Checking In

[Don Muirhead <dmr@kwic.com>]

We made it back from our last great adventure across the west in the CGT. 
 One major and one minor problem with the little coupe.

First, the car did not like being towed on a dolly behind a U-haul.  When 
my daughter and I stopped in Calgary, I found one "egg" on the 2 month old 
Toyo's about an inch from the right rear rim next to where it says Proxes 
ZF4 (I thought the egg or separation days were dead).  Anyway, a Toyo 
dealer in Calgary made a telephone call and they replaced both rears tires 
no charge - very nice of Mr. Toyo.

Next, after I dumped the U-Haul in Victoria and picked the wife up in 
Vancouver we took the scenic route along the WA state and BC border.  The 
car had gotten harder and harder to fire since we left Vancouver and by 
Grand Forks BC it gave up.  Simply, it sounded like I was trying to start 
the car without a rotor.

Anyway, I replaced the d-cap, rotor, plugs and a few relays I had in my 
stash.  Didn't make a difference so then I pulled and checked the inject  
ors; checked for an air lock; tapped the sensors gently with a very large 
and serious hammer...and still no go.  Checked the wiring/connections; 
checked and rechecked everything I checked before.  I had juice through the 
injectors and spark at the plugs so technically it should have fired.

We stayed 2 nights and as I was about to call and get a tow to the Audi 
Dealer in Kelowna (3-4hrs away) on the Monday morning I thought I'd give it 
one last shot and it fired immediately and I have no idea why.  Maybe the 
temperature and humidity levels were perfect; maybe the moon was in its 
proper phase.  Who knows and quite frankly who cares...It has started fine 
ever since, except that the OP gauge no longer works - so I'll check this 
out on the weekend and I think I'm going to pull the distributor just to 
have a look see.

We spotted this gorgeous '95 S4 parked in a small town called Craig in NW 
CO.  As the wife said "extremely rrrrred" so if it's one of you folks on 
the list, nice...very, very nice.  I've never seen that particular shade of 
red on anything before so please share with me your secret.

On the way back we decided to forgo Denver and took the secondary roads 
from Steamboat to Cheyenne.  I quickly learned what "Open Range" really 
meant when we came over a hill near Walden CO at 6:30am face-to-face with 
about 50 head of cattle grazing on and beside the highway for about 2kms. 
 If anybody has a sudden craving for fresh (not quite freezer ready) beef 
you know where to look.

When we stopped in Iowa City for the night and we shared a hotel and a late 
dinner with a very nice elderly German couple, their daughter and her 
teenage son from WI in their fully restored '84 5000S.  They were on their 
back from CA and the MH classics after a bit of a tour of CA.  Original 
owner, it has 13k on the speedo.  He said he was so nervous about this trip 
since the car has never been out the state nor on a major highway before. 
 Btw, his DD is a 10 speed bike and a pair of shoes although he also owns a 
'74 VW he brought with them from Germany with 67k in 1981.  I guess they 
don't go very far from home.  He and his father had worked their entire 
life in the German auto industry before moving/retiring to the US to be 
near their daughter.  When he heard about MH he just had to go.  Took them 
4 days to get to MH from WI and they only took the interstate if they had 
no other choice.  FYI he had just celebrated his 83rd birthday and looked 
and moved better than most of us in our 50's.

All in all the trip was ok except for those people in Steamboat who keep 
calling my coupe "sniff"...a nice looking valley car.  I will admit I had a 
tough time climbing that hill out of Steamboat.  With the 2 short kegs in 
the back, 3 suitcases and a few of those hard-to-get-in-Canada parts, plus 
some other stuff I picked up along the way we maxed out at about 30kph as 
we hit the crest.  But as I sit here sipping on a not-quite-cold-enough 
brew of Dog's Breath I'm glad I did.

As of today 978,375km

Don Muirhead
'99 A4
'96 S6
'86 CGT x 2