Remember Charlie’s twin sisters in the town of Sisters, Oregon, on July 19th?  Well, here they are: 

Michelle is on the left, and Lisa is on the right, with good old Charlie in the middle!

Back to the current status of the trip…  Friday, July 21^st,  was a long and lonely drive through the desert in the heat.  But Jay found a stretch of the road a little south of Tonopah, Nevada, that warmed his veteran heart.  

Next came Goldfield, Nevada. Established as a gold camp in 1902, the town quickly became the most influential, richest, and largest city in Nevada for a time, with a peak population pf 20,000 people.  Today this “living ghost town” of around 250 residents features several beautifully preserved buildings, a couple of authentic Sagebrush Saloons, paranormal activity, and oddball art.  I have no photos of the paranormal activity, but here are some of the old buildings and an old fire engine.

Beatty is another desert town – in the heat – I understand Beatty boasts its own famous ghost town, the Rhyolite Ghost Town.  Jay missed that, but he found this Navy veteran to sign Maxi:

Unfortunately, the bad news in Beatty was the Cadillac tires were delaminating, and Jay had to be towed to Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas. After a tidy little tire purchase at Costco, Jay was on the road again and reached the Cascadia Car Tent shop.  He had promised to bring Maxi back so the dads of two employees could sign her.

That’s Andy in the print shirt, and Walter in the solid blue shirt. You can tell they really enjoyed Maxi!

Finally, on Sunday, July 23^rd, Jay made it to California and stopped in Canyon Country to see one of the charter members of our Model A Touring Club, Keith Smith.

After a nice visit and lunch, Jay hopped over to Terri Padgett’s house for the evening, and arrived in Cambria on Monday the 24^th.  Whew!

So yes, he’s (finally) home and Maxi did make it to Tuktoyaktuk and the Arctic Ocean.  True, there were some “challenges” along the way, but that was all part of the adventure.

Maxi came home with an amazing assortment of new signatures, and both Canadian and US veterans seemed to really appreciate her. There’s very little space left, but I’m sure Jay will figure out how to squeeze in still more signatures!

Finally, the last goal of the Tuktoyaktuk Adventure was to gather donations to the Legion Scholarship Fund.  (Secure donation link =  https://legionpost432.com/jay.htm ) Last time we checked, the fund had grown by $750, plus the Cascadia Car Top Tent company has donated the (used) tent to the American Legion.  Jay will sell it and add the proceeds to the Scholarship fund.  Thank you to all of you who contributed.