I-81 is I-95 which is many miles to the east and has even heavier traffic.  You tell us.

We did survive and found a great new Comfort Inn in Radford, VA. This is home for Radford College, it used to be a woman's school that was a favorite destination for VA Tech students seeking dates. We took a drive through the campus.  It was most impressive, looked almost new.  But we did not linger, our headlights were dimming rapidly. It was time to sign off, recharge ourselves and the LaSalle, and look forward to Knoxville for tomorrow.  Today's progress:  about 310 miles, not bad considering all the time we spent off the road.

Day 16: Burlington CT to Federick MD

We didn't get a very early start today.  We wanted to enjoy just a bit more time with Rick and Mary. It was also raining, so no rush to get out on the road.

Nance planned a route that would take us through Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.  It took us days of hard driving to pass that many states on the way out here.  We took credit for New Jersey too, we decided we passed close enough to its border.  Hello and good bye Governor traffic jam!

The rain came and went all day, but our tiny vacuum wipers valiantly hissed and clacked a good fight that kept us in the game.  There was only one short period of really heavy rain that tempted Bill to stop.  It was hard to see ahead and we worried about folks seeing us with no lights on the LaSalle. But the heavy rain eventually slowed up and returned to a sprinkle.

I-84 took us through the beautiful Pocono mountains of PA and around most of the congestion of Scranton.  When I-84 died, we switched to I-81 which headed SW towards Harrisburg.  We passed several exits to Hershey.  Bill has airplane reservations this year to go to the annual mega-swap meet there.  Too bad it didn't start a couple of weeks sooner, he would have liked to take it in as part of this tour.

After Harrisburg, we switched to US 15, a nice four lane highway taking us south through Gettysburg and on to Frederick MD.  There we found a great Mexican restaurant and a clean and comfortable Enonolodge,  Tomorrow we will carefully try to navigate around the DC area traffic to visit some old friends from Bill's high school days.  Total distance: 377 miles.  Sorry, no pictures today, we had too much rain and managed to forget to pull out one of the many cameras we have at several photo ops.

Day 14-15, N. Conway to Burlington, CT via Mt. Washington

Adding water at the
half way point

We left N. Conway at a reasonable hour to head towards my brother's house in Burlington, CT.  Just as we started to leave, Nance said we really shouldn't leave without driving up to Mt. Washington.  The weather was fair, the mountain was unshrouded by its usual cover of clouds. Bill agreed, thinking it was an opportunity not to be passed up.  It was going to add about 70 difficult miles to our trip today.

The toll for the Mt. Washington auto road is rather expensive (about $50 per car) but it is waived for old cars.  Up we went, on a very steep, narrow and curvaceous mountain road.  The average grade is 12%, much steeper than any grade you encounter in the real world.  Bill started in 2nd gear and the LaSalle was able to maintain about 20 mph up the hill. About half way up, traffic was slowing us down and the engine temperature quickly pegged to hot. Bill pulled into a rest area and the LaSalle blew off considerable steam. We waited for 10 minutes to cool down, added about two quarts of water. Nance visited with folks from the Netherlands and fellow Gliddenites stopped to commiserate. Starting again, we stayed in first gear and the engine stayed cool. We finally crested the road meeting a 1940 Buick Phaeton from the Glidden Tour in the parking lot.

Nance rejoices at the summit

The mountain top is quite a scene.  It's rugged and rocky, leaving no doubt this area endures some of the most severe weather on the planet day after day.  We enjoyed inspecting the ancient looking cog trains that had just arrived with passengers from all around the world. Hikers waited in line for photo-ops at the summit and visitors crowded the museum to learn about the extreme weather research.

The way down was still hard on the heart, we stayed in first gear and avoided using our brakes as much as possible.  Overall it was a very significant experience for us, but I don't recommend old car touring on this road.  The climb and descent was obviously challenging to all our nuts, bolts, bearings and gears, I don't think we will expose the LaSalle to a challenge like this again.  We do need this car to keep running so we can get back to New Mexico!

