Seattle to California 2012

[CobraDVM]

Okay - since last years trip didn't end up so well, it's time to give this another whirl! For those that want to read about last years trip here's the link. This time, there are only two of us making the trip down out of the original four that made the trip last year. Arch left the PNW and has retired to Socal, and Nate wasn't able to fit it into his schedule this year.

So Joe and I are heading down to meet up with Arch and a few other Norcal folks in the Napa area. I'm traveling with my son, and Joe is traveling with his dad. We also have Joe's wife and mom driving down with us in a support vehicle. We met up in Federal Way with overcast skies and a forecast of 50-60% chance of rain - turns out that wasn't too accurate - more like 70-80% chance of rain. We were getting rained on or water sprayed on us for most of the trip down - it was raining when we left Seattle and raining when we arrived in Newburg, OR. We took I5 south to Olympia, and then headed east on Highway 8 to 101 south through Astoria, and then on down the coast to Newburg.

Here's a short video - my audio sucked, so I just added music. Hopefully the cars will get dried out tomorrow. During the course of the day I probably emptied about half a gallon of rainwater out of my footbox. Time to drill a couple of holes in the floor I think!


Cobra Drive - YouTube

[Mikey_P]

Sure looks like fun Howard! Thanks for the video.

[gswartz]

What a great road trip!

[Arch F]

Looks like my drive down in May.

Weather coming up highway 1 from Morro Bay to Carmel was spectacular.



Looking forward to seeing you Tuesday,

Arch

[CobraDVM]

Day 2 is in the books. We woke up to still overcast skies in Newport, OR, but the forecast indicated no rain was expected for the day. After breakfast we probably spent an hour cleaning up the cars from the rain yesterday. I got most of the water out of the footboxes, and by the time we reached our destination, they were starting to get dried out. Should be completely dry by tomorrow. I think most of the water was coming in from the behind the seats with the rear wheels throwing up water from the road. Once the cars were clean, we packed up and hit the road.
So far no drama with the cars - both are running great. My car with the 408W is averaging a little over 16 mpg, so not too shabby. Joe I think might be running a little rich, since we're using almost the same volume of gas at each fill up in a 408 vs a 306. Total mileage over 2 days is about 650 miles.
About half way through, the clouds finally parted and we had our first sunshine! Hallelujah!! It stayed mostly sunny for the rest of the trip until we got into the mountains a little. We just followed Highway 101 all the way down - traffic was really light, with little in the way to slow us down other than the occasional Sunday driver. There were enough passing lanes that we were never really stuck for long.
I shot some more video, which I'll post up once it's done uploading. Tomorrow I'm headed for Yuba City to drop in on Street Rod Painter to do a little work on my car, and on to meet up with the Norcal folks. Joe is dropping in on friends in Davis before heading on.

[vnmsss]

Very cool you're documenting your trip down, Howard......I sure feel your pain about the rain.....I was on a road trip with the Utah Cobra Club travelling through Yellowstone several years ago when the bottom fell out of the sky.....Once you accept the fact that you're just gonna get wet, it's really not all that bad. ;.)

We're all looking forward to seeing you, Colin, Joe, Sam, Karen and Bernadette (and you too, Arch!).....Stay safe and enjoy the lovely scenery!!!

Karen

[markbridgwater]

Looks like another adventure with your son. I took two with my son and he still talks about them so have a great time no matter what happens!

I would be screwed in my Cobra as I don't have windshield wipers...

Keep us posted!

Mark

[James460]

Rain X, any speed over 30 & the rain just flies over your head. no need for wipers. BTDT!

[Stinson Pilot]

Looks like fun! You guys have a safe trip.

[UrQ]

Originally Posted by CobraDVM

Day 2 is in the books. We woke up to still overcast skies in Newport, OR, but the forecast indicated no rain was expected for the day.

Been sunny here in Seattle, in the mid 80s, have not seen rain for a few weeks now.

Looks like Joes car is smoking a little in the picture

Have fun!

[Go Hard or Go Home]

H,

Do you notice any drive-ability differences with the c*#@ ... uh, current motor setup?

[xsive]

Looks like fun. With the rain drops, you can always check your aerodynamics. Crank up the seat heaters and go for it.

Don H

[CobraDVM]

Another day done - I'm in Yuba City tonight, and Joe's visiting friends in Davis. I'll post more tomorrow, but for now here's a video from yesterday's drive from Newport OR to Eureka CA. I'm trying to keep up with Leadfoot Joe!

Cobra Drive 101a - YouTube

[Gale K]

You guys rock! Thanks for keeping us posted on the progress. I'm hoping for you for great weather. And no blown head gaskets!

[Mikey_P]

Howard, looks like a great time. Good weather now and roads don't look too busy. I hope to be doing the same next year. Thanks for the updates and the video!

[Stinson Pilot]

I'm jealous! Looking good Howard.

Trying to keep up with Joe...is that just a race for the sunshine?

[CobraDVM]

So today I'm hanging out in Yuba City. I'm dropping in on Street Rod Painter to have him refinish the underside of my hood. Earlier this year I'd had enough of the stack injection system - it never ran well enough inspite of everything I tried, and I got fed up dumping $$ into it. So I pulled the body off in the spring, and ripped out all the EFI wiring and put in a QuickFuel 750 double pumper carb instead. I got the air cleaner to fit under the cowl, but Ken bonds a steel hoop onto the hood, and it hit the aircleaner. So he's working on that today to get it to clear.

