Day 0 - Sunday October 7th, 2018

Welcome to the blog for the 2018 Oil Leak - the Grand Circle Oil Leak visiting several of the National Parks in Northern Arizona and Utah, as well as sampling some of best driving roads in the area.

"Day 0" is the day prior to the official start of the trip, and on this particular Day 0 some of the early arrivals were treated to a visit to an amazing collection of vintage cars in Mesa, AZ. We congregated there, where introductions were made, and old acquaintances renewed.

Leakers old and new meet up prior to the start of the GCOL

I may be able to provide more details of this visit at a later date, but suffice it to say that this event
made for an amazing introduction to the GCOL, and gave those present an opportunity to meet other Leakers before Monday's start. This is the largest group we've had over the past 8 years, so it will take each of us a while to meet everyone. This was a great chance to get started.

With Terry's permission, here is a link to an article about his collection: Classic Driver Article

Around 11am we set off in convoy northwards towards Payson on the North Bush Highway, and then AZ87. This was an enjoyable drive through mountainous desert landscapes with sweeping curves. In Payson we stopped at Rumsey Park to enjoy a sandwich lunch and the traditional "show me what's under your bonnet, and I'll show you mine"

As the photo shows, by now the skies were filling with grey clouds which became darker as we headed northwards after lunch on AZ87 and then Lake Mary Rd. Rain started to fall, and only the bravest drivers of convertibles kept their tops down. As our altitude rose to 7,000 ft, the landscape either side of the road became snow-covered, and there was concern that the rain might become fresh snow. Fortunately it didn't, and as we approached Flagstaff there was less and less evidence of snow. By the time we drew into the parking lot of the Little America Hotel in Flagstaff around 4pm there was sunshine.

By the time we congregated for dinner more of the Leakers had joined us, having driven for much of the day from different parts of the country. There were 29 of us who sat down for dinner. Later in the week we expect the group to have grown to 40, and 22 cars.

Tomorrow the GCOL starts in earnest with a 7:30am start as we have a long drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and will lose an hour as we enter Utah.