Crack of Dawn

 

 

We were up before first light to make the long run over the Continental Divide to Aspen. Jay again had mechanical troubles early and spent the morning shopping for parts. He was able to find what he needed and take an interstate shortcut to Aspen, arriving in time for dinner. Dirigo blasted across I-70 to Colorado Springs where the mountains loomed ahead. The little diesel was working hard by then, missing and smoking and loosing power as we topped 5000. The plains are quite flat, and then there's a left turn and up you go. It's as if someone just plunked a mountain down.

 

With no turbo to force air in the engine, it was really gasping by now. The power loss at 9000' was significant. Some might say that Dirigo was behaving like a dog, and I would completely agree. This little car was going to do it's owners bidding or die trying. We took a small break to let Michael and Steven catch up, and to cool ourselves down. Dirigo sat in the shade while I eased myself into a section of cold rapids. I stopped at a garage to ask if there was any simple way to adjust the mixture on the diesel. There isn't, but we did clean the air filter, which might have suffered from my side trip up the dirt road in the canyon where I went for a dip.

 

With clean air at hand we pushed on for the summit at over 12,000'. Drigo was struggling to maintain 20 mph in second gear, blowing an embarrassing plume of unburned fuel into the pristine mountain air. (what little of there is!) We stopped again when the engine temperature hit 230, which it has never done before. I parked the nose into cold wind, took off the hood and engine hatch cover to get better ventilation. The wind was quite cold and strong up there, and coming from directly ahead. Still making 20 mpg around the final switch-back, we made the summit to much fanfare from the support crew.

 

Now, I've been driving this car for over 3000 miles, but never knew that beneath that diminutive outlook lay a serious sports car. As a reward for so gallantly climbing the pass, I let Dirigo run down the backside on Independence Pass  fast. It is a long twisting decent into the Roaring Fork valley and the only limits on handling the turns was this drivers' cojones. It was the drive of a lifetime, no traffic and the turns and twists just kept coming and Dirigo just kept gobbling them up. I didn't see much of the scenery on the way down (I'd my my share on the slow climb up…) but it was a small price to pay for experiencing the exhilaration of this cars handling ability.

 

Nobody was waiting to see us here in Aspen, but as usual, there was a great tide of spontaneous interest from a broad spectrum of people. I never tire of the smiles and good vibes this car generates. Could it be that if we all drove Dirigos the world would be a happier, more peaceful place? Consider that the prime body styling objective of  most car makers seems to be aggression. There's a road sign here in Colorado which offers a number to call if you experience road rage. Hmmmm.

 

Jay, Jesse and Steven have just finished working on the Stealth, and we'll take off together in just a few minutes. Our host here in Aspen, old friend Pat Milligan, has put us up in fine style and we are all very grateful. A good friend from back in Camden had insisted we have a couple of drinks on her if we actually made it, which we did and so we did!