Driving the SPF to Pardeeville, Wisconsin

[jhwalker]

I managed to turn today into a 570 mile day. After 11 hours of sitting I walked into town from North Winds Lodge to stretch the legs and bring a beer back to the room. The one place that I saw selling had an underage douche bag behind the counter who could not sell beer. Anyway, I stretched my legs

The car ran great except for what sounds like a little throwout bearing squeal for the last 200-250 miles. The car runs and handles SO much better this year than last. Good job, Adam.

Tomorrow, no exploring. Deadwood was cool and bigger than I expected. Sturgis is a hole in the wall and smaller than I expected. The mountain roads are great. I was a good boy and never went over 95.

Wyoming. Speed limits of 75 and 80, not a curve warning to be found. Cross into South Dakota, which looks like a millionaire haven. Massive manicured lawns with the estates -- and speed limits dropped 15 mph, then 20 mph. Then a whole bunch of 35 mph curves that I was taking at 65 to 75 mph. With NO (serious) noise from the tires. And each curve had up to 5 yellow pointers, sort of double confirming the direction of the road. It just smelled like revenue generation. I slowed down for that area.

I have some pics, will try to post a little tomorrow.

[SonicVenum]

Nice work avoiding the fuzz, so far!

[jhwalker]

Nice work avoiding the fuzz, so far!

If there are any here, they are well-hidden. and here in N Dakota they are repaving all of the highways, I guess because a couple of hundred cars drove on them. They are putting down great new pavement on top of pavement that California would die for... I have to have driven on 150 miles of fresh pavement. Damn it is smooth. I had forgotten that feeling.

[jhwalker]

I always said that the SPF as geared and motored was a 5th gear only car, because it likes 2300 rpm and up, but it is pulling 2200 rpm without complaint in 6th, which lets me cruise at 82-83. Since the general speed limit out here where there are NO cars, is 75, I think I am ok. The SPF (knock on wood) has been just great this trip. I will be over 1000 miles when I stop today for visit my old friend. A guy I worked with in the 1960s

[jhwalker]

Yesterday was only 350 miles. Closing in on 1000 miles and I have to say that with my screwy spinal fusion, fractured discs, etc, the seat and driving position in the SPF is poifect for me. Not even a thought of a sore back. I have 850 more miles to West Bend, Wisconsin and knock on wood, the goofing around will commence with the other knuckleheads.
The damage...
The new Smiths speedo gave up the ghost. But the GPS gives me that info.(will ship it back next week).
The gas gauge went from reading empty to reading full, so at 2 hours of normal driving I put 8 gallons into the 16 gallon tank. One time couldn't find a station and went to 12.8 required.
The little throw-out bearing noise has stayed constant, no louder unless I am just deaf by now. Going thru little towns I can eliminate the noise with the slightest bit of pressure on the pedal.
May be getting some belt squeal above 5000 rpm. It is so friggin loud at 5000 rpm I may be hearing my brain scream. I have limited myself to about 4000 rpm.
Dodged a ticket yesterday. Another guy and I were running a little aggressively on a winding road, as we approached a crossroad I realized I didn't know which way to proceed, so I pulled over and let him by and pulled up my map. About two minutes later, headed out and a couple of miles later a Sheriff was writing him a ticket Pure luck...

North Dakota, to Lake Metagoshe, is wonderful driving country. Little traffic, hills, winding roads, marshes, lakes, just all around good driving. Have seen deer, elk, buffalo (bison), flocks of birds.

Last night cruised around the lake on a pontoon boat drinking and swapping tall tails with my friend and his wife. Guy has a great memory. Remembers programming mistakes that I made back in the late 1960's.

The plan is to stay in St Cloud, Minn tonight (Wednesday),then West Bend, Wisc tomorrow after picking up Terri at the Madison airport.

Here's hoping.

[jhwalker]

With some input from locals, changed the route to stay at Duluth, Minn. Got off to a late start, made it a full day, getting to the motel around 8:30 pm. The last 100 miles were driven in construction zones. Locals were wrong. Turned out to be a 500 mile day. I looked around for the headwaters of the Mississippi River, which starts out flowing North from a late outside of Bemidji, Mn.
The SPF continues to run well, still burning 4 gallons an hour at 65-80 mph. Was given the fish-eye by a couple of local sheriffs yesterday, but no need to 'splain anything.
Gonna upgrade the headlights when the trip is over.

From Duluth MN to West Bend Wi. is only 460 miles. No sight-seeing today, because after I check into to the hotel, need to run 75 miles to Madison to pick up Terri as she flies in for a couple of days of fun. So it is planned as a 600+ mile day (knock on wood), but will not be contiguous.

The throw-out bearing squeal is steady, and I hear some other noises but I think at this point I am just attuned to every little noise the car makes now. If the clutch smokes up, so be it. I will park in it a shop and grab a rental car. Hope not, but all I can do is drive at this point. There have been years where I did not drive the SPF as much as this trip. Like 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014.

[jhwalker]

"swapping tall tails with my friend " the shit you write when tired... I will post some video of that lake area. It is perfect for 6 months a year.

Thursday night, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are scheduled pretty heavily for the car event and Labor Day car show festivities, and then I plan to push straight back to Colorado and get the hell back home. So far the trip has been far better than I expected. Just a lot of driving in the open air.

[jhwalker]

Well, the white-out lifted to reveal that some moisture was falling. It is wet. Not real rain, just wet. I don't think that I have the option of waiting it out, if I am going to get to the Madison airport on time to pick up Terri. Time to whip out the $5 poncho I don't take the top with me on SPF trips...

[jhwalker]

Met up with the other folks last night in West Bend. First, picked up Terri at the Dale Regional Airport in Madison.

Today will be a serious cleanup day for me and the car.

Going to find a Laundromat this morning and wash and dry the mess from the last 4 days. Terri being here changes the cleanliness requirements. Yesterday was shorter than expected, I decided to knock off the 150 extra miles by just going straight to the airport to get Terri. It still was a fun 423 mile day. Today is pretty free so I am going to work on a couple of things on the car. I may upgrade the lights today, as driving around dark roads at night with the dims on feels dangerous. The brights are adequate, but not great.
I can't screw with the fuel map here or I would try to correct a softness that appears just as I start out in 1st, which forces me to rev it a little more than I like. It is also getting some extra fuel dumped in when I am decelerating /downshifting, which causes a little unplanned acceleration, from time to time, when I am trying to decelerate. Creates some excitement as strong as the engine is.

It will be nice to just kick back after the cleanup is finished. Monday thru Thursday night chewed up a little over 1800 miles, and the only nasty part was Wednesday afternoon which was hot, muggy and relatively slow due to road construction.

[SonicVenum]

Sounds like a good, fun trip, so far! Say hi to Terri for us!

So, why were the headlights too dim? Is that just how the bulbs that come with the SPF are? You're definitely proving it to be a GT car.