The Road Trip, part 13

Day 12 -- Bedrock to Gateway and back

It was suggested we visit the nearby Auto Museum in Gateway, in order to let Carson appreciate a collection of classic cars, as well as enjoy the drive and dine at the excellent Gateway Grille. So we did.

Gateway is a town-in-progress, mainly a budding resort developed by the owner of the Discovery Channel. It is fifty miles from Bedrock, the first 15 miles of which are a twisty (sigh...) gravel path through the river canyons. It wasn't a bad drive, just as scenic as when we explored it on the quads, and there were no rockfalls to muck up our progress. Finally emerging from the canyon, we reached Rte. 141, and turned left toward Gateway -- or so I thought. Nearly 30 miles later, with not yet a single sign encouraging our progress, I was beginning to think I had made a wrong turn -- which would have been difficult, as so far we had made only one turn. I decided to push on another five miles when, suddenly and with little notice, Gateway appeared. We turned in to the parking lot.

The Gateway Auto Museum is one of the early magnets for what eventually might become a larger resort. The surrounding mesas are lovely in that stark, rocky way, and the valley itself is lush with well-irrigated greenery. Cars greet visitors -- four outside, one right by the doors, and three more immediately inside. After taking a few pictures, I decided I needed the big flash, and returned to the car to get it. Back inside, attach the flash, and find the batteries are dead. Back to the car, scavenged the fresh batteries from the video cam, insert into the flash, and at last I was ready to go. Back inside.

The museum begins with a short film hosted by Walter Cronkite -- good to see ol' Uncle Walt out there. The cars, all immaculately restored, maintained, and polished, date from the 1900s to the 1970s, with one or two from the early 80s. Basically, these are not my cars, but my parents' generation is well-represented, huge 1950s art deco roadmonsters. The whole collection is quite interesting even if not personally resonant with me. The jewel of the collection, a mid-1950s Oldsmobile 88-something, one of a kind, test vehicle, was currently on tour elsewhere, so the huge turntable on which it typically rests was empty, but for a toy car sitting dead center. I appreciated the gesture. The cars are slightly cordoned off with low rails, and could easily be touched -- but, per museum policy, I resisted, and easily (the urge was not so great; these are not "my" cars). A well-done bonus is a selection of short, descriptive films, activated by motion sensor when stepping into the right zones around the museum.

We all enjoyed the cars (and had the place practically to ourselves), but what really snagged the imaginations of Amalie and Carson was a dual test track for pinewood derby racers. The museum had a dozen cars, three different models, which could be raced competitively on a manual track with automatic timing. The primary lesson is to evaluate what car designs give best performance under such conditions, but in short, it is a hands-on toy display which the both of them found captivating. With the kids anchored in one spot, I could roam the museum freely. It's not that big overall -- an hour is plenty unless one is really dazzled by particular models -- and soon I was back. Val had been monitoring them, and I relieved her, and Amie went along as well. With just us boys left alone at the track, I quickly made a plan for us to execute.

Tracks and cars -- well, let's have a runoff! We sorted the cars by models, then paired off individual cars by class to determine the fastest car of each model, diligently switching tracks and re-racing to ensure robust results not influenced by the quality of the tracks. Soon we had a red, blue, and silver car selected as best of each model, and then we were ready for the finals. Red against blue -- blue won. Red against silver -- silver won (reds really were clunkers). And then, the championship -- blue against silver. First run, silver won. Switched tracks and -- silver won again! Carson did note that the silver car went faster but the blue car went every so slightly further on the track. I commended his careful observation, but noted that we were racing for speed, and silver was the unquestioned winner. Champion -- Silver! (It was, coincidentally, the only car missing a numbered sticker, though by elimination it should have been car #5.)

Val and Amie returned and we described our experimental method and results with pride. Carson demonstrated the championship heat again, and then he and Amie were back to futzing about with the cars and tracks. But, the museum completed, we soon moved on to the small gift shop.

A stunner -- the gift shop at the Gateway Auto Museum has NO toy cars offered. NONE. Not even tiny versions of the displayed collection, not even the supercool (and absent) Oldsmobile. Oy. Carson settled on the only comp, a sizable toy motorcycle, the last in stock. Val got a shirt, Amie a plush toy and a cap. I skipped the merchandise altogether.

We retired to the Gateway Grille, and had a delicious dinner with wonderfully attentive service. Afterwards, the kids roamed the courtyard while I took advantage of the wireless connectivity, which was such a relief.

The ride back was mostly quiet. Carson nodded off quickly, and Val dozed as well until we got to the canyon. We entered just at dusk, though the darkness did not make it more challenging. We kept the windows open, and soon were spying bats silhouetted against the twilight skies. Finally pulling up to the ranch, we found Jenny and Dickie Joe sitting outside, enjoying a bonfire in the hearth. Carson roused briefly but soon drifted off on Jenny's lap. Amalie toasted marshmallows (she likes toasting them, but hardly eats any), and we spotted a satellite or two cruising along. A call to Grandma Nana (who, to the present group, also holds offices of "mom" and "mother in law") ascertained that, despite a health scare, she was doing fine and back home in Alaska.