Well, I promised a trip report, so here goes. It's kinda long, sorry
about that.
After much preparation we finally headed out on the morning of the
25th, destination
Spokane Washington and the NSRA NW Nationals. We had pre-registered back
in the spring,
and couldn't wait to show off the truck. We drove straight through,
almost 500 miles, and headed
for the KOA campground to set up base. Nice campground, but a little too
close to some level
railway crossings for my liking. This was the longest trip we'd taken
the truck on so far, and it
performed beautifully. The only "problem" was the original e-brake
crossmember would
occasionally contact the driveshaft during long right-hand corners. We
met some rodders from
California, and headed to Post Falls, Idaho and the "Hot Rod Cafe" for
supper. What a cool
restaurant!! Lots of memorabilia, half a dozen cars hanging from the
ceiling, and superb food!
Thursday the 25th saw us register for the event, and meet and mingle
some of the other
early arrivals. We also found Tim's Hot Rods, who made short work of
cutting out the offending
crossmember. No clearance problems after that! Thursday night the local
car clubs and
scholarship groups put on the "Night Before the Nats" show'n'shine in
downtown Spokane. There
were over 300 vehicles of all descriptions on display, and we got a
prime parking spot for the
truck. This show helps raise money for student scholarships, and a great
time was had by all.
Friday morning saw us up early and heading for the Spokane fairgrounds.
The weather
was super hot, mid to high 90's, and shady spots to park were few and
far between. We found a
nice spot and set up our umbrella and lawnchairs, then proceeded to
check out the cars. This
years event saw over 1200 cars register, from all over the continent.
Just a fantastic display of
every imaginable street rod creation, plus a few you'd never imagine. By
2 pm the heat was
getting to us, so we headed back to the KOA pool for some r&r. Saturday
and Sunday provided
much the same fare, with a bright spot coming in the form of a couple
young guys who
recognized the truck from my website. That really blew me away. Didn't
meet any ole'truckers in
Spokane, but ran into one of the RRT members there. We were thinkning
about the rest of the
trip, and like I usually do I changed our itinerary. Why stay in one
area for a few days when you
could drive further and see more? That decided, off to northern
California we go!
After the awards Sunday we packed up and headed southwest, driving
through the tri-
cities, then along the Columbia River Valley till we stopped for the
night in Biggs Oregon. After the heat
of Spokane it was nice to wake up Monday morning to much cooler temps
and light rain. Thanks
to Ted Timmons suggestion we took the scenic loop over Mt. Hood.
Gorgeous country! Stopping at a road
construction site, we were advised to check out the Timberline Lodge at
the top of the mountain.
We took the road to the lodge, taking note of the cars coming down the
hill with 5-6 inches of
snow on them. Hmmmm...this could be interesting. When we finally arrived
at the lodge you couldn't
see for the raging blizzard we hit. I guess we really looked the part of
Canadian tourists, getting
out with light jackets, t-shirts, and sandals on. *LOL* I can't say
enough about the Newport Engineering electric wipers we have in the
truck. They kept up to all the snow and rain, and never gave us a
minutes concern. Checked out the lodge, snapped a couple of
pics of the truck in the snow, then headed off to Sandy Oregon to meet a
couple from the RRT.
Thanks for the lunch, guys!
After visiting for a bit and dropping off the '54 Pontiac grill, we
headed out again, towards
Miq's in Tualatin. Got lost, tried phoning Miq who wasn't home, so we
kept going, hoping to
catch Stan in Newberg. Man, 2 for 2. Stan wasn't home either, so left a
message and kept going.
After driving all day we arrived in Grants Pass, and called Judd. He was
at work, so called him
there. He was delighted to hear from us, and invited us out for coffee
the next morning.
After meeting him at the top of his driveway, then scraping the bottom
of the truck most
of the way in to his house, we arrived at a most beautiful spot. His
place looks down on a small
valley, where his hoard of AD's wait patiently for some attention. He
will be the envy of a number
of us once he gets going, with some really nice project trucks in the
works. Nice family, great
coffee...I'm glad we got to meet them. They told us to check out the
Redwood Forest in CA, so
off we go again.
