The MGA With An Attitude
Five days later, a lot more has happened. After Tuesday night Natter 'n' Noggin, a late night visit with daughter at her new temporary digs in Lisle, IL. Wednesday and Thursday 5/14-5/15 travel east (rain, rain, rain) to Arlington, Virginia area, but missed a visit with an MG friend (not available at last minute). We were going to camp at a hostel Thursday night, but a lightning storm would not allow us to camp (last minute issue), So we took the opportunity to visit a laundromat. Impossible to drive in torrential rain, ended up sleeping in the car, discovering it leaks badly where rag top meets windscreen at top of side curtains. Also some leak under the dash that might be from the wiper spindles (maybe). Early Friday found us at McDonalds taking advantage of their WiFi link for internet access (getting to be a habit) while we tried to dry out some. Then take care of some personal business, miss a visit with another MG friend (also not available at last minute), but have a pleasant and (finally) dry night camping in Burke Lake Park, VA. 
 Saturday 5/17 more leisure less travel, culminating in a nice visit and stay over with MGA enthusiast Geoff Howard in Ashburn, VA, discussing his valve recession problem (among other things). Took advantage of the opportunity to do an oil change for my MGA.
Sunday 5/18 begins a casual drive down Skyline Drive. We run south from Front Royal, VA, a very pleasant drive in Shenandoah National Park (as long as you are not in a hurry to get anywhere). 35 mph speed limit, lots of tight curves and hills that often need 3rd gear to pull the trailer up (but are free going down). Not too much traffic on Sunday, as school is not out yet. Due diligence not to hit the deer, get a picture of the black bears, shoo an owl in flight away from the windscreen, wait for turkeys to clear the road, lots of breathtaking overlooks. No cell phone or hot spots in the hills (3000-ft altitude mountains), so near day's end we turn west down the hill to find a McDonalds in Elkton with a hot spot, and spend the night a little farther west in Harrisonburg.
Tuesday 5/20, sleep late in the very pleasant forest environment, then continue south on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Bail out momentarily at Vinton for a hot spot fix, bag of ice and refueling. Now we have an invite for an overnight in Weaverville, NC, which is about the right distance farther down the Parkway in a couple of days, so off we go again. Getting late evening by the time we get back on the Parkway, and campgrounds are hard to find this time. So we decide to drive some after dark to see what wildlife we might rustle up. Sure enough, just after dark we find a bobcat crossing the road, then a few racoons, and more deer than you can shake a stick at. One stare from the dark and their eyes light up like lanterns, all over the forest. Oddly, no deer in the roadway at night (maybe just lucky), but they seem to cross the road in the most casual way during daylight (go figure).
Wednesday 5/21, 9-am wake up to some tire screeching and engine revving, and a new Miata pulls up along side. The driver with a big smile wants a picture of the MGA, even offers to trade keys on the spot, having previously owned an MGA, very appreciative. Nice wake up call, time to hit the road again. Another 50 miles or so, old routine, down the hill for a hot spot to check email. One phone call later we have arrangements to meet Eric Taylor from Charlotte, NC, at his family's "summer home" in Weaverville. So back on the Parkway for a couple more hours, finally climbing up 3rd gear hills for a long time, passing an altitude sign at 5180-ft. Immediately following is the entrance to Mount Michell State Park, and we can't pass that without a good run up the hill. A few miles in we stop momentarily at the visitor center, collecting an info brochure (and a North Carolina map), then continue a couple more miles up the hill to a car park at the summit, 6578-ft, highest point east of the Mississippi. So we just climbed 1400-ft in 5-miles, no wonder some of that was in 2nd gear. 
