Healey Blog

Burlington or Bust Blog

Our plan is to leave Albuquerque on June 11. We are taking a very northern route designed to avoid heat and traffic -- neither are friendly to Healeys. We will be headed north on mostly secondary roads through Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario, Niagara Falls to Buffalo. We hope to make about 500 miles a day. We would like to make it to Buffalo on Sunday June 17 to join up with some Canadian Healey friends. From Buffalo, we will take different paths: Bill H. and Joyce will tour lower New York State with the Canadian group. Bill N. and Nance will go to Connecticut to visit family. The groups will rejoin in Burlington, VT on June 24. At least that's the plan. Since we have two Healeys on this trip, the probability is about 97% that at least one of them will have some sort of difficulty! Still, we are optimistic and looking forward to sharing our progress with you. This blog is organized with the latest information on the top.

Epilog: July 6, 2007

Just a note to thank all of you who followed our blog. We enjoyed writing it. It will remain on-line to remind us about this special Healey trip. We may clean it up a bit, but there will be no major new entries to this blog.

Visiting our friends and family while seeing so much of America was the best part of this little project. Thanks to all for their hospitality and generosity on route. Please stop by Albuquerque some day and let us return the favor.

Experiencing the performance of the Healeys was very satisfying. That these 50 year old antiques could carry us so elegantly and sort of comfortably across the country today is a tribute to their creator, Donald M. Healey and the rest of his team. Our Healeys are resting now. They will get some attention and repairs. But soon they will be going on their next tour, though we don't know where or when.

Now we try to clean the house, read the mail, find the cat, empty the Healey and move on.

See you all again soon,

Bill and Nance, Bill and Joyce.

Day 1: Monday June 11 Albuquerque, NM, to La Junta, CO. Distance driven 315 miles.

We planned to leave at 10 AM from Bill N's. Bill H. and Joyce were there on time, but there were several last minute jobs for us. We finally got out of Albuquerque at 11, not bad for us. Both Healeys absorbed stuff like one of those phone booths from the 60's -- there was always room for one more item. Inside if felt rather cramped, surrounded by coolers, pillows, boxes, computers, clothes, and spare parts. We hoped it would not avalanche. The biggest problem was the soft cooler on the transmission tunnel. It always managed to foul the Healey's shifter and handbrake.

This first day was to break in not break records. Although we don't like interstate highways, we decided to start on I-25 north and go directly to Trinidad, Colorado. It was a good decision. I-25 had very light traffic, that expensive gas may be taking its toll. The route through Glorietta and Raton passes was beautiful and fun to drive. Recent rains in New Mexico greened up the route and it was lush with wildflowers. We are used to seeing antelope on this route. The numbers were down this time, but several small herds did manage to venture close enough for us to gawk at them. Cattle, which had become as rare as horned toads the last few extra dry years, have returned with fat frolicking calves.

We filled up just once today, near Raton. It was expensive: about $3.49 for regular. Our Healey 100 prefers premium or it pings under load or diesels when we shut it off. Premium was $3.69. Naturally, we found that gas in nearby Colorado was 20 cents cheaper. Murphy's Laws apply, gas is always cheaper right after you fill up. The good news is our Healey got almost 28 MPG on this fill up, and Bill H's car was about the same. Sure beats an RV or trailer rig.

Our drive north of Raton into Trinidad revealed weaknesses in our positional awareness systems. We wanted to get off I-25 and head NE on US 350 to La Junta. There were some errors in our 2001 AAA Atlas (hey, new ones are expensive!) that caused us to exit I-25 sooner than we should have. This led to an extended journey into uncharted wilderness on a network of farm roads. We did not want to expose ourselves by actually asking for directions. Rather, we pretended we knew exactly where we were going and just past the next hill we will join that US 350. It was hard to maintain our resolve when the road would slowly get narrower, bumpier, and finally turn into dirt driveway. After about 40 minutes of this and a few U turns, we asked a nice lady where the hell we were. She graciously bailed us out, and we were finally back to US 350 and rolling towards La Junta.

US 350 may qualify as an even lonelier road than US 50 through Utah and Nevada. The prairie dogs were shocked to see us! We saw just a handful of cars for miles, and no shoulder to pull off. Keep rolling Healeys. They did, and we are grateful to them. As late afternoon approached, we realized we were exhausted. Some really ugly clouds were building. This is tornado and hail season. There was not much opportunity for cover on this road. Fortunately, those big clouds stayed just to east and we motored on to La Junta -- hoping there would be a hotel. We found a perfect one: cheap ($53), clean, and free wireless internet access! Our hotel hosts recommended an excellent meat and potato restaurant (Boss Hogs) nearby. During dinner the skies opened up and that rain came down in sheets. But we were spared tornados and hail.

Healey report: Both Healeys starred on this day. They managed those long passes easily. It was a cool day, with highs around 85 or so. Both engines ran around 180 to 190, that's cool for a Healey. The ethanol in the gas boils when you stop, and our 100 would buck and miss for the first few miles after stopping. The 3000 was hard to start sometimes. How about our new sidecurtains on the 100 bought just for this trip (for gasp, $500)? We got to use them in the big storm tonight. The look great, leak like a sieve....these are obviously genuine Healey accessories.

Bill N. and Nance

Day 2: Tuesday, June 12. La Junta, CO to Holdrege, NE. Distance 370 miles

We managed to get on the road at 8 AM. The cars were wet inside and out after enduring several cloudbursts during the night. The weather was dry when we left, but looked threatening. The threat delivered, we spent most of the day worrying about weather and got hammered once or twice in severe thunderstorms. Fortunately, no hail or tornados.

Our route was very rural today. We took CO 71 due north from Rocky Ford, a small town a few miles west of La Junta on US 50. There was lots of traffic with the usual Wal-Marts and McDonald's on US 50, but CO 71 ended all that. This was a fine smooth road through miles of farmland. As we watched the thunderclouds building, we enjoyed antelope, llamas, and beautiful farms. No traffic at all, and the Healey's managed to run most of this route at 65 or more.

At the decaying town of Last Chance (no kidding), we turned east onto US 36. This was also a well-maintained two lane, somewhat wider that CO 71. We continued to make good time, but clouds to the east continued to build. We stopped for gas in Idalia near the CO-KS border. This rural station had a linkup to weather radar. It showed a line of severe storms just ahead. We decided to deploy the side curtains. What a meaningless gesture! When the skies opened up about 10 miles ahead, we folded immediately. There was just too much rain inside and out of the Healeys to see much of anything. We pulled over into a big driveway with several other cars joining us. There we talked to Bill and Joyce on our cell phones and waited for almost an hour. We monitored our leaks and determined that our Healey 100 has at least 100 major leaks. There are leaks through the windshield header, leaks under the dash, leaks through the side curtains, and leaks through the lower windshield. Some of the leaks could be intercepted with various cups and vessels, but most ended up on us, we were soaked from the waist down. Bill and Joyce fared similarly.

It was all fun in the end, this was mere water, not hail or tornados. The rain let up slightly, and we decided to defog the windows (no small task without a functional defroster) and motor on. We jogged NE on KS 383 heading to Minden, NE. We wanted to stay there to take in the Warp Pioneer Village Museum tomorrow. Did not make it. The growing threat of even more rain landed us in a new Motel 8 here. (Free waffle breakfast, and wifi too). Overall, we were pleased with our progress, considering the bad weather. We plan to spend tomorrow morning at the Warp museum, hoping the storms will pass us by.

Healey Report: Both Healey's acted up today. Healey 100's overdrive would not stay engaged during the big rain storms. It may be low on oil, or the water has gotten to the electrical system. Healey 3000 began to miss badly, but she healed herself after a few miles of kicking and bucking.. Healey 100 gets substantially better gas mileage than Healey 3000: 100 is getting about 25 MPG, 3000 more like 19. The Healey 100's $500 side curtains are great when it's not raining. Add rain and they leak and fog up. What these Healeys need are wipers on the insides. We are hoping it goes better tomorrow, some duct tape has been added to our windshield header.