And so we motored on to the south, passing by some of the attractions we saw on the AAA Glidden Tour. We continued SW on I-93 to Concord, NH 9 and 10 to Keene and Northfield.  We finally joined I-91 and headed south, enduring the congestion of Springfield MA and Hartford CT to get on secondary roads to Burlington CT.  There we met my brother and sister in law, ending Saturday at dusk and covering 409 miles.  We did have two major losses this day.  Nance lost her cell phone, we think it fell out of the car after we repacked after the Mt. Washington descent.  Bill left our antique original locking gas cap at a gas station.  We replaced it with a rather ordinary looking modern one. Both of these items were mourned and missed.

Sunday was our first non-driving day in two full weeks.  The LaSalle got a rest while Nance and my brother walked in the beautiful Sessions Woods.  We enjoyed a great visit with Bill's cousins from Hudson NY.  They drove over for dinner and memories as we talked for hours about all the good times we had as young folks in New England....        

Day 9-13 N. Conway, NH the 2016 AAA Glidden Tour

Tour cars waiting for the
MV Mt. Washington

The 71st Glidden tour ended tonight.  We don't have time to give you a day by day description of the event.  We will say now that all the Glidden tourists were treated to day after day of the best of what these mountains of New England have to offer.  We enjoyed a long voyage the length of Lake Winnipessaukee on the historic M/S Mount Washington; took a scenic train ride deep into the White Mountains; enjoyed mile after mile of well maintained highways dodging and turning through mountains and valleys with hundreds of pre-war cars; enjoyed trained bears at Clark's Trading Post; ate a lobster roll and watched harness racing at a lively county fair; and, as always, enjoyed kicking tires and stories around in all the parking lots we hung out in between events.

Tourists gather on the deck of the
M/S Mt. Washington

Now we have finally turned a corner, a big deal for us.
From this point forward, each mile we drive is one less we will need to be towed, should the worst happen.  But as of today, our prospects looked good. The LaSalle performed admirably during the tour, our system of removing the battery for recharge in the hotel worked fine.  We plan a southern route home, visiting my brother near Hartford, Connecticut, some of our friends in Arlington, VA, and Nance's sister in Knoxville TN.      

Day 8, Keene NH to N. Conway NH, 135 miles

We woke up to brisk temperatures with a very heavy rainstorm.  Fortunately it petered out by mid morning.  The leaks through the cowl were particularly annoying and will get some attention when we finish this adventure.  Glad to say the vacuum wipers did OK today, they have gotten a workout and seem to get better with use.

My uncle's brick house and yard
has not changed much in 175 years

Our short stay in Keene was very pleasant.  Bill spent summers here in the '60's. The town had grown considerably, yet many of the places Bill remembered looked exactly the same--including his aunt and uncle's former home that was built in 1825.  He reminisced, we took a few pictures and moved on toward N. Conway.

Nance picked up the Sunday edition of the Keene Sentinel newspaper.  One of my uncle's friends published this paper and we noted that his son continues the job.  We both enjoyed the quality of the writing and the breadth and depth of the reporting. We're accustomed to reading ideological, superficial newspapers in New Mexico and were surprised at coverage of local and national issues that included historical, geographical and social context.      

We continued NE on NH 9 headed toward Concord.  There we took about 30 miles of I 93 north to

All sorts of prewar cars
can be seen on a Glidden Tour

exit near the north end of Lake Winnepausauki.  We continued NE mostly on NH 25 skirting the eastern edge of the White Mountain range. The LaSalle took a bit of a pounding here, some of the roads had significant frost damage.  Finally, around 1 PM we rolled into the host hotel parking lot, tired but still fully functional.  We enjoyed seeing many old cars and still more old friends.  Some had actually read this blog!

We will be signing off for most of this week.  There are too many tour activities to leave much time for blogging.  But we may manage to get a picture or comment in here and there.  Until next week, see you down the road!    

