Yesterday afternoon after departing the Reno, Lake Tahoe area and heading south for Los Angeles, I decided to give ‘Sheila’ a breather beside a stream in the Eldorado National Forest.
Located in Eastern California, in the central Sierra Nevada mountain range, about 30-kilometers south of Lake Tahoe, we spent around 1-hour there listening to the water as it meandered over the rocks heading down stream to who knows where.
The forest ranges in elevation from 1,000 feet [300m] in the foothills to 10,000 feet [3,000m] above sea level along the Sierra crest. Snow pack in here in the Winter can get up to 15 feet high.
These are the hidden camp grounds scattered all around the US National Parks, you pay maybe $20.00 to camp there for 24-hours, there are no facilities (other than a bush dunny) just a nice spot where you can park your rig & relax & let the world go by in the middle of no where.
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| 'Sheila' parked by a stream in the Eldoardo National Forest which is located just South of Lake Tahoe. |
Here, you pay by an honour system, (there is no National Park Rangers here to greet you) when you enter these park sites there is a collection booth with envelopes, on the envelope you write your camp site number & place the money inside the envelope then drop the envelope into a sealed container depending on how many nights you stay in the National Park, & it actually works fine. Brilliant !!!
Today, I decided to drive 300-miles to my friends residence in Santa Clarita, (approximately 50-miles north of Los Angeles).
When I arrived at Ron's house in Santa Clarita, at 2:30 pm they had not made it home from the National Model A Ford Rally in Sparks, Reno, Nevada, so I decided to have some lunch & then drive back to their place & leave them a note just to let them know I dropped by to say hello earlier.
But when I drove up to their house: SURPRISE !!! SURPRISE !!!
Ron Mosher is this gentleman’s name, he is the undisputed GURU of the Model A Ford mechanics here on the West Coast of California, & what I witnessed as I drove into his drive way I could not believe.
As you can see by the two photographs, they were unloading his beautiful 1931 Model A Ford Woody from the back of a tilt-tray tow truck. I sheepishly walked into his driveway to find out what had happened to his vehicle.
This was definitely not a place for me to be, I could see how upset & pissed off he was, so I decided to say a quick hello, find out what had happened & then be on my merry way to check into a Motel for the evening until things had cooled down.
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| Ron Mosher's beautiful 1931 Model A Ford Woody being unloaded off a tilt-tray after cooking the engine coming home from Reno |
Apparently his engine run out of water & he cooked the engine approximately 150-miles from his place here in Santa Clarita., CA.
Now this is the same person that I stay with when I am here in L.A. He also looked after my ‘57 Chevy & 2 Model A Fords at his place before they were shipped to Australia, so l know him well.
He is the person that invited me to stay at his place & also invited ‘Sheila’ & myself to attend the Parade on the 4th of July.
Fast forward a few hours: My cell phone rang while I was resting in my Motel room, it was Ron’s wife Carol calling to apologise for what had happened earlier.
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| Ron's magnificent 1931 Model A Ford Woody being delivered home after cooking the engine on the way home from Reno, Nevada |
In the morning I will meet up with Ron & his mates for coffee & donuts, then I need to drive into Pomona to go to the So-Cal Speed shop because I need to buy some parts for my ‘57 Chevy.
Then in the afternoon when I return to Santa Clarita they have asked me to stay at their place on Mon-Tue-Wed night, so that I can attend the 4th July Parade on Wednesday which he actually organises for the Model A Fords.
So now that the dust has settled & by the time I make it back to their place tomorrow afternoon all will be good, Carol also invited me for dinner tomorrow night.
Never a dull moment in the life of an International Model A Ford enthusiast. I have no idea what to expect at the upcoming 4th of July Parade on Wednesday, all I know is that it will be BIG for ‘Sheila’ and her loyal driver, can’t wait to find out.
At the moment I have planned to leave here here & head south towards San Diego first thing on Thursday morning.
To be continued.
Cheers
Warbo
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