I am driving my 26 touring from Lincoln, NE to San Diego, CA. This came up on another thread so I figure that I should start a new one. I set up a website where I am posting a daily report. http://modelts.rsomuchfun.com/
Today the car started missing occasionally. At first I blamed bad gas since I had just filled up when I first noticed it. I later decided it was probably spark plugs. When I got to the motel I changed them out. I drove across the street to a restaurant and it seemed to run better. Then it stalled and wouldn't start for anything. I got out and lifted the hood to check things out and it was immediately evident what the problem was. I had turned off the gas while working on the plugs and forgot to turn it back on. It now seems to run OK. I haven't driven it far yet though. Tomorrow will be the real test
I am headed from Limon, CO to Alamosa, CO tomorrow so I will be getting into the mountains. A real improvement in scenery
Today I went through about three miles of rangeland that had burned. There were several places with buildings, vehicles, and such all burned up. I guess it isn't just the forrests in Colorado that are going up in flames.
Steve,
Good to hear about your trip on the forum. Good luck,
Rob
Hello Steve Hughes,
I went to your website and read your information and entries. It's very interesting and sounds like much fun. I'll be reading your daily entries.
I wish you the best. I'd love to do something like this someday.
Orlando
I'm with Orlando on this...I'll be there reading. This is very cool. And here I was, feeling pretty proud that I actually went to the store today and bought some soda pop with mine...grin..
WTG, Steve. I envy you and your trip.
I too am envious. I would love to set off on a cross country adventure. How come I am reticent with my tour proven T, but would take off in either my Morris Minor or my Vette on a cross country trek. All 3 are subject to challenges and all 3 enjoy parts availability. So what's keeping me from doing it?
Good luck and hope you have a safe and un-eventfull trip. I am jealous!!!....Chip.
Hi Steve,
Looks like a good trip so far.
I have bookmarked your website and will follow along as the days progress.
Drive safely and have fun...nice looking car.
Joe
LMAO WITH Danial.......
HAHA...thanks Craig...the dichotomy of the situation cracks me up. Here we have adventurers like Constantine from Australia and Steve from Nebraska striking out and doing truly daring and exciting things with their Model Ts.
And we have Tom and the gang of racers driving 500 miles in Montana while Ricks and his cohorts reminisce about their days of racing excitement.
Me - I brag about making it to the local grocery store for a can of soda while making sure nothing flies through the side of the transmission for lack of a spring.
hahahaha...what a great hobby!
Thank you all for the well wishes. My adventure doesn't seem like much when you compare to Constantine, or the trips that Dean Yoder take. But it is a lot more than most of the Model T guys will do, so that is why I decided to share the experience with my website. I am just hoping that the T keeps going like it has the last couple of days.
Steve,
Very nice report on your trip! Thanks for posting it.
Jim
Great web site and Thanks for allowing us to follow along with you.
PS Good Luck!
Following along from Connecticut. All the best.
Steve Hughes:
If you have any problems in Colorado please let me know. I have a large shop and just about any part that you would need. One thing that I carry on cross country trips is a MTFCA ROOSTER. lWhen you get in Western Colorado be sure to gas up frequently as there are some long stretches between gas stations.
Thanks for the offer Dave. Hopefully I won't need your parts or services but it is nice to know help is available if necessary. I have already noted on my route map some places to "get gas wherever available". I also have a 2 gallon can along that I will fill before heading across those areas. Fortunately at 20 mpg I have about a 200 mile range. My planned destination for today is Alamosa.
all the luck sir. Can you continue to post your daily miles driven and a guess as to your gas mileage? Please
If you enter San Diego via the Interstate 8 corredor and happen to go through the town of Alpine, Ca. Look me up. There are also members in Ramona, Escondido, Fallbrook and other outlaying areas of the county. This week it is going to be very hot in the desert areas. They are predicting as high as 120 degrees F. So bring a lot of water with you.
Norm
Dave, i just had to, wouldn't a Rooster be kind of messy?
Rick
Steve Hughes:
One other item, If you can possibly squeeze a side trip in while you are in the Colorado Springs Area visit the Royal Gorge. I believe that it is one of the top attractions in Colorado. When I have visiting relatives my first priority is Trail Ridge then the Royal Gorge is my second. You will get a chance to drive across an old rickety wooden suspension bridge that is several thousand feet above the canyon. Just the noise when you drive across each board will keep you awake. There is a gondola that you can ride across the canyon and a tramway that you can ride straight down to the bottom of the canyon.
