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Every State visited by EG and me has much to offer, more than could be 

seen in a short period of time. Virginia certainly fits in that category. The 

plan, as you'll recall, was to spend Friday the 18th playing tourist. One 

small area around Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg could occupy a week. I 

stretched the trip to give it a day. Just a taste, but probably enough to 

entice me back someday.



    Virginia boosts the first permanent English colony in North America. 

Jamestown claims that distinction having been set up in 1607. You have to 

read the fine print on this one, though. Key words: permanent, English and 

North America. Remember St. Augustine, Florida? Earlier, but not English, 

don't you know. Also, remember in Part 11 the attempts by Sir Walter to set 

something up in North Carolina. It didn't last long, so doesn't qualify as 

"permanent." Such quibbles aside, for North America, 1607 is a long time ago, 

if your ancestry is European.



    Jamestown was also the early capital of Virginia, but it was moved to 

Williamsburg (nearby) in 1699 and then to Richmond (sort of nearby), with a 

little prodding from Thomas Jefferson (the greatest American to ever live?), 

in 1779. A number of States have a history of movable capitals. Check out 

Tennessee (which we'll do later).



    Virginia was the site of two famous surrenders. General Cornwallis 

decided he'd been out fought and gave up to General Washington at Yorktown in 

1781. Corny went back to England and we learned to drink tea without milk. 

(Had to throw that in. I've been getting flack from my English friends ever 

since I took the Mickey out of them a bit about their national beverage.)



    Appomattox is also in Virginia and that is where Lee surrendered to Grant 

in 1865 in what is usually thought to be the end of the Civil War. Actually, 

more battles were fought and I think the last one was even won by the CSA, 

but, as they say, by Appomattox, it was all over but the shouting. By the 

way, if you are interested in Civil War history, Virginia is a good place to 

start. Books have been written on the subject!



    Here's some Virginia trivia. The official State song was, as if you 

couldn't guess, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia." (Seems to me I remember it 

as "Old Virginee": or some such.) I say "was" because in 1997 it was retired. 

Why? Did it get too old? Couldn't run out the infield hits anymore? I don't 

have an answer.



    Virginia grew up to where today it has a population of 6.7 million (about 

a million less than either Georgia and North Carolina) and covers 40,817 

square miles, ranking it 36th in the US. It is about one-third bigger than 

South Carolina and about one-third smaller than North Carolina. Truth be 

told, Virginia used to be a lot bigger. The lump up there to the NW called 

West Virginia used to be part of Virginia. Turns out they were two different 

cultures and the "country folk" didn't get along with the "city folk" so in 

1863, a bunch of the "country folk" counties got together and joined the 

Union.



    Anyway, the idea was go out and wallow in a bit of this Virginia history. 

Virginia had other plans. I awoke the morning of Friday the 18th to a real 

"down home" rain storm. Both EG and I are drip-dry, but wandering around 

outside seeing the countryside in the rain (and thunder and lightening) is 

not my idea of a fun day. If we were going to wallow it wouldn't be in 

history. It would be in mud. We passed.



    The original plan was to play tourist and then come back to meet long 

time Mini owner, Ron Graham, at work (Seven Enterprises in Newport News) in 

time for him to leave for home. Instead, I floundered around through the rain 

and eventually found my way to Seven in the late morning. Mike Abramson 

(Owner, President, etc., etc.) and Ron (chief cook and bottle washer) were 

hard at work finishing up the latest incoming shipment. We talked a bit and 

then I got out of the way to a corner desk (before getting drafted to help) 

and tried to catch up on my notes from the trip to that point. Other than the 

occasional break to swap more Mini stories that is how I spent the rest of 

the day. It wasn't exactly wasted, but certainly wasn't what was planned.



    It was nice to finally get to meet Mike. He and I have talked 

occasionally for years, but our paths have never crossed. I had the pleasure 

of meeting Ron once before, 1984 to be exact. (Seems like yesterday!) He 

attended the first East Meets West Mini Meet in Denver and I was there with 

MOKE. If I remember the story correctly, he's also responsible for my getting 

my second Heinz Hornet. All three of the "big" Mini dealers in the US have 

good, hard-core Mini people working for them. Ron certainly qualifies at 

Seven.

Mike and Ron with EG. Mike is the one on the left looking like he's ready to go off on
safari.



    When the quitting time bell rang and slave driver Mike let Ron go home, I 

followed him in EG, got to meet his wife, Lois, and the three of us went out 

to dinner. Guess what we talked about? After diner, Ron and I talked Minis 

some more and I got out the laptop to show him the mapping software I'm using 

(Microsoft Streets and Trips 2001) and to get his advice on tomorrow's route.



    Even though the next day (the 19th) was Saturday, Lois was off early to 

work. Ron and I prepared to check out EG. With around 1,400 miles on the 

clock since leaving Miami, it was time to do a quick check of a couple of 

things and I knew one or two items needed looking after. But first we had to 

go out for breakfast with a friend of Ron's. Our ride arrived. And what a 

ride! Made me want to roll up the sleeves of my T-shirt, tuck a cigarette 

behind my ear and comb (what is left of) my hair back into a ducktail.

Great ride, and enough steel to make four or five
Minis!



    After breakfast, more stalling before work. Ron showed me around his 

collection; including the 50 Ford rod and the old Ford ambulance. (He just 

found a 50 Ford hearse near where I live in Seattle. Bet I go look at it for 

him.) The 50 Ford was tucked in the garage so it was difficult to get a good 

photograph. Take my word for it, it looked nice. Here's a teaser.

A real engine! I can just read it now.
A new thread on the Message Board;

"Can I install a Flathead in a
Mini?"