Bill and Nance.

Day 3: Wednesday, June 13. Holdrege, NE to Stuart, IA, Distance 290 miles. Progress, not perfection....

We awoke to a deluge in Holdrege. It was raining so hard we couldn't even move the cars to the covered loading area without getting soaked. It was far too much rain for the pitiful rain countermeasures in an Austin Healey. We relaxed at breakfast and speculated how we were going to get through this. The Weather Channel was not much help. Doppler radar showed all options were wet, wet, and wetter. "Don't forget the floods, just imagine driving through a flood in an Austin Healey, ha ha ha!" laughed the announcer.

Then around 9 it let up just a bit. The Bills moved the Healeys to the covered spaces, topped up their fluids, and restuffed our possessions in the cars. We were off, moving east on US 34. Our goal was the Warp Pioneer Village Museum in Minden, about 30 miles away. We thought it would be better to wait out the storm in the museum rather than the motel..

On the road, the rain was moderate. The duct tape on the Healey 100 windshield header was very effective. The side curtains did a great job keeping the humidity from the soaked seats, carpets, and our clothes inside the car. We used plenty of shop towels to demist that windshield and rear window. But it worked, we were rolling about 50 mph and had enough visibility to motor safely.

The Pioneer Village appeared and we stayed there for more than two hours. It was not long enough. This place is one of the best kept secrets in this country. It is a massive museum of machinery, cars, furniture, airplanes, everything. that made our pioneer ancestors lives possible on land lake and sky. The car collection is amazing, more than 300 cars. Brass cars, Fords, Chevys, Buicks, Plymouths, Dodges, Kaisers, Frazers, Hudsons, Nashes, etc, etc. We did not find an Austin Healey, but thought there might be one hidden somewhere. We did not want to leave, but Conclave beckoned. The farm equipment and history is impressive as well. Nance noticed a curious rig used before the Civil War to shoe oxen!

The rain continued but at a reasonable rate. We decided to motor on, taking US 34 and 6 east towards Lincoln. We skirted Lincoln to the south on NE 2. This proved to be an excellent choice, avoiding congestion and keeping us mostly in farmland. NE 2 crossed the Missouri River with little fanfare, this was a very modest bridge for such a mighty river. We entered Iowa, a new state for both Healeys. Finally the rain actually stopped. The side curtains were undeployed and stowed in the trunk. We have been snide about these gadgets, but we're glad to have them.

Because of our late start and the stop in Minden, we were concerned about our lack of progress. We decided to try a stint on I-80, just a few miles north of now IA 2. It worked while reminding us why we have avoided interstate highways on this trip. I-80 is a big one, the main artery from San Francisco to Chicago. Trucks run nose to tail on this baby. The noise and intensity was unbearable. We finally withdrew to a comfortable looking Super 8 in Stewart. This is a suburban town just west of Des Moines.

Healey Report. Healey 3000 was nearly perfect today -- but she did get a crack in her brand new windshield. Healey 100's overdrive continued to act up. It would engage briefly, then disengage after a few miles. Then it would not re-engage until we drove for 15 or 20 minutes. Bill N thought the problem was electrical, he could hear the overdrive relays making an odd chattering noise now an then. Driving a Healey without the OD is bothersome. You loose about 10 mph in comfortable cruising speed (from 70 mph down to 60) when the OD is out. The Bills attacked the problem tonight in the hotel parking lot. After removing the transmission tunnel cover, the problem was discovered. The solenoid would chatter like a cheap doorbell when voltage was applied to it. We had never seen such behavior. Dunno why that solenoid acted that way, but Bill H. had a good spare to loan to Bill N. We installed it, and she clicked in solidly every time. We'll let you know how it worked when we drive it tomorrow.

Bill and Nance.

Day 4: Thursday, June 14. Stuart, IA to Sheboygan, WI. Distance, 440 miles. Our best progress so far.

The storms finally left us. Today was hazy but not a rain cloud in sight. What a relief. Next, we expected heat, highs near 90 were forecast. We got an early start, Healeys were on the road at 8:15 AM.

We went east on I-80 towards Des Moines. This road sux!. The traffic was dense and angry. It seemed to want to purge the Healeys, like foreign invaders from another era. It was not all bad. A few provided relief with waves and smiles. One huge truck gave a very friendly honk followed by multiple flashes of all his side markers. No doubt a car nut delighted to see Healeys. And the freeway gave us the swift start we needed today. Still, as we drove into Des Moines, morning business traffic, all the turns needed to circumnavigate kept Nance glued to her road atlas and Bill and Joyce glued to our rear bumper.

Just when the traffic peaked, we turned northeast onto US 151. This lovely road quickly brought us back to rural Iowa with rolling hills, picket fences, and well-tended farms.. We relaxed, took a break to top our tanks, then back to the open road. Cedar Rapids and Dubuque offered no serious navigational problems We found the time to relax and enjoy Iowa's generous scenery and great roads. The main problem we had was no biggie: the heat inside the Healeys was taking its toll. We had to stop several times just to cool off and escape those btu's.

We crossed the Mississippi at Dubuque over a modern looking bridge. Wisconsin added a few more hills and green to the panorama in our windshield. We left US 151 briefly for beltways around bustling Madison. Here, we fought with construction zones and another bout with aggressive traffic. At one point, Bill H. and Joyce got separated from us by just a few cars. If I slowed for them, tailgaters got so close I could not see around them to the rear.. This too did end, and we continued toward Fond Du Lac back on rural US 151. We stopped to rest at Kirchbaum's Strawberry Acres. Fresh and delicious strawberries, just what we needed to beat the heat. These sustained us all the way to Sheboygan. We found a convenient La Quinta. It was a great location for tomorrow's project: touring the nearby Kohler factory in the morning. And loading Healeys onto the Badger, the old steam ferry from Manitowoc that will take us to Ludington, MI. We had a great Italian dinner at Luigi's, near the hotel. This restaurant was excellent. This place is noted for serving dinner to Tiger Woods and several other big name golfers during a 1991 tournament in Sheboygan.

Healey report: This was the best day for both Healeys. Healey 100's borrowed overdrive solenoid worked perfectly, no problems at all with it. Both cars baked their passengers, but the engines stayed cool enough. They rarely ran over 190 F. There is lots of ethanol here in corn country. Both cars react poorly to it. Healey 100 bucks and surges if you restart a hot engine that has set for a few minutes. This will clear after a few miles on the road. Healey 3000 is hard to start hot, she just cranks without firing. Eventually, she will start, and Bill H. breathes a sigh of relief. The cars run OK on the stuff once the incoming fuel cools the carburetors enough to stop the fuel from boiling.

Bill and Nance

Day 5: Friday, June 15. Sheboygan, WI to Ludington, MI. Distance, 120 Miles. We left the driving to others.

Yesterday we made miles; today we made memories.

We started off early in the morning for a free plant tour of the Kohler factory in Kohler, MI. Kohler has been around since the late 1800's. You probably know that they make bathroom and plumbing fixtures as well as small gas engines and generator sets. Kohler is one of those great American dream stories, an immigrant from Germany starting the enterprise from nothing. It is more community than a company. Though Kohler has factories worldwide, there is quite a sense of family in this town. The company is still family owned and it one of the few companies I know that give fabulous plant tours Monday through Friday. Reservations are recommended. About 50 folks were there for the tour, divided into groups of 10.

We saw the huge ceramic factory that made toilets, bathroom sinks, urinals, bidets. These items start with clay slurry cast in plaster of paris molds. After a few days of drying, they are coated with a glaze and fired in red hot furnaces. All the bathroom items are made in a vast array of styles and colors.

