My 1988 tour of the northwest was my first chance to try out a 1966 Corvette roadster on mountain roads.
I entered Montana on the high line, Highway 2.
On that trip, my first encounter with the mountains was at St. Mary, Montana, the location of the east entrance to Glacier National Park on the Going-To-The-Sun-Road.
I pulled over to get this photo at the park entrance sign, and I had to wait for a family to get their photography done.
The boy with their camera turned around, saw the Corvette, and asked if he could take pictures of the Corvette (instead of his family and the mountains).
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
After a week of hiking in Glacier and Cascades National Parks, the western high point of the summer ride finally came in to view.
Even though the road has been climbing steadily for quite a while, the sight of Rainier brings the thought of a really long hill climb event to mind.
It's a fine road to drive, and at the top, it's a great place to lace up your hiking boots and enjoy the mountain.
After that, it's time to start driving east to Mount Saint Helens, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Parks.
Old Corvettes are like mountain goats.
they aren't bothered by the steepness of the grade or the high altitude air.
In 1988, on the way back from Mounts Rainier and Saint Helens, the barefoot driver got out of his roadster at the North entrance to Yellowstone National Park.
The words over the archway read: FOR THE BENEFIT AND ENJOYMENT OF THE PEOPLE.
I thought their meaning also applied to Sting Rays.
This was the year of the great fire at Yellowstone, and I took the opportunity to hike some of the same trails as I had during the previous year.
Some of the burned out areas were surreal, leaving no markers in stands of black tree trunks on black ground in every direction.
The following year, I returned to the park and again hiked the same trails that I found scorched and matte black only a year before.
In 1991, the ground cover was green, and dotted with fireweed (beautiful flowers) and the smell and sting of smoke were gone.
Touring brings you to places and events that others only read about or see on television.
In 1991, the western loop took me north into Canada, through Saskatoon and Edmonton then on to Jasper, Alberta, in Jasper National Park.
From there the road turns south toward Banff National Park on a great mountain parkway.
The Columbia Icefields Parkway is a great ride down the middle of the Canadian Rockies from Jasper to Banff.
The mountains to the east are the Endless Chain, and to the west are the Columbia Icefields.
Every time I tour this area, I encounter several groups of bicyclists cranking through the mountains.
In this picture, the cyclists are at a pass that provides an overlook of the Columbia Icefields.
While I admire their strength and courage, I'd rather go by roadster.
The cyclists have to share the highway with a lot of noisy cars and trucks.
To get closer to nature, I prefer to leave the car at a trailhead and take a ten or twenty mile walk.
The Top Vette Competition brought me to the Adirondacks of New York for the first time in years, and brought a smile to my face all day.
The 1995 NCRS National Road Tour to Steamboat Springs turned combined a new learning experience with an old mountain tradition.
After driving on to Steamboat and attending the national convention, I returned to Rocky Mountain National Park for a week of great hiking.
Let me take you on a sea cruise......
I followed 21 new red, white and blue Corvettes down the road in September of 1997, at the invitation of Chevrolet.
The tour was called "Return To The Road", and it featured parties all along the way, at Route 66 Chevrolet dealers.
Chevrolet was introducing the C5 roadster with a ride down the entire length of route 66, and invited owners of old Corvettes to follow the C5s.
In Amarillo, Texas, at a street party, the Shriners brought out their "baby" Corvettes.
In Gallup, New Mexico, we were treated to Native Americans in ceremonial dress, dancing as they perform in regional and national competitions.
Just west of Amarillo, Texas, don't forget to look for the Cadillac ranch on the south side of Route 66.
On this National Convention Road Tour, the four NCRS road tours coming from all corners of the United States met in Owensboro, Kentucky, to form one large tour to Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Even a very organized event, like the morning tour to Bowling Green can get interrupted.
After leaving Owensboro, the long parade of cars halted at the side of the road, to wait for our tour leader to restore power to his 57 roadster.
You can imagine the number of experienced helpers who offered support, as our leader removed the offending points from his dual point ignition system.
This picture shows the trailing half of the line of Corvettes parked on the shoulder of the expressway.
In May of 2001 I drove south through Illinois to catch the 2001 Hot Rod Power Tour as it crossed the Mississippi River at Saint Louis.
On the expressway, and at the scheduled gas stops, I talked to people who owned legendary show cars.
At the first 2001 Power Tour Oklahoma gas stop, we had time to view many fine examples of automotive icons.
For instance, the green 32 roadster in the foreground is George Poteet's Po Boy, featured in the February 2002 issue of hot Rod Magazine.
Cruising with the finest long haulers down Route 66 was a hoot.
The top right photo, at Tucumcari, shows a staging area for a Hot Rod TV photo op.
I tried too hard to get a photo in front of the Tucumcari Route 66 art marker, and cracked my air dam driving off road.
Corvettes are not SUVs.
The lower photo at right provided an opportunity to discuss installing a V10 engine in a 68 Dodge Challenger parked behind me.
This was also where I first noticed the El Camino pickup with a blown small block Chevy in its bed that had been converted into a
barbecue.
Onward to New Mexico, now riding with at least two dozen Corvettes in the parade.
For those who don't get to see enough straight axle and midyear Corvettes, the power tour was the place to be.
You ran down the road with roadsters of all descriptions, tubbed and slammed "Pro" cars, Vipers, C5s, trucks, GT and truck kit cars, and even a police car.
At this point at least five straight axle Corvettes and five midyear vettes were mixed with a dozen "Sharks" and many newer Corvettes.
I got up early, to cross the Mohave Desert before the temperature topped 100.
The scenery crossing the desert: the top picture, at right, shows the view from the driver's seat - with snow capped mountains ahead.
Imagine being there - running hard to get through the desert in the morning, while looking at snow.
