Epilogue

After two frantic days driving I am now back home in Carmel Valley, California. Most, but not all, of the other participants are also home. When I get some free time over the next few days I will post a complete set of all the photos taken on the trip, as well as videos of the drive up Old Highway 95, and some of the runs at the Slalom event that took place on Sunday 19th July.

August 17th:
Finally got some time to post pictures and slalom videos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/103828674713622568266/BCOL?authkey=Gv1sRgCIbc3OnFyqujc

Old Highway 95 video courtesy of Greg:

https://youtu.be/ezzhQ1fTGUM

Saturday 18th July - Jaguars On The Island

The 5th Oil Leak tour is officially over, but I will use the blog to post any photos of the events taking place here in Victoria over the next few days. On Saturday the main event was the Concours held at Windsor Park, on the cricket pitch. There must have been close to 100 cars there - 20 or so E-Types. Six of the E-Types that completed the BCOL were present, and we arranged for them all to be grouped together. They were all "unwashed", exactly as they had finished the tour yesterday. I had to place a "do not clean" notice on my car, together with an explanation of our trip, when I found a helpful lady trying to remove some road grime from the rear wing! According to my GPS, my car had covered 1839 miles since leaving home one week ago.

The field contained around 100 Jaguars from an SS100 to the latest F-Types

We arrived a little early to ensure we were placed together

Leakers E-Types proudly displayed, bugs and all....

From the other end of the line

Rick and Christine, and Michael and Denise are heading for home tomorrow - have a safe trip. Meanwhile on the island, there is a relaxed drive on the island for the Jaguars tomorrow morning, followed by a frantic Slalom in the afternoon.

Friday 17th July - Manning Park to Victoria

The final leg of the 2015 BCOL took us from Manning Park to Victoria where we will be joining the Jaguars On The Island show at the weekend. Unlike previous days, we had a fixed timescale to meet, as we had made reservations on the 1:00pm ferry to the island. We therefore set an early departure time of 7:30am.

The Manning Park Resort 

Loading up the cars in preparation for an early start

Dramatic scenery on Hwy 3

The route took us through mountainous scenery on Hwy-3 to Hope. For the first time on the trip it was cold (47 degrees), and jackets and gloves were the order of the day in the open-topped cars.

Seven E-Types on Hwy-3

Dramatic Mountain Views all around

No blog would be complete without an action shot of Drew and Mary's rental Camry!

Having left Manning Park without breakfast, we stopped briefly in Hope

More Mountainous scenery on Hwy-1 towards Vancouver

We were fortunate to have Ian Cameron leading the group as navigator in Lloyd's car. He was able to guide us through a maze of roads to the ferry terminal. There has clearly been a lot of new road construction in this area. My GPS system was hopelessly lost on several occasions. This new construction includes a number of suspension bridges, which we passed under on our route

One of the new suspension bridges

We arrived at the ferry terminal in Tsawwassen in plenty of time for our 1pm ferry. In fact, we were all able to catch the 12pm ferry. For the first time on this OL we were ahead of schedule!

Lined up at the ferry entrance lanes

We boarded the ship around 12:20pm. These ferries have a very large capacity, with twp car decks. We were all on the lower deck.

Driving on board

Inside the ferry the cars are packed closely together. 

We took the opportunity to have lunch on board the boat during the 90 minute passage to Swartz Bay. After arriving on the island we took up Ian Cameron;s kind offer to visit his house for a glass of his own wine, and a chance to relax.

Ian Cameron's Stanley Steamer - steam-powered car

Ian's house is in a wonderful location. It is right by the water-side with wonderful views across the bay.

Ian Cameron's back yard...

Enjoying Ian's wine in his back yard

Our host with Jan and Mary

View of Ian's house from the beach

Around 4pm we set out for our respective hotels in Victoria. Around 5pm several of us joined a reception for Jaguars On The Island at the Marina. 

Relaxing at the Marine Restaurant at the JOTI reception. 

View across the ocean to small islands and the mainland with Mount Baker (Washington) in the far distance

Colourfull border of flowers close to our hotel - everything seems to be so well cared for

Tully has company too!

Tomorrow we attend the Jaguars On The Island concours, where we will show our cars in their dirty bug-spattered post Oil Leak condition.

Thursday 16th July - Kettle Falls, Washington to Manning Park, British Columbia

Today was the day that we were to cross the border into Canada. It turned out to be a day of avoidable misadventures, from which, fortunately we were able to recover. Most of us were up and about early, and Lloyd decided he'd try to fit the belt for his A/C system again before breakfast. To gain access, he disconnected the wiring from his alternator. Unfortunately, the belt proved to be too tight to fit. David decided to fit a new set of distributor points to his car, as the old set were so worn he could no longer gap them correctly. With both cars roadworthy again, we went to breakfast. On returning to the Motel to pack up prior to leaving, Lloyd discovered his alternator was not charging his battery. There followed what has now become a tradition on the Oil Leak tours: team diagnosis and repair of faults...

How many old geezers does it take to fix an alternator? Eight. One to do the job, and seven to stand around and watch

After removing the alternator, discovering a suspect set of brushes, cannibalizing Norman's failed alternator for a good set, and replacing the alternator in the car, we prepared to pat ourselves on the back for a job well done. Not! The alternator still did not charge... There followed much scratching of heads, referencing of workshop manuals, and diagnostic testing with a multimeter. Finally, it was realized that the cables had been wrongly connected to the alternator all along, since being removed to work on the A/C. When the cables were correctly connected, the alternator was charging once again!

