Bob Overdorff�s not so �Mini� trip in the summer of 2003 was 15,271 miles long and took 2 � months to complete. Bob and Winnie, the navigator, started out in New Port Richey, Florida in 90 degree June with no air conditioning. Their first leg of the journey took them to Virginia Beach, Virginia to visit Winnie�s daughter, Susan. They traveled 800 miles in one day. While in Virginia they also visited Colonial Williamsburg. Resuming their trip they took the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and a tunnel and then into Delaware where they took a ferry to New Jersey. They spent the night with many Mini owner, Larry Holloway. The trip through New Jersey went through cranberry bogs and then into Bucks County, Pennsylvania in search of covered bridges. They found five of them. The main reason for going to New Jersey was to see a house and property in Oxford that had been in Winnie�s family for over 200 years but which had been sold over 30 years ago. They found it and also the family cemetery plot in a little church yard close by.
The next leg of the trip took them along the Delaware River and through the Delaware Water Gap and into New York State with the next night spent in Hartford, Connecticut. The next morning they left there and traveling on back roads, they saw a sign �To the Ferry�. This was the route to cross the Connecticut River. The Ferry held 4 cars and one Mini. On the cliffs above the river was Gillette Castle which is under restoration. The next stop was in Fall River, Massachusetts to spend the night with Bob�s brother, Rick.
In order to avoid the Boston traffic the next day�s journey started very early and they made their way to Rye Beach, New Hampshire. They stopped on the beach in the afternoon and were lucky enough to discover a beautiful array of life size sand sculptures. Still on back roads they made their way to York, Maine to drop in on Mini owners, Jack Groves and family. Jack took them to the Ogunquit light house which is supposed to be the most photographed one in the U.S.A.
It was then back to the back roads of New Hampshire. They spent 2 days in Conway, N.H. and then 2 days in Pittsburg, New Hampshire looking for water falls and covered bridges. These bridges are all made out of wood and were covered to protect them from the wind, snow and rain. While in New Hampshire they made quite a few runs looking for moose. They did not find any live ones, but did find a whole shop devoted to nothing but moose. Winnie thinks moose are cute but in reality they are unpredictable and dangerous. While in New Hampshire They had planned to see the rock formation that New Hampshire is famous for called �Old Man in the Mountain.� The only problem with this was that it decided to fall down a month or so before their trip. They went any way and it was still worth the trip. While in the parking lot of the attraction 2 motor cycles parked next to them and They were each towing a pop up camper that opened up to a king size bed with a 6 x 6� dressing area. The motor cycle doing the towing was only 500cc more powerful than Bob�s mini and Bob could not stop thinking about that camper. It was made in Chicago and as he had plans to go there on this trip he decided to write down the name and number of the manufacturer.
They crossed the Canadian border at the end of US#3 into Quebec and again traveled back roads to Magog and Mini Meet East, 2003. They had now gone 2601 miles along the way. The Mini Meet lasted for three days and they enjoyed the activities and fellowship with other mini owners.
On the 4th of July Winnie had to fly home to Florida to attend her son�s wedding and Bob went on solo. The plane was to leave from Burlington, Vermont and on the way to the air port they looked for some more covered bridges. While looking for a particular covered bridge they found a family 4th of July parade on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Every one was in a costume, including the family dogs and a goat. They loved the mini and extended an invitation to have some lemon aide in the back yard of a farm house.
Then, it was off to visit Ben and Jerry�s ice cream factory- Yum! They finally arrived at the air port, only to find out that Winnie�s flight had been canceled. They were kind enough to book her on another air line but there would be a 3 hour wait and all the restaurants were closed due to the holiday. Winnie at last took off and Bob was on his way again. He arrived at Lake Champlain in time to watch the sunset while riding on the car ferry to Port Kent, New York. From there he went to Plattsburg to find an AFB, only to discover that it was closed. (Being retired from the Air Force, Bob is able to stay at military bases along the way and to take advantage of their very nice facilities.) Off he went in search of a motel but they were all full. At about 3am he finally gave up and slept in the mini in Watertown, New York. He spent the next 3 nights at Fort Drum where he decided that it was time for an oil change. They would not allow him to change his oil on base unless he took a class on how it should be done, so, Ole Bob hit the books. That�s the Army way.
