Update

Sorry I have not kept this blog updated, but between all the activities associated with S2KDays in Westlake Village, CA, and my lack of sleep, plus the difficulty of uploading pics from my camera (just resolved,) I just put this task aside. I promise, tomorrow on my stop in Dodge City, Kansas, I will try to at least partially catch up.

I am now in Montrose, CO, and will be driving to Dodge City, KS, tomorrow. (Tuesday)

What a trip!

S2KDays 2018 - Days 7 & 8

Arrived at the Hyatt Regency in Westlake Village, CA, mid-afternoon on Saturday. Rested up Saturday. Today I washed the car and helped the event organizers prepare the "goody" bags, attended the welcome reception, and I just returned from dinner across the street. Tomorrow starts the meet drives, with a 270 mile drive planned, starting at 8:30 AM. I volunteered to be the drive leader for the more spirited group, so it should be a fun day. We end the day in Ventura to watch the sun set over the Pacific. If I get any good pics, I will post them.

This is the arrival GPS reading:

I will probably be adding another 500 miles or so on our planned drives, so I  have scheduled an oil change on Tuesday, when I will be riding with one of the locals on our trip to the Honda Museum in Torrence.

In spite of the issue with the belt tensioner, this has been a great trip so far!

Oh, California freeways suck! DC traffic pales in comparison.

S2KDays 2018 - Day 6

Had trouble sleeping last night as I was concerned whether the parts for the S would come in as promised. Needless worries! I got a call at 10:15 this morning that the car was ready to go. Talk about relief!

After paying the bill (you don't want to know how much,) I departed for Tempe, AZ. Today was all I-10 driving, as I needed to get to Tempe to pick up some door prizes before 6:00. This was my first trip across the New Mexico and Arizona deserts, and I was amazed at the different topography. Elevations from 7,000 to under 4,000 feet on the way. And, coming from the east coast, I can't believe how barren everything looks. Passed several pecan orchards on the way, and obviously they are irrigated. They were the few green sights I saw.

Anyway, tomorrow I will be checking into the hotel at Westlake Village, CA, the site of our S2KCA meet. Really looking forward to seeing some old friends and new sights and meeting some new friends as well!

Here is the GPS pic, which covers the last 2 days on Trip B.

S2KDays 2018 - Day 5

Today started out great, after spending the night in a $36 Quality Inn, that I'm sure had lots of unidentifiable stains on the carpets. But, I slept well! First stop was Roswell, NM, home of the alien sighting back in 1947. Visited their Visitor Center and the UFO Museum. Pics follow:

The Roswell Visitor Center, which is in an old Conoco Service Station from the 1920's.

The sign outside the Visitor Center

Several pics from the UFO Museum:

A non-UFO painting on a wall near the Visitor Center. Roswell downtown is pretty cool!

And, to top today off, I stopped at the White Sands National Monument near Alamogordo, NM. This is outside the visitor center:

Unfortunately, this is as far as I got. When I exited the car, I heard a loud screeching noise coming from under the hood. I investigated it, and determined that the serpentine belt tensioner had a bearing that was on its last legs, and was in imminent danger of failing. Since I had noticed a Honda dealer about 13 miles behind, I decided the smart thing to do was return to Alamogordo and hope that it would last that long. The Honda service manager was extremely accommodating, and got me in right away. He said I was very lucky to have made it that far. Unfortunately, they didn't have the parts, but are having them overnighted in for tomorrow, so, I am cooling my heals in the hotel for the night. This little episode puts me slightly behind my planned schedule, but I still should be in Westlake Village, CA, by late Saturday night. Probably no pics in the meantime.

I am really disappointed that I didn't get to take the scenic drive at White Sands, though. As I was approaching from the northeast, I could see the white sands in the distance for at least 20 miles. Impressive!

S2KDays 2018 - Day 4

For the most part, today was again, miles and miles of boring Oklahoma and Texas plains. I did notice that the panhandle of Texas sure had a lot of oil wells and related activity.

The only highlight worth posting was lunch, in Canadian, Texas, in the Panhandle, on the way to Amarillo. Here are a couple pics from there:

This was a steakhouse in a classy building. The lady at the gas stop recommended it, and she was right! Pure Texas. For my Canuck friends, the town is really named Canadian. Don't know the reason. Oh, I had a smoked turkey sandwich. :)

The town admin building:

My destination for the night was Clovis, NM. On the way here, the road (US60) paralleled the BNSF  railroad tracks. It seemed that every 5 miles or so, I met a loonng train, either running north or south, most of the time with puller and pusher engines. Apparently, the rail commerce is alive and well! Time to buy stock?

