Loop from Truckee to Nevada City and Grass Valley - Wednesday 27th September
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On trips such as this it's a great treat to spend two successive nights in the same hotel. No need to repack the suitcases and find a way of jamming them into the limited space available in the E-Type. There's less pressure to keep to a schedule and more flexibility in the route taken and time spent at stopovers. On this trip, Glen managed to incorporate no less than 3 such 2-night stopovers - great job!
Today's drive was a loop from Truckee to Nevada City and Grass Valley on some great back roads. First, the convoy headed north on CA-89 to Sieraville, and then turned westwards on CA-49. This road was just the sort of road the E-Type was built for: lots of twisties and changes of elevation in a setting of canyons and forested mountains.
Spectacular views as we drove CA-49
The road surface was smooth (hard to believe we were in California with its neglected major roads) and virtually no traffic. Twice we were warned by road-side signs to expect delays due to road work, but each proved to be a false alarm as we sailed through. Occasionally we would drive through a tiny outpost of civilization. One such was Downieville - this 1 minute dashcam video shows the full extent of this historic community:
Downieville (Population 290) is an old gold mining town at an elevation of nearly 3000 feet. Gold was discovered there in 1849, and the town expanded rapidly. By 1850 there were 15 hotels, 4 bakeries, 4 butcher shops and numerous saloons, and the population had exploded to 5,000. The town is infamous for the only case of a woman being hung in California - the hanging of Josefa Segovia, a young hispanic resident of the town, was carried out by a lynch mob following a mock trial in 1851 where she was accused of killing a miner. In 1853 the town was competing to become the state capital of California, but lost out to Benecia and then Sacramento one year later. By 1865 the town was in decline, but survived due to being the seat of government for Sierra County. Today, the town hosts the world-famous Downieville Classic mountain biking race, and many white-water rafting events on the North Yuba River.
At the end of the route we reached Nevada City, the county seat of Nevada County, CA with a population of around 3,000. It is a quaint old town dating back to the gold-mining days, with a Historic District with many old structures dating back to the late 19th and early 20th century. The main street is lined with shopping opportunities:
Glen and Sharon's E-Type cooling from the drive on the high street
Our arrival coincided with lunch time, so we sought and found refreshment in back street restaurants. A little exploring and shopping followed in the quaint town. My own shopping was limited to raiding a local NAPA store for quarts of 20W50 and 3M weather strip adhesive for a door seal that had become detached!
Braod Street, Nevada City
A short drive to Grass Valley (made longer by logging trucks on the narrow twisty roads) was to have been followed by a return drive to Truckee on CA-20 which promised similar enjoyment to the outward drive on CA-49. Unfortunately, the CALTRAN gods intervened once again, though at least this time the ROAD CLOSED signs gave us ample warning. As a result, the return drive was on the I-80 freeway - fast, but otherwise uninteresting.
The group exploring the North Star Mining Museum in Grass Valley
I skipped dinner with the group to drive to Reno airport to pick up Debbie who was flying in to join me for the rest of the Oil Leak. Needless to say, the car attracted a lot of attention in the pickup lane at the airport, and was the subject of many photos from passers by. The drive back to the hotel in Truckee on I-80 in the dark was not an enjoyable experience. The freeway was congested as a result of single lane sections due to roadworks, and Earl's quad headlights proved to be little better than candles in the wind. If I plan to do more driving in the dark I will definitely have to work on improving the lighting - maybe LED headlkights are the answer. The gauge lights on 3 of the 4 center gauges (including the Oil Pressure) were also out, which kept me in blissful ignorance of what I was to discover tomorrow...
At the start of the day Lloyd headed for home. With both headlights out due to the earlier accident he decided that it was the best plan to avoid getting further from home. This way he good still get home in one day's driving. This was also the departure point for Mike Humphries though in his case, this was always the plan. We wish them both safe travels home. Lloyd says his goodbyes in Truckee - safe travels home The plan for today was to visit the National Auto Museum in Reno, and then drive to Chester. Since Debbie and I had an urgent errand to perform, we left the hotel early with the intention of rejoining the group at the museum. Unfortunately, as the car warmed up on the freeway heading to Reno, the oil pressure dropped steadily from its normal level of 40+ psi to around 20-25 psi. We pulled over to check the oil level which was OK, but added another quart more in hope than expectation. We proceeded on to Reno but the gauge continued to show around 25psi at 3000 rpm, droppin...
Before continuing with the story of the intrepid Oil Leakers I'll finish the accoun tof Debbie and David's adventure: Following the confirmation that the oil pressure gauge was not lying I decided that the best course of action was to flatbed the car to Monterey. We got lucky and AAA were able to oblige faster than we had expected, and by 8am we were on the road. Earl finishes the trip on a flatbed Meanwhile, back in Chester, Bill and Carolyn both decided to return home, in Bill's case influenced by the forecast for rain in Shasta and a concern about ineffective wipers. The surviving members (now down to 4 cars and 7 particpants) set off for Mount Shasta. A nice drive on Hwy 89 was followed by a detour around Mt Lassen due to road works. It seems that recent Oil Leaks have been jinxed by Mt Lassen, as the 2021 V2VOL also had to detour around the park due to the wildfires that year. Just so you can see what it looks like, here's a photo taken when Lloyd, myself, Jerry an...
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