On the Road Again—California to Kalamazoo Part 1

While my ’64 Continental convertible languishes in the paint shop and the heart of its running gear awaits reassembly in the repairman’s garage, I hit the road again today in another venerable Lincoln—just not mine.

Jim Ayres and I got this nutty idea to drive from California to the Lincoln Motor Car Museum’s annual Michigan Homecoming Weekend in his 1998 Lincoln Mark VIII, a lovely vehicle that’s well-equipped and by my standards a modern car.

Jim purchased it last February and had been enjoying driving and showing it locally ever since. He’s had it serviced and made ready for this big 4,200-mile round trip and gave it a week’s worth of shakedown cruising on Southern California’s busy freeways with no issues before heading east.

Despite two of us packing gear for nearly two weeks away from home the Mark VIII was able to accommodate everything and off we went Sunday about 8:40 a.m. Due to Sunday morning light, we zipped past the usual bottlenecks on the 91 Freeway without any problems heading east and turned north for a few hundred miles through the deserts of California, past Las Vegas, through the scenic Virgin River gorge and past high meadows of Utah at 7,000 feet enroute to our first planned layover in Richfield, UT.

Huge solar power plant near the Cal/Nevada border.

With a detailed Auto Club Triptik and a gorgeous sunshiny day, what could go wrong?

We were soon to find out after stopping for lunch at the Valley Wells rest stop just west of the California/Nevada state line. We were headed toward the border when suddenly the “Check Engine” light went on. The guessing games began and we realized the problem could be almost anything from trivial to serious. A phone call with friends Bazil LaRoche and Russell Harmon resulted in a plan. We would hit the nearest Auto Zone and get a computer readout of the trouble code. We found an Auto Zone in Las Vegas and their code reader discovered the issue was lean fuel mixture in one bank of the V-8 engine.

Valley Wells Rest Area. EVen the birds were taking a breather.

Thus informed, Jim picked up some engine cleaner and a hose for the PCV system and we were on our way. That pesky Check Engine light reappeared after the Auto Zone technician reset it, but with dealers and repair shops closed on Sunday and no other noticeable problems both we and the Mark VIII soldiered on, making about 26 to 27 mpg.

Fortunately nothing else happened and we arrived safely at our first overnight stop, in Richfield tired and hungry but otherwise OK. We’ll deal with the fuel system in the a.m. Until then, good night for now.