Roadtrip to GOF West 2016

By William T. Doyle

I got up early on the 25^th of June in anticipation of a long drive from Lake Tahoe to Redmond, Oregon to attend GOF West 2016. GOF West is a 5-day car event so I needed to pack enough for a week. I carefully packed my 1976 MGB the night before so when I awoke all I needed to do was to load up on some coffee, fire up the MG, and head north. I purposely kept my top up to avoid being beaten on by the bright sunshine, but I did zip open the back plastic window to keep the air flowing through the cab and turned up the radio to listen to some 60s/70s road trip tunes.

I got on CA-89 going north to explore the back roads of Northern California. My goal that day was to transit through Lassen National Park, which is about 190 miles from Lake Tahoe. That mission was accomplished by lunchtime where I then stopped at the south Visitor’s Center for some useful information and a bite to eat. Continuing through on CA-89, which winds through the park, I was amazed at the amount of snow still on the ground this late in June. Visitors were riding down the snow clad hills on anything they could find and couldn’t care less that it was the last weekend in June. After transiting the Park, I headed northeast on CA-299 then on to CA-136 to Klamath Fall, Oregon where I had planned to spend the night. After a good night’s rest, I continued north on OR-97 and in about 30 miles I veered off to enter Crater Lake National Park from the southern entrance and continued up the lodge which sits adjacent to the rim of the lake (or crater). I parked the MG right out front and went into the Crater Lake lodge for a cup a coffee with my Nikon strung on my shoulder. I enjoyed the coffee and took a number of photographs of the lake and with the Cascades reflecting in the distance. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in North America and it is sapphire blue. I got the MG underway after some coughing and sputtering as she didn’t much care for the altitude of 8,000 and some odd feet. I headed north to the park exit with a short stop for some final photographs with my MG in the foreground and Crater Lake in the background. After about an hour I reconnected with OR-97 and continued northbound. It was about 130 miles from the cut off from Crater Lake to Bend, OR and then another 20 miles or so to the Eagle Crest Resort where GOF West 2016 would be held. In the early afternoon, I checked into the resort and unpacked my MG. The folks planning this event have to be given a lot of credit for picking a perfect venue. The resort had ample parking space for all of our MGs; a nice convention center for meeting and dinner meals; ample space for trailers and RV parking; a nice swimming pool; and an adjacent championship golf course. The staff at the resort were most friendly and helpful with all our various MG needs. There were some nice eateries within walking distance so there was no need to move my MG once I parked it.

On Monday morning of June 27^th, I headed to Redmond for some breakfast and to scout out a place to wash the bugs and dirt off my MG from the +500 mile trip. I found a coin operated car wash and took my time cleaning the MG inside and out to get ready for the car show the next day.

On Tuesday I moved the MG to the main parking area for the static car show and found a nice spot under some pine trees that were casting shade onto the parking lot, which kept me cool under the northwest sun. There were approximately 80 MGs in attendance and we were divided up into MG subgroups. There were TDs, TFs, TCs, vintages, variants, and post-1955 models. We would keep these grouping throughout the week for the Funkhana and Rally event to be held later in the week. The static car show began at 9 a.m. and lasted until noon. After the car show, we were on our own and I took advantage and explored the area.

On Wednesday morning the parking lot was set up for the Funkhana event. For those that are unfamiliar with what a Funkhana is, it is essentially a low-speed obstacle course set up to challenge your driving, listening, trivia skills. When I saw the Funkhana start., I grabbed my camera and took pictures as a TD made its way through all the obstacles. The theme of the Funkhana was the “Oregon Trail” and drivers and navigators were encouraged to wear the provided cowboy hats or bonnets as they progress through the obstacle course. It was fortunate that I captured TD as it passed through all the stations along the way because when it became my turn to run the course I knew what to expect at each station. I befriended an attendee by the name of Barry Engstrum who trailered his TD from Salt Lake City, Utah. Unfortunately, he was having mechanical issues so he volunteered to be my navigator for the Funkhana. In between taking pictures of folks transiting the Funkhana I headed back to my room and grabbed my Mandolin and put in the trunk of my MG. It would become quite useful for the last event of the Funkhana. While waiting my turn to go through the Funkhana I visited the flea market tables which were set up adjacent to the Funkhana. I was very fortunate the flea market was going on because my gear shift knob broke and I was lucky enough to find a spare for sale at one the tables. At about 11 am I entered the first event of the Funkhana, and finished about 30 minutes later. There were stations that tested parking skills, steering, turning, puzzle solving, quizzes, and singing. The final station was a graded singing performance by the competitors of camp fire songs (you could choose your song among 5-6 they had the lyrics to) and when it was our turn I got out my trusty mandolin from the trunk and accompanied Barry in a couple of verses of Oh-Susana. Folks watching seemed to like our rendition as we got a nice round of applauds when we were done. Again, in the afternoon, we had free to explore the area or just take a nap (which I did).