Day 7 Sept. 10. Geneva NY to Keene NH 285 miles

We were out of the minimalist American Value Inn by 8:15, a good start for us. We didn't make a lot of miles today.  It was slow because our route was entirely on secondary roads, eschewing the NY State Thruway aka I-90 that paralleled much of our route.

It's hard to come up with enough superlatives to describe the roads we took today.  About half of the ride was on US 20 between lakes Seneca and Ostego. This road spiraled through heavily wooded glacial valleys that are home to the finger lakes and the Mohawk River. Some of the hills gave our LaSalle's engine and brakes a workout the car relished. We passed through one picturesque lake resort town after another, each delaying us with tourists and tempting points of interest. Places like Seneca Falls, Cayuga Lake, Skaneateles, and Cazenovia can beckon just by their fascinating names. We finally picked Richfield Springs to stop and take a walk through their city park and farmer's market. A small pack of home made Amish oatmeal raisin cookies kept us fueled for most of the day.  Yes, there was an artesian sulfur spring bubbling away right in the center of town.

Nance at the Four Chimneys Inn,
Bennington VT

Our trips are not just for seeing new sights.  Fifty years ago, Bill drove US 20 often when he was a student at Buffalo and his folks lived in Albany.  While much along the route has changed, there is plenty that stayed exactly the same.  Bill thoroughly enjoyed the replays of scenes he had long forgotten.

We left US 20 to take a NE diagonal on NY 80 to skirt the Albany metro area to the north through Schenectady. This took us for miles parallel to the Mohawk River.  The Mohawk now hosts the New York State Barge Canal, the replacement for the original Erie Canal.

Things got a bit slow when we had to stop and go through Schenectady, disrupting a downtown Italian-American festival and the congestion of Union College. Finally, we crossed the mighty Hudson River near Troy NY and began a long climb out of the Hudson Valley and into Vermont following NY 7 which morphed into VT 9.

The first Vermont town we passed was Bennington.  More memories were jogged as we stopped at the Four Chimneys Inn, site of Bill's parents 50th wedding anniversary in 1990.  A brief stop at the Hemmings Motor News gas station gave us another old car fix.

Harleys at the Hogback overlook

VT 9 took on a mountain as it climbed and winded over the Hogback Mountain to view "100 miles of Vermont" and stop at the Gift Shop, a local favorite for motorcyclists and auto tourists.  We ate ice cream and enjoyed LaSalle Q & A with a few Harley buddies.

We continued into Keene NH, the former home of Bill's aunt, uncle and cousins.  Bill spent many enjoyable summers here in the 60's.  It seemed like a good place to stop and put us reasonably close to our final destination in North Conway, now just 130 miles from here.        

We did make a couple of nav errors today, it's easy to do when the scenery is so interesting.  We reprogrammed our GPS and vowed to pay more attention to it.

Day 6, Akron OH to Geneva NY, 325 miles

The Quality Inn in Akron was very comfortable.  This is an older hotel with the room doors opening to the car parking area, making loading and unloading very easy.  Since the battery has to be hauled out of the car every night, this arrangement is especially nice.  Don't forget that older hotels are cheaper too. We need all the savings we can get to pay for all the gas (and oil) the LaSalle loves to consume.

Today we both overslept. It was nearly 10 AM before we got rolling.  We discussed route options and decided to take I-271 and I-90 to get us past Cleveland and Erie PA.  Our late start spared us rush hour, but the traffic was still dense and aggressive.  The LaSalle did OK going with the flow, but its poor visibility to the rear and sides keeps us on edge. The noise level from all the truck traffic is close to deafening.  Through all this cacophony, we enjoyed many waves, thumbs ups and congratulatory beeps that we tried to acknowledge.  Lots of folks really enjoy seeing an old car lumbering through their daily hectic spaces, appearing like a mirage or a time traveler from another era. Corvette drivers are the most consistent admirers on this trip.