The other major process we saw was for cast iron fixtures. These include bathtubs, kitchen sinks and some bathroom sinks. Huge sand molds produce cast iron substrates for the fixtures. Quadrangles of crimson sputter as the molten iron is poured into the molds. Robots relay the rough castings from one process to the other. A final enamel powder coating is applied and the fixture fired in red hot furnaces. Out come beautiful bathtubs and sinks, hot enough to give you a sunburn when they leave that last firing operation.

We learned so much, these tours are very personal and professional. Their products are ordinary items made with extraordinary care. Tour guides are retired Kohler employees with lots of stories and knowledge about the factory. It is hard to describe the scale of the operations here, they are building so much every hour. Thank you Kohler, this was enough to make our day, perhaps even the whole trip

But it got even better. We left Kohler in a rush to make it to load on the Badger steam ferry to Ludington. Traffic around Sheboygan and Manitowoc was light and the signs directing us the the ferry were plentiful. We managed to get in line for boarding the ferry with time to spare. The weather was perfect, the lake looked glassy. We drove our Healeys on ourselves -- most cars are loaded by employees because of the tight quarters in the ship, but the Healeys were odd enough for them to prefer that we drive them in. When we started the cars to load, they both had ethanol moments. Healey 100 wouldn't start at all, and Healey 3000 started but would not idle or develop any power. With enough reving, re-starting and sweating, the two Healeys jerked and bucked into position near the stern.

Once above the vehicle deck, we relaxed and enjoyed the gentle departure of this 450 foot monster from its wooden dock. The ship was nearly full, though there may have been room for 20 more cars (capacity is 180 cars). We saw lots of smiles on the decks, including our own. The weather, the pulse of the steam ship, the views, cool breezes, and the gentle rolls of the hull were soothing to our souls. What a contrast from the speed and heat of the Healeys. We had a quick but relaxing four and a half hours to make the 80 miles to Ludington. Took naps. Ate dinner. Listened to accordion music by the ship's oiler.

At Ludington, the big ship made a 180 degree turn somehow and backed into her dock. A crowd of welcomers stood on balconies and the lighthouse jetty to wave us in. This is an extraordinary experience on a tough, (she was built in 1952 as an icebreaker), rare and beloved ship. It's worth going out of your way for.

There is a running event in Ludington this weekend, and most of the new box hotels were full and expensive. We decided to go to the Lighthouse, a small motel Nance and Bill N. used in 2003. No high speed internet access, but clean, comfortable and lots of channels. After a brief walk on the beach and ice cream at the local favorite "House of Flavors" ice cream store and restaurant, we settled in for the night.

Bill N. and Nance.

Day 6: Saturday, June 16. Ludington to Strathroy, Ont. 300 miles. Hail, Canada!

Bill and Joyce suggested a later start today and we snapped up that opportunity. In fact, we slept right through it! We left the clean, comfortable, CHEAP Lighthouse Motel after 8 a.m. for breakfast at the House of Flavors. Good service and excellent food. Back to load, we stuffed the cars for today's mission to Canada. Loading our cars has to be done carefully. Too much shuffling of stuff means it won't fit. There is no extra space in these cars, even the smallest knick knacks that accumulate on a road trip are a problem for the Healey. When Healey 100 loaded so easily, we were delighted. Not so 20 miles later when we realized that Nance's pillows never left the hotel room. Focused on getting her Lake Michigan water sample for the New Mexico Museum of Natural History, Nance didn't even notice she couldn't see over the dash!

Ludington deserves a few more words. The streets are lined with blooming red, white and blue petunias. They didn't just grow wild. In the morning, we saw a crew of elderly volunteers tending to their huge garden. Surely these plants covered many miles of medians. Nance learned the volunteer gardeners were from the Rotary and other service clubs. Public parks and beaches give this charming, friendly town a real feeling of community.

We drove due east on MI 10. This was heavily forested and rural, a good time for us and the Healeys. We skirted the southern edge of Saginaw on MI 47 and then 46 aimed east to the shores of Lake Huron. Saginaw was depressed, it reminded us of Flint three years ago. Not even Wal-mart seemed to want to land in Saginaw. We drove by the huge Delphi steering gear plant. The parking lot was mostly empty. After seeing the energy of Kohler enterprises, we hoped for the same at Delphi.

We noticed the heat. It was probably just in the mid-80's, but it was the hottest weather we'd seen for some time. The land looked thirsty and locals later told us it's been unusually hot and dry. Both Healeys were getting uncomfortable inside. We stopped more often, taking breaks for water, bathrooms, and coffee. Just when the heat peaked, we came into sight of Lake Huron's Port Sanilac. The temperature dropped about 10 degrees in a few miles. We took a break near the water, enjoyed the cool and watched the pleasure boats glide around the marina. There was great sailing today, many sloops were healed over in the firm breezes from the south.

The heat never really returned, we traveled south on MI 25 right on the shore of Lake Huron. This was a very nice road, passing mansions, and modest beach homes and businesses with glimpses through the trees of deeply blue Lake Huron.

We were headed for Port Huron where we planned to head into Canada. As congestion and traffic increased, we found no useful signs or directions. Then suddenly a simple "Canada" sign with an arrow popped up and we were on a huge toll bridge over the St. Claire River into Sarnia, Ontario. The line looked long for folks entering the US on the bridge. This could be a problem for us when we return to the 'States tomorrow through Buffalo. The Canadian customs at Sarnia were empty, we were the only two cars there. We stumbled on a question about liquor (we didn't have any but Bill N said we did -- He could not hear the question over the Healey's rumbling engine). They let us through anyway. We headed east on QE 402, a Canadian freeway. Traffic was none. We noticed very few hotels here and exits were few on the QE. We finally saw a few hotels at Strathroy. We decided to call it a day, all we needed to do was get to Buffalo tomorrow to meet up with our Healey friends from Ontario.

Healey Report: These are cantankerous Healeys, not highly restored garage queens that sit around, coming out now and then for a wax job. They continue to amaze us with their durability. They are even comfortable, except for driving in hot weather or rain. After a few days of driving, they now seem quieter, smoother, and more powerful. Donald Healey drove his Ice Blue 100 prototype across the country in 1952, taking orders for the car from movie stars and getting rave reviews in sports car magazines. Was that prototype much different from our well worn but reasonably maintained Healeys? Probably not. Donald Healey was proud of this car, it is really quite an accomplishment. How could this machine cobbled together 50 years ago with a taxi engine and boxes of Austin parts from a mixed bag of production cars be competent even today? Yet that is exactly what it is.

Meanwhile, Healey 100's lost its speedometer. Nothing serious, just a bad cable. Both 100 and 3000 continue to have problems starting hot with that ethanol. We all hope they will continue to move us smartly across the country.

Bill N. and Nance.

Day 7, Sunday, June 17. Strathroy, Ont to Buffalo, approx. 200 miles. Hello Buffalo!

This concludes the first phase of our trip. Here in Buffalo we join about 6 other Healey friends from Canada. Bill H. and Joyce will tour upstate NY and the Hudson Valley region next week with the Canadian contingent. Bill N. and Nance proceed to eastern New York and Connecticut to visit our brother's family, cousins and friends. We'll reunite next week in Burlington, VT for the Healey Conclave. Blogging will be intermittent until we get to Burlington.

Today was another winner for us. The motel in Strathroy, Ontario was clean and comfortable, though it had no high speed internet. We made due with phone lines, however antiquated, and updated the blog.

We continued on QE 402 from Strathroy. Traffic on the QE was very light, but to keep things interesting, we turned south on secondary roads to find Port Dover on the northern shore of Lake Erie. Bill H. and Joyce had stayed here in their RV two years ago. This is a beach town, and Nance took a dip in Lake Erie. The rest of us relaxed and enjoyed watching families frolic together on Father's Day on the Erie shore. After frying in the Healey heat, the cool at the water's edge refreshed us.

