Aaaaaaannnd They’re Off!!!!

Today’s the first “official” day of the trip and we’re headed from Bakersfield, CA to the western gate of Yosemite National Park.  Although it will make for some long days, we’re hoping we can make 180-200 miles per day (+/-).

Here’s a Google Maps link to our planned route for the day, trying to avoid all the wide-open roads where people may be traveling more than twice as fast as us.  Here’s a PDF of the route.    [Note: We’re posting links to Google Maps with our routes, but we’re not sure what’s going on with them.  We’ve discovered that while looking at the link while using a laptop, the link shows our route as planned.  Looking at the link on a hand-held device (iPhone), Google Maps is for some reason showing a different route.  We’ll also post a .pdf file that captures the intended the route, although that file is less useful for anyone who wants to explore the route.] .

Clear skies are forecast, along with a high temperature of 99°F.  Only the first couple hundred Model Ts (in 1909) were equipped with a water pump for the engine cooling system.  Henry Ford soon thereafter decided to go with the simpler (and cheaper) thermosyphon design throughout the rest of engine production.  Hot engine water, being less dense than cooler water, rises up the return hose to the top of the radiator where it cools, becomes more dense, and sinks to the bottom of the radiator and returns into the engine block to complete the cycle.  This system has proven very effective but can be susceptible to overheating when the engine is worked hard at high ambient temperatures.  However, we have an ace up our sleeves…we can easily take the hoods off the cars and put them in the back seats if necessary to allow more airflow around the engine compartment.

Wish us luck, and we’ll see you on the road!