This Victorian house was a temporary dorm in 1963

We left I-90 at the NY state line to join US 20 to take in the western NY region next to Lake Erie. US 20 meandered through endless grape arbors and picturesque farms that have supplied the New York State wine industry for many years. Bill wanted to visit Fredonia State, one of the State University of NY colleges that he attended in 1963. He lived in a Victorian brick home built in the early 1900's that was converted to dormitory space. The building still stands, now it is the admissions office for the college.  He took a few pictures and enjoyed the reminiscence.  Bill had little interest in going to college, but his experience at Fredonia was so positive that he decided to continue his education transferring the next year to engineering school at the University of Buffalo.

Nance wanted to see the Letchworth State Park near Castile, NY.  We left US 20 and diverted to NY 38 to take us south of Buffalo heading toward the finger lakes.  NY 38 provided some of the best scenery and drivery of this trip.  This smooth, well paved road rose, dipped and turned through a batch of spectacular hills and valleys, probably sculpted by glaciers on their way to excavate the finger lakes.  The LaSalle loved it, clinging to the curves and accelerating up the hills.

Looking for a break from our usual convenience store fare, we had a delicious sit down dinner at the local Castile Family Restaurant.  Food, service and price were outstanding.

Letchworth State Park next to Castile is a long gorge marked with rock cliffs and cascading water. We got there too late to take in the full length of the gorge, but managed to take in one or two

Flood control feature in the Larchmont gorge

impressive overlooks. We also met a few locals who wanted to know all about the LaSalle.

Nightfall was coming and we decided to try to make Geneva NY at the northern tip of Lake Seneca, one of the finger lakes.  We managed to roll into a clean and modest American Value Inn at dusk.  It looked ideal, next to a Subway, Auto Zone, and a Tim Hortons.  What a wonderful day, and now North Conway, NH is only 400 miles away.  

Day 5 Sept. 8 Rantoul IL to Akron OH, 424 miles

The Heritage Hotel in Rantoul IL was comfortable and inexpensive.  Bill appreciated the room access right next to the car, making unloading the car easier.  The hotel was run by a couple of local retired characters who were most friendly but a tad too quick to offer lots of righteous right wing philosophy that we had little use for.

As we slept, our little Harbor Freight battery charger dutifully pumped up the LaSalle's battery. After a great night's rest, we awoke to a steady rain and much cooler temperatures. Nance especially appreciated not being in a steam bath on the exhaust pipe side of the car. The LaSalle hasn't seen a lot of rain, but the wipers do work (sort of) and the convertible top fits well.  The defroster isn't hooked up. We found we could keep the windshield fog at bay with rags.  Water managed to find its way into the cockpit through the cowl. We endured a slow dripping of water on our legs throughout the day.  Bill was a little concerned about our visibility but we didn't turn on the lights to keep the load off the battery.

We started on US 136 until it morphed into IL 119 and IN 28.  IN 28 was the quintessential farm road, running straight for hours until suddenly jogging right to left as if to correct some ancient surveying error or property dispute.  NO WIND FARMS was the local yard sign issue here, and no wind farms were seen.  The small towns on this route are delightful to pass through.  Not only does the LaSalle get a rest from pounding down the highway, we get to enjoy elaborate  and well preserved architecture. These are towns that still have front porches complete with folks sitting on them.

We played with farm roads and a bit of I-69 to eventually connect us with US 30, formally known as the Lincoln Highway.  This mostly four lane artery is the remnant of the first transcontinental highway, stretching from New York City to San Francisco.  We made good time on US-30 but it was a bit bumpy and hectic, patrolled by packs of feral trucks.  US 30 took us across most of Ohio, passing the Mid-Ohio road racing facility near Mansfield.  We finally packed it in at Akron, our day called on account of darkness.

This was one of our best days, no problems with the LaSalle or either of us.    

Day 4 Sept. 7, Jefferson City, MO to Rantoul IL, 316 Miles

The LaSalle dash is easy on the eye -- except
when its gauge needles point the wrong way!

