Ghosts to Coasts
A 4,000 mile tour that crossed the US from Annapolis to Monterey

In the summer of 2004, about 35 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghosts participated in a cross-country tour of the United States to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Company. The tour was coast-to-coast, starting in Annapolis, MD and ending in Monterey, CA.

Gil Fuqua provided a regular update of the tour as part of the advance publicity for the Pebble Beach Concours. The complete text of the updates is included in the following links, along with photos taken on the tour.

For additional photos taken by Gil Fuqua on the tour, including individual directories for each car participating, CLICK HERE.

Coast-to-Coast Journal - click the links for details of the tour and more photos.

July 19,2004 - The cars and drivers gather in Annapolis, MD. The first day of touring is around the Annapolis area to provide a shakedown cruise before we hit the open road.

July 21-22 - The tour leaves the inner harbor of Annapolis and travels about 190 miles through three states, including stops in Frederick, MD and Harper’s Ferry, WV. Our first night’s stop is Cumberland, MD. On the second day, our destination is Wheeling, WV. We drive through three states and have a stop at Kentuck Knob, a Frank Lloyd house in Pennsylvania.

July 23-24 - Our next overnight is in Deer Creek, Ohio, a 175 drive. The tour stops for a special tour of a private car collection, the Zane Grey Museum and travels along the Old National highway, the US’s first highway. We head for Indianapolis in the rain, a 200 mile drive. We take time out to tour the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH, and visit a 1940s era gas station in Knightstown, OH.

July 25-26 - It’s misting rain early in Indianapolis and we have a date to drive around the Indianapolis 500 speedway in our Ghosts before driving 200 miles to Taylorville, IL. After lapping the speedway, we toured through acres of corn and pass through the covered bridges in Rockville, IN. By day’s end, the tour is approaching 1,000 miles of driving. July 26th is our first ‘day off’ and we spend the time servicing the cars and running them on a dynamometer.

July 27-28 - We have a short run from Taylorville to St. Charles, MO, a 120 mile day that takes us over the Missouri River on a ferry boat. From St. Charles, we drive 200 miles to Osage Beach, MO. The route takes us through Ozark wine country, including a stop for lunch at a winery in Herman. The tour has now traversed about 1,300 miles.

July 29-30- From Osage Beach we drove 160 miles to overnight in Pittsburgh, KA. The next day, we head for Wichita.

July 31 - August 1 - The next two days are some of our longest, over 550 miles and mostly through Kansas. Special stops in Wichita to see a magnificent car collection and then to Salina, where we see spend the night before heading to Colorado for our longest touring day of 355 miles.

August 1-2 - The weather is perfect as the tour leaves Limon, Co and heads to Estes Park, a 60 mile run that rises about 5,000 in altitude. Some of the braver drivers traverse the “Oh My God” road from Idaho Springs to Central City. Our layover is at the historic Stanley Hotel for two days.

August 3-4 - The Ghosts leave the Stanley Hotel for a run through Rocky Mountain National Park, a 5,000 climb over Trail Ridge Road and across the continental divide with snow capped peaks. We spend the night in Steamboat Springs before heading to Vernal, UT, home of the Dinosaur National Monument. The Ghosts on tour have racked up about 54,000 cumulative miles on the tour to date.

August 6-7 - From Vernal, the tour keeps treking west for an overnight in Park City, UT. Our next stop is Ely, NV. Our tour takes us on Rt. 50, “The Loneliest Road in America.” We travel on one stretch that covers 90 miles with no services or other signs of life in the desert. As the tour crosses the Nevada state line, the tour has covered about 3,000 miles.

August 8-9 - Continuing across Rt 50 to Fallon, NV, we traverse seven mountain passes with temperatures varying from the mid 90s in the desert to 45 in the mountains. We travel through Virginia City, Reno and end the day at Lake Tahoe.

August 10-11 - The Ghost train leaves the beautiful Lake Tahoe area and visits Bodie, CA, a real ‘Ghost’ town. We spend the night in Lee Vining, just outside Yosemite Park. The next day starts with a climb through the Tioga Pass, then through Yosemite Valley for our final night on the road. On August 11th, we move through the deep forests of Yosemite, through the desert and over the final mountain range that falls to the Pacific. By late afternoon, all the Ghosts roll into Monterey after completing a 4,000 drive that spans the coasts.