Day 4 - Thursday 20th September

We were pleased to hear this evening that Rick and Chris got home safely today after having left NWOL early due to engine problems. We wait to hear how much damage needs to be repaired. Today, Gary Herzberg departed NWOL from McMinnville to head home to Bozeman, Montana. As Gary also completed the Going to the Sun Rally earlier this month, he must win the prize for the most miles covered in an E-Type this month!

Much of Day 4 of the NWOL was spent at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. However, before we left the hotel, we completed the mandatory "fix something that is broken" ritual that must take place in the hotel parking lot. Today, it was a fix to Jerry's cooling fan, which failed yesterday...

Bypassing the fan relay returned life to Jery's fan, albeit is now on all the time.

We spent close to 5 hours at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. There is a huge collection of aicraft, and space artifacts, and a very knowledgeable team of docents willing and able to answer questions. The prize of the collection is the "Spruce Goose", Howard Hughes seaplane built in 1947 almost entirely of birch wood. It's size is staggering, which makes it difficult to photograph effectively.

Spruce Goose

The aircraft has a wingspan that is 50% larger than a 747 airliner, and weighs 200 tons.

It has a total of 8 engines

We were lucky enough to arrange a 15 minute tour of the cockpit area which is not normally open to visitors.

Chief Engineer Dianne querying the oil pressure on engine number 6

Test pilot Lloyd at the controls

Co-pilot Greg driving with one hand and texting with the other as usual...

The full flight crew complete with pilot Norman Black in Howard Hughes fedora

There are many other fantastic exhibits there - too many to handle in a single day. Some of the others that caught my eye....

14 cylinder radial engine

Apollo Lunar module in the Space building

SR-71 Blackbird - one of 22 remaining 

So that's how split pins and locking wire are meant to be done - detail from SR-71 engine

It was Jerry's day for car problems, and before we left the museum we worked on his generator fan which had become loose and was making a nasty rattling noise. We had no success, and will have another go tomorrow.

"I'm really not sure that is the part we are looking for..."

We were to spend the night in Florence on the Oregon coast. As the coastal weather had been foggy, we decided to change the originally scheduled route along the coastal road, and instead drove south down the Willamette Valley, before going west to the coast. The highlight of the drove was the last 50 miles or so on OR-36 from the Willamette Valley to the coast. It was twisty road, with no traffic, and lots of opportunities to enjoy the handling of our E-Types.

At one point, we stopped at a small gas station in the middle of nowhere and, as has often been the case, attracted some attention. First we were shown an amazing sunflower that may be one of the largest ever grown.

Giant sunflower - apparently, bluejays had taken most of the seeds

Then, a passing flatbed truck spotted the 5 E-Types in the garage forecourt and thought he'd struck gold!

"WE BUY JUNK CARS, TRUCKS & HEAVY EQUIPMENT"

We had to send him on his way empty-handed. As we approached the coast, the fog set in, vindicating our choice of route. We enjoyed a great Seafood Dinner in Florence at "Mo's". Tomorrow, we head for Crater Lake National Park - the final day of the NWOL.