This is where you'll find clever dialog about the trip, hopefully as it happens.
Captain's
Log 07.22.2006: We left Bovey Thursday afternoon about 3 PM and made
the trek to St. Paul. The Corvair ran excellent (as usual).
Spent the evening at my folks house and went to bed early. We got
up Friday morning at 3:45, and were on the road to Twinsburg, Ohio by
4:45. The drive took about 15 hours. Worst part was getting
around Chicago. When we entered Illinois, we stopped at the
visitors center, picked up maps and the usual stuff, and the nice
tourism department lady gave us a map complete with highlighted route
drawn on, showing us how to go around Chicago, and all the extensive
road construction lurking on the freeway system there. OK, so, we
didn't wind up sitting in never ending construction, instead we spent
four frekkin' hours going around the construction! She routed us way
around, and there wasn't any construction, but plenty of traffic, and
some minor construction. It pretty much kept us moving, but I
kept thinking...."we've driven for two hours, and we're STILL next to
Chicago....we've driven for THREE hours and we're STILL next to
Chicago....we've been driving for FOUR hours and we're STILLLLLLL next
to Chicago. Ugh. Routed us thru a residential area at the end of
the loop to avoid yet another hunk of construction. It was
HORRIBLE. The car ran fine, and our full day of driving was all
done with the temp in the mid 70's and overcast skies, so no squinting,
and comfortable cabin temps, but still. Once we got into Indiana,
we blasted thru the state in what seemed like minutes. Oh, yeah,
that's right..we were actually driving at freeway speeds by then!
Somewhere along the way, waitiing in line to give a chunk of change to
the nice toll both operators I noticed the clutch in the car didn't
feel right. It was barely disengaging with the pedal hard to the
floor. Didn't know if I should attribute it to my tired clutch leg
after driving for 12 hours, or if something was awry. We got into
Ohio, and after stopping at a rest area to figure out where the motel
was, I decided that something was indeed wrong with the clutch
cable/linkage. Short version, we made it to the hotel, and got
checked in, at the end of 15 hours of driving with no stops except for
gas. Parking at the motel it was very hard to shift the Corvair
into reverse or second gear. Just wasn't getting full clutch
release. Oh well, something to deal with tomorrow. We checked in,
and discovered our room has what has to be the finest king size bed
ever made. Or, maybe it was because we were so dog tired. No, on second
thought, it IS the most comfortable bed ever made.
Got up Saturday morning. Today's main event is a drive up to Cleveland to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ah, but first, to address the clutch issue. A quick post to VV and the Corvair Center phorum generated some advice, and I popped under the dashboard to check the various pulleys, cables and such looking for trouble. I didn't find anything awry. The clutch cable is nearly new, and the pulleys looked good. Later went back down for a closer investigation, pulled the cover on the floor/firewall area to check the cable and pulley in there and it seemed to be OK too. This is gonna require getting under the car. Of course, by now it had rained and the parking lot was wet. After waiting for the rain to stop, I backed the car up on the curb behind our parking place in the lot, blocked a front wheel with a handy boulder borrowed from the hotel garden. I crawled under and couldn't find any trouble with the linkage at the clutch end either, but more slack in the cable than there should be. Adjusted the slack out of the cable and everything worked much much better. Then..I thought..long as I have it up on the curb, we could walk up to the NAPA store that was two bocks away and get a can of white lithium grease and lube the linkages for everything under the car. So, we walk. We buy. We start walking back, and it starts pouring rain. We walk. We're soaked thru to the skin. Saturated. Well, what the heck, you can only get so wet, so I crawl under the car in the rain, sopping wet, give everything a once over again, lube everything that moves, and call it good.
We depart for Cleveland, about a 30 mile drive to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The clutch seems to be working perfectly, very smooth, but I'm worried about what exactly went wrong and why it was wierd. Why should it need to be suddenly adjusted to work right? Don't know, but the ride to Cleveland was also blessed with a ton of road construction, detours, and general navigational confusion, but we made it anyway.
One almost missed exit did give me the chance to demonstrate the Corvair's superior handling capabilities. And I would like to note that the car sure drives different (re: better) when the trunk isn't packed to the brim with STUFF!
As for the Rock Hall itself, if you're ever in Cleveland, be sure to visit. It's gonna take you a few hours to see it all, especially if you get sucked into the gift shop! The hall is located right on Lake Erie, in fact, we parked on a pier! It's right by the stadium, and the airport, and the science museum, and a whole lot of really cool stuff. The building and it's displays are quite impressive (perhaps I'll post a few pics). Photography in the museum is forbidden and this is strictly enforced. But you can take photos outside, and in the lobby, etc. and of course, I did take a minox spy camera in with me to try to grab a few shots, but that's a (gasp) FILM camera, so will have to wait till I get home and develop the film to see if I got anything. Oddly enough, the Wife was more interested in looking at the various performers outfits on display, and I was more interested in the old studio and recording equipment on display. It was worth the time and money to go, that's for sure. If you're thinking about visiting, I suggest you become a MEMBER. Admission for members is FREE, and you can bring a guest. That's worth $40 itself, but your membership also gets you a subscription to Rolling Stone, and a free members T-shirt (which is very cool) and a tote bag, and discounts in their gift shop. Plus, you don't have to wait in line to get in, and you get member treatment that gets you around other lines too. You come out money ahead, and you're helping support them too. so..do it!
