Al,

         I can't answer your question, but I can sympathize! I can also
reminisce about a past road trip, since it is Fried-day...

         The first time I took my '85 westie above 8000 feet (just west of
Buffalo, Wyoming), I thought I had engine trouble, lost a *lots* of power
(and this was without a headwind).

         Turned around to head back to town, half way there, acceleration
returned to normal. Turned around again and headed west, started losing
power... noticed an altitude sign, and the proverbial light bulb appeared
over my head. Turned around a couple of more times to make sure that there
was a real correlation, then continued climbing slowly West toward Yellowstone.

         The whole event loomed much larger since I was just leaving
Buffalo after an unscheduled 3-day layover courtesy of a bad alternator. I
had replaced it with a rebuild from my local FLAPS before leaving New
Jersey, but apparently it was a bad rebuild. I ended up going to the car
rental in Buffalo and renting the car (that's right, one rental, one car)
and driving to Billings Montana to get a Bosch rebuild.

         Overall, on a six-week 10,000 mile cross-country odyssey, I only
had to fix the van twice. Once was the alternator, the other was a new
battery in (ironically enough) Buffalo, NY. I knew the battery was weak
before I left, so that one was no surprise. Since I mentally prepared
myself for at least one major mechanical breakdown, I was very happy to
have only these two minor ones... but I did stay out of towns named
"Buffalo" for the rest of the trip!

Tim

At 09:26 AM 6/6/2003 -0700, Pensioner wrote:
>Sheesh.  The furriners got kens name from some list somewhere.  but enough
>already.
>
>Patrolman:  Son yore eyes look red, you been drinkin'
>
>Young driver:  Ossifer, yer eyes are glazed, too many donuts?
>
>RVC:  On level ground at 8000' ASL into a 25mph headwind what should one
>expect for top speed in a fully loaded 89 westie?  at sea level a 25mph
>headwind is pretty limiting, at 8000 feet?
>
>p