There's not been much chatter by the FOT list recently. And, we've had a
string of beautiful weather recently here in Southern Indiana, good for
getting the cars out and enjoying them! So, I thought I'd take a minute to
reminisce with you about a favorite TR-3 road trip from year's ago. (Some
of you may want to delete this message at this time).
One of the cars I've had out recently has been my 1955 TR-2, which I
purchased while I was in graduate school in 1972. Prior to that, I had
purchased a 1963 TR-3B during my senior year in college (1970). This was
my first Triumph, and it got me hooked (I think I've had 25 or 30 of them
since then).
So anyway, It was the summer of 1970 and I had just graduated from college.
I had been offered a job, but wasn't scheduled to start for about 2 weeks.
A college buddy who lived in the same town in Upstate New York, called me
one morning and asked if I'd like to go to Colorado. I said, 'Sure, when
do you want to go?' He said, 'How about 11:00?' I said 'OK, I'll pick you
up in my TR-3. By the way, why Colorado?' He replied 'Oh, I don't know,
why not?' (A wierd conversation, right? Maybe not for a couple of guys
who have just graduated from college, have a few bucks in their pockets
from graduation gifts, have a couple of weeks to spare, and a TR-3 in the
driveway.)
So, we threw a few belongings (including a pup tent) into the TR-3 and left
Corning, NY at about 11:00 (I think it was a Wednesday?) and headed for
Colorado. No agenda, no schedule, not even a road map, but we were driving
west. When we got to Cleveland we stopped to visit some friends. After a
little partying there, we headed off toward Indianapolis, then arrived in
St. Louis the next afternoon. It was the first time I'd been this far
west, and a visit to St. Louis requires a mandatory tour of the Anheusier
Busch brewery (and the free samples that ensue!)
The adrenaline (and the top down motoring) still had us pumped, so after
the brewery tour, we headed off for Kansas City. Got there in the evening
and toured around a bit, but not seeing anything too exciting, we headed
off on I-70 toward Colorado. Kansas is a long state! That night (and
every time I have driven across Kansas since) we encountered some severe
thunderstorms including hail. At one point we were trying to hold the
convertible top in place with our hands to keep out the rain and hail. On
a couple of occasions we stopped at gas stations which had covered areas by
the pumps to wait out the worst blasts of the storm. Finally, the next
morning, we got to the Colorado border. It was Friday now, and we still
hadn't slept. So we pulled the car off the side of the road (no sign of
civilization in sight) and pitched our tent next to the car to grap a
couple of hours of sleep.
When we got on the road again, something in the front end of the car didn't
feel right, especially when I would put on the brake. The problem must
have been there the night before, but between the storm and the lack of
sleep, we hadn't noticed it. The first small town we came to had a gas
station, so we pulled in to take a look. When we told the owner we had
camped along the road a few miles back he said we were lucky we hadn't been
bitten by the rattlesnakes which were out there! (From that point on, my
friend slept in the car).
The problem with the car turned out to be a burned out inner wheel bearing
on the left front. I had to catch a bus (which, fortunately, stopped right
at the gas station) to Denver to get a replacement. When I got to the bus
terminal in Denver I looked up foreign car parts in the yellow pages. The
first one I called had the part, and was only a couple of blocks from the
terminal. One bit of good luck. As I was paying for the bearing, I asked
the guy behind the counter if hitchhiking was legal in Colorado. As he was
telling me it wasn't, the guy next to me at the counter said he would drive
me back to my car (it was about 150 miles). Another bit of good luck.
Fortunately, the owner of the gas station was good with a torch, because he
had to cut off the old bearing. He showed me how to pack the new bearing,
and we finally got it back together after dark on Friday night. Stopped
briefly at the town tavern to but dinner and a beer for the guy who had
driven me back to my car, then headed west again. Found a campsite along
the way (my friend in the car and me in the tent) to try to catch up on
some of the sleep we had been missing.
We decided to go Colorado Springs before heading up to Denver. The sights
were worth the detour. Finally got to Denver Saturday afternoon, but
immediately decided to continue on to Boulder where we ended up spending a
few days. My memory of this stay is a little fuzzy - may have had
something to do with our legal use of the fine products from Anheusier Busch.
Finally, we headed off across the mountains. This was the first week of
July, and there were still places where there was snow along the side of
the road. Beautiful scenery! After another beautiful drive through the
desert we arrived in Moab, Utah and spent the night in a campground there
(car/tent, as before). The next day, we drove down to the 4 Corners (Where
Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico all meet). At this point, we
decided it was time to head home.
We spent the next night in a campground (car/tent) in Amarillo, Texas. The
next day we crossed Oklahoma and Arkansas, and finally made it to Natchez
Trace State Park, near Nashville, Tenn. Other than our initial day on the
road, I think this was our longest day of driving continuously (close to
1000 miles). By the time we arrived at Natchez Trace, it was getting light
out, and we were ready for some sleep. Since we were now back east of the
Mississippi, I guess my friend figured the risk of snakes was lower, and
finally decided to sleep in the tent again.
The next day we headed east again, across Tenessee and into West Virginia.
Since we got a late start, it was dark shortly after we arrived in West
Virginia, and of course, the generator stopped working. We drove on until
the lights were so dim we could no longer see the road, then we found a
downhill stretch of road and pulled off to the side to wait until it got
light. By this time, we were almost to Virginia. When it got light, we
drove up to Charlottesville (where I had spent a year in college 4 years
earlier) and fortunately, the British Car dealer there had a generator in
stock. Changed it in their parking lot, then headed north, back to New York.
In 8 days, we had covered over 5000 miles, with only 2 mechanical failures
on the car. Except for the hailstorm in Kansas, the top was down the whole
way. It was all completely spontaneous and we had a ball. I believe it is
memories like these which keeps me restoring and driving old british sports
cars. Can anyone relate to this?
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