We continued toward the border at Fort Erie, Ont., staying on Canada Rt. 3. This was a good road and it stayed close enough to the lake to keep the temperatures reasonable. We took a break on one of the many Tim Horton stores. What is a Tim Horton store? We finally stopped at one to find out: they have ice cream, pastries, sandwiches, coffee; sort of a less pricey Starbucks with more food choices and fewer coffee ones. They are sure popular here. We liked it and wondered why there are none in the US. Turns out they are in the US. We saw several later on in Buffalo.

The Peace Bridge over the Niagara River took us to the US Border. It was not particularly crowded, but there was enough idling so Healey 100's temperature gauge climbed over 212 F. The very friendly agent asked us a few questions and said he was impressed we had driven the Healey from New Mexico. He joked that we couldn't have much to declare with such little space inside the car. Little did he know that 2/3 of everything we own was stuffed into every nook and cranny of this Healey.

We both left the border and merged with I-190. This beltway took us over, under, around and through downtown Buffalo. It was congested and hot. It was hard to keep Bill H. and Joyce in sight, but we managed. I-190 morphed into I-90 aka the New York State Thruway. This took us to the east end of Buffalo where we found the Fairfield Inn that our Canadian friends had reserved rooms for us. Only Greg and Gloria from Port Dover were here. Their Healey 3000 had croaked on the way, so they switched to a modern car. We are still waiting for the others to arrive. Meanwhile, Bill N. was able to enjoy the exciting finish of the US Open golf tournament in the motel.

Bill N. went to SUNY at Buffalo for four years in the 60's. There is little here to recognize now, but we may take time to tour some of his old neighborhoods tomorrow.

Healey Report: Healey 100 had a good day, no major problems except for overheating a bit in traffic. Healey 3000 had a couple of ethanol moments. It seemed like she would not start at all, but finally fired up. On I-90, she started to misfire severely. Bill and Joyce hung on and were able to continue to the Fairfield. There, Bill found one of the plug wires hanging off to nowhere. Easy to fix, he hoped that would cure the car.

Bill N. and Nance.

Day 8, Monday, June 18. Buffalo, NY to Burlington, CT, near Hartford, approx. 420 miles.

We said good bye to Bill and Joyce and our Canadian Healey friends. They had three BJ8's and one pickup truck. The BJ8 is the last Healey, the one with luxury features like roll up windows, radio, and door handles. The group drove off to Watkins Glen and points along the lower Hudson Valley. They have a great itinerary which we knew was fun because we did much of it two years ago on a VMCCA tour. We would meet them again in Burlington on June 24 and learn of their adventures.

Our departure was delayed when Bill N. noticed his small zipper bag with his shop manual, personal papers, and his checkbook was missing. He was sure he had left it in the back of the car the night before, he often left it there behind the seats. It was nowhere to be found. No big deal, though the shop manual was an an original, hardbound version signed by a few of the surviving members of the Healey family -- and it had Bill's personal grease stains on it. Was it swiped? Don't know, it could have been misplaced or left in a motel. We called the last nights' motels but no blue bag. We decided to call our bank and they immediately closed our account. Hope the ATM still works, we may need it. (Epilog: we learned later that we left the bag in an elevator, and the hotel folks found it, called us in Albuquerque, and eventually mailed it to us -- nothing missing.)

We took some pictures of my parent's Buffalo house that was near the hotel. The house looked like new, though the shrubbery was much bigger. They sold this house around 1980. Sadly, many of the area's trees were severely damaged by last October's early snowstorm. The conflicts over cleanup efforts made front page news in the Buffalo News.

We were planning to take the New York State Thruway to Albany, but decided at the last minute to stay on secondary roads. This consisted of NY 5 and US 20 taking us south of the Thruway to the finger lakes area. Every time we looked in the mirror we missed Bill H's and Joyce's smiling Healey. We not only missed our friends, we knew that we were now Healeying solo for the first time on this trip. No problems, please.

These back roads were very attractive, and summer road repairs were frequent, but we made reasonable time until we reached the fingerplex of towns along the northern edge of the Finger Lakes. The towns of Geneva, Waterloo, and Seneca Falls are mostly linked together. Traffic was slow and it was getting hot. We finally took a break to cool off the Healey and ourselves at Seneca Falls, home of the first Women's Rights Congress held in 1846. They had a great visitor center describing the Congress and many other features of Seneca Falls. It has a major canal that connects lakes Cayuga and Seneca to the New York State Barge Canal to the north. It was also home to a vibrant knitting industry, now gone. Too bad, Bill needed more socks.

Traffic lightened east of Seneca Falls. This road has major hills and valleys running north to south. Surely they were cut by the same tools that created the Finger Lakes. These were no minor hills for downstreamers. The downhills were frighteningly steep, often with a small town and stoplight at the bottom. Our Healey 100 is an early model with tiny drum brakes. We found that rocketing down one of these hills in overdrive at 65 mph could lead to the smell of burning brakes and boiling brake fluid at the bottom. Under these conditions, the Healey has just one rather slow stop before the brakes fade to nothing. After a few nervous descents, we made sure to shift out of overdrive and cut our speed at the top of each hill.

We found many strawberries along the way. We stopped at an honor system stand (suckers!) and took two packages and just paid for one! Just joking, of course, we left exact change ($3.50 per package). They made luscious lunch.

We noticed very blue skies today, the usual eastern haze was gone. The vistas were crisp and clear and there were many vistas to see. We were trying to angle towards Hudson, NY to cross the Hudson River into Connecticut. When we reached the small town of Cobleskill, we realized we could not make it to Hartford without increasing our average speed considerably. Sadly, needing to make time and ease the stress on the brakes meant we would miss our Only Healey relatives, Marty and Linda who live near Hudson, New York. But Marty would be joining us in Burlington and, perhaps Linda would find a way to come at the last minute.

We decided to take I-88 northeast to Albany. There, we would go south on I-87 followed by east on the Massachusetts Turnpike. Traffic was intense at times but tolerable. We left the Mass Pike by retuning briefly to 20, then Mass.8 through the Berkshire Mountains. What a Healey road! This woke us up and gave us the energy we needed to make it to Burlington, CT. We continued through Otis, Roosterville and into Winsted, CT. This 8 is one lovely road, especially as it passes by Colebrook River Lake and its hidden waterfall. We made it to my brother's home (Rick and Mary Sullivan) around 7:30 PM. We enjoyed a relaxing home cooked gourmet meal and good company after this long and sometimes lonely day. .

Healey Report: Healey 100 worked harder on those long hills in central New York. The engine was pinging loudly. Bill retarded the timing and that stopped the pinging -- but then the engine lacked power and really heated up climbing hills. Another timing adjustment seemed to dial it in, but the engine does not feel as lively as it should. We will give it a rest in Hartford and try to richen the carburetor mixture for the lower altitude here.

Bill and Nance

Days 9-13, June 19-23 A Relative Interlude.

Our first CT day we did next to nothing Well, Nance did laundry and Bill wrote his overdue column for the VMCCA. The only effort at travel was a half mile walk to the rebuilt bridge on Reservoir Rd. and a visit with the sweet folks at the regionally famous Lamothe's Sugar House. These folks sustainably tap NW CT maples by the hundreds and supply syrup and other maple sugar goodies to stores in the area..

Rick graciously loaned us us his 1996 Honda Accord (air conditioning, working brakes and windshield wipers, no leaks!) to drive through Wednesday's rain to Nance's cousin in Stonington, CT. The old Honda felt like a Ferrari after all those days in our Healey -- a reality check that reminded us that the Healey really is more than 50 years old.

