GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO THOSE WHO WAIT

In 1969 I was in the US Army serving in Vietnam.  Someone in my squad had a copy of the July issue of Hot Rod Magazine, which when he was done with it, was passed down to me.  In it was an article entitled "13-Second Grocery Getter" about the 1969 Chevy Nova Super Sport.  After reading the article several times, I figured this was the car for me.

At the base post exchange, there was a guy who was selling new cars through the General Motors Overseas Distributors Corporation.  He was also selling Chrysler and Ford products all in a program to sell cars to service members to be delivered to them once they returned home.  Since the timing was such that I would be buying a 1970 model from a 1969 catalog and he didn't have a photo of the Nova, but he did have one of the new Dodge Dart.  He tried to convince me to buy the Dodge, but I stuck to my guns and went with the Nova.  A wise decision, one of the few I was making in that stage of my life.

Anyway I put up $500 as a deposit and went about the task of trying to get a loan for the remainder.  Eventually, buy joining the Non Commission Officers Association and obtaining a Letter of Recommendation from my command officer, Captain Robert J. Walden, I was able to secure a loan from the Broadway National Bank in San Antonio, Texas, of all places.  My payment after kicking in another $500 would be a whopping $62.91 a month.  What did I pay for the car you ask?  $2899.00.

So, upon being discharged from the Army I returned home in one piece and had to wait another month for my car to be delivered.  The car was being delivered to Los Angeles, so on the appointed day, with my current girlfriend at the time, we flew to LA and took a cab to Kenneth Chevrolet, signed a few documents and drove off in my first new car.

And it was a hot rod...350 cubic inches, 300 HP, 4-speed, and posi traction.  I could burn rubber in 1st 2nd and 3rd.  And burn rubber I did, going through tires and clutches like nobody's business.

It wasn't long before I got married and the hot rod Nova became a family car.  First my beloved wife Cathie sort of took the car over and I was relegated to a $200 61 Ford Galaxie.  We had kids and it became our family car.  We put a trailer hitch on it and towed a 16' travel trailer with it all the way to Canada and back.  Then in 1983 I got a company car, we bought a Volvo station wagon and the Nova sat.  It sat for so long at times that the battery would go dead and we would have to coast it down the hill popping the clutch to get it started.  It sat for a long time under a eucalyptus tree and gathered dust and dead leaves.  A neighbor ran into it putting a sizable dent in the passenger door.  Then in 1990 I decided I should be taking better care of it.  So the dent in the door was fixed, a new paint job and new interior.  Still it didn't get driven much, so at Cathie's urging we sold it in 1993.

Brad, a young man in the Navy bought it for $4500.  I remembered him telling me that he was from Florida and would be heading home when he got out of the Navy.  I had kept and the documentation from when I purchased the car and I gave it all to Brad.  It wasn't long after selling it that I regretted my decision, but I knew the car was in Florida and it was a goner.

Over the ensuing years on occasion, I would see a Nova driving down the highway.  That made me regret selling it even more.  Every once in a while I would go on-line to try to find one for sale, but with prices out of my reach, another Nova was not in the cards.

Then in February of this year, Cathie and I were meeting our grandson for dinner.  It was dark when we pulled into the parking lot and while searching for a parking spot, we saw a blue 1970 Nova.  Cathie said to me "Would you every want to by another Nova?" My reply was, "It's not gonna happen, they cost too much."  So we parked and as we were walking to the restaurant, we walked past the Nova.  It looked just like our old one right down to the color.  Upon further inspection we noticed a sticker in the rear window for a police origination that I belonged to with the date of 1984 on it.  I put the sticker there.  This was my Nova!

I couldn't believe it, here it was back in San Diego and we found it.  We went in for dinner, but I couldn't eat.  I went out and left a note on the windshield asking the owner to call me.  I must of got up from the table 4 or 5 times, running out to see if the car was still there.  My grandson thought I was nuts.  Finally when we finished eating and left it was gone.  Now the waiting began.

