Day 9 – June 14 – We began the day with a climb from Baker, NV through the first of seven mountain passes we navagated this day. The mountain driving was seriously complicated by the development of transmission problems by Ken and Joyce in their 1922 Touring car. We didn’t have the parts or facilities to fix the car on the road, so he had to continue. Everything possible, including Joyce, was off-loaded into other vehicles to lighten the strain on his car. The day ended with a STEEP downgrade into the town of Austin, NV where we had overnight reservations. While the rest of us ate the worst meal we have had on this trip, Ken worked on his car and determined that his transmission problem was not something that could be fixed on the road. It was at this point we called ahead to Carson City, NV, and made plans to head in that direction rather than Reno (Sparks) tomorrow.

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