...based around a 66 Thunderbird
I guess I should give a little setup before I just start posting pics, so here goes.
A few months back I was at a conference down in Scottsdale Arizona and my lovely wife Laura came with. Instead of renting a car, I decided to rent a bike and we hung out for a few days after and we explored the area. I ended up renting a Goldwing. We've always road Harleys, FLHs mostly but I'd heard from so many Goldwing owners I thought, what the heck, and rented one.
I've gotta say, this thing was awesome. Heated seat, heated grips, XM radio and SatNav. I thought an FLH was comfortable. The Goldwing just stomped all over every Harley we've had. We both liked it a lot.
A couple of months ago, my lovely, out of nowhere said "Hey, lets get another bike.". Well, as much as I wanted to jump all over that, bikes here is St Louis aren't the best idea. If we had one we'd only drive it on weekends and then it would be out here in the sticks, well away from the blind people in the city. So that means it would be pretty useless.
Armed knowing that if we were to get another bike it would be a Goldwing, it set my mind in motion. A decent used GW runs $20k, you can add $10k to that for a new one. So, I remembered back 30+ years (and every 6 months there after) when she'd say "I want a little red convertible." Way back when she mentioned a mid 60s Mustang. Trouble was, I was never a fan of those years of Mustangs. So I started searching for something different. That's when I ran across a 65 TBird over in Illinois and I showed it to her. She loved it and said that is her favorite car. Seems her favorite has changed over the years. So we went to look at it. For the money they were asking, it was priced at about twice what it should have been, so it was off searching again.
That's when I ran across this 66. Trouble was, it was way the crap up in Fanny Bay, British Columbia. May as well be Alaska as far away as it is from St Louis. So I kept searching, all the while keeping this one in the back of my mind trying to figure out a way to get it.
Well, after scheming for a week or so, I finally showed it to her and she fell in love. She asked where it was and I told her. Then she asked how we were going to get it and that's when I laid out our epic journey.
We've always wanted to to take a trip to the west coast and drive up from San Francisco to Seattle up the 1 and 101 coastal highways. When you look at the pics online, the landscape is stunning. Just so happens, Fanny Bay BC is just an hour and a half north of Victoria BC which is only a 90 minute ferry ride across the Puget Sound of Washington. So it looked like we were about to cross off another couple 'bucket list' items, a '66 TBird Convertible and driving the 1 and 101. We just never dreamed we'd be doing both in 'our' car.
We started by flying into Vancouver on Friday, then we took the ferry across to Nanaimo on Vancouver island.
Oh, all of these shots are from my phone with minimal post processing (contrast mostly). Phones are amazing nowadays
We grabbed a rental car and drove up to Fanny Bay BC where we stayed in a little bed and breakfast called the Ships Point Inn (highly recommended BTW). There we met up with Harry and Marilynn, the then owners of the TBird. Harry bought the car from the original owner in 2002 and has been restoring her ever sense. He's basically done a frame up complete with a motor rebuild. The car is completely rust free. She needs a little bit of interior work but it's really minor. Everything works and is original as it should be short of the paint color. The garnet red is close to one of the factory colors Ford offered at the time but it's a couple of shades off. that's OK though, she's gorgeous in the sunlight.
They treated us to a nice dinner of local Fanny Bay oysters at the Fanny Bay Inn. BTW, Fanny Bar oysters are the size of your hand. they aren't the little wimpy ones we have down in the States.
The following day, Laura and I took possession of the car (after giving Her Majesty 10% of the purchase price) and we headed south on our journey.
We drove about 90 minutes south and stayed a nice resort called the Bear Mountain, just outside Victoria. We ventured down to the harbor that evening to check out town and we called it a day.
Sunday morning we drove into Victoria BC and got in line for the Ferry across to Port Angles, Washington. While waiting we hung out at the harbor. Victoria is just beautiful. I wish we had more time to explore.