Taking freeway most of the way, we quickly arrived in the historic, and only active commercial fishing fleet village in CT. Trudi led us a few blocks to the Harbor Pub, where you get "the best fried clams I've ever eaten." And they were! We spent the afternoon at Mystic Seaport and Maritime Museum experiencing history come alive. Wooden ships from centuries past are restored or recreated. Future wooden shipbuilders and sailors, carvers and blacksmiths learn ancient, nearly lost crafts. The Charles W. Morgan, only whaling ship still floating, fills a berth as a school about this vital period of our history. One afternoon was not enough to take it all in.

While waiting for lobster water to boil we got a phone call from Albuquerque. Ghost Town Furniture, a business five blocks and four lanes of Central Ave.--Rte 66--from our house had our border collie Duncan. One dog lost and found left the other dog, Lady, lost. A call to Nance's house sitting son found him on the way to his job. But other family members returned Duncan home, found Lady at the front porch and all was well. David brought a gift certificate from his job and we'll thank the caring craftspeople at Ghost Town on our return.

Wednesday we drove leisurely along the Connecticut coast to visit our nephew Michael and his wife Kristen at their new home in New Haven.. We visited the architectural gem, the Beinecke Rare Books Library after a struggle trapped in Yale between one way streets a massive Paramount production filming the latest Raiders of the Lost Ark movie. But we found our family only blocks from where Michael's great grandparents had lived.50 years earlier.

Did you know that the first American to manufacture products with interchangeable parts was an Eli but not a Whitney? By 1806 Eli Terry of Connecticut was manufacturing thousands of clocks with beautiful wooden gears This we learned at the delightful and surprising American Clock Museum in Bristol, CT.

On Saturday we reluctantly said our goodbyes to Rick and Mary. We drove through Avon, where Nance spent much of her childhood. Her elementary school had been leveled and replaced by community athletic fields. Our next destination was Bill's childhood summer place Granite Lake, NH, owned by cousins Noel and Mary. "The camp" as they call it, hugs the shore of a deep, lovely, fish filled lake. It's one of our favorite spots anywhere. Mary treated us to a dinner of trout she had caught and Sunday morning was spent canoeing--Noel and Bill, and kayaking--Mary and Nance. After her first experience kayaking, Nance jokingly suggested we bag Burlington and stay ON the Lake. Bill vetoed that idea and we drove by back roads and I-89 through the sunlit Green Mountains. On to Burlington, VT, our friends and hundreds of Healeys.

Healey Report: Healey 100 got a good rest in my Rick and Mary's garage in Connecticut. She sat there quietly leaking oil onto their pristine garage floor. No Healey had darkened their garage before, that was obvious by the condition of the floor. We tried to clean up the worst of the stains before we left. Healey 100 had been losing power as we arrived, the engine felt like it was fading fast. Bill always fears it could be something serious, like burned valves or broken rings. Later on he experimented with advancing the ignition timing. This pepped up the engine considerably, and it feels stronger now. We hope that trend continues.

Bill and Nance

Day 23. June 24, Burlington, VT. We made it!

Yes, we arrived in Burlington today at 4 PM. We didn't see a single Healey on our trip north on I-89. This interstate is a lovely road, lots of vistas, up and down, with very modest traffic. Great rest stops too, with plenty of hospitality provided by staffs of Vermont volunteers.

We were delighted to reunite with Bill H. and Joyce and their Canadian friends and an ice cream social -- lubricated with Ben and Jerry's ice cream. They had a great extra tour around the Hudson Valley and arrived in Burlington earlier than we did. They spent the previous night in nearby Lake Placid and just had a short drive and ferry ride across Lake Champlain to Burlington.

Suddenly we are surrounded by hundreds of Healeys. It's amazing all these Healeys converge to this small town, enough of them to fill up the parking lot in a large Sheraton hotel -- yet we saw not a single one on the highways as we approached. Even a few hundred Healeys are just an insignificant dot in the massive flux of modern traffic.

Healey report: Healey 100 ran better today after advancing the timing. She still does not have the power she should have, but there is enough there for her to keep up on Vermont's substantial hills. Healey 3000 ran well on her New York State tour. Bill H. reported a rattley exhaust pipe, a common problem with these cars -- especially the 6 cylinder models with their more complex exhaust system. We have a coat hanger, should this problem get any worse.

We are too tired to complete this section. More tomorrow on the big show, there is a car show tomorrow. We'll send pictures later..

Bill and Nance.

Conclave Day 1, Monday June 26, Burlington Vermont.

This conclave is very well staffed. Registration and distribution of all the tickets and hand outs went very smoothly. There was only one error due to the "which Bill Sullivan from New Mexico is which" problem. Joyce was registered with Bill N's car and Nance with Bill H's. The problem was easily corrected with magic marker on the name tags.

The first event was an all day car show. The organizers read us the rules about how we were to enter the Healeys into the nearby Shelburne Museum. After lots of difficulty getting a few hundred Healeys extruded through Burlington's rush hour, the steaming line of Healeys streamed into the Museum. There we found the best car show venue ever. The Museum grounds consisted of hilly grass meadows accented with flowers, gardens and shade trees. Healeys were sorted into sections by model. Most of the cars were oriented like gleaming landscape art; we were asked not to park in rows -- but instead distribute more randomly. Owners resisted, of course, some were uncomfortable without the discipline of conventional parking lots. The cars finally posed properly. There was plenty of shade and unlimited photo ops here.

The Shelburne Museum had its own dazzling array of plants, buildings, artifacts and art. There was no way to get bored here. We could not miss the remarkable SS Ticonderoga, an elegant Lake Champlain passenger and freight steamer that overlooked the diminutive Healeys. This 220' vessel, built in 1907 offered regular transportation up and down Lake Champlain until the early 50's. It was about to be scrapped when the wealthy Electra Webb, founder of the Shelburne Museum, decided the "Ti" needed to be preserved. A huge project to move the Ti 2.5 miles over land to the Museum and restore her fittings ensued. The whole community pitched in to help and the result is startling. This ship looks as good as new, especially all the complicated mechanical components and controls associated with the walking beam reciprocating steam engine.

Nance spent part of her day as volunteer working in several of the beautiful gardens all around this space. Mrs. Webb loved peonies, and fragrant, old style roses that bloomed everywhere.. Joyce discovered a round barn with an unbelievable collection of quilts and a special show called "Chandelierious". This was a Guggenheim-like collection of avant garde chandeliers. Nance and Bill H. found impressionist paintings by Monet, Manet, Degas, Cassatt and Corot in a mansion built after Mrs. Webb's death as a memorial from her children. Other amazing art and artifacts collections abound in the historic buildings, including Audubon prints.

There were two fabulously restored 100S cars, one original unrestored Nash Healey and two or three Jensen Healeys. Bill N's crude count indicated about 10% Sprites, 10% 100's, 30% 100-6 and 3000, and 50% BJ7 and BJ8 Healeys.

The quality of Austin Healey and Sprite restorations is now off the scale, there were too many outstanding Healeys to count. But the two ordinary "20 footer" Healeys from New Mexico gathered many comments and questions from visitors who were very curious about our travels. Bill N loves to mix up truth and fiction in these interchanges, but we all have fun telling our stories and hearing others.

The results of the popularity votes were tabulated and the winners were announced. They made a pass by the Ticonderoga to receive their trophies: delicious looking glass pints of Vermont pure maple syrup. A long snake of Healeys formed and we left the museum thinking we needed to come back. We had missed the steam train, carriage collection, antique carousel and countless other exhibits.

Healey 100 got pretty hot in very bad traffic near the hotel.. She continued to run, but with surge and uneven idling. The radiator didn't blow, this car has a pressure cap. After a short rest in our rooms, we gathered with Bill H. and Joyce for a trip to the waterfront and ate a delicious seafood dinner at the Shanty overlooking Burlington's Ferry Landing.