    All this Ford and Mercury stuff was fine, but the pride and joy of Ron's 

collection is the real Clive Trickey Mini. Ron not only owns it, but he's 

autocrossed it. He's raced it. And he's gathered more information on the car 

and Clive than you'd believe is possible. And it is all fascinating. 

There are very few Minis around with
this much history, 

and the man leaning on the car has documented it
all!

From the roof of the Trickey
Mini.



    After all the playing, we went to work to solve a couple of problems with 

EG. A hold over from the South Africa trip was the tropical fan (standard 

equipment on these cars) just ticking the radiator shroud. Only one blade was 

hitting and the noise would go away as the car warmed up. (Probably hoses 

flexing as water heated and expanded.) I thought I had it solved before I 

left the car in S.A., but it returned in the past couple of days. I was 

afraid I was going to have to pull the radiator. Ron suggested leaving the 

rad in place and just pulling the bottom bracket out when we noticed that 

just turning the rad slightly would give enough clearance. By enlarging the 

mounting holes in the bracket, we would be able to position the radiator 

where we wanted it. Interestingly enough, the S.A. bracket did not make use 

of the shouldered bolts and rubber grommets for the radiator mounting end of 

the bracket. The bracket eventually came out (the back bottom bolt is always 

the hard one - I leave it out!), and Ron drilled the holes out a little 

bigger.



    While I was fussing with that chore, Ron was tackling the horn push 

problem. Although this car was built in 1968 (Mk II days for English cars) it 

still had the nice Mk 1 horn push in the center of the steering wheel. 

Unfortunately, when the car was rebuilt, Ryno Verster, my South African 

friend from whom I bought the car, didn't have a Mk I steering wheel to use. 

He carefully drilled a hole in a later wheel and managed to fit the early 

horn push. This works, sort of. It puts a bit of a bind on the outer plastic 

piece of the push unless some extra work is done while fitting, and 

eventually this one cracked. The horn still worked but I was getting tired of 

the rattle! Ron had a used outer ring and soon had that problem sorted. (It 

isn't shiny like the old one, but it doesn't rattle.) He was even kind enough 

to let me know before he tested it! (You can always tell an Elf/Hornet owner 

by the bump on the back of their head from hitting the grille.)



    Eventually the radiator was bolted down and the fan cleared OK (the 

problem comes back later), so we turned our attention to the one mystery that 

continues to follow me about the country. EG is a very standard 998. She runs 

cool enough at speed, even a little too cool because of the low thermostat if 

the weather is cold (not a problem to the point in time of this story!), but 

heats up quickly at lower RPMs; such as, when idling. I'm used to just the 

opposite with 998s. Idle all day and stay relatively cool. Heat up if pushed 

hard.



    One difference we were dealing with is that this car also came standard 

with an overflow tank mounted on the firewall. A hose runs from the radiator 

overflow to this tank and there is an overflow on the extra tank. The top of 

the radiator opening is about level with the middle of the overflow tank. The 

way I received the car it had a blanking cap on the radiator and a regular 

cap of unknown poundage on the overflow. I hadn't needed to add water during 

the trip so something was working, even if not as it should be.



    Ron and I fussed around a bit and ended up adding water (and Water 

Wetter) to the overflow (about half way) and leaving the caps as they were. 

Maybe using the overflow as an extension of the water capacity would solve 

the problem. (It didn't. The problem, although worked on, again, later in the 

trip, is still not solved. For the most part, it has been a nuisance, and 

only in the hottest weather, but something isn't right. More details later.)



    The usual quick checks were made and I did another check of the LR wheel 

bearing. You'll remember that John and I checked it in Palm Beach Springs 

just as I got started on the trip. It was a little loose then, but torqued 

correctly and well packed with grease. My speculation is that the hub (a used 

one) is slightly worn. The bearing is new. The check this time showed no 

change. (Just in case I'd purchased a wheel bearing the day before and tucked 

it away in EG under the theory that if you have the spare part on hand you'll 

never need it.)



    With all this fun and good conversation it was around noon by the time I 

finally got on my way, headed towards Waynesboro at the top end of the Blue 

Ridge Parkway. It wasn't a long drive so the route chosen swung around the 

Colonial Parkway to the ferry near Jamestown. It was a nice day, a nice drive 

on the Parkway, and a nice ferry ride.

Not big, but
efficient.



    The route Ron had suggested followed Highway 10 along the south side of 

the James River (a pleasant drive) and then freeways north around Richmond 

and out 64 to Waynesboro (about as much fun as any other freeways). I stopped 

at a rest area on 64 and immediately was cornered by a man and his two 

teen-aged sons. They were sure they'd seen me a couple of days earlier 

hundreds of miles away. Most likely. There aren't too many gray and white 

Wolseley 1000s around! The younger son had stumbled upon Minis somewhere and 

was trying to learn more about them so he could buy one. It was such a change 

standing at a rest area talking with someone who knew what the car was. While 

we talked I could see the hangers-on out of the corner of my eye getting an 

education. It made a switch from explaining what kind of gas mileage EG gets 

and that the engine really has four cylinders, et-ad naseum-cetera.



    Since it was getting close to 5 o'clock I checked into the ranger station 

at the beginning of the park to pick up a map and get a few questions 

answered. I wasn't very successful at either with this particular ranger 

(decidedly different from all my other experiences on this trip), but I did 

spend a few minutes talking Minis in the parking lot with a biker from 

Germany who just loved them.



    Waynesboro was next where I checked into a motel and began a more 

detailed plan of driving down the Blue Ridge Parkway. Sunday the 20th was 

eagerly awaited. EG now had covered 1,600 miles.