Thursday was the road rally, which began and ended at the Eagle Falls Resort convention center. The rally consisted of a scavenger hunt as well as 4 checkpoints scattered about the Deschutes Valley. We were given a long list of items to collect for the scavenger hunt. I was fortunate because a couple of items on the list I had in my hotel room which made things a little easier. The rally was advertised as untimed, but in reality it was because it took all of four hours to complete and you had to be done by 1 pm. Again my navigator again was Barry and we took off from the starting gate at around 9:15 am. We traveled through the backroads of Deschutes Valley collecting answers to prepared questions given to each entrant. I guessed the course was around 37 miles but it could have been as much as 52 miles as I did not set my trip odometer when we started (but I should have). The highlight of the Road Rally was a visit to an alpaca breeding farm. The farm had hundreds of alpacas all of which had recently been shaved for their wool. There were a couple newborn to see clinging onto the mothers. The farm had a nice gift store and the owners were very accommodating to all the MGs that passed by – even those that leaked a little oil. Barry and I finished the Road Rally and ended up in downtown Redmond looking for the last remaining scavenger items which consisted of an Oregon State quarter and a silver dollar. I stopped at a Wells Fargo and bought a roll of quarters to search through for the Oregon State Quarter (which I found) and Barry visited a local antique dealer and found an Eisenhower silver dollar. We headed back to Eagle Crest Resort and finished the Rally at 1 pm, in the nick of time. Again, in the afternoon we were on our own. It just so happens that the factory which made my mandolin, Breedlove, was in Bend so I decided to head down to see if I could get a factory tour. Unfortunately, they don’t give tours but they have a nice show-room with instruments ranging from a hundred dollars to tens of thousands dollars. I spent my time fooling around on an octave mandolin when I asked the sales lady the price she said she had to check so I continued to play it. She returned and informed me it was only $9,500 and I immediately put the instrument down gently for fear of damaging it.

The awards banquet was held in the evening and a number of  Northern California MG Owners club members won awards. George Steneberg/Marcia Crawford won their class for his 1933 MG J2, Randy Grossman and Eric Baker won with their MGA in the Post 55 class. In the same class, Andy and Maria Preston came in second with their 1967 MGB/GT. Then it was onto the Funkhana and Rally awards. Marcia Crawford also won for the table top Funkhana which is a challenging set of quizzes designed to frustrate even the best crossword solver. Again we competed in our vehicle classes and I came in second (as the driver) in the Post 55 class in the Funkhana (it must have been my mandolin playing that put us over the top). I also won second in the Post 55 class in the Road Rally (as the driver) and I am sure the stop to find an Oregon State quarter and a silver dollar paid off.

On Friday the 1^st of July, I got up early, grabbed some coffee and began to pack my MG. I departed Redmond at about 10:30 am heading down OR-97 and arrived in Klamath Falls in the early afternoon. I got some lunch and checked into the hotel and rested up for the next day’s drive back to Lake Tahoe.

On July 2^nd, I departed Klamath Falls around 8 am on Saturday and again stayed on OR-97, CA-136, and CA-89 going south. The weather was very nice but it was bordering on hot. Just as I crossed the Oregon/California border I hit a bump in the road and my gas gauge, tachometer, fuel gauge, and turn signals all stopped working. I suspected a blown fuse. I had a couple of spares and put them in my fuse box but they blew as well. I figured once I got home I would sort things out¹. My speedometer and odometer still worked and I knew what my fuel mileage was so I confident that I could get home without any trouble. So I ended up with one minor mishap on my journey which I think was pretty good for a 40-year-old MG. I arrived home around 4 pm after driving around 1,000 miles. I am proud to say I had not driven a single mile on an interstate. A truly wonderful road trip traversing the beautiful backroads of the great northwest.

Note¹: I discovered the problem with my gauges and lights was a grounding wire that was connected to my carburetor assembly. It appears when I hit the bump in the road I dislodged the wire. A simple fix but it wasn’t very easy to diagnose and repair.