Wonderful story, I drove my 1600 cross country in 1967, a great trip,
couldn't do it today, way too old (me, not the car).
Gary
a message dated 1/28/2006 9:12:04 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
aiken1315@bellsouth.net writes:
It is a beautiful country we live in. Here are the highlights (thanks to
Mike's GPS) from a couple of SEROCers San Francisco, CA to Aiken, SC road
trip:
Day 1 - Saturday, Jan 21, 2006: Fly into San Fran airport and travel to
Union City, CA to pick up car. Took spare parts, soft top (came with only a
tonneau cover), tool kit, jumper cables, oh yeah - we did have room for a
couple
of changes of clothes! Arrive at hotel around 9:30pm.
Day 2 - Sunday, Jan 22, 2006: Mike "The Mechanic" Harper resets the timing.
It was more than 3 teeth off and was sparking on the trip to the hotel the
night before. Can only be reset to within 1 tooth, but car is running and
sounding great. Mike pronounces it good to go without doing anything else.
San Francisco to Blythe, CA: 609 miles, windshield time 9 hours and 23
minutes, stopped time 1 hour and 40 minutes, moving average 64.9 mph, overall
average trip speed 56 mph, lowest point 20 feet above sea level in San Fran.
Non-car lesson of the day: Only on Sunday in Blythe do chicken legs count
as Buffalo wings, but that is another story.
Day 3 - Monday, Jan 23, 2006: After all is well on Day 2, Dave cannot get
the car to start on Day 3. It turns over but won't fire. Mike "the Mechanic"
Harper inspects the car and reminds Dave "New to this Mechanical Stuff"
Chapman that the kill switch must be flipped to get it to start. After that
lesson it starts right up.
Blythe, CA to Abilene, TX: 4 states, 1,038 miles, windshield time 15 hours
and 15 minutes, stopped time 1 hour 45 minutes, moving average 63.9 mph,
overall average trip speed 58 mph, top speed 85.1 mph, 4, 965 feet above speed
level while traveling through Texas Canyon Summit
Non-car lesson of the day: That long in a car tests true friendships, or
Mike sure is groochy when it gets late. (Thank goodness I am writing this
because I would hate to see what he would say about me). We passed the test!!
Day 4 - Tuesday Jan 24, 2006: After 4 hours sleep, we have to be in Dallas
by 10am for work for a couple of days.
Abilene, TX to Dallas, TX: 198 miles, windshield time 3 hours and 6
minutes, moving average 64.1 mph.
We worked in Dallas from Tuesday to Thursday. Mike had to fly home to go to
a meeting and I was left alone for the last segment of the journey.
Instructions for any repairs would be worked via phone. Mike took his GPS
with him
, so the last day doesn't have as much detail. Car has been running
flawlessly though. Would this continue now that Mike, The Navigator and
Knowledge
Guy, Harper was gone?
Day 5 - Friday Jan 27, 2006: Left Dallas at 8am EST. All is going well
until the car hiccuped a couple of times inside the GA line, and did this
several times for about an hour. I started sweating and discussing possible
cures
with Mike via phone. It hiccuped one last time about 100 miles from home,
and that was it. It must have been something in the gas line that worked
itself out. It then ran great the rest of the way. Arrived home at 1am
Saturday
morning with only a couple of quick breaks along the way. I could smell the
barn.
Dallas, TX to Aiken, SC: 6 states, 975 miles, total windshield and stop time
17 hours.
This was a real cross country trip and I plan on completing the coast to
coast trip by going to Mike's house on the SC coast, but this was very close.
We really appreciate everyone who sent us contact information and offered to
help if we ran into trouble.
Car's nickname is "Cali" short for California Dreaming. Plan on getting a
personalized tag CALIDRMN.
David Chapman and Mike Harper
SEROC
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