The next stop was at Mini City in Webster, New York where he spent a couple of hours with Doug and Laurie Scribner. Next leg of the trip took him south to Danville, Pennsylvania to visit Leon and Vivian Wertz. Leon was Bob�s mechanic for his race car mini in 1967-69 when he took part in the Players 6 Auto cross in England.
Bob�s cousin was the next stop in Indian Lake, Pennsylvania. While there he was able to visit the site of the 911 airliner crashed and also the mine shaft where the 9 miners were rescued. Still on the back roads Bob saw a sign a said �covered bridge� was off to find it and take a picture. Back on the road again he made his was to Lancaster, Ohio and then to Kettering, Ohio to stay with Mini owners Paul Strieble and family on Mini Court for 3 nights. On Sunday Paul Strieble, Tim Bosse and Bob all head to a cruise in their own mini to Cincinnati for a British Car Show. After the show, at 1 pm, Bob headed for Chicago, Illinois to stay with mini owners, Jean and Nick Lehner.
During his trip so far, that motor cycle pop up camper was never far from Bob�s thoughts. Now that he was in Chicago, he was able to visit the Trailmaster factory. He liked what he saw and asked if one could be made for him in one week and they said it could be done. The choice of color being blue, blue, or blue, he chose blue. During the week that he had to wait, he and the Lehner family traveled back to Ohio to attend the wedding of Amanda Stroble who is a mini owner and whose whole family are mini owners.
After much anticipation, it was finally the end of the week. Bob left his car top carrier with the Lehner�s who would be delivering it back to Florida in March 2004 at the Mini Spring Thing. Bob was off on his adventures again towing his new camping trailer which weighed approximately 500 lbs with all his stuff. The next over night stop was Sioux Falls, South Dakota and was followed by a one day trip of 600 miles to the Bad Lands National Park. At the entrance to the park the entrance fee for driving through the park was $10. It was here that Bob learned that he could buy a Golden Age Passport for the same amount of money. This would allow him life time admission to any national park and camping discounts. So of course he bought the pass port. Remember, Bob�s mini has no air conditioning and the temperatures here were up to 106 degrees F. He ended this day in Rapid City, South Dakota. The next couple of days he visited Mount Rushmore National Park (Which has not fallen down.), Crazy Horse Monument and Stugis, South Dakota.
The next state en route was Wyoming where he visited Devils Tower (Close Encounters of the Third Kind)and then Bob drove up The Big Horn Mountains to an elevation of 9,500 ft. The mini did just fine in third gear at 45 miles per hour all the way to the top. The next attraction he went to was the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum in Cody, Wyoming. The next three nights he stayed in Wyoming at Yellow Stone National Park, the home of the famous geyser, Old Faithful. He spent this time camping, hiking to waterfalls and geysers and experiencing the beauty of the land. The temperature in this area was a little different. Being at an elevation of 7,400 feet the high was78 degrees and the low was 40 degrees. Bob left Yellowstone by the north gate, A.K.A. The Roosevelt Arch who�s inscription reads, �For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People�.
Next stop Livingston, Montana, to spend the night with a long time mini owner, Bob Dickens, AKA Little Blue Hand (His Indian name). Bob has been traveling on back roads for most of this trip and about this time became fascinated with old barns. He has now taken some very interesting pictures of these. This day ended at Malstrom AFB and Great Falls Montana where he stayed for 2 days. Another oil change was in order and no class was required this time. This was also where Louis and Clarke had to carry their boats around five water falls on the Missouri River. Bob then headed north again to St. Mary, MT. which happens to be located in the Blackfoot Indian Reservation. This is one of the entrances to Glacier National Park and Bob camped there for 2 days. During this time he went hiking to water falls and was also able to drive to the Continental Divide. The beauty of this park was obstructed but smoke of the raging forest fires that caused the western half of the park to be closed off. While staying at the Glacier he took a side trip to Waterton Canadian National park. This park connects with Glacier and is called Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park which is a World Heritage Site. Because there were forest fires in Canada as well, Bob was not able to continue on and had to turn back south and west around Glacier NP to Troy, MT. When he stopped for the night he discovered just how much smoke there had been. When he set up the camper he noticed, for the first time how strong the odor of smoke was in the camper.
