My longest drive was about 275 yards about 2 years ago!
EAZ
Felix K. Wong wrote:
>
> Well my longest drive was a 1700-mile jaunt from Palo Alto->Death
> Valley->LA->Stockton->Palo Alto last March. And of course, I drove Goldie
> my '69 MGB, as opposed to a fragile "modern" car, for this grueling 5-day
> journey! The trip to Death Valley was particularly memorable, esp since
> I needed to get to the start of a 200-mile bicycle ride by 3:00 in the
> morning and was hence under some time pressure.
>
> Detailed nostalgic blatherings are on my home page (now at
> www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/1547... see "From the Logbook") but
> here is a recap:
>
> 1. I first chose the Yosemite route to go to Death Valley, only to learn
> that it was closed! So I had to backtrack 60 miles and hence wasted 120
> miles and 2 hours of valuable driving time. MISTAKE #1
> 2. I get to Bakersfield by sundown, only to decide to take a "shortcut" to
> Ridgecrest via Highway 155. Whoops, MISTAKE #2! Highway 155 has to be
> one of the STEEPEST, TWISTIEST highways there are in Southern CA, and it
> would take >2 hours just to go 60 miles. We often found ourselves inching
> along in 2ND GEAR and I was apologizing profusely to the B for straining
> her engine so much.
> 3. I get to Ridgecrest by 10:00p and stop atMcDonalds to grab something to
> eat and review my directions. Ooops, I have a ton of maps telling me how
> to get to Death Valley but for some reason the directions to the start of
> the bike ride are NOT in my backpack as I thought. MISTAKE #3! This was
> somewhat disturbing, esp. since I had already traveled 500 MILES at this
> point. So I frantically called several of my friends at Stanford U. who
> had internet access... finally I got ahold of a friend who couldn't find
> the directions to the start (a casino) on the Web but was able to find the
> casino's phone number. So all is not lost, *phew*!
> 4. I call the casino... apparently it is not exactly in Death Valley, it
> is a wee bit farther... like half a mile ACROSS THE NEVADA BORDER! How I
> missed this small detail earlier is beyond me... MISTAKE #4!
> 5. Anyway I got to the casino a 2:00a in the morning (consider that I had
> been driving since 11:00a the previous day), and figured I could sleep
> for, say, 45 minutes before the start of the ride. Until, that is, I pull
> out my bike's front wheel out of the B's trunk, only to find that it is
> flat. Whoops, I guess I shouldn't have used those "trick" ultra-light
> latex tubes in my bike tires... MISTAKE #5!
> 6. Okay I finished the ride in 16 hours (nearly died). Since I hadn't
> slept for 40 hours straight I fell asleep immediately in the B, only to
> awaken at 6:00a to head for Baker. It's only after I pass a sign by a
> closed gas station that says, "NO MORE GAS FOR 60 MILES" that I realize
> I'm direly low on fuel! Er, that's not a comforting thought in a desert
> with no phones around... MISTAKE #6! But I manage to get to Baker with
> 0.5 gals in the gas tank.
>
> Well, that was pretty much it for my "minor oversights" during this
> adventure. BTW, Goldie performed remarkably well, only requiring a quick
> change of distributer points (45 minutes in a parking lot) while I was
> visiting a friend in West Covina. She definitely earned the ironman award
> for this one. Brit cars rule!
>
> -Felix
> __________________________________________________________________
> __ Felix Wong Now in Berkeley, California, USA!
> |,\_O (415)528-9768 My web page is now at:
> ( )/ LL http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/1547
> ( ) '69 B, '92 C'dale 3.0 R (stiff, light, and FAST)
> Fw = mg "Safety fast!"
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