Hello, everyone
The weekend before last Lindsay, my oldest daughter, and I took three days
and drove the MGA around northern Minnesota and southwestern Ontario. I
had been thinking about doing this for quite a while but the right time
never seemed to come up. This spring there was an article in NAMGAR by a
father and daughter who took their MGA around the Great Lakes. Lindsay is
13 and is rapidly changing from daddy's little girl to a typical teenager
so I figured that this summer may be my last chance until she regains her
senses.
After several days of discussion, we chose a route that included many
interesting sights and kept the amount of driving reasonable. Lindsay
insisted that we spend a night in Canada since she had never been out of
the country. The date was chosen, reservations were made, and the A was
prepared for the trip ahead. Next came one of the more challenging parts
of the trip. Anyone who spends time with an MGA knows that the boot is
less than generous. Much of the trip route was to be through areas where
LBC parts would be tough to come by and where the cell phone would not
work. After much though, I decided to bring a spare tire and jack rather
than relying on "fix a flat" as I do on more local trips. With the spare,
tools, fluids, and side screens (the A does not have the standard side
screen pockets behind the seats) in the boot, Lindsay and I could just fit
in two school backpacks for our clothes and personal belongings. No blow
dryers allowed!
Friday morning it was spitting rain but the radar shows that it was not
raining to the north. Put the hood up but leave the sidescreens in the
trunk. The original plan was to do all back roads but the weather changed
our minds. A quick 70 mph blast up 94 to Avon, MN seemed to get us out of
the rain. However, once we got on the back roads it started raining
harder. Luckily we brought plenty of towels because the car blows "rain
snot bubbles" between the windscreen and the hood so there was a nice
shower inside the car as well as out. Nice drive through Avon,
Holdingford, Elmdale, and the great metropolis known as Flensburg.
Next stop was Pillager, MN which is the town where I grew up. We drove out
to the old farm which is now a state park. All of the buildings are gone
but it is nice to see the land preserved rather than turned into a
subdivision. Our house was built where the Crow Wing river joins the
Mississippi River. This was a strategic location for many years and a few
Indian battles were fought there. Other members of the family have claimed
to see ghosts but they left me alone. Spooky place at night though with no
one around and the coyotes howling. It started to rain again so we put the
side screens in. This ended up being a mistake because it didn't keep us
any more dry but it increased wind noise by a significant margin. We
stopped by my brother's house for a short visit and once again refused his
generous offer of a couple of cats to take home. Covered with cat hair, we
drove up highways 1 and 64 to Itasca for the first night's stay. That
evening we drove the scenic loop around the park. We were about the only
ones on the road which is one way and full of curves and small hills
(Lindsay calls them butterfly bumps because of the way they make your
stomach feel). We had a great run (top down by now) through one of the few
remaining stands of virgin timber in Minnesota with the MGA performing
perfectly.
The next morning we ate breakfast at the Douglass lodge (highly
recommended) then went up the road to go horseback riding (Lindsay loves
horses). Due to the trail leader being sick, we had to wait for the horses
and did not get on the road until about 12:30. This made our 350 mile
drive to Thunder bay a little tight for time. We pointed the A north and
made a run for the border.
This part of Minnesota is in the shore of prehistoric Lake Agassiz so it is
pretty flat and the roads are straight with a long way between towns.
Lindsay and I passed two cars and were passed by one car in over 100 miles
at about 65 mph. We stopped in International falls for a late lunch then
crossed the border and caught the trans Canadian highway (no 11) for the
trip to Thunder Bay.
>From a driving standpoint, this road and the Itasca loop were the
highlights of the trip. Where Itasca was like a roller coaster ride- quick
and exciting but short- this drive was what LBC's are made for. 250 miles
of lonely winding two lane through beautiful country largely unspoiled by
human hands. The road was in very good condition too so we were able to
make good time. Lindsay's Walkman was useless up here but we still didn't
talk much. We just watched as nature floated by. This area was at the
bottom of the ocean when it was formed by volcanic activity along a long
dead continental rift. Great slabs of basalt rise from Cedar and white
pine forests among lakes and wetlands. Along the road, previous travelers
had erected small cairns on top of many of the rock outcroppings. Lindsay
and I discussed what they meant since there was no need to mark the trail.
We decided that summer left the local kids with too much time on their
hands.
At Thunder Bay the A decided that now was the time to remind us that she
wasn't a Honda by not starting. Lindsay soon added the title LBC ASU
(auxiliary starting unit) to her life accomplishments as she pushed the A
to get it going. For the rest of the trip we parked on hills although it
only refused to start twice more. The next morning a woman was talking to
me about her old Healey when her husband caught her attention and exclaimed
that someone had stolen their truck's tailgate during the night. A strange
crime to say the least. Maybe it is some kind of Canada thing.
On Sunday we saw the only two other MG's for the entire trip. An MGB was
resting in front of a house in Thunder Bay and another B was parked along
I35 south of Duluth with one rear flasher on and its bonnet open. No one
around or we would have stopped to offer assistance. The trip down the
North Shore was beautiful but tiring because the traffic picked up and we
spent most of our time in RV lead caravans driving slooooow. On the long
uphill south of Duluth the A's temperature started to rise so we stopped
and added a quart of water. I had also adjusted the valves and points that
morning because she was running a little rough after Saturday's sprint.
Lindsay wanted to watch the Vikings Sunday night so we hit the freeway and
cruised home.
All in all a wonderful trip. Lindsay was a good companion and I think the
adventure built a bridge between us at a very important time in our
relationship. We could have taken another car but the A was just as much a
part of the fun as the country we passed through. The A burned a pint of
oil and burped about a quart of water out during the three days. Tests
have showed that the generator still works fine so the starting problem is
either a bad battery (age unknown) or a loose connection. It is still
missing a bit so I may have opened the points too far in Thunder Bay but I
will trouble shoot that tonight. Not bad for a car approaching her 40th
birthday!
Regards,
Bill Eastman
61 MGA finally having a chance to stretch her legs
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