The next stop was Idaho and a trip to the information center at Bonner�s Ferry to see if they had any material on water falls and if there were any on his route north to Canada. The person at the info center was very nice and gave Bob a �hot tip�. He could travel north on the main highway into Canada and take the FREE ferry across the Kootney Lake to Nelson, B.C. There were 3 side trips to water falls on the way to the ferry and the ride across the lake took about 45 minutes. Bob stayed just outside of Nelson for 2 days. There was road loop there of about 75 mile where he was able to hike to 3 more waterfalls. There was also an old mining ghost town and a hot springs spa on that loop of road. From Nelson, Bob had to travel south to go west. At the end of the day he found a camp ground in a valley between 2 mountains. Sounds like an ideal setting but when he arrived the wind was a little gusty and by dark the wind had reached 30 MPH and stayed like that for the rest of the night. Inevitably Bob had to tie the camper to the picnic table and the car so it wouldn�t blow away. Needless to say he did not get much sleep that night and was up with camper packed and on the road toward Vancouver, B.C. by 5am.
While studying the map, one of Bob�s most favorite hobbies, he discovered another free ferry. This one took him across a river to Fort Langley, a provincial park just out side of Vancouver. The next day he was another ferry, (not free) to Vancouver Island and Victoria, B.C. to arrive at the Mini Meet West 2003. His total mileage was 9,601 at this time. Needless to say he was given the longest distance award at this meet. While the autocross was being held Bob decided to do the tourist thing. He took a boat ride to see killer whales and got some wonderful pictures. He also went to China Town and checked out some native shops. A minor repair was in order. Bob had to replace his muffler. They were unable to find the correct one so he made due with what they could find. This was the first time Bob was able to attend Mini Meet West and there were about 106 minis attending.
Continuing his summer adventure, Bob left Victoria via another ferry. This ferry took him back to the states and the Washington Olympic Peninsula. This park is a rain forest and Bob was searching for water falls. At the end of the day he had made is way to a Naval Recreation area on the Pacific Ocean. He spent 2 days there with the fog, mist and cool temperatures. Bob then headed south along the Pacific coast and passed the spot where Lewis and Clark first saw the Pacific Ocean. He then went on to see an old friend in Eugene, Oregon. This was a friend from elementary school and he had not seen her in 51 years. He Spent another 2 days there. Wal-Mart provided the next venue for Bob�s 3rd oil change. While they were changing his oil, a man came up to him and told him that he spoke �Mini�. It seems that he and his brother used to race minis years ago in California.
As his travels started again, Bob headed east and south to Crater National Park which provided another climbing challenge for the mini. The summit was at 9,500 feet and still had snow on the ground in August. After taking a rest stop Bob met a man who was examining his mini. It turned out that this man he ran a shop outside of Reno, Nevada that works on Morris Minors and other British cars and said that if Bob needed anything to give him a call. Back on the road again he spent the next night in Lakeview, Oregon. The next day he drove along OR140, which went across the Oregon Desert. This road was long and lonely with the gas stations about 120 miles apart. He drove through Winnamocka, Nevada and spent the next night in the border town of Wendover, Nevada/Utah. At the campground he was given $2.00 in nickels to be used at the casino. After loosing all of his nickels he decided to put $5.00 of his own money in the $1.00 machine. He won $25.00 and decided to leave while he was ahead. This money would be put in the gas fund.
The next goal was Salt Lake City, Utah. Bob spent 3 days there visiting relatives and then went south for 2 more days to visit more relatives. While visiting his relatives he spent some time on modifications to his car to assist in crossing the desert. He added an external heater core and a 5 gallon water container in the passenger foot well with a wind screen washer motor, switch, tubing and washer jets strategically placed to spray on the oil cooler and radiator. These mods worked very well in the heat of the desert. He had planned to visit all the national parks in Utah but Mother Nature stepped in again to change these plans. This time the problem was flash flooding. As he consulted the map he spotted US50 labeled as the loneliest road in the U.S. This looked like a nice challenge and it would take him back toward California. His goal was to visit his sister in Southern California.
