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Good Sunday Morning...Miss Prudence and I took our normal Sunday Morning ride, this morning. Left at 5:45 and returned at 6:25. We ran a bunch of Scottsdale back streets and noted lots of folks walking with their dogs, people jogging alone, folks on their bikes, and one lady on her horse, on the Cactus Road Horse Trail...riding along as if she did not have a care in the world...the person, that is, I don't know what the horse might have been thinking.

Miss Prudence ran along just fine at 40 miles an hour most of the time. I was just starting to become a bit warm as we turned back into the driveway. All in All a great start to the day.

Dolores was still in bed and I was in time to tune in 'Sunday Morning' and enjoy my favorite program and a nice cup of coffee...Ernie in Arizona

Any trip this week in Portland, OR, will be a wet one. Sun not forecast until Saturday.

Last week my brothers and I drove the non-Packard Jeep Wrangler to the La Bajada switchbacks. We drove right up to them after going over 8 miles on a rutted and washboard road.

The switchbacks were part of the road from the original routing of US 66 when it passed through Santa Fe. For a number of years these switchbacks were the only auto roadway between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Later, Highway 66 was re-routed to bypass Santa Fe and shorten and straighten the routing to Albuquerque.

The photo was grabbed from the InterWeb. It is dated 1928, but looks like it may have been take earlier. The road looks much the same today. The Cochiti Pueblo has blocked the switchbacks with a rock barrier at the top. They are on pueblo land. They did to to preserve the roadway by keeping people from trying to drive down it. One can walk the switchbacks, but this is discouraged too.

It is 600 feet from the top of the escarpment to the bottom. The view from the top is spectacular.

I recall my father talking about frequent accidents due to brake failure. Also, cars that had gravity fed fuel to the carburetor had to back up the switchbacks when going north to Santa Fe.

Enjoy.

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Last Sunday I was 'out and about' giving the '48 some exercise. This time I 'suction cupped' a GoPro to the windshield . . . however it took me forever to edit the video, but it's finally done and posted . . . see link.

youtube.com/watch?v=3LlvBZyTVX8

The video playback duration is about 13 minutes. The actual trip was something like one hour. The '48 was well behaved, as was I.

dp

Great Job dp! Those folks on the bikes were peddling like mad! We have two old Packards cruising the same roads with even the same color cars (more or less)...WE could meet outside Duncan Donuts for coffee...Ernie

Good Sunday Morning...Miss Prudence and I were out from 5:45 to 6:30 on the back roads, as usual...all the normal sights...except on Via Linda...there was a large dog (like 100 pounds) or so who was sitting in the middle of the side walk and their owner was pulling on the leash to get the pooch to continue walking...no soap!

When we finished, we stopped at Chevron for gas and of course the whistle in the gas tank started to produce its one note samba!

There were two women getting fuel...and they looked at each other sort of like 'What the hell is that?' So I told them that Miss Prudence was making the noise and when it stopped, I would know she was full. They both just shook their heads...totally un-impressed.

So it sometimes goes in the Packard world! Ernie in Arizona

This Sunday I headed out much later than Ernie . . . I would never be able to get-up that early. I took the '54 Cavalier with a goal or recording some video at Saguaro Lake, which was formed by damming the Salt River. The experience didn't turnout as I expected, in that, there was somewhat of a traffic jam at the entrance to the facility. Seems that on Memorial Day weekend there are hundreds of folks wanting to play in the water all at once. What was I thinking? I did a U-turn as soon as I could and drove back home. Much of the trip was on the Arizona State Route 87, and the Bush Highway, named after local resident Harvey Grandville Bush, not a political family.

Today was a 40 mile high cruising speed day. '54 ran quite well, rolling along like a locomotive. The car is equipped with an air conditioner ( non-Packard ), but the temperature was only in the mid-eighties so I drove with the 260 (two windows down, 60 mph) air conditioner on high. Humidity still a concept. When I first moved to Phoenix I noted that if the temperature in Phoenix is 100F that would feel about the same as 80F back in Connecticut . . . it's all in the humidity . . . some have it, while others don't.

Reporting a much more modest Packard run! The curtain is beginning to lift here on the coronavirus travel restrictions - and my patience is exhausted.

Noticed recently that the Clipper fuel gauge is registering zero - which I am sure is not correct - so headed off to the service station to test my theory that it's playing possum. Went via the supermarket. Put in about 15 gallons of fuel, and now it's registering full which may be correct. Won't know until I use some. Now there's an excuse for a longer trip.

Anyway, here's a short video of my run home, which was impeded by a crane doing construction work and blocking the road. You can't see it in the video. I'll leave the language to your imagination.

The other pic is one of my toys which has not been driven for two months, with the current restrictions. But I like driving the old Clipper better! Truly. The Clipper gets more positive attention out on the road. And I figure every time I take it out it brightens up a few other people's lives. Lot to be said for that.

Brian

PS Could not get the video to load. Will try again later!

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Good afternoon...Sunday's morning ride in Miss Prudence was pretty much without events...No horses...or big dogs...Just a nice breeze blowing through the car, keeping everything cool and comfortable. Drove about 45 minutes...didn't see any other classics...just a wayward trash truck! Ernie in Arizona

On Memorial Day Sunday I took the '54 Cavalier for a bit of exercise. My goal was to take a few photos of the car at Saguaro Lake. That's about 20 miles northeast of home. Seems the state had just lifted virus related restrictions, and the lake was packed. Being content with the drive alone I bailed-out on the photo-op.

I've posted a video of the drive on YouTube
youtube.com/watch?v=LjjPqzyY25g or search "Packard Trips" on YouTube.

dp