So to answer your question Carman, the carb is what I hoped the EFI was going to be but never was - the engine is running much better - it starts better especially when hot. It idles better - the stack injection system took away all the lope from the carb so that's back. It pulls great all the way to redline - the stack system started to have a really bad cut out at 5000 rpm. The kicker to all this is that I'm also using less gas in my 408 than Joe in his 306 - go figure. The stack system has already been sold and shipped off so no going back!

So yesterday we woke to a heavy misty morning - everything was soaked. We weren't very happy to see this as you might have guessed - we had hoped that once we were in California, the crappy wet weather would have been left behind but that was not the case. So it was out with the blue painters tape again, and masking off the holes. I figured out that all the rain water was coming in from the rear wheels, so I taped those off with duct tape in the fenderwell. That seemed to work and not much water came into the cockpit this time around.

By about 10am the mist burned off, and we also headed inland still following highway 101. There was a great twisty road (highway 36) that some locals recommended but it would have left a long drive down I5 so opted to skip that road. The video from above is on highway 101 going through the Humbolts Redwood Park. We then cut inland on 20 towards Sacramento with temps getting up into the 90s.

Here's a video from the early morning drive yesterday - Joe wasn't diggin' the soggy drive. Today Joe and I are meeting up later this afternoon and heading to Healdsburg to meet Arch and the Norcal guys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4AcO...ature=youtu.be

[Darren]

Joe did look a little grumpy in that last video

[Zippyfoo]

Thanks for the frequent updates. Maybe in 10 years, I can take the trip down with you guys.

[CobraDVM]

Today was a day spent doing laundry, cleaning the car etc and waiting for ken pike to work his magic. Then I headed over to heads burg. The roads over made for awesome driving - unfortuately the wifi in the hotel sucks so I can't upload any video - I'll try again in the morning.

[CobraDVM]

It's Friday morning and we are in Fort Bragg on the coast. We've been having too much fun and haven't had any time to pull the laptop out and update this log, but we have a little later start time today so I have some time this morning. I have some video of the drive over from Yuba CIty to Healdsburg but it's refusing to upload - maybe I'll try again later.

Edit - video finally loaded - still was having issues with the microphone, but I have that figured out now - I just need to remember to turn the stupid thing on. BTW this road went on like this for 30+ miles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLBlz...ature=youtu.be

When we arrived in Healdsburg we met up with Arch who had come up from LA to join us along with several other cobras from the Norcal area as well as some from the Socal area as well - I there's about 12 of us all together. We had a little get together that evening, and then hit the road the next morning for Calistoga.
4th July. After breakfast we headed to Calistoga where we joined the 4th of July parade! Very cool! I wasn't sure how the 408W was going to handle the heat but no problems. After the parade we headed north up Highway 101 to the redwood forests and stayed at an inn up there. There was a small fireworks display which was a little surprising since we were in the middle of the forest.
5th July. After probably over imbibing from the previous evening we woke to overcast skies so we got a little break from the heat. Todays trip took us a little further north to the Avenue of the Giants - a winding road through the heart of the redwood forest. We stopped at the tree which I think was several hundred years old (maybe even 1500 years old?) that you could drive through - not a lot of clearance on each side, but everyone made it through without a problem.
After that it was a quick stop for lunch and then we headed west out to the coast to Fort Bragg. The road out was a fun drive - lots of twisties. Unfortunately there were also a few slowpokes out for a cruise as well but for the most part they stopped to let us by. For dinner that evening we took the Skunk Train out into the forest to a camp area where we were served dinner.

So far I've had an overheating issue (my iphone shut down due to the heat), and a minor mechanical problem (the set screw fell out of one of my sunvisor clamps) but other than that, the cars are running great.

Here's a few photos...

Getting ready for the parade...



It was getting a bit toasty waiting...





Driving through the tree...



In the Avenue of the Giants...





On the dinner train...

[gswartz]

Man that looks like so much fun!

[mattbrowne]

What a blast. I was just down there about 2 weeks ago. After a run from Portland to Medford the wife and I headed down to the Avenue of the Giants. We then returned home along the coast. We had perfect weather with not a drop of rain. I also drove thru that same tree. May try to do again next year. Have fun.

[Nate]

How was the trip back?

[CobraDVM]

We both made it back to Seattle tonight without a problem. I'll post some more stuff up later when I get time. Both cars ran great. Only issue I had was the previously mentioned sun visor, and today one of my 12V outlets quit working. All in all it was an awesome trip - tons of great driving - lots of good food and the occasional beer, and made new friends.

[caropepe]

Totally agree with Howard... Excellent trip. Great roads, even better new friends, and new memories.

It was a packed 10-days, sometimes with very tight schedules. We did everything we set out to do, and the cars ran great - even at 100+ degrees leaving the California central valley.

Glad I have tomorrow off - there's a ton of bugs to wash off the car.

I'm just glad it isn't raining....I hate rain.

Joe

[theboppshop]

Howard & Colin,

A real pleasure to meet you both. The trip was wonderful, great people, great cars, great food, great scenery & roads!

Thanks for sharing. I'll be updating my thread on the "Southeast Region" in the next day or so.

Garry

[Neal]

Sounds like a great trip. We'll need to get out this summer. I'm road legal now!

[mike-66]

It was nice to meet up with you guys for the day in Napa on Saturday for lunch, my wife and I really enjoyed meeting all of you. My MK4 is literally days away from being California legal and will definitely be there next year! Glad to hear everyone made it home safe.

Cheers,

Mike