Rover Time, Part XI: To Martha’s Vineyard and back

You know Martha’s Vineyard – it’s that island off Massachusetts where the rich and famous go to make a big show of dodging the paparazzi for a couple of weeks each summer. So what’s the likes of me doing there? I got an invitation from our pals at the Cape Cod British Car Club. The CCBCC makes an annual early-November trek to the Vineyard, cleverly choosing a weekend after the ferry rates have dropped and the resorts have slashed their room rates.

I decided to take the Rover, because our family wouldn’t all fit in the Spitfire, and there’s no point in showing up for a British car weekend in something built in Japan or Sweden. (That’s the Rover aboard the ferry Martha’s Vineyard in the photo above.)

This was the first long trip that my wife, daughter and I were taking in the Rover, so I tried to plan my way around possible disasters. We left late on a Friday, headed for a motel that was about an hour away from the ferry terminal in Woods Hole. That way, if something catastrophic happened, I’d have a chance to take care of it and still get us to the ferry on time on Saturday morning.

The Rover ran like a champ, and we tumbled out of bed Saturday looking forward to a nice couple of days on the island. We were about 30 minutes from the ferry when trouble finally showed up: The ignition light went on, indicating something was wrong with the charging system. We pressed on – at this point, why turn back?

So here’s the obligatory photo of me under one of my cars. On the brilliant advice of a friend, I had carried a fully charged spare battery in the trunk, and I swapped batteries in the terminal parking lot to make sure I’d be able to start the car for driving on and off the ferry. Once on the island, I did some diagnosis with the help of a couple of CCBCC members. The verdict: Something was up with the voltage regulator. I didn’t have a spare, and the Vineyard Haven NAPA had let its stock of Lucas components run dangerously low (by which I mean they didn’t have any). But they did have a battery charger. What was to worry about? The car would easily run all day on battery power, so long as I didn’t have to use the headlamps.

We had a great time, traveling from one corner of the Vineyard to the other. The leaves were mostly off the trees and nearly all of the ice cream stands were closed, but there was no tourist traffic to speak of.

We saw a pretty cool Chevrolet woody in Edgartown, where we stopped for lunch. It had Ohio plates.

This is our effort to beautify the harbor in Edgartown. (Don’t know how that Dodge pickup got in there.)

These are the famous Gay Head cliffs in the town of Aquinnah, on the western end of the island.

Our daughter, Naomi, had fun with the camera from the back seat. I think this is downtown Edgartown. Just try driving here during the summer.

Our lodgings for the night were at the Harbor View Resort in Edgartown. Swanky, and off-season cheap, too. (This photo was taken by Brian Nickerson of the CCBCC, who organized the trip. I forgot to take a photo of the inn.)

We had our own patio, so I put both batteries out there, and charged them up, one at a time, running the charger’s cord out through the sliding door. Worked perfectly. When we got up in the morning, we had two freshly charged batteries, which I knew would be plenty to get us home.

Speaking of getting home, this is where the charging system problem reared its head. I needed to get us home before the sun set, to avoid having the headlamps drain the battery. Sunset was 5 p.m., and the trip was at least four hours, plus whatever stops we needed. I called the Steamship Authority and changed our reservation from the afternoon to the morning.

We returned to the mainland aboard the Sankaty, one of the smaller ferries in the fleet. There was no enclosed parking, but on the other hand, some of the passengers got a free car wash when the winds whipped up the waves.

This photo makes me cringe. Remind me not to get into any collisions with SUVs.

The ride home was uneventful, unless you count the fantastic lunch we stopped for at the Wagon Wheel restaurant in Gill, Massachusetts. We parked at the famous Hairpin Turn on Route 2, a.k.a. the Mohawk Trail, and enjoyed the view to the west of North Adams and Williamstown.

By the way, this trip marks the second time the charging system has failed. I’ve decided to throw originality to the wind and replace the generator and separate voltage regulator with a modern, self-regulating alternator. More about that later.