Highway 199 to CA is quite the trip...power steering would be a
definate asset! Popeye I
ain't! Had to stop and get a pic of Karen and the truck under the
"Welcome to California" sign, as
neither of us had ever been in CA before. A friendly fruit inspector at
the state line lets us
through, and even warns us about the dip in the surface so we don't
bottom out the truck! On the
O'Neills advice we took the loop through the Jedediah Smith state park.
Not really a good place
to drive a low-rider, but what a view!! Trees as big around as the truck
was long. It took us
almost 2 hours to drive through, but well worth it. Exiting the park we
arrived in Crescent City,
CA. We made it, our first ever view of the Pacific! Only disappointing
part was the cold wind, but
hey, we're on the ocean.
We started north, driving up the 101. We were impressed at how well the
old girl handled
the winding road. It's now Tuesday, and we made it to Coos Bay before
stopping for the night.
Off again the next morning, stopping at almost every viewpoint. Another
very minor glitch with
the truck, this time a broken weld on a muffler was letting the tailpipe
drag on the ground. A
quick trip to a NAPA muffler shop and we were as good as new. I think
this trip is the first time
my camera has taken pictures of something other than cars and trucks! We
were blown away by
the scenery and the sheer vastness of the ocean. We hiked across the
sand dunes to the beach,
and checked out the sea lion caves. We drove on up to Astoria, stopping
at what has to be one
of the nicest KOA's we've seen. We would have stayed another day, but
the weather was too
cool to really enjoy the beaches.
Thursday morning we headed out, driving up to Aberdeen before heading
east to
Puyallup WA, the site of the Unfinished Nationals. We checked in to the
event, which is held a
few miles south of Puyallup in the town of Graham. The fairgrounds is a
beautifully laid out area,
with lots of camping sites amongst the trees.
The Unfinished Nats are a site to behold. The emphasis is on the
unfinished project cars,
not the big-buck trailer-queen showpieces. Over 300 cars and trucks on
display, many great
ideas, lots of imagination. I'll post some pics as soon as I get them
developed. Met some super
nice people, had a lot of fun, and really hope to get down there again.
btw...lost out the long
distance award to another guy from Alberta, from 80 miles north of us.
Oh well, maybe next
time.
We stuck around the Puyallup area, and finally got to meet Skip and Liz
Boylan from the
list. If they are typical of list members, we have a wonderful family of
people here. Skip took us
over to the firehall where they store the '49 GMC Firetruck he helped
restore. Beautiful job, Skip.
Again, pics will be posted as soon as I get them back. After a nice tour
of Kirkland, we went back
to his house where we waited for Liz to get home from work, then off to
a great Italian restaurant
for supper. Thanks, guys!
Alas, all good things come to an end, and this trip ended a few days
earlier than planned.
Something I ate earlier at a fast food place gave me my first taste of
serious food poisoning, so
we started for home Tuesday morning instead of Friday like we'd planned.
We missed out on
visiting RB's Obsolete as well as Pickup's NW, not to mention all the
people we'd hoped to meet
up with. Maybe next time.
Trying to get home as fast as possible, we got as far as Libby, Montana
before stopping
for the night. Up early the next day, we arrived back home in Calgary
early the next day. It was
another 6 days before I started to feel better. That was probably the
only downer to the whole
trip. We covered approximately 3200 miles in 14 days, saw 5 states, and
met many new friends.
The truck averaged 17-18 mpg at a speed of 70+ mph on the interstates.
The only other problem
with the truck happened on the way home just east of Ellensburg, WA,
where the odometer on
my new VDO guages quit working. Speedo works fine, just no odometer.
Warranty time!
Too all who we met during our trip...thanks for taking the time to
visit and thanks for the
hospitality. To everyone we didn't get a chance to meet...we will be
back. The Pacific NW is just
to beautiful and area to stay away from. I'll be posting pics as soon as
possible.
Alan & Karen Gingles
1948 Chevy 1314
http://www.nucleus.com/~agingles
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