This page is a brief history of the road trip bringing my "Wa-Tex Express" Capri II home to Texas. Since the paint on the car was marginal, we initiated the trip with "Texas or Bust" hand-painted in black on the rear decklid.

The first stop before leaving Seattle was a hardware store for some sort of air conditioning.

This is my son, Mitchell, enjoying our makeshift air conditioning system for the summer trip. Flexible aluminum dryer vent was bent to fit and attached between the mirror and door and then routed first to hang level down low across the glove box door, where ice was added, and then routed back up to direct the cooled air at whatever body part deserved the most attention at the time (granted a few times when he was asleep it was aimed at MY body).

Note the grin, hand on door handle, window partly up, and the nice hair at some sort of resemblance of speed. Noted problems: It needed "recharging" every 30 minutes. Quite often you got spattered with minute droplets of water and less frequently at certain speeds (high) and low charging status (not much ice left), the vent would actually blow ice chips at the passengers (I'd like to hear you say that about YOUR air conditioner)...luckily a faint rattling sound in the vent before it came out was your warning to brace for a harmless little projectile that required wearing of protective eyewear as seen above.

This system worked pretty well if you didn't mind scratching the mirror paint and looking like a boy-racer fool. We didn't. Next cross-country trip, the unit gets more intricate as there must be twin outlets.

Since the Capri's speedometer didn't work at all, we didn't bother to calculate actual driving distance. But having a look at the map, we covered more than what was necessary to get straight home. Mitchell was the navigator and was told to locate and direct us to any possible major side attractions to view natural phenomenon or tourist attractions along the way. So, we zig-zagged across the upper west coast and across the deserts in search of Mount St. Helens, the Pacific Forests, Northern Oregon sea stacks, Northern California trees, Zion Park, Death Valley, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas strip, and a multitude of others.

The Capri was a joy to drive long-distance, eating up long stretches of small highway with pleasure and relative efficiency.

I'll hopefully get around to scanning the navigator's detailed course map and detailed info as to cost/quanties of fuel and mileage used, which was supposed to be the navigator's job once we arrived home, So check back in the future.

Until then, get it out and drive it.