After the rain clouds of yesterday, Mr Patel, our host at America's Best, has ordered a clear blue sky for us for the morning of day 2. However, he had not ordered the muffins... We were soon heading into the Sierra for what promised to be a great day in the wild on wild roads.
As is the norm with Oil Leak Tours, the promises took a slightly different form than we had expected. After we thought we had cleared up all our outstanding mechanical issues before we set out, we were soon pulled over on the roadside at the first climb into the mountains. Mark and Andrea's XXK120 was misfiring under load, and running lean, so he decided to enrichen the mixture.
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| This is what Oil Leakers do - one guy works on his car (Mark), and others stand around and watch (Lloyd, Jerry, Philippe) or take photos (David) |
We were soon on our way again, but a few minutes later we were back on the side of the road, as the adjustments had not improved the situation. Maybe the fuel filter was blocked? No problem - remove it.
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| Mark hard at work removing the fuel filter. As usual, the Oil Leak Crew had a fully equipped workshop concealed in their trunks. |
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| A familiar picture. Mark works under the car; Francoise, Philippe, Jerry, Lloyd (hidden), Andrea admire the view, and David takes a photo. At this altitude it was getting to be a little cool. |
A quick test on the removed fuel filter by Lloyd, revealed no obstruction, so it was no surprise that the car faired no better when we set off. So, it was back to Ridgecrest (about 25 miles) and the local NAPA store for a new fuel pump. We took over the parking lot, and fitted a new Facet fuel pump/filter. As usual on such occasions, plenty of visitors dropped by for a chat on seeing the array of old Jaguars... Once the pump was fitted, it was decided to get a quick sandwich for lunch before setting out again. By now we were about 4-5 hours behind the original schedule. As we passed the point where we had previously been forced to turn back, we were finally able to believe that this time the problem was fixed. Onwards and upwards...
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| Finally back on the road, and climbing into the Sierra |
The roads were deserted in good condition. We climbed steadily to 6,000 feet or so. The skies grew darker, and soon we were engulfed in a fine mist. Those of us in open with no roof added another layer of clothing. Those with a roof above their heads, turned on the heaters.
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| High in the mountains we entered a forested area and a steady drizzle set in |
The road descended back towards the Central Valley in a series of tight turns. In the rain it made for a challenging drive with full attention to the road required at all times.
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| Descending through the mist and rain. Both of Mark's brake lights are working again! |
Gradually the rain cleared as we descended, though the skies remained dark. The vegetation beside the road was lush and green.
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| What happens when you use autofocus and there shoot though a wet windscreen! We will never know what vista this was supposed to capture.... |
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| These plants were 8-10feet high besides the road. They remind me of the silverswords from Haleakalā in Hawaii |
The skies finally cleared as we reached the Central Valley. At this point, it was clear that our itinerary needed to change as we were 4 hours or so behind schedule. We drove into Exeter to get fuel. Unfortunately, at this point, Mark lost one of his contact lenses. He believed that it had slid under his eyelid, and could not retrieve it. No problem, Philippe, our team MD came his rescue. However, there was no sign of the contact lens. A helpful resident took them to a local Emergency Care, where it was determined that the lens must have dropped out, and was not lodged in the eye. As it was getting late, we ate dinner at the Mexican restaurant originally scheduled for our lunchtime stop and headed for our overnight stop at the Muir Lodge in Kings canyon Park. The route we devised on CA-245 looked pretty straight on the map. However, the appearance was deceptive. It was a series of switchbacks up the mountains which gave us all a very tiring arm workout. I was fortunate enough to be behind Philippe and Francoise in their Z8, which has very powerful headlights. In the dark with Lucas illumination, it could have taken at least another hour to safely reach our beds. I bet this would be an amazing road to drive in daylight... Tomorrow we head for Yosemite, and wait to see what surprises fate has in store for us...
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