May - MogNW

BUTTON'S TRIP TO NORTHERN EUROPE
PART 5: BOSTON TO SEATTLE
by Bill Button
Autumn Mog 2012
After our Northern Europe adventure, my Plus 4 4-Seater was
shipped to New Jersey and then trucked to Ron Garner's home near
Boston. The cost of shipping back to Tacoma was about the same
as a bit more touring in New England and driving back to the West
Coast so tour we did.
Ron Garner picked Loretta and me up at Logan Airport and drove
us to their home near Hull, Massachusetts. This a spit of land southeast
of Boston Harbor
with a magnificent
view looking
into the harbor at
Boston. It was a
complete surprise
that the Garners
were also hosting
Barbara and Gerry
Willburn. For those
who do not know
Gerry, he was the
president of the Morgan Plus Four Club of Southern California for
many years and has owned Morgans and traveled extensively both
in the U.S. and in Europe. It was to be a very interesting time for
Loretta and me.
We cleaned up
the Morgan and
headed for Newport,
Rhode Island, and
Autumn Mog. I will
let the pictures tell
the story although it
was the mega mansions
of Newport that
were the focus of
Loretta and my attention.
Ron and Kathy
invited us back to
Boston for a walking
tour so we caught a
passenger ferry to
downtown Boston.
Our game plan
then was to visit
Martha's Vineyard
and drive out to the
Ron’s
Delivery
Trike
Concourse at Newport
Concourse at Newport
end of Cape Cod, then double back through Boston to Bar Harbor,
Maine.
About half way out on Cape Cod we had a flat tire. A British mechanic
stopped and directed us to a garage where the tire was repaired
while we drove out to Provincetown for the night. Interestingly,
the Brit garage owner pointed out that Chris Towner's Morgan
storage was across the parking lot. He said he would talk to Chris to
see if he could get us access. As it turned out, this garage included
a Morgan racer and a
racing Trike that once
belonged to Kay
Jones.
Now we were on
out way home with a
stop at the Owl Museum,
Kennebunkport
(the Bush home) and
Bar Harbor. Our goal
was to try and hit the
fall colors of Maine,
New Hampshire and
Vermont. Well, we
missed. By the time
we headed west to
Burlington, Vermont,
the bright fall colors
were to the south of
us. We saw better fall
colors in Eastern
Washington and
Idaho.
Our plan now was
Kay’s former Trike
Owl
Museum
to stay on Highway 2 from Maine to Washington. From Burlington
we drove north to Canada and headed for the ferry that would take
us across Lake Huron to Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. We hit Highway 2
again and headed west.
From Duluth on west the days were long and it was very tough
driving as the winds were gale force. As there was a oil strike in
Western North Dakota, even a Motel 6 would be $150 if one could
find an empty room. On the north side of Highway 2 are a series of
Indian reservations that go for hundreds of miles. Not fun! It was
boring, tough driving with long days to Whitefish, Montana, where
we found a nice Best Western and a nice dinner. Our next leg would
be to the Sun Mountain Lodge, near Winthrop. We switched to Hiway
20 for our last night on this trip. The Sun Mountain Lodge was
worth every penny. We were tired and hungry.
The last picture (top of page) tells the story. Loretta took it
through the windshield as we crossed Washington Pass. We didn’t
quite miss the snow. There was a big RV in front of us and fortunately
we didn’t loose traction … but it was quite a thrill!
NW-Mogazine Volume 33, Number 3 May & June 2013
19