I almost escaped the heat.
The result was escaping the desert heat for the balmy San Bernardino 94 degree city streets.
The bottom photo at the right is the spot for the MAGIC V8 in the display area in downtown San Bernardino.
The following morning I got a late start (no, it wasn't the wine) and the temperature was already 104F as I entered Death Valley on the way through Las Vegas and the desert beyond.
I cleared Nevada, and then as I rolled through about 30 miles of northwest Arizona, I entered mountain foothills in Utah.
The weather cooled a little and the exits for Zion National Park invited me to take a side trip.
Zion is one of the few U.S. national parks that I had not at least driven through - and while I'm in the neighborhood.......
I returned to the interstate, headed north, and stopped for the night in Richmond Utah.
The following morning, I toured the snowy mountain passes of Colorado on I-70, headed for Denver.
A couple of Power Tour Camaros caught up with me between Grand Junction and Denver.
The three of us set a great (triple digit) pace through Colorado.
The last overnight stop was Ogalala, Nebraska.
By Monday, I arrived home in Moline, Illinois, in time for dinner.
Do you know the way to Monterey?
The 2002 NCRS National Convention Road Tour to Monterey, California, became a 6000 mile loop, about a third each of mountains and desert, and the last third split between coast highway and prairie.
It provided an opportunity to travel in fast company.
For many years, I wanted to drive down the Pacific coast highway, and the NCRS National Road Tour provided me with the opportunity.
I joined the North West Tour in Portland, Oregon, just so I could spend a lot of time on California Highway 1 on the way to Monterey.
In the picture at right, every car ahead of mine is a Corvette.
This area is the last leg of the North West Tour, and the sweeping curves weren't nearly as challenging as the section we traveled on the day before.
All along the coast, the temperatures were cooler than the desert heat encountered five miles inland.
The green grass is only found along the coast.
From there to the middle of Colorado, the ground is brown.
Dave and Karen Zuberer joined Peggy and I for a week of mountain hiking in Glacier National Park.
There were forest fires burning on the west side of the park.
We stayed at Rising Sun, on the east side.
While cleaning the forest fire ash off the car, I noticed grease seeping from the hubcap, shook the wheel, and heard a clink.
Last summer, I had a spun wheel bearing in Colorado.
This looked the same, so I went to St.Mary to get the thing repaired.
Neither St.Mary nor Babb (the next town on the highway) had a repair shop or
even a hammer and punch for sale, but the local grocery and gift store manager loaned me his claw hammer and a dull center punch.
Back at the parking lot in front of our cabin at Rising Sun, DZVETTE (Dave Zuberer) and I jacked up the car, pulled the wheel and unbolted the brake caliper.
Improvising a caliper pad spacer made of native pine, I removed the caliper and the hub.
While gabbing about my father having to rebuild the engine of a Hudson in a farmer’s barn during a return trip from Utah, I punched some depressions in the hub.
The depressions upset the metal to form craters with ridges high enough to hold the bearing race.
Next, whack the bearing race back in and remount the caliper on the suspension.
Never let the lack of a torque wrench hold up parking lot repairs.
The caliper bolts get 70 FtLbs by pulling as hard as I can on the ratchet.
The wheel bearing gets its 12 FtLb (then back one flat) setting by tightening the bearing until the hub drags, then backing off and tightening by hand as hard as you can.
After that back off to the next cotter pin hole.
All that's left is to insert the cotter pin and remount the wheel.
Then take the car down Montana highway 89 for a road test......
Dave and Karen took pictures while following, so I ended up with some good pictures of the back end of my Corvette rolling down highway 89 to and from the Two Medicine area of Glacier National Park.
We took a few hikes in that area.
One of them, to running Eagle falls, started in a parking lot with a park tour bus.
As you see in the picture of Dave and Karen in front of the 60 year old bus, the buses are a unique design - right up to their tied down canvas roof.
The 2007 Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour was the wettest yet.
It rained five out of the seven days we were on the road from Cleveland, OH, to Little Rock, AR.
While the sun was out, fun was had by all.
After driving through another midday downpour on the highway, the tour ended at the Little Rock, AR, state fair grounds.
We spent the arrival day and the following morning celebrating and looking at the cars and vendor displays.
There was wine involved in the celebration, but not at the fair grounds.
Dave Zuberer, my favorite copilot, was met there by his wife and daughter, who came to drive him back to Texas.
Dave's wife, Karen, took a final picture of us with the roadster as we all said our goodbyes and started for home.
I put the top down and drove home to Moline, IL, that evening.
When touring route 66, try to spend at least one night in a motel that was built before the expressways superceded route 66.
It helps you keep the feeling of traveling in time as well as in space as you drive the "mother road".
This one in Lebanon MO is well kept up and quite reasonable.
In the morning, one each of 1963 through 1967 Corvettes were lined up for a picture.
Dave Zuberer flew to Moline IL from Texas to ride 11 hours to Little Rock AR, about half of the distance in rain storms.
Great touring weather on a Kansas highway with lots of great cars to see, but only 1700 are Long Haulers
We heard from another Long Hauler that a friend of his was going south on this road while we were headed north, and he got to see a 120 mile long car show
Paul Jordan bought the car in Oregon and was driving Power Tour on the way home to Ontario.
When driving an unfamiliar old car, it is unwise to pull second gear too hard.
The shifter broke, but helpers are everywhere.
The helpers replaced the broken cross pin with a bolt, while Paul watched.
As Iowa became Minnesota, I came upon a group of fast Corvettes.
We traveled together for a half hour or so, until the front four cars pulled in to a filling station.
Lots of street rods at the last venue in Madison Wisconsin.
Paul Jordan is pulling into the Madison venue lot to finish the Long Haul.