Steve
I wonder if you will be taking US 160 thru the 4 Corners.
We are rooting for you all the way.
Rick, I was biting my tongue... I think, actually, it's to get him up and on the road early.
Hey you two guys a rooster would be a good companion. If you get stuck in the desert you could not eat a roster but you could a rooster.
Arrived in Alamosa about 4:30. I haven't had a chance to post an update to the website yet, but that will come later tonight. Since I got in so early I thought about going on but the scheduled trip to Farmington, NM is only 188 miles so I thought there is no reason to continue on tonight.
Tyrone: Miles driven are day 1 222 miles, day 2 307, and today 230. I am not pushing it hard. Mileage has ranged (by tankful) from 19.2 to 21.0 with the average at 19.9 running 40 t0 45 mph most of the time.
Norman: I am coming down the I-8 corridor, but not on I-8. It is a challenge finding back roads through there. I will check to see how close I will be to Alpine.
Dave: I have done Royal Gorge, but it has been many years ago. It would be a hoot driving that bridge with the Model T. I'll see if I can work that in.
Kirk: Yes, I will be driving 160 past the 4 corners area. Are you close to there?
For more on today's trip check on my daily update later tonight after I get it posted.
Steve
Steve
I am 150 mi due So (down US 285) of Alamosa in Santa Fe.
Larry Azevedo is 150 mi down US 550 from Farmington in Corrales.
Thanks for all your hard work on the HeartLand Tour!
Keep on Truckin!
Kirk,
I am heading south on US 285 tomorrow, but I am turning west at Antonito on 17 to Chama and then on 64 to Farmington. We had fun putting on the Heartland tour. You and Larry are just a little too far south for me for this trip. Maybe another time I will have a chance to stop by.
Don't forget to see the dinosaur tracks west of Tuba City.
Steve
Have a safe and scenic trip thru Northern NM.
Let me know if I can be of any assistance. My Cell is in the Heartland tour roster.
Steve/Dave,
We visited the Royal Gorge and crossed the bridge Last Thursday, the day before Pikes Peak. The speed limit is 10 MPH because of the pedestrians and because if you go faster, the wooden planks start to bounce under your tires. It was great in a Model T and definitely worth the trip.
Steve, Here's a suggestion for you when crossing the desert or on high heat days.
Take a vest or sweater and soak it in water, then put it on and put a light jacket on over top. this will keep you core temp down to manageable so you can concentrate on the T's temp.
It's an old motorcycle riding trick.
Gene in cool SurfCity
PS Wish you had time to make up to Orange County before you head back?
Hi Steve,
I've enjoyed following your trip on the website. I wish I had the courage to do something like that. I spent 5 years in Omaha in the 70's, and drove back and forth to southern California in my VW. I thought that was rough!
Like Norm said above, when you enter San Diego County in the I-8 corridor, there are lots of nice Model T people all the way into Chula Vista. I live downtown San Diego, but when you get closer, email me and I'll give you my phone number. If you have any problems, call and I'll round up someone to help.
Best wishes for a safe and uneventful, but enjoyable, trip.
Bob
Gene, Thanks for the suggestion, but that just sounds too icky.
Bob, I'll be in touch when I get closer.
Norman, I will not be that near Alpine. I am coming in on highway 94 through Campo then onto Otay Lakes Road and Telegraph Canyon Road right into Chula Vista.
Today was a very interesting day. Check out the daily report on the website.
Steve
I am really enjoying your daily reports.
Especially yesterday's which included a meeting with "Big Al" and the US 64 "Manhunt" closure and back road detour.
Thanks
Steve, Your front seat looks like it has a rather thick cushion? Is that for when you have to take those detours?
Wow what an experience your having!! Maybe I should have stayed in Lincoln a little longer and just drove my T back with you instead of that long trailer ride. hee hee
you should of had Al autograph your car while you had him posing with your car.
Thanks for posting and have a Safe trip!
I know everyone that is following your trip is greatly enjoying the read and can't wait till your next post.
Today's post is now up. I am sick with food poisoning, and took a wrong road today, so it was not the best of days. I am now holed up in a motel in Holbrook, NM trying to recover. I hope to be able to continue on tomorrow. The car is still running great though.
Steve,
I am very sorry.
I hate to tell you what the Highway number of the wrong road used to be.
Get Well Quick!
Steve, Its great to see and hear about your trip especially as my wife and I were on some of the same roads in 2008 on our way to Richmond IN.
