Category: father-son roadtrip

Of my two boys Nicholas has always been my “car guy”. Chris enjoys doing car events with me (he’s an excellent rally navigator for example) but he has never shown the interest in cars that Nick has. When I dreamed up this trip I made sure that one of the things Nick & I would do is visit some car museums/collections along the way. Originally we had planned on hitting the Blackhawk, the Petersen, and the Nethercutt. This assumed that Nick was riding with me southbound. With less than two weeks to go before the trip the schedule changed due to a request of our host in LA, Larry Wade. Our well-laid plans had to be altered at the last second, so the LA Museums were out. I was able to attend the Art Center’s annual car show, which made up a bit but that day was also the transit day for the boys so both missed it. I was determined therefore to take Nick to the remaining option, the Blackhawk Collection in Danville, CA.

Continue reading “2009 Father-Son Road Trip Day 9, Part 1: The Blackhawk Collection”

Nick suffered a bit from sleeping at altitude, but I slept like a baby. Unlike the others though, I awoke early, before sunrise, and went for a walk. Partly to seek a restroom, but also to explore the campground in something close to “daylight”. We were in camp site #9, and in daylight it seems this place has nearly 100 campsites, arrayed in two concentric circles. The restrooms were all clustered in the center, with no obvious way of getting to them from the outer ring where #9 lies. I gave up and wandered through the sites of slumbering campers to get there. Bad design. In my walk I also found plenty of open sites, several with nice sloping areas for roll-starting a starter-less vintage Jaguar. Oh well, too late to relocate now!

Continue reading “2009 Father-Son Road Trip, Day 8: The Sierras”

We’re in Rio Dell, California and Nick is sound asleep after three very eventful and amazing days on the road. I’ll have to get him up soon, but really want him to catch up on sleep before we start moving again.

Continue reading “2009 Father-Son Road trip: Quick Update.”

Out of the frying pan and into the E-type.

Nicholas has joined me now for the northbound leg and I handed him my little Nikon Coolpix compact camera to document the trip from his perspective. Most of the photos you’ll see from now on will be taken by Nick.

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(I’m fairly certain the above map approximates our route)

Also joining us for the first two days or so of the northbound journey are our host Larry Wade, and a family friend from Norway, named Øyvind Aamodt. Larry owns an early Series 1 E-type.

Continue reading “2009 Father-Son Road Trip: Day 7”

After sleeping better than your average hibernating grizzly bear, we awoke to an amazing home cooked southern breakfast at Chez Mouton. Eggs, bacon, and home-made biscuits by Jerry & Kate. It was mmm, mmmm good! Tres Bon!

Jerry then hopped in his 1964 E-type coupe and took us for a wild ride through the mountains to Ray Livingston’s house above Santa Cruz. I know Jerry and Ray via participation on Jag-Lovers.org, via their E-type forum/mailing-list. It is a great group of enthusiasts who really help and support each other. My E-type would have literally killed me long ago if it were not for guys found there online. They provide not only support but years and years of collective, practical experience of maintaining E-types.

Continue reading “2009 Father-Son Road Trip: Day 4 (Central California Coast)”