Would the owner call?  That night, no call.  The next day, no call.  Nor the next or the next.  After a week still no call and I figured it was gone again.  Then two weeks later the owner called and lo and behold it was Brad, the young man I had sold it to 27 years earlier.  I told him I would sure like to see the car again.  He said, come on over and take it for a spin if you want.  So, I did just that, but being afraid I might hurt it, I just drove it down the block and back, reeeaalll slow.  After my ride, I told Brad that if was to ever sell it, to please give me first.  He thought for a while and then said that because I was the original owner he would sell it to me.  He stated a price and I told him I would have to think about it.  On the drive home Cathie and I both agreed that we had to buy it back.  After a few days, I called and made a counter offer to Brad and he accepted.

Brad it seems likes old cars and has several that he has restored in he yard.  So he know the value of the provenance of old things and still had all the documentation from my original purchase.  We finalized the deal, and the Nova is once again home, where it will stay.  How much did I pay for it you ask?  I'm not telling, but it was a tad more than the 2,899 I paid for it new.

The story of getting my car back has gotten some attention and was published in an on-line magazine.

I drove the car around for a while, did a tune up, bought new tires and new exhaust.  The motor still ran like a champ even with 180,000 miles on the clock.  Everything is still original, matching numbers on the engine, transmission and rear-end.  Same carburetor, and distributor too.  I contacted an old acquaintance from work who has restored several cars and he has agreed to mentor me in car restoration, thank you Bill.  We ran a compression check on the engine and it's right where is should be.

So now the car is being restored.  The engine is in my shop and the car is at a restoration shop nearby.  I'm saving my allowance for all the new parts I will be buying and will slowly be making it look like new.  It's a pretty big project, but that's a story for next time.

 

 

  

ON TO UTAH

I’m hold up in the RV today after pulling my back when the toasted startled me this morning.  So I figured that I should do something productive and write a post for the blog.

We continued south along the Western Slope in Colorado and found a really nice adult only RV park near Montrose.  Montrose was the destination because it was close to Grand Mesa, somewhere we’ve never been, and a really great bike path.  Colorado has a lot of bike paths separated from roadways and many times through green corridors.  Denver has over 600 miles of them!  This one in Montrose follows the Uncompahgre River though a open space where the deer and the antelope play.  Anyway I managed to get in a couple of rides early in the morning.  We spent a day checking out Grand Mesa, a high mesa of forest and meadows way up there at 10,000 feet.  The fall colors were in full display,

Leaving Colorado we headed west into Southeastern Utah to explore more Anasazi sites in and around the little town of Bluff.  With the exception of restocking with groceries in Moab, we did our best to avoid this, the most crowed town in these parts.  Moab is beautiful with all the red rocks, but it has become soo popular that it has become a place to avoid, at least for us.  Lots of traffic, a line to get into Arches National Park and most campgrounds are full.  We found Windwhistle Campground south of town about 40 miles on the edge of the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park.  A small 14 unit campground off the beaten path became a peaceful place to stay for 3 nights.

Next up, Bluff, a small town of about 320 folks situated between beautiful red rock bluffs and the San Juan River, hence the town’s name.  It was settled by Mormon Pioneers in 1880.  There were 230 settlers so the population hasn’t grown much.  Before the arrival of the Mormons, the area was populated by ancient peoples for thousands of years.  There are literally thousands of sights in this area where there is evidence of the previous occupants in the form cliff dwellings, stone structures, petroglyphs and pictographs.  Some are very difficult to access, but there are many that can be reached by a short hike.  If you keep your eyes peeled while driving the local roads and highways you can sometimes spot these sights from the road.

BLUFF FORT

We took a short hike to a ruin called “Split Level Ruin”.  The lower level is accessible, but the upper level is high on a cliff face making it near impossible to get to.  Besides the stone structures in various degrees of deterioration, there are lots of petroglyphs and pictographs.  There are some circle pictographs high on the cliff with a bluish green color which is rare.

