A slight detour to pick up a new shop truck. July 3rd, I flew out of BWI about 8am with a layover in Denver. Then a connection up to Redmond Oregon.











The truck had some dry rot on the old tires, so rather than tempt fate, I sprung for some new tires and the two fellas I dealt with, Chuck and Robert, went above and beyond to help get the truck ready.. while one was picking me up from the airport, the other was picking up the wheels/new tires from the local Discount Tire.








Upon arrival I find about the most solid, original 1966 I have ever seen. We looked over a few things and installed the wheels/new tires on the truck. My departure was the first test drive. Got to have faith in the old 66..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKTU0pc7Oqk


I drove south of Terrebonne to Redmond, stopped at the local Walmart for some essentials. A cooler, drinks, ice, a fire extinguisher, and a suction cup phone mount for map navigation.

Heading east out of Oregon towards Idaho. 4-65 AC at its finest.





I wanted to drive past Boise the first day to get an early start around SLC the next day. So I drove halfway between Boise and the Utah border, and stopped at a local rest stop. Set the alarm for about 4 in the morning. Just about had the rest area to myself.





Utah here we come...











I had reached out to Mike to stop by his place for a shop tour, but alas, he had to work the 4th, and with me facing 40+ hours of driving, it wasn't a sit and wait kind of day. I'll have to make time to visit the next time through..

Wyoming. A lot of wide open, with mountains of all shapes and sizes. They even have some that look like someone's been playing Jenga on a grand scale, flat rocks with rounded edges stacked one on the other. The pyramids have nothing on these Jenga mountains of Wyoming. They have plenty of exits off I-80, but most go nowhere. There are exits to put on tire chains, exits to take off tire chains, exits for trucks to park and sleep, and for the messy truck drivers, exits to park and sleep WITH dumpsters to clean out your trucks. Then the exits that go nowhere, but open up to the gravel wide open.





Then there's the entertainment. It's a stock truck.... So I had to sing to myself.. For 3-1/2 days... It was painful to listen to. I may now be a well practiced singer, but not one anybody would care to listen to..








One thing Chuck was not able to get fixed, the gas gauge. He had installed a new sending unit to no avail. Given the 18 gallon tank and an estimated 12 mpg, I should have a safe range of about 200 miles per tank without fear of running out. Just in case, Robert had fixed me up with a couple 5 gallon gas cans so I would have a reserve.





So at every fill-up, I would observe the mileage, bump it by 200, and note it for when I needed fuel.








Knock on wood, this process served well, and I wasn't forced to use the back-up supply of fuel the entire trip. I checked the mileage the second tank and was getting about 12.5 per gallon. About what I expected with a 352 with 3.50 gears and a granny gear 4 speed.





I was chastised by my wife and daughter with the accommodations I was using, so Thursday evening I made it into Nebraska and found a motel for a shower and more comfy bed (over a 1966 front seat)