Well,I nearly forgot I had a thread here on EP,i'm not used to keeping up a regular posting other than my own blog.My bad.
I really do need to get a little caught up,as this coming March I put the bike on a boat in Miami,ship it over to Rotterdam in the Netherlands for a sidecar conversion,and then a 2yr Round the World ride thru Europe,Turkey,the 'Stans,Russia,Mongolia and ending in Japan,but more on that later.
After the Mexican 1000 last May 2011,I briefly considered heading south,but I really don't like the heat that much,and by the time I got to La Paz,my thoughts of heading any further south were all but evaporated.
So I headed back up north.Colorado was where I was headed,I needed to secure an apartment there as I was moving my Mum from Florida(which she was done with,no more white Capri's with gold trim) and move her to Boulder.
I had intended to rent an RV and give Mum a road trip to Boulder through places she has never seen in the U.S.,but I have to say,if you're going to rent an RV,DON'T rent one from CruiseAmerica.
I went through 3 before I just threw it back at them.They ALL had a steering wobble/shimmy at 65mph,and their response was "Well,they all do that" or "they don't drive the same as a car" or "It was fine when I went to get gas in it this morning",which was a 2 mile drive to a gas station on the slip road,no way you could do more than 40mph.When I asked them do they inspect and drive them to check for handling isues,they replied,no,they rely on customers to inform them if there's any problems.............REALLY?.
The fact that they were trying to pawn off a vehicle with IMO,serious front end issues which could result in a bad accident was very troublesome to me,it's a lawsuit waiting to happen,but I really doubt that they cared.
So,I bit the bullet (you only have one Mum,right?) and rented a 2k mile Ford Expedition SUV from Dollar Rent-A-Car.I never was a Ford guy,but the new Expedition,let's just say I would buy one in a flash.Great driving car,good mpg at 75mph,and comfortable,very very comfortable.
We ended up going from Fort Lauderdale all the way to San Francisco,back down to Vegas again and finally ending in Boulder 5,500 miles later,Mum having had one of the best times of her life.
The following links have some more details:
http://wherethehellismurph.blogspot.com/2011/07/mums-2011-road-tripa-little-detour.html
http://wherethehellismurph.blogspot.com/2011/08/mums-2011-road-tripthe-eagle-has-landed.html
In Tonopah we met Larry W with his '62 Jaguar XKE Convertible,plugged into the outside wall socket as he charged up the battery of the XKE.
He wrote me after and here's the email:
Hi Murph,
Thanks for writing. I went to your blog and saw the pictures you posted. They are GREAT. The one of just the bugs on the front of the car is my very favorite. I like the bulges of the headlights as it makes the car look like a bug itself: very, very cool.
I did make it home the next day. After I left Tonopah there were a series of very, very heavy rains. Desert rain is always lovely but it did was wash all of the bugs off. So my timing in meeting you was very fortuitous! I wound up driving the last two hours in the dark, in the rain, following a big truck as I couldn't afford the electricity to run my headlights. I slept that night in Big Pine (hwy 395 in CA). The next morning I got home without incident. I recharged and drove the car another 300 miles the next weekend to take my son up to my mom's. It turns out that old cars draw next to no current. So 300 miles is pretty easy and there are stories of driving up to 500 on a single charge (not sure if I believe that one....but it's a good story!).
History,
The car was originally sold to someone in LA in 1962. Six years later is was sold to a guy who owned it until 2004. I bought the car in 2005 after it had been stored a in Las Vegas shed for a year (sorry, no adventure there). After buying the car I had to replace every rubber item in the car as they had baked and broken. I also found that I had to rebuild the rear end, the transmission, the hydraulics, the engine as well as buy new wheels, tires, all of the electrical system, etc. etc. I spent a lot of money for the car....way too much as it turned out. My goal from the start was to use this car on multistate trips with my kids. So reliability was by far my top priority.I got it there but it was a lot of work. It's in good enough shape now that I'm able to do all the work myself. So far I've taken the car to Canada twice. This was my fourth trip to Yellowstone.Overall I've driven 1/3rd of it's total mileage in this last 1/8th of it's life.
This is the fourth generator/regulator set I've had fail in the last 6 years. I'm switching to an alternator. A friend is machining a great set of mounts for a standard AC Delco 10si unit. I shouldn't have any more problems....and if I do $50 at NAPA will take care of it.
My next trip will be at the end of September. A dozen XKE's are gathering for the Southwest Oil Leak (SOL) tour. It will be a few thousand miles of dementia through northern Arizona, southern Utah and SW Colorado. I may just choose to run my headlights the whole way!! (plus the radio and radar detector.....I may even choose to turn on my flashers
Thanks again. It was really nice to meet you. I hope your trip is as wonderful as your photos!
Thats all for now,
Thanks all and apologies for the 6 month gap,
Murph.
