Trappers Loop Provides Excitement

July 13th dawned a beautiful day for a drive and thirteen cars showed up to take advantage of the weather and the views. We left from Hogle Zoo a little after 9:30 AM and weaved our way through the cyclists up Emigration and East Canyons and then up to Morgan. It was about halfway down East Canyon when the group was passed (at a goodly rate of speed) by a bright yellow Porsche Cayman headed the other direction. This would become important about 20 minutes later.

We wound our way down into Morgan where we stopped for a breather at the Phillips 66 station and as we began to take inventory of the group, we noticed that we were missing some people that we shouldn’t have been. You see Mike and Sharon Bailey in their TC had told us that they would be turning off for breakfast in Emigration Canyon and Craig Bartholomew had told us that he would not be going the distance either, so their absence was expected, but in addition to these folks and noticeably missing was the bright yellow TR6 driven by Keri Bruce. We waited a few minutes and then saw the Triumph coming into view. It was at this time that Keri related his experience of meeting the local Weber County constabulary on his way into Morgan. It seems that someone had called the police with complaints of a bright yellow car doing 140 mph through the canyon!!! Keri kindly explained to the officer that he was with the BMCU on a club jaunt and that his car was certainly not capable of those types of speeds. The officer seemed to accept his explanation and turned him loose without further delay. Whew!

The group was joined in Morgan by Duncan & Sandy Held in their beautifully original Jaguar Series I E Type coupe and we then traveled up through Mountain Green and over to Snow Basin, down to Pine View Reservoir and on to our final destination at the Oaks for some good lunch time fare. Upon our arrival at the Oaks, we again found ourselves short of expected arrivals. Roger and Jill Davis were MIA. Others from the group informed us that they had turned off and had headed towards Huntsville at the Pine View junction. As we waited for our tables at the Oaks, Roger and Jill arrived with a tale of gasoline leaking from under their car faster than they could put it in. They had turned off to go get gas as they were running on empty and that they would have to forego lunch at the Oaks….(again) and were going to head straight home to get the Sunbeam fixed. We decided that wouldn’t do. Roger and Jill had missed the Oaks last year due to another obligation and I wanted to be sure they could join us this year.

A group of us went out to diagnose the Sunbeam’s problem and Roger did most of the dirty work. He found that the rubber fuel line had been rubbed nearly completely through by the u-joint after having replaced the line recently. Long story short, four of us were able to come up with a fix that was capable of getting them home without further leaks. Roger was able to take a sink bath in the restaurant, bringing stares from everyone working there, but he and Jill were able to enjoy lunch none the worse for wear except for a club shirt which will need replacing.

A good time was had by all despite the unexpected visit from the Sheriff’s dept. and the breakdown. The weather was extremely cooperative, it was a cool summer morning and it didn’t start getting really warm until we headed for home. The views were excellent as always on this run, and due to our late spring it was still very green.

If you weren’t with us, you were missed and we hope you will join us on our next drive!

Attending were Larry & Margaret Farrington, Mike & Becky Chambers, Roger & Jill Davis, John & Barbara Progess, Mike & Sharon Bailey, J. & Kay Jennings, Rich Goodman, Keri & Kirsti Bruce, Andrew Frink, Chris Jones & wife Tess, Craig Bartholomew, Roland & Sandy Held and Clayton & Sharon Merchant.

--Clayton Merchant

Click here to see photos of the event.