Jordan and I have just completed the 10th Annual Missouri Endurance Rally. What a blast. Wade Keene and his father joined us in St Louis. We had twelve stops around southern Missouri and twenty-four hours to drive to them all. Robert Rushing has a real talent for finding fun roads and interesting places to stop. It took us about four hours and fifty miles longer this year than last. There is a real thrill to putting your car and yourself to the test and coming out on top.

Just three days before we were to leave, I was having doubts about whether we would make it or not. I had read in preparation for reversing the cars polarity that often the points would stick closed shortly after making the change. I changed the points and condenser in the distributor, but thought my year and a half old fuel pump could handle the change. I was wrong. The pump died in the driveway just a week before we were to leave. I called Moss and had a new solid state pump shipped to me. I finally got it working only to find the fuel gauge was no longer functioning. I decided a little thing like that wasn t going to make me miss driving all night in the middle Ozarks. We spent the trip writing our mileage on each gas receipt and stopping about one hundred fifty miles later. After we left one of the stops and drove some gravel (read ROUGH) roads the gauge sprang back into action for about eight hours before dying again. I am going to have to find a loose connection or bad wire.

Chicago Teams

On the way to Paddy Creek

I finished putting a modern radio/CD player in the car. I used two three and one half inch speakers behind the Octagon and the sound was excellent. This was my bribe to Jordan to get him to drive with me. He said he couldn t take talking to me for twenty plus hours again! Imagine.

Our favorite stop was Alley Springs, Mo. There is a natural spring that produces over 8 million gallons of crystal clear water every day. There was a community there until the early twentieth century and the grist mill and school house have been restored. There are also some major canoe rivers around there if the number of liveries is any indication. It would be a nice weekend getaway if you are heading to southern Missouri.

The Alley Spring Grist Mill

Clearwater Lake and Dam

The southern most stop was a concrete arch on Highway 61 at the Arkansas/Missouri border. From there we worked our way north through 5 more check points to our starting point in St. Louis.

This was a great way to jump start the driving season. The car is ready to go and I am thirsty for our next outing, the CMGC Spring Tour.

More photos and notes at: www.chicagolandmgclub.com/photos/mer2005