HAN was from August 7 through August 12 this year. And for the first time, I traveled with a good friend, Chris, for the festivities. He and I have been friends for over 45 years, and both of us are car guys. Chris has two 65 Mustangs parked in his backyard - one is a factory 65 GT fastback, and the other is a 65 coupe with a six cylinder engine. Chris has had these two cars, along with various others, for many years and I'm hoping that our trip to HAN would give him a bit of motivation to put some work into them...especially the 65 GT.
I left home the morning of August 5th, and headed towards Yucaipa, CA, where Chris lives. It took me a little less that 10 hours to get there due to long stops to get gas and folks want to talk about the car. Also, since I do not have AC other than the two windows rolled down, when I stopped for lunch, etc., I stayed inside a little longer than usual to take advantage of the AC. It takes me about an hour to get to Interstate 10 from house, and then it was freeway all the way to Yucaipa. The hottest part of the trip was passing through Blythe, CA, where the temperature was 113 degrees. I overheated, but my car didn't :) I made it to Yucaipa with no issues, and after I unloaded my car, I drove to my Mom's house for her homemade tacos.
Best gas mileage for the day: 16.6
Getting the car loaded for the road.
Getting ready to cross the Colorado River on I-10
Entering the People's Republic of California
A plate of homemade tacos - all for me!
Day Two
On the morning of August 6th, Chris and I got up early, loaded up the Mustang, and hit the road for Reno, NV. We went from I-10 in Yucaipa, Highway 330 through San Benardino, transitioned to Hwy 215 through the Cajon Pass, and then connected with Highway 395 for the long stretch to Reno. We stopped for gas in Kramer Junction and met up with a couple of guys also headed to HAN. They were going to show a 69 Camaro RS, but they were having it shipped to Reno. Real car guys drive their cars to the event. :) We entered the Owens Valley where Hwy 14 and Hwy 395 meet. Unfortunately, the spectacular views of the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains were gone due to the large amounts of smoke from the numerous fires on the west side of the mountains. There are areas where the Sierra Nevadas are just 10-20 miles from the highway, but if you didn't know they were there, you couldn't see them. All we could see were faint outlines of the mountains. Made for a very boring drive.
We stopped in Lone Pine for a couple of malts, and then pushed on to Bishop for our next fill up. After Bishop, I let Chris take over in the driver's seat and I kicked back in the passenger side. That's a seat I'm definitely not use to sitting in. Chris has a Toploader in his 65 coupe, so he doesn't have much trouble with mine. Just has a nasty habit of going from 1st to 4th gear in one shot. I guess 2d and 3rd gear are overrated. I kidded him about it, but he continued to miss those two gears.
Just some more easy driving from Bishop to Reno. We arrived at the Sands Regency, checked in, and hauled our stuff from the Mustang to our room. Grabbed something to eat, kicked back in our room, and got ready for the next day.
My best MPG on this leg was 18.8 from Kramer Junction to Bishop. I was driving 70 mph almost the whole time and spinning the motor at about 3450 rpm.
My best MPG on this leg was 18.8 from Kramer Junction to Bishop. I was driving 70 mph almost the whole time and spinning the motor at about 3450 rpm.
Our two intrepid travelers getting ready to hit the road.
Getting gas in Kramer Junction
Trees along Highway 395 north of Mammoth
One of several cars we saw heading north on Hwy 395
Lee Vining, CA - home of high gasoline prices
Some of the tufa above the surface of Mono Lake. You can see how bad the smoke was in this area.
Approaching the turnoff to Bodie State Park.
On my VMF post, I identified this as the Little Walker River. It's actually the West Walker River.
Topaz Lake - right before crossing the border into Nevada.
Crossing into Nevada.
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