Last night did not go well.  We limped into a comfortable and cheap Days Inn in Jefferson City just around dark.  At the end of a long, productive, and thoroughly interesting day the LaSalle decided to start running rough and the generator went on strike.  Bill increased the point dwell and the misfire vanished, so one problem was quickly solved.  Nance walked to gather some fast food takeout while Bill tinkered with Sally's generator.  He set the regulator for maximum generator output but no significant energy was forthcoming. He could inspect the brushes and peer inside, no obvious stress or damage could be seen.  Removing the generator is a fairly difficult job on this car so Bill decided not to take that on -- especially since we couldn't locate any facility nearby capable of rebuilding a 6V generator.  PS: this same generator quit suddenly on Bill's last trip from Ohio and he had it rebuilt.  It worked fine for the last two years, tricking us to depend on it.

Our hosts from Modern Litho and Nance with LaSalle

Bill came up with a workaround to keep us on the road:  We found the Harbor Freight store in Jefferson City and bought a six volt battery charger. These are not available at every auto parts store. We plan to drive with no generator and just charge the battery every night in the hotel. Just in case we might run out of power during the day, we bought a spare new 6V battery in small town Mt. Sterling IL to back us up if needed.  Thank goodness for ag equipment, many old tractors still rely on 6V power.  Without night driving, we thought we could manage a full day on a single battery change.  It worked OK today, let's see how it holds up.

We visited the Modern Litho printing plant in Jefferson City this morning.  Modern Litho prints, binds, and mails our VMCCA Bulb Horn magazine in full color.  We got a thorough and informative tour of their enormous plant.  It was quite an operation, one that has served our club very well for the last several years.  The technology that supports the printing industry is simply amazing, we were both thoroughly impressed.

It's tight and narrow on the Champ C

The plant tour and LaSalle fuss delayed us several hours.  We are now officially behind schedule. We motored on US 54, crossing the Mississippi into Illinois via Lousiana, MO. Their massive narrow and ancient truss bridge, called the Champ Clark Bridge, is way older than the LaSalle.  It continues to provide a safe but claustrophobic crossing of this enormous river.  There is a great view from up there, but Bill was too focused on the road to enjoy it.

Most rest stops with the LaSalle turn into mini social events.  The guys want to guess what it is and look at the engine.  Others want to know about it, comparing it to other cars:  "My uncle had a car just like yours-- only it was a station wagon with wood on the sides". Few can believe we have actually driven the car from New Mexico. The thought that we are continuing on to New Hampshire is met with even more amazement. But all the talk is friendly and relaxing, driving an old car can definitely be an icebreaker.  

US 54 ends in Illinois after its long stretch all the way from El Paso.  We missed it, but Nance came up with a route including US 24 and US 136 that avoided all the the metro areas around Peoria, Bloomington, and Champaign.  She drove quite a bit of these roads, they proved to be rather scenic. Throughout the route huge, specially engineered Ag equipment was at work in the fields, creeping down the road until reaching the next field, or radiating its polished power and efficiency from another farm equipment sales yard.  Even family farms here are BIG.

Bill was ready to go further, but with the sun  and our battery sinking fast, we decided it was time to pack it in.  A modest old Heritage Inn in Rantoul IL rose out of the approaching darkness and we were done for the day.  

  

Day 3: Dodge City KS to Jefferson City, MO (490 miles)

Bill:  how do you take a **** selfie?
Nance:  is this over yet?

We finally got an early start and managed to rack up quite a few miles. We took US 50 for a couple of hundred miles through Kansas. Bill calls US 50 America's Middle road, it stretches from Washington DC to Reno Nevada.  We have taken it often, particularly out west,

It is a beautiful but hot day with the persistent southwest winds pushing us to the left.  Lots of wind farms provided some visual variety through the Kansas flatlands.  US 50 avoided all of the big cities.  We enjoyed relaxed cruising with just an occasional slow down through picturesque small towns. Convenience stores served as our oases, we appreciated that they don't chintz on the air conditioning in these parts.