We were going east and stayed in Chama for the night checked out the trains at the museum ate at the same cafe as you and camped in the camp ground that night. It was freezing cold and we had a skunk visit us in the middle of the night. I think he was right under the car.
Next morning we drove up the pass it was one of the highlights of the trip nice fine day beautiful scenery snow all around, rivers running fast, deer running across the road. Got to the top and saw the train which was just about to go down to Chama.
One thing my wife still talks about is the total lack of safety fencing on the pass. Luckily the Kamper being RHD I was always on the drop side so she didn't freak out. In some places the drops were so long you couldn't see the bottom where you would end up.
Didn't meet any famous people in Chama but one guy did come up and said he had seen us on the road the week before as we were going across the Mojave Desert on Hwy 40 to Kingman AZ. That sort of thing happened a lot of times people had seen us weeks before in places thousands of miles from where we were then and we would be at the same obscure place. Even had a guy in San Francisco come up to us to inform us there was a Kamper just like ours in a Museum in Centerville Indiana????
Steve, hope you feel better soon. Other than your illness, sounds like a great start.
Rob
Al Unser! One of my childhood racing heroes. Very cool.
Get well, Steve....
we just got back from visiting my daughter and
plan to be home for a while.Give us a call when we get into town There Is a coast tour on Sat.
the 21st put on by the Hccasd You can ride with us or drive your own T I have a 1912 T Touring I
have space in my garage
if you need it. Lee
Kirk- I will tell him that that "wrong highway" used to be called the "Devil's Highway" because it was highway 666. It was changed a few years ago because some people were upset over the designation "Devil's Highway".
I might as well get in on this,
so
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80651083@N00/103777492/
Gene
SHOOT! that won't work
Try Googling wood deck bridge, royal gorge, co
I am feeling fine today. Found a road south from Winslow, then west to Prescott so I didn't have to be on I-40 too long. I got about 70 miles south of Prescott today. I think I can get all the way to Chula Vista tomorrow after all. I think it will be about 350 miles or so. Car is still doing fine.
Lee, I will give you a call. Probably not tomorrow but maybe on Sunday. Might need to do some work on a wood spoke wheel. Right rear is clicking some. Have you done any spoke work?
Fun post to read thanks Steve, well done.
YEA I have put the horse shoe shims in the wood
wheels I have some shims already made Hope to see you tomorrow lee Call me 619-420-0106
Steve,
One of the first people I met when I moved to San Diego was Lee Pierce, and he helped shim my clicking spokes on my '17 touring. There is not a nicer guy around.
A Model T tour is scheduled for July 28 from Chula Vista around San Diego Bay, up the Strand, and across the Coronado Bay bridge and back to Chula Vista if you've recovered from driving by then. Give me a call.
Continued good luck and welcome to California!
Bob
If you are going out I 8 corredor, there is no bypass road close to I 8 between Ocotillo and Jacumba. You will either need to take the interstate for about 6 miles up a very steep grade, or take route S-2 from Ocotillo to Scissors Crossing and then take Highway 78 to Julian. Then you can go down highway 79 to Descanso. Quite a roundabout route. There are bypass roads between Jacumba and Hwy 94. Other possibility would be to drop down into Mexico and travel that way to Tecate and back into the U.S.A. But I don't recommend travel within Mexico at this time because of high criminal activity. They also require a passport to get back into the U.S.A.
Norm
Just a short post tonight as I am quite tired. 11 hour on the road today. 314 miles today. Got to Chula Vista about 4:45.
Norman, I did take I-8 for the 10 miles where the road is split. It took almost an hour to cover those 10 miles. Road construction and it was narrowed down to one lane. Creep a couple car lengths and stop.
Bob, Yes, Lee is a great guy. I met him a couple years ago. He lives just a few blocks from my mother.
Lee, I will give you a call tomorrow and we can evaluate the wheel. I don't know if the shims will do it. It is really loose. It might need to be re-spoked. Does Chaffins carry the spokes?
Steve
I am thankful you made it to the Golden State.
I have enjoyed the daily write ups of your experiences.
I'll bet your Mom is Happy to see you.
Glad you got here all right. Lee can help you with just about anything you need to keep your T running. If he can't do it himself, he can direct you to someone in the area who can. If you are here on the tour July 28, I'll be looking forward to meeting you.
