Roadtour with Leif and Björn

Day seven June 16

We did some more shopping, started working on the car, and this is all we saw of Leif for a long while when he worked on getting the starter out. Good thing we had a new one.

Too bad it didn’t fit. That’s probably why the previous owner just left it inside the car We did some more shopping and ended up building one starter out of two. Seems to work ok now.

We worked a lot on the electrical system, and all ignition parts were changed to new ones.

After working on the Pontiac most of the day we decided to stay another night in Seattle and start fresh in the morning.
Bret (a neighbor) was very helpful and borrowed us a work table and some tools, drove me to the Napa shop, and even gave us a good luck charm for the car, in form of a porcelain lady.

Day eight June 17

We started early with a nice breakfast at Kristis and Pats house. Thank you again for letting us stay at your place, and experience the warm atmosphere in your home and your neighborhood!

After a brief photo session the Pontiac was fired up and steered uphill and turned south towards Tacoma, and further along the I-5.

Some time later we steered right and drove towards Astoria, and we crossed the longest bridge in North America, continuing south.

Suddenly there were pull offs on the right side of the road, and we stopped
totally awestruck, when we realized that we were actually looking
out over the Pacific ocean! Wow!

Here Leif is driving on our way to Florence.
We continued driving the US-101 till we arrived in Florence at sunset. So here we are now, at a nice hotel at the water.
Lots of gas has been burned today, boy, did we calculate the fuel budget wrong! American burgers, fries and subs were consumed to keep a happy smile on our faces, along with ice cream and a few coffees. Life is good!

Day nine June 18

A long day with a lot of miles to do. We started from Florence in the morning, and after a while we drove through Denmark, and ten minutes after Denmark we arrived at this view point. Beautiful!

A horse riding lady came and admired the Pontiac, and she thought that we were crazy to drive towards Los Angeles, which she had escaped...

Most of the day was spent inside the car, and most views looked like this:

We made all the miles that we were supposed to. When we drove on North Main Street in Lakeport, we met a Model A roadster, and the driver started to wave. We stopped, and it was Rick Rose, the guy that is the Primus Motor of the Kultureshock Hot Rod Show.
Amazing when you drive in a strange town in America, and this guy starts waving because he knows us!
We checked in, and left immediately for the Pre-Show Party.

We were greeted by a lot of friendly people, a few of whom exclaimed: " Oh, you're the guys from Finland!"
The shop owner invited us to make our selves feel like at home and eat all we want, and have beer as many as we like. There must've been a thousand beer cans in a big tub with ice and water!

Day ten June 19

After eating breakfast at Renee's cafe across the street, we drove to the Park where the Kultureshock Hot Rod Show was held.
When we checked in at the gate, we received an envelope with the local news paper, where found our pic and a story with the headline: "Kultureshock car show catches attention of men from Finland".
In the envelope were also tickets for free food and beers. Wow! We were really treated as VIPs!

Miss Kulture Shock Jessica Santos found us, and we were like jelly in her hands! She was a surprisingly friendly girl, and we talked a lot with her.
She also rode with us in the Pontiac a lap around the circle track in the evening, when the racing event opened.

Here are the Kultureshock promotors Rick and Martha Rose, who really did a great work with the show, and made us feel welcome like nobody could imagine!

Lakeport Speedway

The show ended at about four, and we moved to the close by race track.
Aah, the sounds and smells from the track... Fantastic! The atmosphere was like pure seventies Nascar!
I have to admit that I haven't seen Nascar in the seventies, but I have good imagination.

A little later, we were acting Pace Car at the main event! Here’s a pic, where you also can see the girl (in black sweater) who sang the National Anthem and rode with us the two laps we did before the race cars floored it.

After the races, we saw something really weird, a boat demolition derby! The cars dragged fibler glass boats after them and all the track was a mess! Absolutely crazy! We sure had a good laugh!
This was a perfect ending to a fantastic day!

Day eleven June 20

In the morning we just took a cup of coffee and a bit later we went for a delicious brunch to the Blue Wing Saloon in Upperlake.
Eggs Benedict on ham and Sauce Hollandaise. A big Wow!

As it’s fathers day today, we even had live music!

If a brunch can be perfect, this is it!

At noon we went to Rick and Marthas house to get a look at their garage, and we also took a peek at Ricks collection of toy and model cars.

We got invited to Ricks parents for a fathers day dinner, and what a dinner that was! Lots of family present, and we got to take part in a family get together in America, what an honour! Wow! And the food was delicious too!

Too bad I'd left the camera behind...

We decided to stay another night in Lakeport, so we had ice creams, read speed parts catalogs, and generally had a good evening.

A knock on the door had us opening it for a guy who said that they had a camera in the office, could it be ours?
I had missed my camera in the afternoon, but thought I left it at the Rose's house. Obviously I had left it on the roof of the car, and somebody had picked it up, snapped this pic, and left it in the Motel office!

How happy we were to get the camera back with all the photos on the memory card!!!

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