Festiva in the Park Day 3

SUNDAY JUNE 3rd, 2012

Day 3 got of to an early start with a 7:30 departure from Jordan's place in downtown Vancouver. We heading south through the Peace Arch border crossing. That didn't hold us up too long as the lineups were relatively short.

Getting loaded up in the parking lot

Welcome to the USA

We continued south through Seattle on our way to Mount St. Helen's. We got a good look at the Space Needle as we drove by.

Seattle Space Needle from I-5 southbound

The road up to Mount St. Helen's was a blast to drive. Lots of twists and turns as it climbs from essentially sea level up to just over 4000ft. We stopped at the Forest Learning Center first and after spending some time there we headed up to the Johnson Ridge Observatory. This took us to the first of our US Parks. It is just awe inspiring to see this place even thirty years after the big event. The destruction that is still evident is just mind boggling. Well worth the investment of time and funds.

A little overcast in the view from afar.

From the Johnson Ridge Observatory

The Festiva in the parking lot.

Yes that's snow and yes it was June 3rd.

Had another great drive out to our overnight destination in Kelso WA. Day 4 will find us in a museum, a house and under a water fall.

CLICK HERE FOR DAY 4

Festiva in the Park: Day 2

SATURDAY JUNE 2nd, 2012

I almost named today's post "Festiva in the Parking Lot"! It may seem odd but on only the second day of our road trip we left the car parked. We are staying with one of our older children, Jordan, in the west end of Vancouver only a short walk from Stanley Park.

Our day started with a water taxi ride over to Granville Island. Strolled around for a couple of hours, picked up some fruit and fresh bagels for our lunch then heading back to Jordan's. After lunch we headed to Coal Harbour to have a look at the Olympic torch. From there it was over to Stanley Park and the Vancouver Aquarium.

The weather has been great for walking and the rain has held off all day.

Water taxi to Granville Island.

Sharon, Jordan, B, I, E and Ian together on Granville Island

Ready to head back to Jordan's for lunch.

I, B and E at the Olympic torch.

Almost looks like Lego. Perhaps E will be inspired to bigger things :)

Jordan, B, E and I on the way to Stanley Park.

B chatting with a new friend.

Jordan, E, B, I and me taking a last look at the aquarium.

We are looking forward to the next leg of our journey as we head down into Washington state to visit Mount St. Helen's.

CLICK HERE FOR DAY 3

Festiva in the Park: day one

FRIDAY JUNE 1st, 2012 

Our road trip has a name.

We realized that we are going to be going through or stopping at quite a number of National and/or State Parks so the trip has been dubbed "Festiva in the Park"

We got away from Calgary this morning about an hour later than we had hoped. Filled up with gas then hit the Trans Canada Highway westward over the Rocky Mountains, through the interior of BC to Vancouver. The first half of today's drive was very familiar because we done almost every year for the past 20 or so. From Salmon Arm on though it's been a very long time since we've been on the portion of the highway. It's been at least 25 years because this was the first time we'd driven BC's Coquihalla Highway and it opened in 1987!

We went through four national parks today, Banff, Yoho, Glacier and Mount Revelstoke. The drive was pretty uneventful with the car performing well... almost 50mpg on the first leg.

Here's a few photos for your enjoyment...

Loaded in and ready to go!

Well equipped for the road.

National Park number 2.

We'll put the road right through...... there.

In Salmon Arm.

With B, E and I on the wharf at Salmon Arm.

Arrived in Vancouver in time for the sunset.

CLICK HERE FOR DAY 2

Finding Festivas.

I was checking out another car blog today and came across this... click here. 

1988 Festiva found on thestreetpeep.com

I'm going to add their blog to may favorites along with oldparkedcars.com

Enjoy

Watch this space for another Festiva adventure!

In a few days we'll be leaving Calgary on another road trip in the Festiva.

