JohnD1956

Thanks @364nailhead. I appreciate the kind words. Today started out with cooler temps and the promise of more hot weather. So I figured it was best to get some miles done before it warmed up. My friend Ray suggested doing the truck museum at the Rt 80 truck stop near Walcott Iowa for a break. And I was glad he did.

And when I arrived I saw this in the parking lot as I was leaving the owner stopped by and was looking Annie over. Come to find out he has a 68 Wildcat convertible and his brother has a 67 Electra convertible. his name was also John and though not a member of the BCA yet, he did know about Spokane and Naperville. Always a pleasure meeting Buick Brothers! I gave him some BCA material. the 2nd attraction wasnt open in Des Moines so I kept going to tonites stop. Have another heat record breaker day for tomorrow. This is getting a bit old already.

so many pictures I screwed up. This is surely a gem worth further exploration.

Today was a tough day for personal reasons. It did not help that at 7am it was already in the mid 80s and now humid besides. So I decided I would use Rt 80 but no side roads, and visit two more local attractions. One in Omaha, one in Des Moines. The one in Omaha was the General George Crook house. It is a fablous building and wonderful restoration. A lot of history here.

Call Russ Martin at Centerville Auto before turning any wrenches. Up to now, at least, he has been very helpful with the particulars for nailheads

The leak may be coming from the front side of the head gasket, and then traveling alongside the valley cover to the rearwhere it drops onto the starter. I thought I had sealed mine by cleaning that gap with a lot of brake cleaner and then put th ing black rtv sealer in it. However it only redirected the leak to come down the front of the engine next to the timing chain cover. The fix is to replace the head gasket or just keep a drip pan under it.

Then I went to Pioneer Village in Minden Nebraska. I was thinking there would be a bunch of period cabins etc but there was a whole town moved there. Tons of vehicles and the focus was to show how we progressed so fast in the late 1800's to 1900. There was so much tucked in there I had to hold my camera on an angle for most pictures. Wagons, cars, trucks, airplanes, helicopters, and a yacht from someone in Chicago. This was a great collection but beware of two things if you want to go. #1 it is 22 miles south of Rt 80, and it is not fully airconditioned. The 2nd thing stopped me from going into the 24 buildings on site, one of which holds 300 cars.

Then I took Rt 30, the Lincoln Highway the 60 miles to the next stop. This is also called alt Rt 80. The striking thing was the lack of any shade. I also saw two old trucks which would have been great pictures for this site but it was too late and the day was heating up so I moved on.

The reality that this isn't a whole lot of fun in this heatwave struck me this morning. It is like I have been running a marathon which may start out as novel, but eventually becomes a grueling obsession and one cant wait for it to be over. So I decided to hit the road while it was cool and then stop at two local attractions along the way. First up was an original Pony Express stop in Gothenburg Nebraska. there wasnt a whole lot here bit there was enough to take a break.

Moved on today, shooting for North Platt Nebraska. It was 64* in Rawlins and I left around 7:30 after refueling etc. I managed to get almost 200 miles in by 11 am. 200 miles is my point to re fuel and if possible to clean the coolant filter. It definitely needed a cleaning. A huge chunk of detritus came out and I hoped maybe that was it? At any rate, around noon the air temp shot up to the 80's and continued to climb. 100 miles later on flat ground running 65 mph in the mid 90 degree range the cars temp climbed so I stopped and cleaned the filter again. The screen was really coated but there was no pile on the bypass valve. Meanwhile it got hotter and the car ran hotter too, so I packed it in 60 miles later. 323 miles today. to a town 40 miles west of North Platt. Bonus points for a $40.00 lower room rate here. These mid-west room rates are way up there. But I have no real choice. The few pictures I took this afternoon didn't even come out as the auto focus zeroed in on the bugs splattered on the windshield.

Weren't the original white walls thinner in 1960?

Then moved on to Evanston WY for lunch and a filter cleanup. I was happy to see no pile on the bypass valve. Returned to the road just in time to see a lightening bolt in these storm clouds. and then the storm grew and tracked parallel to Rt 80 eventually obscuring the sun and cooling thing down quite a bit. this lasted all the way to Rawlings WY for the nite. I would put in more pictures but the wi fi here is not so great. After dinner I pulled the filter again and found a big pile of debris but a lot less small stuff in the stainless steel mesh. Hope this ride is cleaning it up totally.

Echo Canyon was equally impressive. There is a great rest stop right across from it. Figured I'd get a little exercise while there.

Once on Rt 80 it was a lot of downhill going East. And I could feel the difference immediately. After a bunch of miles I saw the Jordanelle Reservoir. Massive man made dam. and then the Echo Reservoir which was even larger.

It was a slow rise to Deer Creek reservoir. and Heber City was really nice. A good place to vacation. A few more hills and I was on Rt 80 East. I really enjoyed that.

Moved on this morning. Went to Provo and drove the Provo River Canyon. This was a great way to avoid the climb on RT 80. It starts out at 50 mph and as one climbs the air temp drops. No issues with Annie even though I stopped often to take pictures The Bridal Veil Falls

@NailheadBob. I am so sorry for your loss of Frank. My thoughts and prayers go out to you and his family. He sounded like a wonderful guy!

Good morning. Its 6:22 and already 82° in Salt Lake City, with storms predicted for this afternoon. It was so hot yesterday that even running 5 miles in town the guage was in the red zone. Looking for another early start today. The mountains surrounding SLC are gorgeous If only one did not have to get over them to get home. 🤔

Made it to my sisters place in Salt Lake City around 1 pm. It was a cool morning but its hot now. A fellow who spoke about the car at last nights hotel comes from SLC and he convinced me to drive to Provo to take the Rt189 canyon pass. Said its still uphill all the way but a much easier climb.

Still puking up debris. i feel better having cleaned it.

The temp guage is both blessing and curse. The main thingbto me is the reason for the fluctuation. Is it something I can control or not? Several times it has risen to 210 today. Was it the noticeable difference in air temp? Or the imperceptible hill that was just climbed? Or is that filter plugged and about to let the bypass open and push all that crud into my recored radiator? In considering thst last option I am currently sitting in the shade at a rest area in Brigham Utah waiting for it to cool off enough to check the filter.

The original chrome Skylark road wheels are around. I suggest learning about the offset. The wheels on the 64 would have had no offset. This makes it easier to get the rear rims off, which can be a problem with the wide offsets sold as new units in todays market. But there are varying amounts of offsets available and if you find used rims you will want to have a matched set.

Tx Bernie

@dmfconsult i know you are right but @avgwarhawkcoined it for me. I need to get over it.