Finally, we were able to set off in convoy for Canada about 90 minutes late. However, we didn't get far. After about 5 miles David's car started to misfire and came to rest in the middle of the road. It was rapidly pushed off to the side, where David discovered that he had failed to connect the coil LT wire to the new set of points, and that it was a fluke the car had got that far! It was therefore close to two hours later than planned that we reached the Canadian border.

Lined up to enter Canada

Fortunately, there was no line at the border post, and we all got through without incident. We were soon on our way westwards parallel with the US border on Hwy-3.

Seven E-Types, a Boxster and a Camry head west on Hwy-3

We had arranged to meet up with a group of E-Type owners in Osoyoos. Our delays in leaving the US meant that the plans had to be adapted a little, but fortunately they were able to hang around until we arrived. Osoyoos is set on "the warmest freshwater lake in Canada" in a valley with mountains on both sides. We descended into Osoyoos on Hwy-3 in a dramatic series of switchbacks at a very slow pace due to a couple of 30-wheel trucks ahead of us.

Descending into Osoyoos

Rounding one of the many bends on Hwy-3 into Osoyoos

View of the town of Osoyoos around the narrowing of the lake

Meeting up with the four E-Type owners in Osoyoos

Three more of the E-Types in Osoyoos

After introducing ourselves, we moved onto a local pub for a late lunch. There we were able to get to know each other over an enjoyable meal. We really appreciated the fact that they had hung around in Osoyoos for much of the day waiting for us to arrive. They were Brian Mellis, Mike and Paul Banwell, Brian Hughes, and John Letchford.

Lunch in Osoyoos at the Owl Pub

View from the Owl Pub across the lake to the switchback we used to come into town

Another view including the petunias for the benefit of my wife, Debbie!

Mike and Paul Banwell, Brian Hughes, and John Letchford

After lunch it was time to move on, and enjoy the run to Princeton accompanied by the four local E-Types.

Westwards on Hwy-3 towards Princeton

Following the open road through the mountains

At Princeton we stopped for gas and a photo opp with the 11 E-Types lined up. It took us a while to organize ourselves, but with the cooperation of some folks who moved their cars for us, we were able to line up the cars together and take some photos. We were joined by Ian Cameron who lives in Victoria and will be travelling the rest of the route with us as Lloyd's passenger.

Watch the guy in white - how did I do this?

Inevitably the bonnets opened up for inspection. Paul drove this fuel injected E-Type which made a wonderful sound

After an hour or so, we had to leave our new friends and head for our hotel in Manning Park. The route continued on Hwy-3 for 40 miles or so.

Spectacular views in the gathering dusk

Our destination was the Manning Park Resort which is a more luxurious hotel than most on the trip so far. After arriving we rushed to the restaurant (which was about to close) for dinner. There we relaxed and enjoyed the evening, before retiring for the night. We have an early start tomorrow to make the ferry to Victoria.

At the luxurious Manning Park Resort, Tully had a whole bed to himself....

Wednesday 15th July - Lewiston, Idaho to Kettle Falls, Washington

Day 3 of the BCOL had us all meeting in the parking lot of the The Red Lion in Lewiston at 9am, ready to hit the road. Of course, it goes without saying, that we didn't leave the hotel at 9am, but 9:20am wasn't too bad! Rick and Christine Kuschel joined the Oil Leak today in their Brown 1968 E-Type OTS.

Rick and Christine (chatting with Denise) ready to go. Lloyd describing the length of his dipstick to Michael

Today was to be the shortest day of the trip so far, as far as mileage was concerned. Initially, the route took us from Lewiston, through Moscow to Worley on US-95.

The convoy of 7 E-Types was led up the steep grade by our sponsor in a Fedex truck! 5 E-Types in front of me...

...and one (Greg and Dianne) behind me, plus a Boxster and a Camry.

US-95 was fairly quiet, but at times our progress was limited by slower traffic, which resulted in some short bursts of speed to pass, and then catch up with the remainder of the group... At Worley, we stopped at the Coeur D'Alene Casino Resort for an early lunch. After lunch, we quickly crossed into Washington State and took WA-27 and I-90 into Spokane.

Lunch at The Coeur D'Alene Casino Resort

The convoy continues northwards into Washington State

Spokane was our first experience of the tour of heavy traffic, and it was not enjoyable. Sitting in traffic with temperatures in the mid 80's is not much fun! That said, a week or so ago, it had been much hotter...

Lined up at the seemingly endless series of lights in Spokane

The result of sitting in traffic in an E-Type: Voltage low, due to cooling fans; Oil Pressure low due to engine temperature; Water Temperature close to the Red Line...

The group became split up in Spokane due to traffic, and stoppages for refueling, so we proceeded in smaller groups up US-395 to the end of today's route in Kettle Falls, Washington. Here we are staying at the Grandview Inn Motel and RV Park.

Parking lot at the Motel is filled with our party

"Motel Full" - I think we took pretty much every room they have

View of the Columbia River from the Grandview Inn

Kettle Falls (named after the nearby Kettle Falls on the Columbia River) is a small community with a population of around 1600. I think that David D may have his work cut out for him finding somewhere to eat this evening...

Well, David proved me wrong. He managed to find a local restaurant which specialized in microbrew beers.

One of the range of local beers...

After dinner, we were delighted to be entertained by Denise Jenkins on her fiddle outside on the lawn at the Motel. I believe that this is a first for the Oil Leak Series, and will be a tough act to follow.

Denise entertaining the Leakers at dusk in Kettle Falls