Day 1 (Davis, CA to Soda Springs, CA): Tire paranoia/weather paranoia
Thursday (intended overnight stop: Salt Lake City, Utah; actual overnight stop: Soda Springs, California)
I arrive to pick up the MG midday on Thursday, October 4, in balmy Davis, California, with my co-driver and longtime buddy, Mike McPike. My Mark 1 B/GT has been parked under my friend Jessica Oster's carport since three weeks ago, when I excitedly drove my new baby nearly 100 miles from San Francisco.
We have about 2300 miles between Davis and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and we're on a pretty tight, (what turns out to be ridiculously ambitious) 650-mile-per-day schedule to make it home in time to go to work on Monday morning. No sweat, right?! Before departing, we install halogen head- and taillamps--the better to see and be seen--and hook up a CB radio with a weather-band channel; the CB will be our sole source of in-car entertainment, since the only reminders of the car's original radio are a small console speaker and an aerial fender antenna. That's OK, though, because McPike and I grew up playing video games together, and we're thrilled at the idea of a basic, 1960s-style road trip, without modern crutches such as iPods, satellite radio, navigation systems, comfortable seats, and so on.
After carefully packing the tiny back seat and cargo area with tools, spare parts, luggage, and cameras, we leave Jessica's house at about 2pm and head straight for In-N-Out Burger, a California staple that's a must-have treat for visiting Midwesterners. Afterward, we spend a few hours at Sports Cars Limited in Sacramento, where Mike Singleton changes the fluids in the engine, the transmission, and the rear end. Singleton (who commutes in a green Mark 2 MGB roadster) also finds that the left-rear axle seal is leaking and has made the brakes greasy, so he replaces the rear shoes on both sides. He also rotates the tires and completes a basic checkover, which turns out to be quite good. Still, from beneath the car, we discover a cracked rubber steering-rack boot and well-worn wheel-hub splines, not to mention a nail-like object in the tread of one tire. Thankfully, Singleton observes nothing trip-cancelingly serious. His recommended local tire store, however, no longer services wire wheels and inner tubes, so our only mounted spare is the vintage, bald Pirelli bias-ply that came with the car; the brand-new Michelin all-season radial that I bought to match the other four tires will just take up space in the trunk for now.
Not long after leaving Singleton's shop at almost 7pm, we spot an active warning sign on I-80: "Snowing over Donner Pass. Carry Chains." What?! Soon, we're caught in a crazy Sierra Nevada snowstorm. Temperatures are near freezing, snow and slush make the highway lanes barely visible, and I feel more stressed than the San Andreas Fault. After what seems like an eternity but before officials shut down I-80, we find a shining beacon: the Rainbow Lodge in Soda Springs. Blessedly, they have rooms available. We meet another frazzled cross-country crusader, Derek Desjardins, who's driving his brand-new Mazda MX-5 from Connecticut to San Francisco. Desjardins joins us in more than one stress-relieving pint of beer as other snowbound travelers arrive at the hotel, one car behind a tow truck.
Miles flown: 2028; miles driven: 95 ...next page >>