August 17th

A peaceful night, with our goal now being to reach Astoria, OR at the mouth of the Columbia River.  Surprise, surprise .... we spent two hours trying to find a motel room in Astoria.  I guess we didn't realize that this was one of the last weeks of summer vacation before kids headed back to school.  Oh well, time to make another decision.  After checking motels along the coast and not finding any vacancies, we decided to push on.  We opted to go along the Columbia River toward the Kelso/Longview area, then heading north on I-5 to Centralia, then onto WA 507, 702, to highway 7 and home.  By now it was almost midnight and we were both exhausted.  We telephoned ahead letting Cindy and Mary know we were on our way home.

Even though the hour was late, lawn chairs were set up in the driveway with adult beverages on hand to take the chill out of our bones.

WE MADE IT - WE MADE IT - WE MADE IT!  AND WE MADE IT SAFELY!

Another item can be crossed off our "bucket lists". 

Reflections:

When you think about it this was quite an undertaking.  Not only did we cross America using mostly the backroads in a 51 year-old car, a car whose history was unknown to me, with absolutely no background information on maintanence, repairs, updates, etc.  We tried to anticipate potential problems by having in-depth maintainence done before the trip.  As it turned out things cropped up that we had no control over, e.g. fuel pump and alternator failures, inner tube valve stem failures, windshield wiper blade blowing off (the one time we needed it), ripping off exhaust hanger .... just to mention a few.  All in all the car performed admirably.  Yes, we had to monitor engine temperature on a regular basis, but this was to be expected since we crossed America during the hottest summer on record. 

I think what I will remember most about this trip are the hundreds of people that we met along the way; from the simple mountain folks in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee to miners in Kentucky, small and large farmers in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming.  We truly saw America through the eyes of Norman Rockwell, something we would not have seen had we stayed on the interstates.  I don't know how many people had their pictures taken standing by the car, sitting in the driver's seat, husbands, wives, children, grandparents and grandchildren, all telling us their life experiences, their plights, their hopes, their dreams and an ocassional teary-eyed man who recalled those days of yesteryear when he drove a TR3 as a teenager.  I'd like to think we brought some joy into their lives.  I know they brought lots of joy into our lives.

This concludes the cross-country odyssey in the TR3A but it is not the end of the story.  For now it is time for my wife Cindy and I to be hosts to Russ and Mary and show them the beauties and splendor of the Pacific Northwest.  On our agenda are tours to Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, the city of Seattle, the Olympic Penninsula, and Victoria, B.C.

I hope you've enjoyed my blog.  I look forward to any comments.