Sunday, October 3, 2010
Lacey, Wa to Crescent City, Ca
On the road by 9:00am out of Lacey, showered and fed and fueled up, heading south on I-5. Not much by way of pictures today, it was a travel day after all, but here is one of the car from our motel room window. We didn't arrange it that the car was outside our window, it just happened.
The car ran well again today, spending time between 60 and 70 mph without complaint. Steering and suspension are solid. Top up all the way, it was a cool day and only the really hardcore would have gone topless today. Didn't bother with the GPS, no need on I-5. We will have a problem however, as the windshield is so curved that the suction cup won't fasten, and the dash is wood, and porous, so the GPS doesn't stick there either. We'll figure it out later.
So, just gas and lunch and 'stretch-stops' today, and long cruising stretches in between until we got to Grants Pass in southern Oregon. Then we left I-5 in favor of Oregon State highway 199, heading south and west to Crescent City, California, a distance of 86 miles. The road started simply enough, long stretches of cruising at 55 mph, one lane each way. Then, after about 50 miles it got very very interesting. We hit the mountains, and windy twisty roads, through heavy forest. We were in a train of cars, led by a pickup truck, us second, another pickup truck, then a van. As the roads got twisty and the posted speeds on the corners got lower, I had by then tried to get the electric overdrive to turn off. No luck. On I-5, 60 mph is about 2300 rpm which is a very reasonable engine speed, good economy but still lots of power. But the overdrive turns the car into a slug below 45 mph, which we were suddenly confronting on the mountain roads. Hmmmm... Whose idea was it to take this trip in the TR6? Mine? Only myself to blame, again.
The funny thing about the overdrive is that it is not a fifth gear, but an electric 'over-gear' attached to the back of the 4-speed transmission. And the blasted thing works in both 3rd and 4th gears, so there was no getting away from it, even gearing down in the corner. I flipped the lever up and down, while in gear or in neutral, depressed the clutch or didn't, in short tried everything to no avail. No disrespect to our daughter's men-folk, BUT I HATE BRITISH ENGINEERS!!!! Ok, I've vented the anger now, I'm settled down again. On the road again, through the mountains where the car should have shown its tailpipe to the pick ups and vans, I was now falling behind the one ahead of me and the two behind were getting restive and closer than I wanted them to be. I mean, friendly and close is nice at times but I didn't even know these guys. Dusk was falling as I eased up into the first of the 'pullouts' along the road to let the others by. I pulled back onto the road, and shortly had another tail behind me. Another 'pullout' came along, and the process was repeated over and over until we reached Crescent City.
By now, I'm concerned. I don't want the whole trip on I-5, but driving mountain roads like this with the wrong gears is no fun. We stopped for coffee in Crescent City, Jan and I talked about where to stay, I started the car up again and headed on to 'downtown' and, miracle of miracles, I've got four gears again and the overdrive is off. Tempting fate, I turn it on again, it works, and off, it also works. Lucas, the Prince of Darkness, as the maker of English Auto electrics is known, has struck again. What will happen to the overdrive tomorrow, will it work or not? Who knows. All that matters is that we're here safe just now in Crescent City California.