After Newton KS, we took a few jigs and jogs to leave US 50 and join KS 196.  This let us bisect the major traffic centers of Wichita and Kansas City.  196 was a rural road, it quickly started to develop rolling hills and as we approached the town of Eldorado and US 54.  Eldorado was a Cadillac, it looked like Main Street USA.  We motored by miles of modest and well maintained gardens and often classic turn of the 20th century homes.  Nance took the wheel here for a few hours.  She had not driven the LaSalle for a couple of years, but she found it easy to manage and enjoyed the experience.  

Nance takes the wheel.

US 54 is one of Bill's favorite highways. It makes a useful diagonal across Missouri and takes in the Lake of the Ozarks.  On the way, there are plenty of dips and climbs, and sweeping turns. The generous width of newly re-surfaced road was a treat for us and the LaSalle.  It would have been nice to check out some of the lake attractions, but we needed to keep focused on New Hampshire.

We ended the day in Jefferson City on a sour note.  The LaSalle suddenly developed two problems about 20 miles from town. The generator quit working and she developed a misfire at higher speeds. Bill wondered if the two problems were related.  He thought the points needed a bit more dwell, but didn't know about the generator.  We can live without it, but it will require that we get a charger so we can replenish the battery at night.  The LaSalle also requires lots of oomph to get it started.

We'll check out these issues tomorrow.  Meanwhile, we plan to tour the Modern Litho printing plant in the morning.  They print the VMCCA magazine "The Bulb Horn" and it should be interesting to see how they do it.

Au revoir from beautiful Missouri!  Tune in tomorrow, we'll let you know how that went...  

Day 2, Las Vegas NM to Dodge City, KS (355 miles)

We were so tired from yesterday's adventure that we didn't get on the road until 9:30 AM.  Our Best Western Suite hotel ($110, pretty steep for Las Vegas) was very comfortable and quiet.  Getting the LaSalle ready the next day I enjoyed the usual comments, like:  nice Pontiac; or my uncle had one just like it; or is that a French car?  Time is definitely marching on, very few people are left who can identify or even remember the LaSalle automobile, let alone the French explorer. But the car is still gorgeous and many wave their approval as they pass by.

The LaSalle ran great yesterday with its new fuel pump and that trend continued today.  She has been firing up quickly, even when hot.  That's an improvement from the trip we took two years ago where she always threatened to not start every time we stopped for gas.  The engine is also running cool even with the fairly warm tail winds we had today.  The car is doing little for our carbon balance. She is guzzling gas, the best we get is 10 or 11 mpg.  There is a problem with the fuel gauge too. It drops quickly down to a quarter of a tank, but only takes about 11 gallons to fill it up. Bill thought the tank holds about 20 gallons, but confesses he never actually measured the volume. We don't really want to search for the bottom, so we play it safe and fill up about every 120 miles.

Las Vegas looked well preserved with its many historic buildings and storefronts downtown. We thought about eating at the iconic "Spic and Span" bakery, but skipped it due to our late start.  We continued N on I-25 and noted the complete lack of truck traffic on this Labor Day.  The return to 1-25 greeted us with herds of antelope.  The antelope found no deer to play with, but settled for gawking at us and mingling with their horse and cow buddies.

We stopped in Springer for gas.  The Alon station and convenience store is the functional hub of this small western town.  The well stocked store was a hubbub of activity, everyone was dropping in for their daily dose of caffeine and sugar.  Outside, a sheep farming couple at the gas pumps shared stories about her childhood rolling "sheep camp wagon" that looked like a 19th century artifact.  Bill offered a few inflated LaSalle stories and we moved on feeling refreshed after this break.

