Quick update

I forgot to mention the last couple of days, Barry hit a big pot hole and bent his right front wheel real bad, he also thinks it broke the plies in the tire, anyway he can't go over 62 mph......might be the best thing that happened so far. Some of the desolate roads we have been on he would have been driving 85 mph plus all the time. Sort of a automatic speed control!! Tuesday morning he will head to Boyds to see about the wheel/tire and order a replacement.

Sunday

We got up at 7 AM, Darrick had some problems with the fan hitting the shroud,after a little trimming all was well. We had breakfast, "Deuce Special" 2 eggs, 2 panakes, 2 bacon, 2 sausage for $5...sounded like a deal (they didn't have oatmeal). We headed for Las Vegas, we skipped going to the hoover Dam because of time. I dropped Rodney off at MGM, Barry picked John up up at the airport and we all met up at excit 33 on I15, from there we headed on the 2 lane towards the west. We drove thru Death Valley, it was hot and desolate. Darrick popped a fuse on the gauges had to figure that out and fixed it. That was somewhere in the middle of Death Valley, elevation was 214 below sea level. Then the lone haul from sea level to 2000 ft up a LONG incline, Darrick's flatty go a little hot, had to cool her down a couple of times, but we did all make it out alive. Tonight we are in Tonopah, NV. Had a good dinner, found a nice cheap hotel and we all crashed. We will hit it again in the morning at 8 AM. We are going to Bodie State Park a real ghost town, google Bodie, CA and you will find some awesome photos of the town, looks as if they left yesterday, but it has been empty for 50 years. Talk to you all tomorrow night.

Saturday

We woke up to heavy clouds and quite cool, really cloudy and rain predicted to the north of us, just where we were going. After a short discussion, we decided to skip going back to the Rat Fink reunion and head south to stay dry. It was a very cool drive, sweatshirt and windbreakers.we drove thru Bryce Canyon and Zion National parks, very pretty drive. South to St George, by then it was hot. At lunch we spotted a windshield repair tent across the street, I checked him out, $20 later both windshield chips are all but gone! I changed into shorts while he was fixing the chips and off we go towards nightly stop in Mesquite, NV, just inside the border and 75 miles northeast of Vegas. It was hot there. We found rooms and also reserved one for Darrick and Terry. They arrived about 9:30 after driving 980 miles.....they were tired. They had dinner $4.99 prime rib , Rodney and I had dessert and we headed for bed. The hotel was priced right but wantged $10 more for internet, hey got to save somewhere, I did not pay it.

Friday

We drove 300 miles today thru Bryce Canyon Park. We took all back 2 lane roads. Arrived in Salina, Utah at 5PM found a room had dinner then drove 30 miles to Manti to the Rat Fink Reunion. We will go back there in the morning. Lots and lots of windy roads, not a day to make time but great sight seeing.
Heard from Darrick, the generator went south last night in Sioux Falls, they spent all day fixing it, they called at 5 their time, its fixed and they are rolling. Still hope to see them in Vegas this weekend.
Not much elase new today, we all got wind/sun burned. I look like a racoon with a red nose ! Like I have aid before........"a bad day in a roadster is better than any day at work"

Thursday

We woke up to a windy cool morning. Bundled up and headed down the road to the Grand Canyon. A beautiful drive. Drove from 5000 feet to 9000 feet. it had snowed yesterday so was a pretty sight. While at the canyon we met tourits from France, Italy, Holland, Netherlands, England and Germany, no Americans ! They all wanted to know about the cars and took photos. I am sure they will go back home and tell their friends about the "crazy old guys" in the hot rods!! Tonight we are in Knab Utah. Yesterday we drove 300 miles today only 175 miles but lots of sight seeing. Tomorrow its Bryce Canyon and on towards the Rat Fink reunion in Manti UT.

Wednesday

We had no wiFi,cell service or dish tv last night, so this post is a little late. We left Cortez Co in the morning in the cool..had sweatshirts and wind breakers on. We stopped for a mid morning breakfast and met 25 bikers from France. They had a ball checking out the cars and asking questions, taking lots of photos. By noon it was warm and we were in t shirts again.
We drove thru Monument Valley, down the dirt/gravel 5 mph switchback road. We placed our "Goodguys Rod & Custom" decal on the sign at the top of the decent. While driving thru a construction zone with fresh gravel I caught 2 rocks to the windshield, I now have 2 nice nickle size chips there! We drove onto AZ, about 5PM we stopped for a quick break and to check the clouds boiling above us and to put on the windbreakers again. In about 5 minutes all hell broke loose, wind, blowing sand/gravel, we took cover temporarily under the gas station canopy. We checked inside, they had 2 rooms left! We quickly took them. The wind just kept getting worse. We found shelter for the cars in a shed used by a river boat excursion company. We headed to the local bar/cafe for some beers and dinner.While walking and running to the cafe, we were pelted by stinging sand and gravel blown on us. We watched 3 SUV's loose their back glass...., blown in. Two portapottys blew over and went scooting across the highway.......empty thankfully. Shingles were blowing off the roofs....we just set there and drank beer and watched the action. Finally at 8PM, 3 hours later, the wind and gravel stopped. It was totally calm, clear skies, untill about midnight, then more wind, rain and noise. What a night!

Part 2 for Tuesday

Oh yea, in case you all want to know, the highest gas price has been 4.28. They have 85 octane for a little less but have not tried that yet. You may want to check out www.streetrodding.com, some good photos of Goodguys in CO there, one pretty blue deuce for sure!! Ha Ha
To off set the gas price we found a great little motel tonight for $45.!! Gotta cutback some where.
It even comes with a coffee pot, fridge, micro....cool!It;s 11 o'c;lock, I'm tried, time to crash.