 Lots of hiking trails here, but no time today, so back down to the Parkway to continue south. Bail out at the Weaverville exit onto Ox Creek Road, which was beat to pieces by recent construction truck traffic. Picking our way gently around potholes, about 5 miles down we turn up hill on a narrow gravel road. This soon turns into 1st gear at 10-mph, being careful not to spin the tires too much over the washboard gravel surface to maintain upward progress. Then a right fork, and even steeper upward for a few blocks. The Mapquest instruction says, "If you reach the end of the road you went too far". We made one wrong turn and ran out of road, fun turning the car and trailer around up there, back down to try the other fork which was even steeper up hill. Our arrival about 5-pm was a bit early, cell call finding Eric still 10 minutes away on the Parkway. So we had a nice chat with his neighbor over a Datsun 280Z, a vintage Jeep, and a classic Mustang (too many toys there). 
Eric arrived shortly, followed by his wife and a fiend and friend's wife. After a bit of chat it was off to Ashville via the Parkway for some really good pizza and more chat, after which the party split company, and we are back to the "summer house" in Weaverville to spend the night. Thursday 5/22:, A quick sprint on the expressway to Charlotte then Concord, NC, to visit Eric Taylor's MGA under restoration (two cars nearing the "go kart" stage). Had a chance to fire one up and tune the carburetors before late lunch. 
 The head for the second engine has some fancy rework with larger valves, and a bit of a shrouding problem with the intake valves (too close to the chamber walls). 
  Putting on some real miles today, also going south to Monks Corner, SC, to meet Francis Neal and check out his MGA under restoration. This was also the shipping address for the repair part for my laptop computer. Haul ass down the expressway, arrival time 11-pm, thanks to a gracious host, we had a little chat and managed to hit the sack before midnight. Friday 5/23: Up early and take the opportunity to replace the screen on the laptop computer. Damn, those screws are small, fat fingers and eyes not what they used to be, but got it done anyway. More chat time and lunch from Subway before we depart. More time on the local McD's WiFi catching up some old business before deciding which way to go. We managed to just miss a serious rain storm at dusk. Camped at Honey Hill in the Francis Marion National Forest after encountering a large tree down blocking SC-45 just north of US-17 while we were southbound late night. Have to back track in the morning. Saturday 5/24: Morning going north to Kingstree, SC. Sitting on WiFi for a while (as usual), then going east to just shy of Myrtle Beach. Made some phone calls, talked to Carol Shamonsky from NAMGAR (now in Pennsylvania). Then late night heading south into Myrtle Beach. That was a mistake. Traffic on US-17-Bus near the ocean was a nightmare, even between 11-pm and 1-am. Stop and creep, stop and creep. Took an hour to go a few miles south from US-501 just to find the Myrtle Beach State Park campground was full (which we rather expected), then similar delays going back north. We finally turned up SC-9 and SC-905 to get away from the traffic and camped on the Waccama River near Pireway, NC. 
Sunday 5/25: Finds us back down on US-17 near Grissettown, NC. We were contemplating a slow crawl back north up the coast, but having other thoughts now. Got a call back from Bruce Woodson of NAMGAR. Now intending to do some foot dragging, arrived in Goldsboro, NC tonight. Wanting to be in Richmond, NC on Wednesday for a small car show and club meeting. May visit Bruce Woodson's shop in Richmond and Moss Motors east coast facility in Petersburg, VA, and. Anyone have other suggestions? 
Monday 5/26: Change of plans (as usual). Morning message re-routes us to see Dave Mars in Raleigh, NC, where we had a nice five hour chat about his rolling chassis stage restoration project. We had a little cry over new leaf springs being too tall, and new rebound straps being too stretchy, and having to re-do the whole rear suspension again to fix it. He has in mind to either have the new springs de-arched,
or rebuild the original ones (which were sagging only about a quarter inch after 53 years). He also pulled out a vintage inner tube removed from one of his vintage wire wheels. No date on it, but it's RED, and they haven't made red rubber inner tubes since maybe the 70's or so. 
 Late evening heading northeast, finding haven near 11-pm in a Huddle House near Petersburg, VA, with WiFi while we sort out problems with cell phone service and catch up with these notes. Anyone want to guess what we're doing on Tuesday?
|
