Folks,
In my portion of the northeastern USA the leaves are changing color and
dropping rapidly, more rapidly than usual probably due to flooding and heat
during the summer. Stress on the little and big plant kingdom. October
around here and early November can be a time when the weather is bipolar, so
to speak,. Today it was 70 degrees (a week ago it went to 28 degrees at night
and the surface of my rather large pond was frozen which I've seldom seen this
early in the year) so it was definitely time to get out for a ride while the
opportunity made itself available.
Luckily for me there are plenty of back roads to cruise and peruse where I
live that also give mucho opportunity for growling exhaust notes and wind in
the hair, what hair nature has left to me. Off I went. This was especially
nuggatory since Chimera has been thoroughly packed into the garage with stuff
from my basement while the reconstruction was going on after my house was
flooded. The predicted time for reconstruction was two months. If you ever
have work to be done on your house I definitely recommend "Money Pit" the
movie to you for a real understanding of how long two months can actually be,
especially when they say "two weeks". As a general rule, double all
expectations and I'd be willing to bet this applies to Heaely restorations as
well, just to make it relevant to the list. The cost also doubled what was
expected which I also would apply to Healey restorations.
Off I go into the wilderness. Throaty roar, adjusting choke to minimum
necessary, planning to hit the couple of places where I can slide around
corners and get a bit of air. I know, this is a bad thing, but then maybe I'm
a "nasty boy" at heart. For this I offer no apologies. The car performs as
expected, I downshift dramatically, run rpms up carelessly, take naked turns
fearlessly. My blood pressure is normally high so I don't need it for the
heart pumping, but I do it anyway. There are railroad tunnels that I go
through at too low a gear just to hear the exhaust note growl. Bumps in the
road that I purposely steer towards so I can hear whatever it is that bounces
around in the boot.
I stop for gas at what must be one of the only little single pumpers left in
the nation in the depths of the boonies of Lancaster County, PA. Another
driver stops and, yes, his brother used to own "two MG's" just like mine. My
day was complete. Who could ask for more. Home again, home again, jiggety
jig.
Tomorrow's weather is predicted for the same. Who knows what will happen?
Yours in Healedom,
Bill and Chimera (BJ7)
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