Our route will take us west to Vancouver BC. From there we'll be heading south to Mount St Helen's then to Silverton OR to visit a Frank Lloyd Wright designed home. It's then on to the San Francisco area, east to Yosemite then on to the Grand Canyon. The next leg will take us to Zion and Bryce Canyon, Craters of the Moon and Yellowstone. We'll be visiting friends in north central Wyoming before heading home through Cody WY and Helena MT.

All told we'll be traveling about 7500km (4700 miles) in 15 days. That's about 2500km less than our trip last fall. Follow this link to the first blog post for that trip.



View Larger Map

We'll do our best to keep the blog up to date as we head out on this next adventure.

One of my favorite Festivas

When we were in Raleigh NC for Festiva Madness V I was introduced to what has become one of my all time favorite Festivas. Charlie had driven about 2200 miles from Arizona to get to the meet which is only about 500 less than we did. I don't recall how many miles were on it but, being from Arizona, the car is rust free and in immaculate shape.

At Festiva Madness V, Raleigh NC, October 1, 2011

What makes this car so interesting is that it's a bit of a sleeper. It's equipped with a DOHC Mazda 1.6 liter turbocharged engine with no intercooler! It does, however, have a water/methanol injection system.

At the track...

Charlie's car is very streetable and performs very well on the race track as well. With his suspension mods and well tuned engine he's been able to surprise a few supposedly much faster cars as can be seen in these videos taken at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler AZ...

Charlie's Festiva vs. Dodge Charger

For the following video Charlie lowered the suspension a little, added different springs on the rear and installed some Toyo Proxes R888 track tires...

Charlie's Festiva vs. Ferrari F430

I hope you enjoyed a look at an excellent example of the EconoBox breed!

8 FORWARD SPEEDS & 2 REVERSE? IN AN ECONOBOX?

This post is long overdue! I said in my post back in December that I would have some info on the Dodge Colt so here you go.

The Colt was first introduced into North America in 1970 with a 1.6l four cylinder driving the rear wheels through a four speed manual gearbox or the optional 3 speed automatic. I remember it being available as a Plymouth Cricket as well. It was available in this layout until 1979, going through a couple of revisions or generations.

We had a 1974 edition for a couple of years. We called it the "hundred dollar wonder"! When we bought from friends it had no carpet, the front end would shudder, shimmy and shake at anything over 70km/hour and water would come up through the hole in the floor that was missing its plug. Fixed the front end and replaced the plug but never did get around to putting in any carpet.

The "Econobox" version of the car was introduced in 1979. This was the fourth generation of the name plate which was based on the Mitsubishi Mirage and marketed as the Dodge Colt and Plymouth Champ. It was only available as a three door hatch until a five door was added in 1982. Two engines were available, both four cylinders, a 1.4. and a 1.6l. A turbocharged version of the 1.6l was offered in the last year of this generation. There were three different manual transmissions available as well as an automatic. There was a five speed and two different four speeds available with the most intriguing of these being the "Twin Stick" option. This had a 2 speed transfer case which gave the driver 8 forward speeds and two reverse!!! Combined gas mileage ranged from 25-34 mpg  with the "Twin Stick" option on the lower end of the scale.

Twin Stick ad.

1982 Plymouth Champ. Photo found at www.oldparkedcars.com

The fifth generation of the Colt was introduced as a 1985 model. A 4 door sedan was added to the lineup as was a 4x4 wagon. The base engine was a 1.5l four cylinder with a 102hp turbocharged 1.6l available as well. The wagon got a larger 1.8l non-turbo engine. Gas mileage ranged from 22-33 mpg. The next generation was introduced in 1989

1985 Colt, photo found at www.thestreetpeep.com

This new Colt was taller, wider, longer and heavier than previous years and was on the market until 1992. Three engines were available, a 1.5l and 1.6l normally aspirated. A 135hp turbocharged 1.6l was offered only in the 1989 model year. Transmissions available were 3 and 4 speed standard and a 3 speed automatic. Gas mileage ranged from 26-28.

Sixth generation Colt

There was a seventh generation introduced in 1993 but as far as I can tell was only available for two years.

So there you go.. another econobox for you to enjoy.