Left the Hall, after watiing for another afternoon of rain to subside, and headed back to Twinsburg. Yenko's have begun arriving by the trailers full. Snapped a few photos in the parking lot, then headed off to the Cracker Barrel for food. We'd never been to a Cracker Barrel before, and now we've found a new favorite place! A groovy "old store" atmosphere, excellent food, good prices, neat store full of fun stuff-everything from rocking chairs, to old fashioned candy, to games, kids toys,k and more. It was a neat place, and since it's right by the hotel, we'll probably eat there till we leave on Tuesday!
Still....I'm paranoid about the clutch.
Average MPG 26.7. Used 1/2 quart of Amsoil 10W40. To lazy to go down to the car to check total miles driven so far. Somewhere around 850.
Got up Saturday morning. Today's main event is a drive up to Cleveland to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Ah, but first, to address the clutch issue. A quick post to VV and the Corvair Center phorum generated some advice, and I popped under the dashboard to check the various pulleys, cables and such looking for trouble. I didn't find anything awry. The clutch cable is nearly new, and the pulleys looked good. Later went back down for a closer investigation, pulled the cover on the floor/firewall area to check the cable and pulley in there and it seemed to be OK too. This is gonna require getting under the car. Of course, by now it had rained and the parking lot was wet. After waiting for the rain to stop, I backed the car up on the curb behind our parking place in the lot, blocked a front wheel with a handy boulder borrowed from the hotel garden. I crawled under and couldn't find any trouble with the linkage at the clutch end either, but more slack in the cable than there should be. Adjusted the slack out of the cable and everything worked much much better. Then..I thought..long as I have it up on the curb, we could walk up to the NAPA store that was two bocks away and get a can of white lithium grease and lube the linkages for everything under the car. So, we walk. We buy. We start walking back, and it starts pouring rain. We walk. We're soaked thru to the skin. Saturated. Well, what the heck, you can only get so wet, so I crawl under the car in the rain, sopping wet, give everything a once over again, lube everything that moves, and call it good.
We depart for Cleveland, about a 30 mile drive to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The clutch seems to be working perfectly, very smooth, but I'm worried about what exactly went wrong and why it was wierd. Why should it need to be suddenly adjusted to work right? Don't know, but the ride to Cleveland was also blessed with a ton of road construction, detours, and general navigational confusion, but we made it anyway.
One almost missed exit did give me the chance to demonstrate the Corvair's superior handling capabilities. And I would like to note that the car sure drives different (re: better) when the trunk isn't packed to the brim with STUFF!
As for the Rock Hall itself, if you're ever in Cleveland, be sure to visit. It's gonna take you a few hours to see it all, especially if you get sucked into the gift shop! The hall is located right on Lake Erie, in fact, we parked on a pier! It's right by the stadium, and the airport, and the science museum, and a whole lot of really cool stuff. The building and it's displays are quite impressive (perhaps I'll post a few pics). Photography in the museum is forbidden and this is strictly enforced. But you can take photos outside, and in the lobby, etc. and of course, I did take a minox spy camera in with me to try to grab a few shots, but that's a (gasp) FILM camera, so will have to wait till I get home and develop the film to see if I got anything. Oddly enough, the Wife was more interested in looking at the various performers outfits on display, and I was more interested in the old studio and recording equipment on display. It was worth the time and money to go, that's for sure. If you're thinking about visiting, I suggest you become a MEMBER. Admission for members is FREE, and you can bring a guest. That's worth $40 itself, but your membership also gets you a subscription to Rolling Stone, and a free members T-shirt (which is very cool) and a tote bag, and discounts in their gift shop. Plus, you don't have to wait in line to get in, and you get member treatment that gets you around other lines too. You come out money ahead, and you're helping support them too. so..do it!
Left the Hall, after watiing for another afternoon of rain to subside, and headed back to Twinsburg. Yenko's have begun arriving by the trailers full. Snapped a few photos in the parking lot, then headed off to the Cracker Barrel for food. We'd never been to a Cracker Barrel before, and now we've found a new favorite place! A groovy "old store" atmosphere, excellent food, good prices, neat store full of fun stuff-everything from rocking chairs, to old fashioned candy, to games, kids toys,k and more. It was a neat place, and since it's right by the hotel, we'll probably eat there till we leave on Tuesday!
Still....I'm paranoid about the clutch.
Average MPG 26.7. Used 1/2 quart of Amsoil 10W40. To lazy to go down to the car to check total miles driven so far. Somewhere around 850.
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