Red Rock tour in Stevens Duryea

[jeff_a]

Great to see a picture of a Peerless on your thread. It looks a little like a Model 48-Six Touring which was in the film "The Babe" around 10 years ago (you'd only know the allusion if you read the right Gazette article).

[mikespeed35]

When we started this morning, several cars were missing their moto-meters or mascots. They were stolen during the night. We drove for around 100 miles to the border, and crossed without trouble. Then we drove another 65 miles to our hotel. It was a rainy, cold drive over a couple of steep passes. We were at our destination around 12:30 and were amoung the first to arrive. Lunch was across the road because we all had a coupon for a discount there. It was friendly, quick service, and delicious. Tonight we have entertainment by the steamers in our group. Should be fun, as we are getting to know each other much better.
There were a couple of new old cars parked at our hotel tonight welcoming us to their town. It is really neat to see all our cars parked together at night. You can see what some of the guys did to replace their radiator covers.

[mikespeed35]

We are at the Best Western in Cranbrook, B.C., Canada. Internet here is very slow. I am not going to be able to be able to download my pictures. It was wet and cold after we got off the ferry today. We lost an hour because of the time change. It was a beautiful drive but way too cold and wet to enjoy.
I was not able to post at all on 6-26 because internet service was so slow. It was also too slow at Waterton Lakes, Canada yesterday.

[mikespeed35]

June 27, Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada
Today we traveled in rain and cold. The first stop was to see the largest truck in the world. We continued through the town looking at their strip mining equipment, then continued through Crownest Pass. There were five towns that make up the municipality. All we coal mining towns with a story. The most interesting was Canada’s deadliest landslide in Frank. It was rainy and I didn’t have my camera out at the time, but it was incredible to see 82 million tons of rock that had tumbled down the mountain killing more than 90 people in 1903.
Waterton Lakes is the Canadian side of Glacier National Parks. We arrived there around 1 and had a late lunch in town. Then we drove up to the Prince of Wales hotel and checked it out. There was terrible strong wind. It was still raining lightly, but the sun came out and it got up to around 70 degrees.

[mikespeed35]

June 28, 2112 Whitefish,MT
Today, we drove 125 miles through Glacier Natl. Park. We drove on the Going to the Sun Pass, which is often closed because of road conditions. It opened just before our tour began a couple of weeks ago; however, there were a couple of sections where they were still clearing debris from the road and it was one lane. There were long areas where the road was wet at a high enough altitude it could freeze. The scenery was spectacular and our weather was sunny and 70’s except in the very high altitudes. There were many waterfalls caused by the snow melting.
We arrived at our hotel around 2. This is an area where the mountains meet the prairie. Our hotel is on a lake, and the view from our window is gorgeous. There are some beautiful wood boats docked by the shore. They are having a wooden boat show here tomorrow. Our closing banquet is tonight. We will drive the remaining 160 miles to Missoula tomorrow and then go our separate ways. Several are going on another tour directly from this tour.

[DavidAU]

Thanks for posting details of your tour Mike.

It has been great to follow your progress and see the beautiful photos. Almost like being there without feeling the cold.

It is also good to see the early cars out on the road being used and enjoyed.

[mikespeed35]

Yes...We are on our way home. The resort we stayed at last night is hosting a wooden boat meet. Most of the boats had not arrived when we left this morning. Many of the other cars left early this morning. We did not stay in at the hotel where we began, instead we loaded our car and continued on to Butte. The day warmed up to the low 70's. The mountains have become more rolling hills. We are traveling on highway 90. We drove along long lakes throughout the morning. Once we got loaded and on the highway the scenery became less and less interesting.

[mikespeed35]

We are on our way home. Today we traveled on highway 90 to Buffalo, WY. About 3:30 this afternoon the truck started losing power, so we traveled at about 25 MPH to find a Car Quest to purchase a fuel filter. Mike is installing it right now. Hopefully, that will fix our problem.
The scenery has changed from many snow-capped mountains to pale olive colored mountains and plateaus or hazy distant mountains. There are lots of beef cattle and horse ranches. We were following the Yellowstone River for a while. We are beginning to see some crop farming, mostly hay, which they are baling right now. In WY, they even bale hay in the road medians and road sides.
The weather has been sunny and warm…low 80’s.

[mikespeed35]

I believe this is the most trouble we have ever had on a tour. Mike tries to prepare for everything, but so far we have had a blowout on the trailer, a bent wheel and broken axle on the antique car and now we have been having problems with our towing truck. It loses power as it goes up the hills. The first dealer thought it was fuel injectors. He would not be able to fit it into the repair schedule until Fri. It still runs, it is just in limp mode as soon as it warms up.

Well the good news is we rented a car and drove to Spearfish, SD. There is a chev. dealer here and he could look at our car and get us back on the road asap. We drove back to Gillette, and Mike drove his truck back to Spearfish with me following in the rental car. The trailer is back at Gillette. The truck was diagnosed with a bad fuel pressure release valve. It is a high pressure release valve that they feel is opening too soon. It is aggravated by towing the trailer and the heat. They are about 90% sure that is what the problem is. It should be fixed sometime tomorrow morning.

After dropping the truck off at the dealer and waiting for the diagnosis, we drove to Deadwood and took a scenic drive through Spearfish Canyon. It is much different touring with a modern car.

[R W Burgess]

Love those two Desperados!

Thanks Mike and wife for those wonderful pictures!
No snakes this time, that's a good thing!

Wayne

[mikespeed35]

No Snakes but our bad luck is still not over. Today we had another flat tire on our trailer! Good thing we carry two spares and bought a new tire when the last one blew.

[mikespeed35]

We are on the road again!. The truck is fixed! We picked the truck up around 11 this morning, drove back to Gillette and picked up our trailer and finally got underway again. Around Sturgis, SD, we got the signal from a trucker that we had a flat tire on the trailer. Yes, that the second trailer tire this trip. It was 100 degrees outside and the sky was hazy and smelled of fire. We ended the day in Murdo, SD.

[mikespeed35]

Another Flat tire near DesMoines caused us to stop for the night there. After the purchase of four new tires for the trailer, we were on the road again. We finally arrived home about 11PM. Does anyone have suggestions as to why tires with less than 8000 miles on them would blow? The trailer is not over loaded, has been balanced, and the trailer is usually stored inside.

[trimacar]

I believe trailer tire trouble has been discussed on this forum before. There does seem to be something going on with trailer tires, I've had numerous flats over the last few years, and one was with a fairly new tire. Usually, in my case, they aren't really "flats" but rather the tire itself starting to come apart

Glad you guys are home safe, great trip, thanks for sharing!

[dan@larescorp]

Check to see if your axles are aligned. Never know what bump could throw them off. just an idea.

[R W Burgess]

.....Does anyone have suggestions as to why tires with less than 8000 miles on them would blow? The trailer is not over loaded, has been balanced, and the trailer is usually stored inside.

It is usually an age factor, Mike. All tires have a number system stenciled on its sidewall. Any tire dealer can tell you the age of your trailer tires. In my experience, after 3 years or so, you are running on borrowed time.

Lots of discussion on trailer tires.... http://forums.aaca.org/search.php?searchid=7622

Wayne

[mikespeed35]

These tires were three years old, the trailer axles have been aligned. This tire Co. has replaced the tires three times free. They have blown every time. I use load range E, the highest load range available. I will never us this brand again. The tires were warranted by the local tire Co. I will see what they do when I bring in the shreads!
CORDially Mike