Finally, today's GPS tally:

Texas has done one thing right, and that's their realistic speed limits. On most of the 2 lane roads, the limit is at least 65, A lot are 75, and that's MPH, not KPH! (Must have hit 90 in a tight passing zone.) It's all downhill from here!

S2KDays 2018 - Day 3

For the most part, today was miles and miles of miles and miles, most on 4-lane, non-Interstate roads. However, it all changed about 15 miles from my destination (Miami. OK) as the Oklahoma skies decided to open up on me with a ferocious thunderstorm. At times, it was almost impossible to see the road (2-lane) in front of me. To top it off, as I got to my final turn about 12 miles from the hotel, there was a flashing sign that the road was closed 10 miles ahead. Unfortunately, the GPS and Waze knew nothing about this, but I finally found the detour sign, and after about 45 minutes, arrived at the hotel, still driving in the downpour, with massive lightning strikes all around. At least there was no hail!

After a short happy hour in the hotel and a much needed nap, I went to dinner at a very nice Mexican restaurant, Los Dos Amigos, which was very good. On the way back, I discovered that this town is on the old historic Route 66. Here are a couple pics I took in the downtown area.

Note: Updated the pics to add a couple.

And today's final GPS reading. Trip A is the total miles on the trip, while Trip B is today's mileage.

Looks like I'm about halfway there, according to the mileage. Tomorrow's destination is Clovis NM.

(Depending on when I get going, I may take a couple more pictures here in MIami,)

S2KDays 2018 - Day 2

Left Galax around 6:30 this morning, knowing that I had about 9 1/2 hours ahead. I was lucky enough to enjoy some nice weather, and even nicer twisties on US58 through Southwest Virginia. This is the first time I have really tried out all the suspension work that I had completed in the last couple weeks. I was blown away! I had forgotten how this car used to drive, but 140,000 miles and 17 years had taken their toll. The car drove through the tight turns like it was on rails, with never an instance of losing traction. Especially effective were the Ohlin coil-overs which were recommended to me. What a difference!

Unfortunately, after I got into Kentucky, the skies opened up, and I was only able to enjoy a few miles on KY92 before I had to start taking it easy due to slick roads and traffic. One observation: through Southwest Virginia and most of Kentucky, there seems to be a church of one denomination or another every couple of miles, at least. I won't make any political comments here!

I passed by the Corvette plant and museum in Bowling Green, and briefly considered visiting, but since I had been there a few years ago (before the sink hole,) I continued on. About 10 miles outside of Hopkinsville, I spied what I thought was the Washington Monument off to the left side of the highway, so I had to stop, of course. Here is what I saw when I entered the park:

This is the Jefferson Davis Monument near his birthplace in Fairview, KY. It was built between 1917 and 1924, and rises to 351 feet high. Quite impressive, and one can ride the elevator to the top, though I passed on that!

Here is my requisite pic of the S in front of the park entrance:

Finally, my trip stats as of the end of the day:

Tomorrow, Miami OK.

S2KDays 2018 - Day 1

S2KDays 2018 - Day 1

Day 1 was from home to Galax, VA.  Nothing unusual to post, but had a great lunch at a favorite stop in Keysville, VA, Sheldon's Restaurant. Great fried fresh Virginia oysters! Here is my final GPS reading from when I arrived in Galax:

Tomorrow, heading to Hopkinsville, KY. Hope to have good weather and be able to post some interesting pics of sights along the drive. 

Day 20 - Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania to Home, Smyrna, Delaware

Finally, time to make the final leg in this marathon journey. Though I was glad to get home, I was none-the-less sorry to see the trip end. I sure experienced and saw so much that I could never begin to show it all in photos. In addition, I did not realize how tired I was. I pretty much was a zombie yesterday (Monday) as I was finally able to relax and not have to get up at 6:00 and realize I had another 450 to 500 miles ahead of me. Well, let's get going!