As the LaSalle motored smoothly on US 56 through Clayton, Boise City, Hugoton, Sublette and points east, the terrain blended into the great plains.  We relaxed enjoying miles of irrigated flatlands fanned by strong SW winds and punctuated with huge grain elevators every 10 miles or so.  The LaSalle had few problems with the wind, she is a heavy and sure footed car.  Here, after a few hundred miles down the road, the ultimate old car driving experience happens:  the old car becomes new.  The slow heavy steering steering with lots of play, the wind noise, engine noise, and pitiful brakes somehow seem to improve hour by hour. It's not magic.  It's just that driving your old car enough eventually makes your body forget what a modern car actually feels like.  I conclude that these old cars were amazing machines, offering such incredible comfort and utility 75 years ago to the owners of cars like this LaSalle.

Yes, we finally left NM today. We will definitely
miss it for the next few weeks.

We did have a little breakdown today.  In Sublette, KS, when we stopped for gas the car appeared to be electrically dead. The starter would not crank yet the ammeter was drawing quite a few amps with nothing turned on.  Bill disconnected the battery, fearing some kind of internal short circuit, but when he reconnected it, the current draw stopped and the car started right up.  What caused this is rather simple, but it took him a while to figure it out.  If you can't guess the answer, Bill will reveal it tomorrow.

We finally packed it in in Dodge City staying in a rather clean, $45 Days Inn.  Sure, some of the paint was flaking, but the AC and internet worked.  Nance and Bill walked to the IHOP for dinner and quietly ended our day. Tomorrow we hope for an earlier start so we can knock off a few more than 344 miles. We do need to do a bit better if we hope to make it to New Hampshire on time for the tour.

Day 1,September 4 Albuquerque to Las Vegas, NM

Our Day 1 did not go nearly as well as Trump's predictions for his first day in office.  We went through the usual hectic mess, checking off to do, do pack, and do fix lists. This hysteria has been building for the last few days.

Looks great just before we ready to leave.

Nance tries to fix the garden, prepare the pets, educate the house sitter, do laundry and get all the stuff packed.  Bill has been working every day trying to make sure the LaSalle is ready for the road.  Naturally, the evening before our departure the sewer stopped up completely, spewing raw sewage into the basement.  Not a good sign.  Now we know that Roto Router will actually show up in the evening on a holiday weekend to ream roots out of our line.  Fortunately, we are a regular customer, they have our house on speed dial and our address pre-programmed into their GPS.  Next time we'll put fix the sewer on our to do list, as if it weren't long enough already.

We were supposed to leave at noon, but there was always just one more thing to do before we could go.  Finally, around 1:30, the LaSalle fired up enthusiastically and we were on our way.  About a quarter mile away, the LaSalle coasted to a stop, its engine just quit right in the middle of heavy traffic.  Curious and helpful bystanders pushed our monster car through an intersection to a safe spot on a very narrow shoulder while Bill had anxiety attacks wondering what was wrong with his supposedly well sorted old car.  Dragging himself under the car revealed that the rotary electric fuel pump that worked fine for years was now hot and silent. Although we had a spare electric pump in the trunk, installing it on this busy road was not an option. But this is New Mexico, where every other vehicle is a F350 Power Stroke Diesel. One of these fine trucks stopped in front of us and gladly offered to pull us home.  So our trip ended where it began, in front of our house with a now dead LaSalle.

But it really didn't end there, Bill spent several hours attaching a new electric fuel pump. He also re-plumbed the fuel lines so the conventional mechanical pump was also engaged so we weren't totally dependent on the electric one.

All this last minute jury-rigging took its toll.  Another shirt ruined.  Boy, the rear of the LaSalle is sure greasy from differential lube, I hope that pinion seal holds up for this trip.  Bill was worn out from the 65 ups and downs he took getting old pump off and the new one on under the gas tank. Oh yes, good things happen too.  When we came back Nance discovered. she had left one major suitcase with most of her clothes for the trip.  And our dog Sammi who thought she was abandoned forever was thrilled to see us once again.

The rest of the story was better.  We managed to complete a trouble free mere 125 miles to beautiful downtown Las Vegas New Mexico.  That's not very far, but it sure seemed far to us.  I think we are going to  sleep very well.