Dude Tour V

[ehjorten]

Just got back from a total of 660 miles of driving.  Our Dude Tour V went from Enumclaw to Carson, WA via Wind River Road with a stop off at Spirit Lake and Mt. Saint Helens via NF-99 for Day 1.  Then on Day 2 we traveled a big loop from Carson, WA through Glenwood, down through Klickitat, across to The Dalles and over to the Full Sail Brewery in Hood River.  We then went over Rowena Crest via Old Hwy 30 and back to camp.  Day 3 we returned the same way we came.  Wind River Road was an awesome drive, but there were some pretty rough sections and a few bumps and scraps were had on the undercarriage as well as a lot of sawing on the steering wheel at speed!  We only had one guy end up with the flatbed of shame when his 1986 Alpha Romeo GTV6 had a clutch slave cylinder failure on the morning of day 2.  Brian again won the 'Best' fuel economy award in his 13B Rotary powered Austin Healey Bugeyed Sprite.  I think he got about 8 mpg!



Spirit Lake Viewpoint



Oldman Pass Pitstop



Fuel Stop in Carson, WA - My '69 Chevelle and Kirk's '66 Studebaker Daytona (last year for Studebaker)



Reststop somewhere between Klickitat and Lyle, WA



One of the nice twisties along Wind River Road


The flatbed of shame for Piotr's 1986 Alpha Romeo GTV6

[Dr_Snooz]

It's an Alfa. Of course it broke down!! LOL

That's some beautiful scenery. Looks like fun!

[Captkaos]

Nice!  Agree, cool scenery

[fitz]

Looks like a great time.
At first I thought you took your crew cab, then I remembered you also had the chevelle.
What are the details on your car ( I've probably read them on here before, I just forgot).
I'm glad you are keeping this road trip going, looks like fun.

[ehjorten]

The '69 Chevelle is my HS car!  I bought it when I was 17 after I sold my first car, which was a 1976 Volvo 264GL with the Bosch K-Jetronic mechanical fuel injection.  It is a Malibu Sport Coupe.

Over the 24 years that I have had it, I have done a few things to it.  I built a fuel-injected 350 for it and went through a couple of tranmissions until I found the right builder.  I rebuilt the rear-end, put a little steeper gears in it and also put in an Eaton Posi.  The suspension is a combination of Global West goodies and Eibach springs.  It was repainted once when I was in college after I put it in a ditch and the passenger's door had to be re-skinned.

It was my daily driver all through college and was driven rain, snow or shine!  I even got stuck once going up to a Spring concert at Snoqualmie Pass when it snowed the night before and I thought I could make it!  It has always been driven, but now it resides in a nice warm garage and hardly ever sees rain.  We did get rained on pretty hard for a brief period on the first night in camp at the Dude Tour.  The guy that is usually in the lead, Kerry, in his 2003? Porsche Boxter is a guy that used to race shifter karts along with his brother Brian; in the Rotary powered Austin Healey, on a National circuit.  Kerry told me whenever we got into some tight twisties that he would get on it and figured he would put some distance on me, but every time he would look in the rearview mirror, there I was!  He couldn't shake me!    Granted he was working way less than I was behind the wheel, but I do on occassion drive it really hard!

Now I am working on getting a front suspension upgrade amassed: ATS AFX spindles, SPC Adjustable Upper A-arms and 13" rotors, but that will also mean new rims and tires.  I have been slowly putting together a 427 for it, but it may be time to go LS!  She is no trailer queen and she has a little bit of cancer here and there that eventually needs to be fixed, but in the mean-time you will find me sealing some asphalt and sliding sideways on some backroads with my son and daughter in the passenger's seats!    And just for the record...yes I am very careful with them in the car, but they do like Daddy to 'go fast' and I occassionally oblige them!