2 Weeks and 2 Days to Go

The time for Morgans Over America V to start is quickly approaching. At least four reams of paper, over 20 cartridges, and many hours have gone into preparing our "Daily" Itineraries for 42 days, and we have not  quite yet completed them. Most of the regalia has arrived and has been sorted and packed into individual packages. And the participants are excited. The European Morgans should have arrived today in Oakland and probably moved to the Alameda warehouse tomorrow.
We are preparing mentally and physically for the 39 day tour, obviously not being as young as we were on MOA IV.  I must start rising earlier in the morning to prepare for our mostly 8AM starts. We do have one 5AM start, and 2  6:45 AM starts.

May Tioga Pass Open by June 12

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tiogaopen.htm
We have planned to go over Tioga Pass on our way from Yosemite to Tonopah, however the road has a fair amount of work to be done before it will be opened. So I have asked for everyone to pray (even if they don't pray, they need to here). And follow along on the link. Otherwise we will have a VERY long day on June 13.
The regalia is all being processed and we hope to receive it next week. The patches are beautiful, I received a sample yesterday. The license plates are in the post from England. Reservations are being made for birthday dinners and other difficult to get reservation nights.

CONTINUING PLANNING

We are working to finalize planning including setting up tours, meal reservations, and printing the "Dailies" that Ken has put together for everyone. We keep praying for no volcanos, and the snow to melt on Tioga Pass and Estes Park.   Only 25 more days until the first MOAers arrive and 30 days until we leave. We have reservations for open tram tours in Yosemite, tours in Mesa Verde, attendance at Custer's Last Stand Re-enactment, bruch in Victoria, bear and whale watching in Torino, and more to be discovered. Sally (our Morgan) is back from Bill Fink's and we hope running a bit cooler. He sealed up lots of "holes" that let heat through.

MOA V Preparations

Monday I drove Sally, Elaine's 1992 Plus 8 to Bodega to visit Bill Fink at ISIS for some pre-tour preparations, including changing all the fluids, hoses if needed, renewing the hydraulic fluids and other general maintenance features. She will be there for another day or two. In the meantime, as a loaner I have sitting in the garage a brilliant red 2002 +8+ complete with 345 Corvette LS1 horsepower and a 6-speed gearbox! (see http://www.morgancars-usa.com/ for more detail)

This Morgan is something else! Acceleration that just won't quit, yet will cruise all day at 70 mph turning only 1500 RPM. It is not a stiff as I had expected and actually steers a bit easier than Sally with her 2.3 lock to lock steering rack. Considering how many journalist road tests this +8+ has endured, it is surprisingly rattle free and retains the expected Plus 8 crisp handling. The rear axle's disc brakes helps the car stop as well as it accelerates.

Fortunately I won't have it around long enough to get used to it. But we will all be able to observe one in action starting next month as Bob M. is bringing his new +8+ instead of the 1970 Plus 8 on this year's run.