When I purchased my 1972 TR6 in Oct 96 it had a good paint job and decent interior. Major projects since that time include rebuilding the suspension and engine. I chose to make the trip with my fiberglass hardtop. The car is then secure and lockable, quiet, and offers good sun protection. For more information on the car see my web page at: http://home.earthlink.net/~bk13/brian.htm
Monday: Going north on I-5, I left Los Angeles at 5 a.m. to minimize traffic and the heat of central California. The air temp first broke 100 degrees passing through Sacramento. Towards Redding the temp gauge moved above half way, just past the right dot on my temp gauge. Even a good cooling system can only transfer so much heat while running a sustained 80 mph with the hot dry air temperatures. Since the engine rebuild, I normally run at the lower dot (look closely, you may have the dots also). I could also feel the heat coming through the transmission tunnel area. I'll be putting heat shield padding under the carpet soon.
I stopped in Weed, CA at 2 p.m. for lunch. Looking at the map and realizing I'd already completed almost 700 miles, so I decided to sight see at Crater Lake National Park. It was refreshing to leave I-5 for routes 97 and 62 - a much nicer drive without the traffic and left lane losers. $10 admitted my car for the drive around the west side of the lake. The lake is formed in a collapsed volcano, with a max depth of almost 2,000 feet. The water is incredibly blue and pictures do not do it justice. If you're in the area, it's a place to see. Just north of the lake is the Pumice Desert, an unusual break of volcanic rock in the pine forests.
Route 138 took me back to 97. I ended the first night in Bend, OR at 8 p.m., driving 914 miles and 4 gas stops the first day. My intention was to get close to Canada as soon as possible, should the unexpected occur.
Tuesday: I continued on 97 to I-84 at Biggs for a journey along the Columbia River. Next time, I'd take route 197 to shorten the trip. I spent some time at the Bonneville lock, dam, and fish hatchery. This is also a good stop. There are some huge fish in the river. Most of the fish in the fish ladder were about 18 inches, though there was one about 4 feet long that kept showing up.
I also made several diversions off I-84 to the old route 30. There are several waterfalls worthy of a visit. I was back in the I-5 mad house till route 504 for a look at Mt St Helens. I took 504 to the end and got to see the devastation from the eruption. After a good 115 mile trip off the rush of the freeway, I came back to I-5 and stopped for the night at Tacoma, WA after an easy 503 miles.
Wednesday: I got an early start with the intent of touring the Boeing facility at Everett. This is a popular attraction, as the next tour opening was 5 hours later. I looked around the visitor facility then proceeded north on I-5 till exit 231 for a trip along the coast on route 11. This is another nice drive with some great views of the many coastal islands. I had a picnic lunch by the side of the road overlooking the water.
Back on I-5 at the border crossing, my temp gauge got the highest I'd ever seen, about 3/4 of the way to hot. I stopped just out of Vancouver on route 99, only to find out that hwy 1 and 99 turned into urban jungle. Fortunately the helpful person at the visitor center gave me a map and directions on the best streets to get through the city. My temp gauge tried for a new high in the wait for the Lions Gate Bridge, as a pickup had lost a load of lumber in the road. I was also surprised by the aggressiveness of the pedestrians and their taking the right of way at intersections, where I had to wait several light changes to go straight with my green light. If I do this again, I'll plan a way around the city.
Having left Vancouver behind, the coolant temp dropped and the interior started to cool. After getting past the ferry traffic of W. Vancouver, I was treated to great views of the water and mountains. Then another frustrating delay near Squamish for construction - one direction at a time, after a delay. Cars finally stopped inching forward, so I could turn of the engine and wait. When we finally got to go, southbound traffic was backed up a mile and growing as I passed.
Scenery was good, but I was frustrated. I'd read about Garibaldi Provincial Park (in the LA Times of all places) and planned to stop at the only paved road into the park. The small road to the Garibaldi Lake trail head ended by Rubble Creek with a fantastic view of the vertical rock face of The Barrier. Signs of the 1885 rockslide, at least 300m high, are still visible today. I started up the trial for a better look, but turned around after 30 minutes. The trail went up and up and up, never exiting the trees. I ran into a couple from Pennsylvania who confirmed the view didn't open up for at least an hour. As it was already 5 p.m., I turned around and went back to the car.
Refreshed from my hike, I continued past Whistler for less expensive accommodations at the only hotel in Pemberton, with a fantastic view of the mountains. I stopped at about 6 p.m. after a slow 317 miles. I treated myself to a nice dinner at the best place in the small town and had a relaxing evening.
Thursday: I'd been told it would take at least 2 hours to make it to Lillooet, the next city. It was only about 100 km, so I thought I'd get there quicker. I didn't. This was the best drive on the trip. The road was twisty, curvy, up and down, with incredible scenery. Traffic was almost nonexistent. Most of the drive was 3rd gear at about 40 mph, pretty close to the 60 kph speed limit, which was just fine. I did a short 1 km hike to lower Joffe Lake along the way, again another great provincial park. Much of the road was so new it didn't even have lines. I was told that a good portion of it was gravel until two years ago. This is a road I will go out of my way to visit again.
I'd intended to continue on to Kamloops for the night, however the road ahead was closed because of forest fires. After lunch in Lillooet, I turned south on route 12 along the Fraser River. There was potentially some great scenery here, however smoke reduced visibility to only 100m in places.