All the way to Reno, Nevada the road was nice up and down the mountains, usually above 5000feet with passes up to 8,000 feet. The day ended with Bob riding the side of the interstate at 30miles per hour, climbing Truckee Pass and limping into Mini Mania at Nevada City, California. Naturally they were closed. One of the employees, who was just leaving gave Bob permission to stay in the parking lot over night. In the morning, with a little help from diagnosis as to what could be wrong with the mini Bob bought some parts. With new plug wires and coil it appears to be running okay. This was the first real trouble Bob had had and the mileage was now at 12,000.
Leaving Mini Mania, Bob again headed out on a back two lane back road. This road took him up a steep hill the car over heated. He was forced to make another stop. This time he changed the electronic distributor and after 2 hours was back on the road again. The stop that night was very late and was made at a campsite just north of Bakersfield, California. The next day the mini was running just fine but it looked like it was loosing some water from the head gasket. It looked as though the head was warped. Bob continued on and made it to within 75 mines of his sister, Sharon�s house. At that point he spotted a sign with some big hills beyond. The sign read, �Turn off AC to climb these hills�. Well, Bob did not have AC and they looked like Mountains to him. He decided he better call his breakdown insurance people to see if they could help him over the hills. He discovered that a flatbed to tow him over the mountain would cost him $280. He decided that this was steeper that the mountain ahead and decided to try to think of another solution for his problem. As Bob looked up from the phone, he saw a car carrier on a pick up stopping at the truck stop next to where he was stopped. Bob went over to ask where the driver was headed. As luck would have it, the driver was headed to Los Angeles. Bob explained that he didn�t think that the mini would be able to make the hills towing the camper and would he consider carrying the mini and camper to his sister�s house in Tujuna, CA. He replied that he would charge $1./mile. They loaded the mini with the camper attached and off they went to Tujuna. Bob off loaded the mini and drove to Sharon�s house without a problem.
While visit with his sister, who was in the process of moving to Nevada, he decided to make some more repairs. It was now Friday of Labor day weekend and he thought he had better check with a garage to see if there was a place that could check the head and if they would be open on Saturday. With the help of his brother-in law, Sam, Bob took the head off on Friday night and had it to the garage by 8am Saturday. By 9am it had been dunked, magna fluxed, and planed all for $25.00. He put the car back together on Sunday including a new fuel pump which he had with him.
By noon the next day, Bob was off again to drive across the Palm Desert. Big Mistake! Boy, was it hot! You hear about desert storms that come up in a flash. You guessed it, he was right in the middle of one. The winds blew, the rain was hard and then everyone on the interstate came to a stop. Bob happened to look at the side of the road and saw the anchor and propeller. Then, looking way up the road, he saw a man with a pick towing a boat. He was putting the bed liner back in his truck. Bob picked up the anchor and propeller and took it down the road. After returning the man�s things, Bob traveled a little further up the road and there was a pickup truck with a 30� 5th wheel attached on their sides. A little farther down the road there was a Wal-mart truck on it�s side. These accidents were all caused by the storm. Can you imagine what it must have been like to experience that storm in a mini? Mini but mighty!
After thanking his lucky stars, Bob continued on to Tucson, Arizona and Davis Montham AFB. He spent 2 days there when he had his 4th oil change of the trip. By this time he decided to get smart and take advantage of the cooler night temperatures. He left at 1am to continue his travels. He was now driving between 1am and noon and sleeping in air conditioned motels during the day. He was now doing at least 600 mile a day all on interstate highways. In Texas he took time out of his new routine to to overnight with his nephew and ex-sister in law in Austin.
Bob�s last stop was Hurley, Mississippi to visit with some friends, with whom he had been in the service in High Wycombe, England. After 2 night�s stay in Hurley it was 500 miles and home to more flooding. When he got home he discovered that his air conditioning, (among several other necessary conveniences), in his home were no longer working. You�d think he would be used to that by now. Welcome Home!
It�s almost the summer of 2004 and Bob is ready to go back again to try to see all that he missed. Not this year, but sometime.