Good night!

Bill and Nance.

Conclave Day 2, Tuesday, June 27, Burlington Vermont

Today was rally day. There was a fun and TSD rally (your choice) with starting times from 9 to 12. We chose to keep it light and stick with the fun rally. Most drivers chose the fun rally; it had about 10 times more participants than the TSD. Bill H. and Joyce left on the 9:00 flight for the fun rally.

Bill N's cousin Marty from Hudson NY showed up right on schedule with his primrose BN6. His car made the several hundred mile journey with no problem in spite of the heat -- the temperature was predicted to make it into the mid 90's today. Bill and Marty left on the rally at 11:30 AM in Healey 100. Nance pursued an alternative walking tour of downtown Burlington near the waterfront, visiting the Episcopal Cathedral, the Crow Book Shop and outstanding Vermont arts and crafts venues like Frog Hollow on Burlington's Church St. Pedestrian mall. Fortunately, the Healey's size prevented the acquisition--or expense--of any paintings or sculpture.

The organizers took us through roads that looked like sets for Vermont maple syrup promotions. Staying on the route wasn't too hard, we made just a couple of turn errors that we corrected. But there were over 100 incredibly difficult rally questions. Sample: "These are rarely used on Austin Healeys" -- answer: unnamed roadside sculptures of two vertical whale flukes near I-89 or whale tails, sometimes used to describe Porsche rear bodywork. Sample: "Barren place" -- answer: the tiny village of Starksboro. Marty and Bill N. patiently fried our brains on these questions. We answered about 30 % if them. Bill N. enjoyed pretending at the rest stops that we found the questions to be too easy, it was a delight to see folk's reaction to that.

The rally involved steep curvaceous mountain roads that passed by the Mad River Glen and Sugarbush ski areas. At the tops of hills, Healey's could be found sitting breathlessly with their bonnets flipped open. Healey 100 did OK but her temp gauge was often above 212. She protested by belching out a quart or two of coolant when stopped. The roads were tire screechers, with plenty of sharp switchback turns.

We took a break at the Warren Store near Mad River Glen. They served delicious made-to-order organic sandwiches and drinks. We needed the break, it was getting awfully hot out there. It was welcome relief to get off the road and socialize a bit .

The rest energized us. Happily, we began to decipher the cryptic style of the sadistic rallymaster and answered a better percentage of questions. The route took us back over the same interesting mountain roads in the opposite direction where we enjoyed seeing Healeys come towards us earlier. But we were delighted to finally return to the hotel after more than 4 hours of rallying. The questions and the heat really used us up. Marty and Bill N. had lots of fun, they had not seen each other for several years and always enjoy those reunions when they finally happen. Next time, we will take the TSD Rally. It has fewer participants and none of the annoying questions! Just drive and pray to keep reasonable time.

There was a generous and delicious barbeque buffet back at the host hotel, followed by an excellent rock and roll band. We learned that none of the Sullivans managed to place in the rally. And that lots of these Healey folks are outstanding dancers.

That's all,

Bill and Nance.

Conclave Day 3-4, June 27-28, Burlington, Vermont

The big activity on Wednesday was the gymkhana and funkhana held at the Sheraton. Access to the parking lot event courses was difficult due to a major repaving project at the hotel entrance. Seems you can count on a major construction project at the host hotel the week of your big event.

We watched the cars circulate the gymkhana course for a while. The layout was fairly wide open and the faster cars were going over 40 on the straights. Looked like fun, but Bill N. and Bill H. both opted out. The tech inspectors are getting more fussy (they always hate Bill N's crude ad hoc battery tie down). We know how to be wild and crazy, but racing a car that we need to transport us 2400 miles home did not seem prudent. The funkhana was less risk with more whimsy, there were cow milking and cowpie toss competitions. We could have done that but had not pre registered, so we passed on it as well. It was still unbelievably hot and this cooled our enthusiasm for driving events in the hot parking lot.

Marty and both Sullivans joined some of our Canadian friends for the drive up to the Trapp Family Resort near Stowe, VT. This 40 mile drive was beautiful, but still well over 90F, even at the high elevation of the Trapp resort. Everyone was watching their gauges, particularly on those long climbs. Most Healeys made the summit OK..

Luncheon at the Trapp resort looked like a cruise ship buffet, it offered a copious array of delicious looking salads, side dishes, entrees and desserts. We could see why the Trapp family chose this area and architecture.-- it looked very much like those Swiss mountain scenes from "The Sound of Music".

Bill N., Nance and Marty had to go down the hill to the town of Stowe for their lunch -- Trapp tickets had been sold out and they had overflow lunch tickets at the Olde English Inn.. The buffet here was barely adequate, such is the luck of the draw. We were hungry and enjoyed the lunch anyway. Unfortunately, Marty had to continue south to his home. Bill N. really enjoyed Marty's visit and their Healeying adventures. Bill and Marty had so many good times together as children and enjoy those opportunities to reconnect as adults -- especially in New England. We heard that Marty had a good trip home and managed to avoid the thundershowers that appeared to be building in the area.

Back in Burlington, we got ready for a dinner cruise on the Ethan Allen II on Lake Champlain. This sleek vessel was wide and tall. It was social overload on the decks as the vessel easily absorbed several hundred Healyists in comfort. As the Ethan Allen II smoothly backed out the slip, we were served a wonderful meal. The purple Adirondack mountains of northern New York State provided a dynamic background. One rocky island covered with trees was described by Bill N. as "an Elephant Butte Chia Pet," -- a comment that was only understood by the few New Mexicans on board. (Google Elephant Butte Lake. It's full of chia pet bases, just no chia!) Our sail displayed the beauty of the Vermont coastlines and of Lake Champlain as small sailing craft raced on her. We even experienced "moonlight in Vermont." Good job, Ethan Allen II.

Our last day at Conclave was more laid back. Bill N. helped some newfound friends from Buffalo fix their '66 Sprite. The brakes were not releasing. It took longer than it should have to diagnose the problem: a plugged bleed vent in the master cylinder. But it did get fixed, finally. Nance did laundry and rested. Bill H. and Joyce went to the Bolton Ski area and toured an amazing granite quarry, "Rock of Ages,".and the historic Hope Cemetery where many of those stones stand as magnificent memorials.

The closing banquet at the hotel ended the Conclave. The food was excellent, the speeches and awards presentations, as always, were too long. But this Conclave did all it was supposed to do and more. We enjoyed old friends and met new ones at every event.. We drove our Healeys through some of the most spectacular countryside and exciting roads in New England. Best of all, Conclave is not over for us. We have 2400 miles of Healeying left..

Bill N. and Nance

Return Trip Day 1, Friday June 29: Burlington VT to Warsaw, NY, approx. 400 miles

We started our return with a major change in plans. Because of the heat, we intended to drive through Ontario at Cornwall, then drive up and over to Sault Ste. Marie. Our Canadian friends warned us that this route was very remote and that gas and motels could be hard to come by. Bill N. also Yahoo'd the route and found it would add more than 300 miles to the most direct route to Albuquerque. But what really changed was the weather. The abnormally hot weather that made the driving parts of the Conclave so difficult broke suddenly Thursday. The weather forecast said not only Vermont would be cooling, but also most of the northern half of the country. We headed directly southwest..

