Category: father-son roadtrip

We awoke very early at our campsite and showered before most of the other campers were awake. We timed it just right as most were waking up by the time I fired up the big XK motor and idled out of the campground and south on US 101.

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

Chris & I are in Ventura, CA, having a lunch by the beach in a funky surf-shack sort of place.

My Internet access over the past two days was either very spotty, or I was too tired to write, so I have not been able to sit down and provide you with updates on our progress, sorry!

It has been a great trip so far though and I’ve just uploaded some photos on this open wireless network I found. Here’s a few teasers to hold you over until I can write up the tale:

See you again soon!

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Day Two started with the Evergreen Air Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. While we’re blessed with proximity to Boeing’s Museum of Flight in Seattle this museum, literally centered on the Hughes Flying Boat aka “The Spruce Goose” is amazing in its own right. Chris & I ended up spending the entire morning there.

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

Today we drove from our home in Arlington, Washington to McMinnville, Oregon.

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(damn Google maps! Zoom out to see our route)

Continue reading “2009 Father & Son Summer Road Trip: Day One.”

The weather still looks grey and omnious, but the rain has stopped and no longer appears on my desktop widget radar, so we’re going.

Boot is packed:

and tools and tent are racked…

See you down the road!

I often jokingly refer to the Jaguar’s boot as a “FedEx envelope”, but it is actually at least twice the size of one, see:

It is however barely adequate for carrying more than a weekend’s worth of luggage. Of course I have the luggage rack, and I’ll be putting it to use on this trip. I’ve got all my stuff packed now, and I’m just waiting for Christopher and his gear. Once we have it all in I’ll share another photo.

Hopefully this weather will clear (thunderstorms last night and this morning, intermittent rain now) and we’ll be off in the morning.

Of course it has been sunny since mid-May, with only two rainy days that I can recall and the weather turns sour the day we’re supposed to leave on vacation!

After dinner tonight I spent some time in the barn playing “Ultimate Tetris”, that is trying to make the most of the Jaguar’s miniscule boot. Normally I have a tools & spares kit that I just toss into an old leather vintage suitcase and put it in the boot. This works great for weekend rallies such as the one my father & I did a few weeks ago, but for a ~10 day drive where we’ll need as much luggage space as possible it just won’t cut it. Takes up too much precious boot space. Tonight I unpacked the big tool & spares suitcase and distributed it between the spare tire well under the boot and a smaller vintage suitcase I have. The latter will ride on the luggage rack, along with our tent (we’ll be camping occasionally) and a few other items. The boot will hold our actual luggage.

I was planning to leave on Tuesday of next week. This date was chosen to give me time to wrap up a big project I’ve been working on at work. This project has taken up a lot of my time for more than a year as it involves a huge change in one of our most important systems and services. My role has been research and vendor negotiations, as well as planning. I managed to get my part wrapped up earlier this week, so I’m thinking of moving my road trip schedule up a few days and leaving on Sunday. We could tag along with the Seattle Jaguar Club’s Mt. Rainier Tour to start the day, and then head to Portland and try to meet up with the Reyns’ who are there for the vintage races. We’ll shoot for visiting the Evergreen Air Museum next, likely Monday morning. Then south. Stay tuned for more!