Durango, Colorado’s Historic Strater Hotel is absolutely world renown with its heritage, cowboy spirit and feel. My absolute favorite author would lock himself into the now famous Louis LaMour suite for three or four days and come out with a book like The Sacketts or Conagher. He liked it because of the Rinky Tink sounding piano at Diamond Belles, the first floor saloon at the Strater.

Linda Campbell (the Senator’s wife) told us last night that she is friends with Louis Lamour’s wife Kathy and that their farm…dang….. forgot …out West they are all called Ranches… Well anyway, the Lamour Ranch is close to Durango. I was impressd.. Cowboys are an important part of American history, and Louis Lamour documented a bunch of that history with amazingly accurate fiction.

Durango is located in the FOUR Corners of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. After leaving at our 830 start time…. We rallyed through ALL FOUR STATES..

Our speedo calibration was weird yesterday. It was in two parts. I should have left the speedo alone (now in retrospect) BUT I didn’t. I saw .6 seconds fast per 10 run so I slowed the car down by 3.6 seconds per hour. We got a 28 seconds and worked our dang tail off doing it all day. I factored for loss of elevation. I factored for tire growth at 50 mph. Rallied perfectly. It was REALLY frustrating coming in to that score after working so hard all day.

It was a very hard day. I think that if I had not have changed the speedo, we would have gotten around a 15 or 16 for the day.

Bruce and Curtis got something around 13 I think. That ole Packard keeps on chugging. But not without a lot of attention from Doctor Graf!

The reception at Page, AZ was okay, just mediocre. We were able to roll off to our hotels by 8 PM and Theresa and I were ready for bed! We saw fireworks out our window before we sacked out. God bless America.

Wednesday we will have a very LONG day with over 500 miles across the Nevada desert! I hope we make it. Andrew and Jerry have to leave Page at 515 AM.

Carol Gezon came through! We got cookies! Thanks Carol!

From the road,

Corky

P.S.

I finished this update before the alarm went off Wed AM July 5. The alarm just went off. Theresa got up and said “its Ground Hog Day”. Meaning the movie with Bill Murray where he makes the same mistakes over and over again and he goes to bed and he wakes up the next day and its Ground Hog Day allover again.

We started in Pueblo, CO under cool clear skies at 715 AM and another opportunity to win a hundred sows and bucks (Corky talk for $100,000.) But only if you get all Aces (that’s Zeros at every leg. Most of the experts who had rallied mountains before were ready with long sleeves and rain suits. We knew we were going to climb some big elevation today.

Theresa and Corky Coker were 5th car out followed by Bruce and Curtis in 21st. Just a reminder that each car is theoritically one minute apart. We headed toward Durango on the Freeway for our speedometer calibration. That’s where each competitor checks his speedo against the speedo of the rallymaster and the computerized course.

As we got to the sign where we were to “go on the clock” my new friend Thom Wells had a terrible leak coming from the gas tank of his 38 Cadillac 75 series Convertible. We backed it on a curb so we could get under it and pulled the gas line off, re-tightened the hose clamps and sent them on their way. Problem was they were first car and I had 30 seconds to get back to my car for my start exactly four minutes after Thom was SUPPOSED TO HAVE started. I jumped in to the Shafer 8 to a VERY unhappy navigator but perfectly made my start on time to 50 mph on the side of the road right next to a Van that finally got the picture and sped up! The rest of the morning was normal but I smelled like 92 octane all the rest of the day.

Great Race tip here. I checked our elevation as soon as we got off the Speedo calibration. As we climbed elevation we had to slow the car down one second per hour per 1000 ft elevation. We do this because the pressure in the tires is constant as it is a closed container but the atmospheric pressure is less because of the altitude making the tire bigger speeding the car up according to the speedo. Think it through…

We stopped in Altamosa CO and Pagosa Springs and finished in Durango to a wonderful reception by the folks of Durango. Car 2 with Bruce and Curtis pulled a 10 second I think and we got a 16 second with four Ones, a two second and a 13 on the big altitude leg. That put Car 2 in 16th place for the day. There were some low scores!

We had dinner with some of our Friends Nile and Jeanette Cornielison, Dave and Judy Holmes, and Dennis and Marion Pierce. We had a great Italian meal and great conversation.

Monday in Durango was a day off for Great Racers giving everyone the opportunity to wash clothes, work on their cars, including changing tires.

We had dinner with my friend Senator Ben Campbell and his lovely wife Linda. I took Ben for a ride in the Shafer 8 and made his knuckles white. He got a turn driving after calling me crazy. Of course I am! Great people. Wish he was still in the US Senate. He is a real car guy and a solid leader.

We are off to New Mexico tomorrow …up the mountains again!

From the road,

Corky