So we loaded onto the Ferry and crossed back into the States.
Here's a shot from the ferry
After we landed in the States, we drove over to a little historic fishing town called Port Townsend, Washington. We had a nice dinner and stayed in a so-so B&B. The view was great though.
Monday morning we got back on the road and drove down the Dabob Bay highway 101. It was an absolutely beautiful day for top down driving.
We made it down to Cannon Bay Oregon. A really nice resort community right on the coast with great views of the rocky coastline. This rock they call 'haystack'.
Here are a couple of pics from the balcony off our room.
We finished the day at a local pizza joint.
Tuesday we woke up to pretty typical Oregon weather, rain and fog. We headed down the 101 and were still awed by the rugged beauty of the Oregon coast.
Later that morning we stopped at Laura's brothers' house and visited fro a day or so. He lives right on the 101 in Oregon. this is the view from his front porch.
After a nice layover for a day or so we headed back down the coast. It was still rainy, foggy and just stunning views.
As we ventured further down the coast, literally when we crossed the border into California, it stopped raining and the skies cleared. That night we made it down to Crescent City, Ca. Another little fishing community.
When we went to dinner at a local spot, the TBird got mobbed by a group of Japanese tourists. It was their first trip to the States and they were doing the same route we were. They all took turns posing with the car.
The next morning I woke up and headed down to the beach and found this ancient Redwood stump.
As we headed down the California coast I just had to pull over for this pic
While I was taking a picture, guess who showed up again
Before long we made it into the Land of the Giants, Redwood Forest
Nothing prepares you for the enormity of these 2000 year old trees.
....and of course, we had to do Chandelier tree
Further down the coast we found more opportunities for great pics
Around every corner there was another great shot
...and then we hit a long stretch of
absolute butt clinching road along the 1
As you can see, there is about 5' of shoulder that leads to between a 500' and 1000' sheer DROP to the seaside....AND NO GUARDRAIL
There was about 20 miles of heart-pounding drive. For those who have issues with heights (like me), I DON'T recommend this section of highway. I had to pull over and take a breather after that stretch
Now that, that was over it was a nice easy ride through wine country down to just outside San Francisco to meet John (TheChairGuy) for lunch
We've been chatting on and off since the inception of Audio Circle. As he mentioned in another thread, that is the really cool thing about the interweb forums, you make friends all over the world so when you travel, there isn't hardly a city you go to that you don't know somebody.
We met at his local haunt
and here we are with the car
After lunch it was a short jaunt across the Golden Gate to San Francisco
After checking into the Argonaut on the Wharf, we headed out to explore the streets of San Francisco. If you've not been there, the streets are unbelievably steep. Steep to the point that I had to enter them at an angle to keep from dragging the bumper of the Continental kit.
I've got to say, driving these streets with 45 year old technology and a relatively unfamiliar 5000 pound car, it was a bit unnerving.
..and of course, what goes up, must come down...Lombard Street
(sorry for the crappy pic)
After, we headed back to the hotel and walked the streets of the Wharf district
The next morning we drove the TBird down to the shippers office and had her packed up on an enclosed truck and shipped back to St Louis.
I have to say the TBird was the absolute star of the trip. Everyplace we went, every road we drove, people would stop and talk or honk their horn or even roll their window down as we drove down road and comment how beautiful she is. A simple 10 minute fill up at a gas station inevitably turns into a 30 minute visit with new found friends.
This was one of the coolest trips we've taken. We had a blast and I don't think we'll be able to top it. The beauty of the west coast is truly breath taking and is probably one of the prettiest places on earth. As Laura said at one point during the trip...Can God cook or what!...and she's right.
I've got to say during the whole of the trip the TBird was pretty much flawless. She drove like she came straight from the factory floor more than 45 years ago. She was smooth and comfortable all 1200 or so miles. Gas mileage pretty much was what I expected at 14mpg.
It was pretty awesome and we can't wait for her to show up here in town