I joined the trans-Canada highway (route 1) at Lytton and continued south. I stopped at Bridal Falls shortly after Hope. This is a nice short hike at yet another of the great Provincial parks along the road.
I pulled into the Holiday Inn in Chilliwack a day early, 221 miles for the day, 1955 miles for the trip so far. A trip to the pool, jacuzzi, then a shower and rest before going to an early arriver's hospitality party at the home of a local BCTR member.
Friday: About 15 cars left the hotel for a trip to Manning Park and a walk through some old rail tunnels along a creek. More great views. Friday night I decided to turn the car from dull gray to shinny Damson again, starting to clean off over 2000 miles of grime. I skipped the night's Prince of Darkness tour, as I was understandably tired, instead trying to make a dent in the bug collection on the front of the car and in the engine compartment. The little bugs that come through the radiator and hit the fan really make a mess.
Saturday: It was off to Minter Gardens for the car show - dust the car and socialize with the other owners and visitors. I counted 38 TR6's in the 105 cars present. It was my first time seeing a Triumph Italia in person. I was surprised to see as many, if not more TR250's than TR4's. To my pleasure, I took 3rd place in the early TR6 category. I think I got sympathy votes for my long and scenic drive. I was also surprised that I was the only Damson TR6 - I think this a first. I guess Damson was a blessing, as the only other Damson car there was also an award winner – congratulations to your newsletter editor.
Saturday night was the sold out banquet. I thought I had ordered a ticket, but I thought wrong. Fortunately for me, one of the planned attendees couldn't make it. Only a few people noticed I became Steve with a TR4 for the evening.
Sunday: Those of us that remained headed up the street for an enjoyable time at the funkhana. This was a short twisty path through some cones. You drove through forward, then backed up the same path in reverse. Oh, by the way, the passenger held a pan of water in their left hand with their right hand required to stay outside the car. The trick was to go as fast as possible without getting penalized for spilling water or knocking over cones. Thanks to the excellent pan holding of a fellow club member, we took a hotly contested first place. Watch for this event at one of the SCTOA gatherings.
I left Chilliwack at about noon for the drive home, following I-5 south. I planned to follow 101 down the Washington/Oregon coast, but decided not to deal with the Sunday afternoon traffic. With the exception of Seattle and Portland, I made good time. I decided to continue, as traffic was moving well. The moonlit drive along I-5 around Shasta Lake was the high point.
Traffic got lighter and I didn't want to stop, though I probably should have near the CA/OR border at 11 p.m. Surprisingly at 4 am I hit a traffic backup at the I-5/580 merger near Modesto - a pair of left lane losers. After getting around them, traffic again reached the speed limit. At 4:30 am I pulled into a rest area just below Los Banos for a nap. Two hours later, feeling refreshed, I continued on my way. After a poor breakfast and my 6th gas stop, I continued the rest of the way home.
The journey home ended Monday at 11 am, 23 hours and 1382 miles since leaving Chilliwack (oh - to be young and stupid). I took my time, driving at about 70 mph. With the exception of the border crossing, the temp gauge stayed below half way for the 20 hours of driving time. Total time away from home: 7 days, 6 hours. The trip consumed 160.5 gallons of gas for an average of 22 mpg. My worst tank of gas averaged 19.5 mpg, which was the leg crossing the border into BC, traffic in Vancouver, and the construction on route 99. Since my rebuild the car has been running slightly rich, especially on non California gas I discovered. My Subaru gets 4-5 mpg better outside the state. At some point I need to learn about carb adjustment. They haven’t been touched since a tech clinic in early ’97 (before the engine rebuild). My idle also ran about 300 rpm higher on non-CA gas.
I added two quarts of oil in the first 2,200 miles before heading home. The 1382 mile trip home used a third a quart of oil. My only "repair" was switching the inner/outer right front brake pads to stop a rubbing noise. I didn't have the rotors surfaced when I installed new brake pads 6000 miles earlier. This is now on my project list.
One of the more interesting conversations I had was while getting gas in La Pine, just below Bend, OR. A lady at the gas station in a beat up 198? Cadillac told me about her son's car, which she said was just like my TR6. After her story I asked her what kind of car it was. Her answer - a Toyota MR2. That's a new one to me. Most people guess it's a Fiat.
I only spotted two other Triumphs on the road away from the show: a white TR7 heading south on 99 between Vancouver and Squamish, and a gray or silver TR7 I passed on I-5 south in OR or WA.
I have two areas of frustration from the trip. Bad drivers – I’ll simply request that others please be courteous and aware, and remember there are others on the road. If someone want to go faster than you, let them pass. They'll be nice enough to find the speed traps for you. I'd like to say more, but I'll leave that for talking to myself. I also had a problem with my Visa card. They noticed charges on my account from Canada and flagged my card for fraud. At most credit card machines it was rejected as void. After I finally got through to a customer service rep, they couldn't help me - only the fraud prevention people could release my card, and they had already gone home Sunday when I found this out. They said they did it for my protection, but they couldn't undo it for my convenience. So call your bank in advance and carry a second card, in my case an ATM/debit card paid for my gas in Canada and on the trip home.
18 months ago, I would not have done this trip, however, I have learned my car and, as you can see if you checked the car's web site, much work has been done to make the car comfortable and reliable. I have no hesitation about future trips like this in my Triumph. Part of my motivation for writing this to let others know if they put the effort into their cars, they can get the rewards out of their car.
Also, many thanks to the organizers from BCTR - they put on a great
event.