THE BEND EXPEDITION – Day 9

The Final Push.

140 miles today, down 113 through Rio Vista, across the Antioch Bridge,and the GPS put us on a really slick bypass on 4 East around Oakley and Brentwood.  Wondered where it was taking us for a while but it worked really well, no red lights.  As we approached Rio Vista, Mt. Diablo looked like a volcano, because of the fire. Home at last, home at last.  You don’t ever notice our traffic when you start out on a tour, and it is great touring on two lane roads and out of state, but it is just a bear getting back into the valley at the end of a long tour. Just doesn’t seem friendly to a poor little old Model A. We were dragging a bit by the time we got home.We show 1605 miles on the odometer, and the little black coupe performed perfectly.  Never did add any oil or water, got 20.8 mpg overall (don’t move that mixture knob!!!!!!)  Now all we need is a real good cleaning,,,,,,  The rest of the touring A’s are still out there, half will get home tomorrow, the other half are lost in the wineries of Oregon.     So where are we going next?  Stay tuned.

THE BEND EXPEDITION – Day 8

Folks said, if you want to see a pretty sunrise at Crater Lake, you have to get up early.  We did, it was gorgeous. And then we hit the road and made a beeline for CA.  Driving alongside Klamath Lake we had a flock of geese keeping pace with us. Click and make it big, they are out there somewhere.Continued to make a beeline or maybe I should say mosquito line,,,,,, not a good place for a breakdown!!!!  After Klamath Falls, we looked at this for a long time as we got closer and closer,,,,  On I5, we were definitely back in civilization with traffic.I made it 350 miles and stopped in Woodland, that was plenty for me.  Ray  wanted to press on and he did 450 plus and we just got a call, they got home at 8.  Whew, that’s a tough guy.    We’ll finish tomorrow.

THE BEND EXPEDITION – Day 7

Last day at the Roundup. Started the day out right at the old car swap meet in Redmond,  pretty big event,  found some “stuff” there, the ladies were not impressed. Then Fontaines and Meneelys split for home, (Bob doesn’t do banquets). On the way we ran across this big fella,,,,, Escaped with our lives and ended up at,,,, Had to hike out to the most precarious point,,,, Splurged to stay in the old Lodge….. We have a 4th floor dormer room with a claw foot tub with a view. Don’t worry, all Patti’s clothes are drip dry. Crater lake is one of those things that you cannot take an adequate picture of, but we do try……Nice veranda, rocking chairs, hors d’ouvres, a little wine, watched the lake go to sleep…..  Good day, good Fords, good scenery…..

THE BEND EXPEDITION – Day 6

Grand Tour today, little wet at the beginning, as we climbed out towards Mt. Bachelor, began to wonder if we really wanted to do this. This highway was the scene of a stage in the US Cycling Championships today.  Lots of groups of cyclists escorted by police on motorcycles. But the weather improved as we went along, and was good for the rest of the day.  Tour turned around at Crane Prairie Lake.  Nice lodge and store and boat rental there,  fish pictures in the store were incredible. Tour ended at a pavilion here in town, and had the opportunity to grab a couple pictures of the whole group, all the cars on the tour in the same place. And all the people in the same place.  Click on this pic to make it larger and see if you can spot these people: In the lower left foreground, Patti, Ray & Linda, Gene & Carol, Don & Judy.  In the middle, Wayne & Julie, Ron, Will & Carla.

THE BEND EXPEDITION – Day 5

More exploring of the local area above and below ground, i.e. the lava tube cave.

You notice Ray and Linda are missing in these pics, Ray doesn’t do caves.

Then we hoped on the brewery tour, went to a new brewery here in Bend that will soon be expanding into CA.  Interesting facts, took 2 mil to set up the brewery, there are 18 and soon to be 24 brewerys in Bend.  It is the pure water of the Deschutes River here in Oregon. Motored out to Sisters to check out the antique stores and quilt shop, and got treated to a fine thunderstorm.  Took refuge in the Bakery and consoled ourselves with an apple pie.  Same storm cut the car judging a little short.   When we got back, Ray’s car decided it had had enough.  Trouble shot one thing at a time and it was the coil.  And I always say “it is never the coil.  Shot the hell out of that saying.    ”Long day, dinner at 8:30.   zzzzzz.

THE BEND EXPEDITION – Day 4

Wasn’t going to post today, but just got too many good pictures.  Went off this morning to find Benham Falls, but what we found was trouble on a wire over the Deschutes River. Fortunately, it had a stout lock, so we settled for a foot bridge on the way to the Falls. Half mile hide to Benham Falls, not too high,,,,,Of more interest, Ray’s tree,,,,and Pat’s tree,,,,,Ran for the car when we saw this footprint,,,,   Went and drowned our selves in bottomless root beer floats at Red Robin…..  Dozed through the speedometer seminar,,,, Drove to the top of Pilot Butte cinder cone, quite neat climbing this cone by circling around and around it as you go up.   360 degree view of central Oregon.  The guys spent the time with binoculars, the ladies, well,,,,, Finished a fine day off with Sangria and hot fudge Shooter at Applebees.

THE BEND EXPEDITION – Day 3

Our group of three hit the road at 7:30 to make some serious tracks to Bend.  About two hours out we started looking for the necessary facilities, which it turns out are few and far between on Oregon route 62.  Finally turned into a campground and searched for an outhouse. Well hidden in the trees.  Good thing we found this little sign post,,,,,It pointed to this cute little building.   It even had a window.  (Only in Oregon!)Saw a lot of scenery like this,,,,,  (Only in Oregon.) When we got back to civilization (pop 350), we found survival rations.    I had homemade apple, good, good, good.

Arrived at the Roundup, and this strange machine was parked outside. Half Model A, and half imagination.Everyone from the SCVC group is in.  No roadside seminars today.  But a few cars took more than 9.5 gallons after that rather lonely stretch.  Don’s cracked block is getting a little worse, cylinder got water in it overnight and he had a hydraulic lock this morning. Gotta be careful not to bend a rod.  Tonight was the welcome social.  There are 294 registrations, that is a lot of people to get all in one room.  And near as we can tell, we brought 42 people.  We probably won’t post for the next couple days, as we will be camped here in Bend.   

THE BEND EXPEDITION – Day 2

Carson Mansion was two blocks from our motel in Eureka. We hustled over for a vintage picture. Just as we got parked to take the photo a busload of tourists piled out of a bus and started to make a bee line for the cars for their photo op. Patti yelled stop and we quickly took our picture, thirty seconds later there were tourists all lined up in front of our cars. Trekked over to the Samoa Cookhouse for a lumberjack breakfast. This was that rare time during the day when everyone was in the same place because this is the Model A Food Club. We had a waitress, Pam, who was the official straw boss barking out orders,  pushing a food cart at a dead run, slinging hash and retrieving empty plates. Drivers meeting with valuable tidbits from our fearless leader, Don. Lots of scenic coast side driving,,, Minor roadside repair – new radiator cap gasket produced by Bob M. in 30 sec. Ray did try to kluge one with duct tape for an extra just in case.Any excuse to pull off for a photo op and admire the majestic trees. Could this be a salad from the natural flora and fauna? Look at the size of that leaf. Some people thought that this was the garden of Eden…..who are these young folks? We looked in vain for an antique store that was open, alas no luck. So we just settled for ice cream instead.So here we are in Grants Pass and hoping it doesn’t rain too hard on our little A’s tonight.