We enjoyed clear and cool blue skies as we drove down the eastern side of Lake Champlain on rural VT 7. We changed to minor roads to head west into New York over the tall and narrow truss bridge at Port Henry. This old, elegant structure flies over the southern end of Lake Champlain. We played on NY 22 and 9N as they meandered among lakes, streams and resorts down to Lake George. There it became too congested and we went west to pick up I-87 to Saratoga Springs. At Saratoga Springs, we avoided the major traffic downtown (gridlock!) and went west on NY 29. This took us through the western edge of the Adirondacks through more picturesque towns and farms. Then it was time to make time. We joined I-90, the New York State Thruway for a hundred miles or so. The traffic on I-90 was dense but courteous. We discovered the beauty of the Mohawk River that serves as the New York State Barge Canal. Several large pleasure boats floated toward Lake Erie and the weirs and locks that would help them in their passage..

The Thruway eventually tired us as traffic built up towards the jamming point. We turned off to the south aimed for Canandaigua to join US 20, one of our favorite E-W roads. Joyce was impressed with the old huge Victorian homes that line the main street of Canandaigua. Many of these homes are stunningly well maintained.

We had thought of returning by way of Buffalo again, but that meant more traffic and urbanity. Instead, we cut to the southwest on I-380 toward the college town of Geneseo. We found a new looking Quality Inn there, but decided it was pricey at $129 a night. Continuing west on US alt 20, we hoped it wasn't too rural to find a motel. In the small town of Warsaw we found it:: the Bates Motel. Just $50, complete with showers and a Victorian mansion in the rear. Sorry, no phone or internet access. That is why no blog update yesterday. But we had a great dinner and breakfast at the Silver Lake Family Restaurant, packed with locals and travelers. Good food and good service.

Healey Report: Healey 100 loved this day. The cool weather agreed with her. The engine seemed snappy again she pulled the big grades out here easily. Healey 3000 ran strong too, but she does not like to start. Lots of rur rur rur rur ing and then she barely chugs to life. Finally, the engine revs up and off she goes. Bill H. does not care for this ritual. Anyway, we are now 400 miles closer to home -- that much less towing if we do have a problem.

Good night

Bill N. and Nance.

Return Trip Day 2, Saturday, June 30, Warsaw, NY to Mansfield, OH, 330 miles

We left the "Bates Motel" intact, surviving the the shower and the lack of internet access. It was a very clean place at a good price. Unfortunately, these motels are continuing to be displaced by box hotels with internet access, in room coffee, and breakfasts. We do like the box hotels, but know that small towns like Warsaw are too small for the boxes. Hopefully, they will continue to offer mom and pop lodging.

The cool weather continued this morning as we headed south and west on a variety of secondary roads. This may have been the best driving day of the entire trip. The light traffic, hilly roads, farms and crisp blue skies were a feast for us and the Healeys. SR 242 was one of the prettiest routes we've traveled. We cruised through impressive looking ski areas in Ellicottville, and enjoyed the Victorian architecture around Randolph and Jamestown near Lake Chautauqua. This western New York region was a secret to us, not well known like New England.

We chalked up another state when we entered Pennsylvania via PA 8 to Warren. As we entered Warren, Bill N remembered that he had visited this area more than 40 years ago -- it was the neighborhood of one of his classmates at SUNY Fredonia who lived on a farm in tiny Pittsfield, PA. Bill H. and Joyce suggested we stop at Titusville to see the museum around the first oil well that Drake drilled in 1859. This was a pleasant break for us, the Drake well is in a shady grove with lots of picnic tables and operating mining machinery that huffed and puffed. We ended up spending a couple of hours here. We learned all about drilling rigs and well production technology. Did you know that Pennzoil and Quaker State oil is not refined from crude oil out of Pennsylvania anymore? Sorry, Pennsylvania oil production today is much too small to supply the needs of any major oil company. PA crude is still pumped in small quantities for high quality machine oils.

We debated how to continue into Ohio. We finally settled on a northern route through Oil City, Franklin and Greenville. These roads continued to delight, but it was getting late and we wanted to get a bit farther this day. Nance routed us on OH 11, a quasi-freeway that took us to Youngstown. We beltwayed around to connect with I-76 that took us through busy Akron. The traffic was light, this was a Saturday. From there we joined I-71 toward Mansfield and US 30. We found a decent motel and a Bob Evans restaurant for dinner. After dinner, there was a small crowd gathered around the Healeys. Turned out that Mid Ohio road race track was just down the road and a group of vintage car racers were there for the weekend. They had a racing MGB and lots of stories. We all joked about our adventures. They invited us to Mid Ohio for Sunday's British Car show and other festivities. We thought about going but decided we really needed to keep moving.

Bill N. and Nance.

Return Trip Day 3, Sunday, July 1, Mansfield, OH to Galesville, IL, 450 miles.

We racked up some fast miles on US 30 west of Mansfield. This is a four-lane arterial that cuts across central Ohio -- avoiding most of the big cities. It is a remnant of the famous Lincoln Highway. This transcontinental road started as gravel in 1915, well before Route 66. It connected New York City and San Francisco. Today US 30 is a very pleasant ride, though we missed the hills and turns of Pennsylvania and western New York.

We passed through the small town of Van Wert. This town looked more depressed than Dutch, except for the sparkling March Foundation buildings. The foundation offers rehab for troubled kids. We did find cheap gas here, and filled up with 93 Octane Sunoco for a mere $2.98/gal. To avoid Ft. Wayne, we switched to US 224 and US 24 to cross central Indiana and follow the Wabash River. We drove by the factory for Fleetwood RV's in Decatur, Indiana. There could be hard times for the RV industry ahead, we noticed few RV's on the road.

When we saw Monticello, IN, Bill N. and Nance realized they had driven their '27 Buick through this town in 2003. Small country. We were making much better time today with the Healeys, they spent most of this day above 60 mph.

We decided to shoot for Peoria, this would make a nice 400 mile day with an early stop to take care of laundry and blogs. Unfortunately, we waited too long to pick a hotel in Peoria and this put us in search mode on I-74 west of Peoria. We had to go 50 miles more to Galesburg. There we found a comfortable Super 8 motel with pool, wifi, laundry and nearby fast food.

Healey Report: Cool, dry weather agrees with these cars. They are still running with no major issues. Healey 3000 sounds ragged at low RPM but she smoothes out at higher speeds. Healey 100's solenoid continues to work perfectly, just love that solenoid, thank you Bill H.

Bill N and Nance

Return Trip Day 4, Monday, July 2, Galesville, IL to Leavenworth, KS, 350 miles. Light at the end of the tunnel.

This morning started with a new development. Nance had been hoping to divert our return trip to Iowa City so she could attend one of Amma's Tour events. Nance has been a follower of Amma for several years. It was clear that as our route evolved more towards the south, driving through Iowa City became a less practical option. Nance had accepted that getting to Iowa City was unlikely when a Burlington Trailways bus passed us near Galesville. We found from their website that they had good bus service between Burlington, IA and Iowa City. Burlington IA was only 50 miles west of Galesburg, right on our way. So we got up early and Nance caught the 8:45 AM bus. This worked well for Nance, she called later fully settled in Iowa City and enjoying her event with Amma. We will rejoin later in Albuquerque.

So now we are three. We waved goodbye to Nance and went south from the clean Trailways Bus Terminal in West Burlington on IA 61. This road snakes along the Mississippi River through the river towns of Ft. Madison and Keokuk. The Mississippi was blue and wide here, looking more lake than river. But the barge traffic let you know that it was still a working river. At Keokuk, we turned west on US 136 and entered the state of Missouri. This was a fine rural road, smooth, straight and well maintained. We had no problem running 60 mph or more. It took us most of the way across Missouri through many working ag towns. Joyce noted that the old houses and buildings here didn't have the gentrified look of the many resort areas we saw on this trip. Still, there was prosperity here, crowded Wal-Marts and box stores still lurked -- and one very large ADM ethanol plant near Unionville.