We checked out several kiva sites in the area, one near Blanding viewed from across the canyon.  You, not me, can walk the ledges down into the canyon and get inside the site if you’re ok with cliff side climbs.  Not something I will do, preferring to stay away from cliffs.  In nearby Montezuma Canyon we saw more petroglyphs and a restored kiva.  Restored by BLM volunteers, the kiva is one that you can gain access to through the rooftop opening.

Tomorrow we cross into Arizona where we intend on checking out several places that we are considering moving to in the near future.  More about that in the next post.

WYOMING TO COLORADO AND BACK AGAIN

We managed to squeeze in a visit to the Wyoming State Capitol in Cheyenne, crossing it off our list, before heading south to Colorado.

Every since leaving Helena, Montana we’ve been in the smoke of the numerous forest fires.  It was the same in Colorado with a large fire west of Fort Collins. We holed up in an just so-so RV park in Greeley primary as a base for a bike ride along the Poudre River Trail and a visit with my sister, Jude, in Denver.  The Bike trail is a paved trail running from Greeley to Windsor following the aforementioned river for 18 miles from start to finish.  I rode this trail some years ago and it was time to return.  Last time there was a coffee shop along the way, this time nada.  Still a great ride mostly in the country.  After a visit with my sister, we were planning on heading west, over the Rocky Mountains to and area in Northwest Colorado, a place we have never visited before.

The fastest and most scenic route would be Hwy 14 following the Poudre River, but it had been closed for sometime due to the fire.  We were aware of this, but not to worry, we could cross on Hwy 34 through Rocky Mountains National Park.  But as luck would have it a new fire closed that highway.  The next option was to return Laramie and head south from there to our intended destination, but you guessed it another fire sprung up in Wyoming blocking our intended route.  So we did manage to get to where we wanted to go, by going further west from Laramie before heading south.  The silver lining in our new route was the we were west of all the fires and seeing blue sky for the first time in weeks.

We spent a couple nights in Rawlins, Wyoming, a town with a mixed vibe.  You drive down the Interstate Business Loop, and is seems that every other business has gone under.  More than a couple of old motels are closed down and is different states of repair.  Some are derelict and seem that the owners just abandoned them.  Weeds growing up in parking lots, broken windows, door falling off their hinges.  Then along the old historic Main Street, many business seem to be thriving.  No more run down buildings, restaurants doing business.  It’s as though one street was just abandoned and another was revitalized.

We paid a visit to the old Wyoming State Prison, an took a guide tour.  Opened in 1901, it was in business for 80 years till 1981.  First built with stockade like wooden walls, they we easily breached as evidenced by a mass escape in 1912 when 30 inmates escaped through the walls.  By 1915 the wooden walls had been replaced is the current cement walls.  Another improvement was the addition of hot water in the original Cell Block A in 1978.  In 1907 Anne Bruce was the last female prisoner to be held the the old prison.  She was convicted of killing her father after putting poison in a pie she baked.  In her confession, she states, “....While I was in the act of making the pies a feeling or wish came over me to kill someone....”

As I write this, we are staying in an city park in Meeker, Colorado.  With three RV spots with electrical hookups and really fast WiFi, it is situated in town with the White River running by.  Nice spot for $20 a night.  Just outside of town is the Flat Tops Scenic Byway which follows the White River into the mountains and then continues over the Flat Tops.  The 82 mile road is paved for the first 30 mile or so, the rest being a good gravel road.  The fall colors were in their full glory, causing us to stop numerous times for photos.  If you’re ever in this part of Colorado, I highly recommend this drive.  Really beautiful.

Today is a down day for being a tourist as I have once again drawn the short straw and will be spending the morning doing the laundry.  Tomorrow the journey south towards home continues, but with 3 weeks left, we intend on going slow.