DAY 5- Zion

Another beautiful morning, with blue skies and predicted temperatures in the low 90's. A quick breakfast at the hotel, then off on the shuttle bus into Zion. We had booked a private tram tour for 10 AM from the Zion Hotel. The tram took us up to the end of the canyon and back to the hotel with wonderful narration by Zack our guide. The 1 1/2 mile Riverside walk followed, then back to the Lodge for a very slow lunch. I must say that service in Springdale is VERY slow, After hurrying back down the shuttle to the Zion IMAX Theater for the 3 PM Movie, an ice cream (our usual mid afternoon treat), purchasing  a long sleeved blouse for Linda, here I am, finally checking email and working on my Blog. Philip is washing the Morgan, and I believe that Linda is as well.  I will try to post some pictures,

DAY 4- Tonopah to Springdale< Utah (Zion)

A continental breakfast at the Jim Butler Inn, another beautiful blue sky day, and we were on our way. A call to Kristi, our cat sitter, was that Healey was actually full of food. It seems that my instructions to our son Brett about feeding Healey, resulted in 6x her normal food. Kristi will get her back into the 1/3 can instead of 1 can 2x a day. We headed off on what we thought was the road to Springdale, but 26 miles down the road we came across a town, Gold ..... that I didn't remember from preparing the itineraries. 26 miles and 45 minutes later, we were starting again on the correct road, without adding more fuel to the cars. Ken had told us we could get gas in Rachel, but that wasn't what all the signs along the road were saying. Linda and Ken were very low on gas and we were truly out in the middle of no where. Approaching the mobile home restaurant that makes up Rachael, we were becoming very worried. Inquiries in the restaurant resulted in adequate fuel to get us to the next town and petrol station. We also enjoyed an alien burger for lunch. Onward to Springdale approaching Zion from the West. It was a beautiful entrance to the area and one we hadn't seen on our prior trip. As we drove up to the hotel, Linda was frustrated as her car wouldn't start. The battery was completely dead- diagnosed generator failure. She quickly got on the phone to British Motor in SLO who had a spare and will overnight it to Kanab, our next stop. A quick swim, then dinner for the whole group  on the patio which lasted from 7:45 PM until 11 PM. Very good food, but very slow and expensive,.

Day 3- Yosemite to Tonopah via Tioga Pass- Sunday

We awoke to another beautiful day with blue skies and comfortable temperature. Our morning drivers meeting at 0800 and we were on our way, leading the pack. Linda's car hadn't been driven since Day 1, so we were hopeful she would make it over the pass. Much of the snow had melted on Tioga Road that had been problematic the previous week before the Pass opened. We arrived in Lee Vining along with Kathy and George, and Linda but no one else arrived soon. Eventually Ken arrived to report that Roger and Linda's  Morgan had hit a rock and put a hole in the sump. There wasn't much we could do, so we went to the Mono Lake Visitor's Center, enjoyed the film, then headed up to the Lufta's and enjoyed a ranger presentation about how they were created. (lufta pictures to come). After that, we headed toward Tonopah, with a few other MOAers catching up with us. Linda had some more fuel problems along the way, despite more STP, so Phil and Ken went to work changing the fuel lines, filters, and other assorted things in the motel partking lot. They found a kink in the fuel line and no pressure, whatever that means. Ken also bled his clutch and did some other repairs. Once repairs were over, we all walked down to the Mexican restaurant, where we taught our British friends about Margaritas.
Word from Roger on his oil pan was that they were staying in Yosemite and Monday they would work on getting parts and getting it fixed.

DAY 2- Yosemite and Michael's Birthday.

Amazinglyw e were up at the crack of dawn and ready to catch the YART bus with many other MOAers, to go into Yosemite. Blueberry pancakes at the food court were first on my agenda, and we enjoyed them as usual. Elaine had booked a 2 hour tram tour for the entire group, which we started at 1100. It really was the way to see and learn about Yosemite in a short period of time. Elaine's sister Lee, and her sister in law Tory came to enjoy the day with us. The weather was PERFECT, with blue skies and in the low 80's. After the tour, we walked over to the Awahanee and had a light lunch in the bar, sharing turkey wraps. We sat in the beautiful lobby for awhile, then caught the bus back to Yosemite Lodge where we had reservations for dinner for all in the Mountain Room to celebrate Michael's B/D. A few glasses of wine later, we hopped the YART bus back to our hotel just outside the El Portal entrance to Yosemite.

Day 1- San Francisco to Yosemite- (Friday)

We left from the SF Holiday Inn at 8:30 AM. By Pleasanton, Linda's '60 Morgan was having fuel problems. Any hill and she lost power. Ken thought it had been fixed back at our house on Wednesday, but no luck. Linda managed to nurse her car along to Modesto, when Phil and Ken stopped at Napa Auto Parts and bought several fuel related items in order to fix the car at Yosemite, even tho' we really didn't know what the problem was at that point. We were thinking she had some dirty fuel from a fill up in Gilroy when the problem started. We went on to Coulterville, and stopped for lunch. Alan suggested that perhaps there was water in the fuel, so we bought a bottle of STP and emptied it into her nearly empty fuel tank... too empty to make it to Mariposa. Philip had assured us there was gasoline in Coulterville. There isn't. So we could try to make it to Mariposa and not run out of gas, or drive 7 miles up the road to Greeley Hill and go into El Portal from the Highway 120 side, Subsequently we drove up the newly dedicated John Muir Highway to 120 and in to Yosemite "our usual way". Linda's Morgan purred, so we thought the problem resolved with a little STP.  Along with Alan, we took some pictures of us in front of the hn Muir Highway sign. A young man from Russia came out of his cabin and took pictures of us. He is here on a work study program. After passing through the Yosemite Entrance, Alan had tossed his wallet into the front seat of his car, and then couldn't find it for nearly an hour. So we visited with all the Japanese and Korean tourists who descended upon us just inside the gate. Arriving at Yosemite View Lodge , we met up with Ken and Judy from MOA IV and from London Canada who are on their own Morgan your. Pizza dinner with the Americans rounded out the evening, with us shattered and sleeping soundly in our room very close to the Merced River.

DAY -1 San Francisco Tour and Beginning Dinner Last Friday

This morning, Steve drove all the Europeans and a few Americans around San Francisco, via the Scenic Tour. We hear that it was a wonderful day. We, of course, were still cleaning up from the party yesterday and getting everything packed. We barely made it to the Holiday Inn in time for the Limo over to Steve and Sue's house for a wonderful catered dinner. Our limo driver became terribly lost, and the 4 mile drive took close to an hour.Those who went in the Escalade made it quickly with the help of the GPS. So those of us who were there to "help" arrived last. Sue had done a wonderful job, so not to worry.Ken thanked the host and hostess, and gave some instructions for the trip and for Day 1, tomorrow. Eventually I will have pictures added to these posts.