The good news today is that the countryside was green and lush and we had no snow, no sleet, no hail, and no hurricanes or tornadoes.  The not so good news was that it was cold (low 50's), windy and rained liked crazy all day and the roads were full of potholes.  When we left the Clark's house this morning, we got all the way to Warren, less than 15 miles or so, when it really started to pour.  We pulled into the drive-thru of a bank which was closed on Sunday and sat there a while to ponder our next move.  Looking out of the right side of the car we saw a Bob Evans restaurant and thought hot chocolate sounded like just the ticket.  Two cups later the rain had lessened in intensity so we started out again on our journey.  Part way through the afternoon when it was again really raining hard, we pulled into a farmer's barn where it was dry to pull out more more jackets and Joe's duster.  A little better protected from the cold, we again hit the road.  You'll must think we are crazy!  We had a teenager at a Subway ask, "Why are you doing this?"  We answered, "Because it needs to be done!" 

I did take a few pictures to show you how things looked through our windshield with no wipers, only Rainex on the windshield to shed the worst of the water coming down. Unfortunately, my camera is still in the car and the car cover is on because it is raining like crazy so I can't loaded the pictures tonight.

THE STEERING COLUMN

The Steering Column will be the view of this "adventure" through the eyes of the driver and will be an advisory concerning the performance of the car.

The car is running fine, it doesn't seem to mind the 400 plus lbs of cargo in the back and the steepest grade encountered to this point has been 10%.  I have found that I have been able to pull a long, 7% grade in high gear, but anything more than that would be 2nd gear.  It is leaking more oil than normal and I have decided that that is because of my adding Marvel Mystery Oil before we left.  I think it has thinned the viscosity too much.  To offset that effect, I have added 2 quarts of straight 50 weight oil.

The first two days of driving were purely a pleasure - the engine was running cool even on long upgrades, good roads and we covered about 150 miles each day.  Today was another matter. The drive from PA into New York was pretty miserable - terrible roads, much rain, wind, bone-chilling cold, very little braking power and visibility.  Kim Simone said she would provide us with a spare room and hot shower when we get to northern CA.  I focused on that.

           .....AND THAT'S ALL PART OF MOTORING!!!