We left US 136 for I-35 to take us south toward Kansas City. We decided to pass through Ft. Leavenworth, another one of Bill N's childhood homes. We left I-35 to go west on rural MO 116 aimed at the Missouri River. This 30 mile roller coaster road made the most amazing leaps and turns through Missouri's lush and hilly cornfields. Good thing there was little traffic here. Passing was nearly impossible. It took full attention to drive this road. A strong stomach didn't hurt, some of the ups and downs nearly launched the Healeys. I think they loved every minute of it.

Navigating without Nance proved difficult. I continued to lead by memorizing the next few coming turns. I would pull off occasionally to recalibrate and memorize the next set of turns. This worked great on US 136 with so few turns. It was much less effective on the complex network of spaghetti roads along the Lewis and Clark trail north of Kansas City, MO. We made several errors, but were able to recover. We finally found the bridge over the Missouri River into Leavenworth, Kansas. Bill N. lived in Fort Leavenworth from 1951-55. We managed to get the Healeys and ourselves through the security checkpoint. The inspectors were friendly and one was particularly fond of British sports cars. Once inside, we made the usual tour of homes and places I remembered. It has changed so little, even though hundreds of military families have cycled through this special place. It is known as a "fat cat" assignment for military officers, it is easy to see why.

We decided to end our day and found a nice cheap motel in the older part of downtown Leavenworth. Had excellent food and service at the nearby Pullman Restaurant.

Good night

Bill N.

Return Trip Day 5, Tuesday, July 3, Leavenworth, KS to Dodge City, KS, 340 miles. Kansas is flat -- Not!!

We left Leavenworth headed NW on KS 74 toward railtown Atchison. Who was was from Atchison? Amelia Earhart, save that for your next trivia contest.

It looked like rain, so we made a little effort to organize for Healey wet operations. We hoped we wouldn't need it, remembering how poorly equipped these cars are for water management. We never had to deploy the countermeasures, the clouds burned off and we escaped again.

We turned rural onto a much smaller road, KS 192, heading west toward Winchester and countless other small Kansas farming communities. KS 192 morphed into KS 16. The Healeys continued to cavort through the gentle corkscrews in this area. Driving was fun -- but took careful attention. Shoulders were narrow or none. A lapse in vigilance could send you into the tall and lush cornfields that were everywhere. Traffic? Almost non-existent. Just an occasional farm implement or pickup truck. Folks in the numerous small towns gave friendly gawks at the Healeys. There was not a single Wal-Mart on this section. We have grown accustomed to small towns having their Wal-Mart with its stifling traffic and symbiotic chain store groupies like Auto Zone, Lowe's, McDonalds, or Pizza Hut. Not so on KS 16. We were able to find the occasional convenience store and gas station we needed for our journey, but nothing more. Some Amish are here, perhaps they will help preserve this special corner of Kansas.

KS 16 ended north of Manhattan, KS and we jogged over to US 24, a major east-west arterial. Traffic here was more intense, but it was a smooth straight road that let us cruise comfortably at 65 mph. We turned south on US 81, a limited access road that would take us to Salina.. We were passed by a restored early 60's bathtub Porsche 356 Cabriolet. We exchanged vigorous waves. We had a similar encounter with two lovely Ford Model A's , a fordor sedan and coupe. The fordor sedan had a sign saying she had driven the Alaskan Highway. We were impressed.

We had a nice buffet lunch at a packed Pizza Hut in Minneapolis, KS. We caucused how to proceed through the rest of Kansas. Consensus was to take I-70 west of Salina to US 156. This would take us on a diagonal through Kansas to Great Bend and Dodge City. When we got to Dodge, we decided that was far enough. We finally found a brand new and very luxurious Best Western near the old center of Dodge City. Clean, comfortable, and expensive, relative to the cheap joints of the last few nights. We had an excellent steak dinner and enjoyed the walk down Front Street, Dodge's preserved western main street. Best part -- reading brass medallions in the sidewalk honors actors in the Gunsmoke TV series.

Tomorrow, we should make it home. This has been a fabulous vacation. But one of the best parts of a vacation is ending it -- and coming home, back to our house, routine and seeing our dogs, cats, relatives and friends.

Bill N.

Return Trip Day 6, Wednesday July 4, Dodge City, KS to Albuquerque, NM, 450 miles. Home at last.

We loaded and left the Best Western at 8 AM after a very impressive hotel breakfast. They had fruit, juices, meats, omelets and cereal. We knew from Yahoo Maps that home was 450 miles away, but with that extra hour at the mountain time zone, we thought we could be home at a reasonable hour. The miles come easier when the stable is in sight.

We rejoined US 56 at the south end of Dodge. This road was a straight and smooth laser through the Great Plains of eastern Kansas. This was the flat Kansas of the Wizard of Oz. Vast open agricultural range punctuated by towering grain elevators every 10 or 15 miles. Joyce commented on the relative lack of visual stimulation here compared to New England. True, but the enormity of the vistas made up for their simplicity. We did make good time on this road, the towns were brief and most of the time we were running over 65 MPH.

We came to a dot on the map called Hugoton, KS. We were reminded it was the Fourth of July when we encountered a crowded celebration in the village's central park. There we found bunted booths with water dunk tosses, dart games, karaoke singers and more. This place was full of cool grass, youth and smiles, it was irresistible. We took pictures and refreshed ourselves walking and gawking at the scene.

Back on the road, we passed through a sliver of Oklahoma on our way to New Mexico. That was our 17th state on this tour. New Mexico came quickly and we headed for lunch in Clayton. Bill N. knew of a good local cafe, but Clayton's main street parade had just ended there and the place was packed. There was a less interesting Pizza Hut at the opposite end of town. We enjoyed their buffet for lunch.

New Mexico's western plains showed us several large groups of antelope. The looming outlines of a few buttes and the rugged Sangre de Christo mountains near Taos and Raton told us home was near the horizon. Black clouds laced with lightning provided the fireworks. The storms seemed peripheral, we thought we could squeeze between the thunderheads. We stopped for gas in Las Vegas (gas is MUCH more expensive here, close to 50 cents a gallon more than in KS or MO). On our way out, the skies opened up and we could not see well enough to drive. We sat under a gas station cover for a half hour. Bill N. foolishly did not deploy those devilish side curtains, it seemed like the storm would pass quickly. Not so, the storm managed to thoroughly soak both Healeys and their occupants.

Back on I-25 the weather cleared and we cruised in cool weather through Glorietta and Santa Fe. Our serenity was broken in northern Albuquerque. Another vicious storm exploded and practically shut down the freeway. Bill N continued slowly, using the large overhead freeway signs for guidance. The lane markings were completely invisible. Then the hail came, little square cubes jumping like popcorn through those open windows on the Healey. The hail was not damaging -- but it sure was cold. and made quite a racket. Bill N. passed through this cell and the other Healey was gone. Bill H. and Joyce had pulled off and felt their way to a Bennigan's. They called and I joined them in our modern car for dinner. We reminisced about our trip. The rain eventually cleared Albuquerque but still looked bad to the south towards Belen where Bill H. and Joyce live. After waiting at our house for a while, Bill and Joyce braved the storm and made it home through some flood damage in Belen.

Our trip was over, it is just a memory now. We did not get the grand picture of the Healey homecoming. Too much rain and stress for that. We are glad to be home and now have to face a mountain of mail, one missing cat, broken sprinklers and lots of house cleaning.

Healey Report: We had some problems on the last day. Healey 3000 was getting more and more fussy starting. Sometimes she would crank over and over with no sign of life. Finally, a few weak pops and the engine would barely chug to life. Then it would rev up and run just fine. Bill H. started to avoid shutting her off. Healey 100 developed another overdrive problem but it was not the solenoid. There is an electrical speed switch in the transmission that prevents the OD from engaging below 45 mph. This switch acted up and occasionally would disengage the unit briefly at speeds well above 45. It was disconcerting and Bill N. used a clip lead to bypass this switch and then the OD stayed engaged.

Bill N.