Monthly Newsletter - Austin-Healey Association of Southern California

Travels Travels in in our our Blue Blue Healey Healey - Day Day 14 14 Cont.
Cont.
8th 8th trip trip - Summer Summer 2006 2006 Destination Destination - Nelson, Nelson, British British British Columbia
Columbia
ay ay 14, 14, 14, continued continued - are touring too, waving, extending
thumbs in appreciation of BLU HLY. Hair pin
turns slow us down to 5 mph. We wave at a new Porsche
passing us. He pulls over waiting around the bend
to photograph us. They’re on their way to a Pennsylvania
Porsche meet. At 9:15 a light rain starts. This well
maintained narrow road prohibits trucks or buses because
the tunnels can’t accommodate them. We climb
the rolling hills with scattered pines, grazing deer.
Ahead perhaps a dozen wild burros gather around tourists,
cars, motorcycles and us. Too close for my comfort,
we move along. Two mares nurse their foals. At 10:40
we take a pit stop, turn briefly onto 16A then enter Custer
State Park. Light rain continues, 69°. The 18 miles
of Wildlife Loop Rd. take us through open grasslands.
It’s exciting to see so many freely roaming bison. We
get out and take some photos. Next Iron Mountain Rd.
winds it’s way through tight curves, pigtail bridges and
more Needle narrow tunnels carefully blasted to frame
the approach to Four Faces. We leave Black Hills National
Forest and encounter a massive concrete parking
garage to accommodate the hoards of tourists at Mt.
Rushmore. I expected to be in awe of this famous memorial.
Instead it seems presumptuous to select a
mountain to sculpture rather than erecting statues. We
can’t improve upon nature’s splendor. The approach to
the viewing site is grandiose with overhead arches and
flags. Having completed the sightseeing loop we take
385 S pulling in to see Crazy Horse which we’ve heard
so much about in television presentations. We don’t
even get out of the car, again feeling bewildered that
some think dynamiting a mountain to duplicate an image
is an honor this proud man would have welcomed.
On with the trip, just a 100 miles to Chadron. We get to
Pringle by 1:15 and when in Hot Springs stop at a Subway
for tuna subs. Hot Springs is a quaint old town with
red sandstone buildings on North River Rd. We peel off
our sweatshirts continuing in our solar whites, 76°. It’s
been a comfortable relaxing day, white puffy clouds
float in the deep blue sky. Black eyed Susan’s bloom on
the prairie’s flat open ranges. “Home, home on the
range where the deer and the antelope play.…” We enter
Nebraska at 2:45, 82°. Cattle graze. The roads are
reddish. We reach the Chadron Best Western at 3:20,
184 miles today, road time 6 ½ hours. Roofers are
completing their work above. Immediately we head for
the Museum of the Fur Trade. I read about this special
museum in a book about the history of the prairie. We
have just enough time to see the exhibits before the 5
p.m. closing. It is excellent, worthy of ending this day
with. We’re tired and hungry now. We fill the tank at a
Sinclair station. A man in a truck saw us driving
through town and has followed us here so he can ask
what kind of car we’re in. He never heard of Healeys,
Healey Motor News
By, By, Charlie Charlie Charlie & & Carol Carol Hart Hart
Hart
saying “She’s a beauty.” We dine at Country Kitchen a nearly
full large dining room with good food. Our room has a small
kitchenette, but the fridge is broken. The desk clerk offers to
chill our water bottles elsewhere, and we’ll pick them up
when checking out tomorrow. Charlie talks with another traveler,
a realtor, hunter and fisherman who recommends a
Fish House in Denver for lunch tomorrow saying they have
all selections cooked to perfection. The skies have darkened,
lightning flashes, thunder booms. We check our car
again. The cockpit cover is tied down against the winds. Suddenly
the skies open and it’s a cloudburst. The air smells of
ozone. We enjoy watching the downpour from under the entrance
overhang. This has been a great day and we both fall
asleep smiling.
My My My side side mirror
mirror
Mt. Mt. Rushmore Rushmore Rushmore 8/1/2006
8/1/2006
Photos Submitted By Charlie Hart
Crazy Crazy Horse Horse
Bordeaux Trading Trading Post