Norm
Norman,
I am afraid that I will be heading back to Nebraska before the tour on the 28th. Too bad, it sounds like fun. Lee and I are planning on going on an HCCA, San Diego Chapter tour on Saturday the 21st, and I will most likely be starting back on the 22nd. It would be great to meet you if it could be sometime this week.
Lee Pierce and Tony Boker helped me today work on the wheel. Tony ended up taking it back to his house where he has the fixtures to get the spokes pressed in. He had the spokes so I didn't have to order them in. A big thank you to those two for their help. That is what the Model T community is all about.
Kirk, Yes my mom was happy to see me. She has been following my progress on my website daily reports, so she has known where I was and how I was doing. Tomorrow is her 95th birthday so we will be having a party with family.
Steve: What type of brakes do you have on the rear axle? Do not appear to be "Ford".
Watching your progress since the beginning and look forward to each days progress report.
Steve,
Great trip, we look forward to hearing more when you start back. Enjoy,
Rob
Steve
If there's anybody as nice or more giving of their time than Lee, it's Tony Bowker. You really lucked out by hooking up with those two!
Sorry you won't be here for the July 28 tour from Chula Vista around the bay. I was looking forward to meeting you.
Having lived in both Nebraska and California, I still don't understand, after your long journey to get here, why you're going back? <grin>
Sorry! Couldn't resist! Have a safe trip back and wish your mom a happy birthday!
Bob
San Diego, CA
MTFCA and MTFCSD
Jack,
No, those brakes are not Ford. They are drums and shoes from probably an early 50's Chevy. The shoes are modified so that the cam for the parking brake will also actuate them. They work very well. The transmission drum brake is set to actuate in the event that I loose hydraulics. I didn't make the modification. This was added between the time my dad sold the car and the time that I bought it back.
Bob,
Yes, you are right about Lee and Tony. They both went out of their way to get my wheel re-spoked. I got it back from Tony today and will be putting it back on the car tomorrow. Maybe we will be able to meet when I am here another time. PM me with your email address and I will let you know when I am back in the area. I have been to a couple of the MTFCSD meetings over the past couple of years, so we may have met at one time.
Steve: Before you put the wheel back on the axle could you take some pictures of the brakes and post them when you get the chance. Hydraulics? How was that done? That gives another option for other T owners. Thanks, JP
Jack,
I have some pictures of the hydraulics on this car, but they are not on the laptop that I have with me on this trip. I will start a thread when I get home with these pictures and as much information as I can come up with.
I went over to Lee's today and installed the rebuilt wheel that Tony Bowker put together for me. Nice and tight and very little run out. We checked all of the other wheels and installed shims on a few spokes on each of the other wheels. I ordered a set of tires as well and they will be going on before heading back home.
Lee and I will be going on an SD region HCCA sponsored tour on Saturday. I will most likely then be heading back to Nebraska on Sunday.
I will start a new thread for my return trip as this one has gotten a bit long.
I find it very amusing that more and more apparently drive long trips in their T's.
We have read Ben Hartemans "Drive it home" trip in 2010 from Alaska to Texas, we have the "crazy australian" driving to Moscow and now Steve's beautiful trip across some of the states.
Personally I have only been in UK in 2009 - trip of something in the neighborhood of 1500 km/1000 miles, but I hope to do more in Europe and my personal ultimative retirement project is to go from Boston to LA and eventually return to NYC in a Model T. I will read Steves website tonight but what I have seen now is just so inspiring.
Well done Steve!!!
Michael, Glad I could be an inspiration. I have gotten inspiration from other long distance drivers as well such as Dean Yoder, Peter Kable, and of course Constantine.
I seem to have lost some of you when I started a new thread. It is titled "Getting ready for the trip home".
Mr. Steve, when you're cruising along and not having to keep up with other traffic, what is your top speed? What is the most your car is capable of, and what are you actually comfortable with?
Seth,
The car runs very comfortably between 40 and 44. Any faster than that and I feel it is pushing it. It will sometimes creep a little over that on a long downgrade, but I usually try to throttle it back to the 44 or 45 range in that case.
Howdy Steve,
Fascinating read !!!This is your Hupmobile friend from south Texas ! What an epic adventure!! I wish you continued good mechanical experiences on the return trip. The '11 Hupp is now finished but I haven't breathed the breath of life into it. Will need to find someone with a dig. camera so I can send you a pic. If you ever get on the wrong road again and end up in south Texas, give me a shout. I even have a spoke spreader!! . . .On second thought, if you end up in south Texas, you would have been on the Right road ;o)