As I am somewhat of a railroad fan, I decided to take one final detour before I made it home, and that was to the Horseshoe Curve near Altoona, PA. This was about an hour out of my way, so no big deal, plus it was down a narrow twisty road, which I loved! There is a museum and a funicular there, but they did not open til later, so, unfortunately, my view-point of the curve was not so great. Here are a couple view that I was able to get.

This is the tunnel under the curve you have to pass through to get to the vantage point.

Just as I was leaving, waiting for the light to change to let me get through the one-way tunnel, I heard the unmistakeable sound of diesel engines struggling under the load. Unfortunately, my vantage point was not great, but I was able to get a couple pics of the Norfolk-Southern freight train as it rounded the curve. I believe there were 3 engines in front and 4 in the rear. Quite an impressive sight and sound!

 Like I said, my vantage point sucked! Anyway, I got to see a train on the curve!

So, it was then off to home, and the final tally:

As I posted on my S2000 Forums, here is my summary of the trip:

Miles: 6,924.7
States: DE, MD, WV, OH, KY, IN, IL, MO, KS, CO, UT, NV, OR, ID, MT, ND, MN, WI, MI, PA (That's 20)
Provinces: AL, SK, MB (That's 3)
Days: 20
Gas Burned: Who knows??? Many, many gallons and litres
Bottles of Bombay Sapphire Consumed: 2, I think
National Parks Visited: 4
National Monuments Visited: 2
International Parks Visited: 1
New Soft Top: 1 (Thanks, Hardtopguy!)
Top Speed per Garmin: 109 MPH, but I think that's a GPS error

Amount of Fun Experienced: Impossible to count!

Thanks for riding along with me! There may be other trips on the horizon. Who knows! :)

Day 19 - Maumee, Ohio to Brooklyn Heights, Ohio to Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania

Now that I have some time, I would like to complete the blog. This was on Saturday, August 6, and it involved about a 1 3/4 hour trip from near Toledo to my friend Jeff's house near Cleveland to get a new soft-top installed. The original one on the S was 15 years old, and had developed several pin holes, and even worse, some substantial tears that could not be repaired. In addition, the plastic rear window was badly fogged to the point that it was difficult to see out. Jeff sells Honda and Acura parts on-line, and is an experienced installer, so as it worked out, I was able to arrange my trip to be at his house early Saturday morning for the top install. I was surprised to learn that the interior of the car had to be pretty much completely disassembled to get at all the parts necessary to remove the old top and install the new one. These pics are in order of the removal and installation: WARNING - CAR PICS - Feel free to skip this day's blog if these are boring!

All done! What a pleasure to have a nice, new top. Ready for another 15 years. :)

In addition, when I had the oil changed in Medicine Hat, they told me my engine and cabin air filters were dirty, so I had Jeff get me new ones. These are the old ones:

I would say they needed replacement!

So, day 19 was a complete car guy's day. After the top install, it was on to Cranberry Township, PA, just off the PA Turnpike, northwest of Pittsburgh.

Day 18 - Manistique, Michigan to Maumee, Ohio

Unlike yesterday, today was a top-down day! The first 85 miles or so were through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (the UP, or as the locals are known: Yoopers) The road, US2, is mostly bordered by woods, and I met and passed numerous logging trucks. Soon, however, it was time to cross Lake Michigan, via the Mackinac Bridge ($4.00 toll)

But, first, the obligatory Garmin guess:

The bridge, from a tourist trap:

Some 250 miles later, I stopped at my S2000 friends' Dave and Donna's house in Jackson, and enjoyed a brief visit with them. Though he no longer owns an S, he is an avid MGA restorer and has an immaculate garage and collection that I could only begin to capture in these pics:

He compiled and edited this massive book about the Michigan MG Club. Impressive!

This is a man's cave man's cave, complete with beer fridge and all that goes with it!

His wife is an avid gardener, and was only too happy to show off her flower gardens:

They have a beautiful place, but unfortunately, I could only spend a short time there, and after they treated me to lunch at a local pub, it was time to go to my overnight spot in Maumee, OH, near Toledo. Tomorrow, I will be heading another friend's place near Cleveland to have him install a new soft-top on my S. The 15-year old one is in sad shape, with tears and pin-holes, plus the rear window is badly faded. I'll try to take pics of the installation.

Today's final Garmin reading:

This epic journey is nearing its end, and even though I've enjoyed every minute, I'll sure be glad to pull into my driveway back in Delaware!