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Those of you who know me will understand that undertaking a road trip of any length is quite a feat for me. The fracture to my pelvis (from last November) still hasn't healed, so walking or even sitting very long makes me very cranky!
The wife took her mother to Las Vegas on Tuesday for a little birthday 'gaming.' They will return tonight, having spent two nights, three days there. All it cost me was two new tires for her Dakota, gas, food, room and some money to lose. A cheap price to pay for some solitude!
Anyway, Tuesday I checked the 544 under the hood (just to make sure I hadn't left any loose pieces laying around where they could cause trouble!) I loaded up my camera and tripod to go do a little picture-taking on the other side of the mountains where the Joshua trees are starting to bloom.
These desert plants only bloom every 4th or 5th year, so you gotta catch them or wait a long time to see it again. We have Joshua trees nearby where we live, but the mountains block the rain, and our local trees aren't fully in bloom yet.
I left town on Hwy 178, heading west up into the mountains, through Walker Pass, and down into the Kern River Basin. The little car pulled the hills very well, not needing to be downshifted while climbing. The automatic transmission kick-down cable still hasn't been installed, to I have to manually shift it down when needed.
Part of the trip to the mountains was down CA Hwy 14, a very busy highway that connects the LA basin with towns like Bishop, Mammoth Lakes (ski area) and Lake Tahoe. There's always a lot of traffic, and my PV doesn't like speeds above 65 mph or so. Everyone else seemed to be driving at 80 mph, so it was a little hectic for the few miles to the Walker Pass turnoff!
Once out of the heavy traffic, the Hwy 178 starts to climb pretty quickly. the little car pulled the grade just fine, without any sign of the overheating problem I'll have later in the year as the days get warmer.
Once across Walker Pass - used by Indians, 49er's, and emigrants who survived Death Valley - the scenery changes from desert plants to small pine trees, and the road drops quickly to the valley floor. I dropped down to 2nd gear going down the first few curves to keep from having to battle the hairpin turns, then went back to 'D' and let the car run free when the slope leveled out.
I finally found a good place to get parked off the road where there were several nice Joshua trees blooming. I could even get the mountain tops bracketing Walker Pass into the background, with their brilliant white snow caps!
Then I started having one of my less-than-perfect days. I took my camera out of its case and discovered that the batteries were dead. Naturally, I could only find three of the four spare batteries, and the camera wouldn't work with just three...so I buckled back in and drove down the road a few miles to a country store-cum-gas station where I enjoyed a nice chat with a young German tourist who was riding his BMW motorcycle around the country. He was very enthusiastic about seeing my car and had all kinds of questions. Neat guy!
Anyway, I went into the store and discovered they had AAA, C, D, and 9 volt batteries, but no AA's. Naturally!
I spent a few bucks on Danish pastry and an orange soda to get rid of the shakes (I have hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar condition.) I sat out on a huge round of tree trunk and ate my snack in the shade (did I mention it was HOT out?) then got back in the car and drove on to a grocery store about another 15 miles down the road. They had AA batteries, but they were an off-brand. I bought two loads, 8 batteries, so I'll have non-rechargeable spares for the future, provided the wife doesn't take them for one of her flashlights.
When I started out on the road back to the place I had selectd for my pictures, I noticed the speedometer wasn't working. I had noted that it read 33.4 miles when I had stopped to try to take pictures the first time, and it still read 33.4 miles after about 20 miles of driving!
The car has a problem with the speedometer cable in that the 'mechanic' (and I use the term loosely!) who installed the engine and transmission used the speedo cable from the new trans, and the fitting on the meter end doesn't screw onto the nipple to hold the thing in place. I pulled off the road ans fished around under the dash for the cable, found it and tried to get it back into the hole, managing to gash my arm open while NOT getting the cable in place. *sigh*
I decided not to fool around with it, the car runs fine without a speedometer (it's not like I could speed if I tried!) and I was now in no mood to try to crawl under the dash.
Back at my photo spot, I parked near an abandoned homesite (just the block fence was still standing) and got my camera and gear out. The new batteries worked fine, and I shot about 50 photos of Joshua trees and other desert plants. I noted that some of the tiny desert wildflowers are starting to appear, so I'll be back out there in a few days to take more pictures. Gotta love that double Macro setting, where the subject can touch the lens and still be in focus!
On the way home, I took my time, since the climb back up the western side of Walker Pass is much steeper than the other side. I occasionally had several cars backed up behind me, but they must have been content to be there, since no one tried to pass on the many straight stretches of road. About 1/2 way up the mountains there's a spot with picnic tables and plenty of parking that has been set up as a roadside rest area. I usually stop there for a bit, but this time there was a huge motor home parked there, so I kept going.
Going uphill through the hairpin turns, I had to manually downshift just once on a really tight and steep corner; otherwise, high gear was fine all the way up.
Going down the eastern slope is fun, as the curves are gentle and the slope is about 8% - pretty steep for a big truck, but great for a car!
Once I was back on Hwy 14, I heard an odd noise and looked in my rear view mirror just in time to see one of my new wheel trim rings taking a detour across the highway and into the ditch on the opposite side. I made a U-turn and got out and retrieved it, tossing it onto the front passenger floorboard so it couldn't escape again.
These trim rings aren't as well designed as I'd like to have, and I had to adjust all the securing prongs by hand to make them fit the car. The right front ring still isn't properly adjusted, but this was the first time it had ever come off. I'll be outside later today to paint my wheels, so I'll take another stab at getting those prongs adjusted.
Without a working speedometer, I'd guesstimate that I drove about 120-130 miles across the desert and mountains. I was gone about 4 hours, so that seems about right. The fuel gauge needle was just coming down to the 3/4 mark when I pulled into the driveway, and that jibes with my estimate.
All-in-all, it was a pretty nice drive; no schedule, not much traffic, gorgeous scenery, and not too many parts falling off the car!
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