Thread: Going on a little road trip.

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I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!!!!!! And am I beat!! 1200 miles in two days is further than I thought it would be. But thank God, the entire trip went well, no mechanical problems with my old Ford, or the trailer, which probably had 1500 pounds of '46 Ford on it.

Thanks Paul for the nice words, and I really have to say at least that much about how much I enjoyed meeting you and your beautiful Wife Donna. I really wish I could have stayed longer, but I had the long trip home facing me, so I had to get going. We will make up for it at Daytona. There are a bunch of people you know from the forums, like Gastrick, Hotroddaddy, JRobinson, and others, so we will all have to get together up there and swap some lies.

It has been one long day. I got up at 7:30 Sunday morning and just got home at 2:30 am Monday. I'm heading for 20 hours of being awake, but I think I am too tired to sleep.

As Paul mentioned, we got to tour the race shop that is doing his suspension work on the '46 coupe. From the work I saw on other cars in the shop, Paul is going to have one fantastic hot rod..............and turbocharged to boot. The car came from Kansas, and is as solid as they come. With the Alston stuff Paul is going to put under it, and discs all the way around, it will be a wolf in sheeps clothing.
I got to meet Jerry, one of his friends who works at the shop, and he went to lunch with us. As far as me paying for lunch, it was the VERY least I could do. Paul and Jerry gave up their Sunday to help load my trailer. Paul had some ideas how to pack it tight and tie it down, and it worked. Not one thing moved in the entire 630 miles coming home...........not one inch!!

I didn't know it, but Paul is involved with fabricating some motorcycle parts. I mentioned to him the Ken Thurm also has a company that builds bike parts. Paul showed me some of his parts that he tigged.............top notch all the way.

Well, before I fall asleep I better get some pictures posted. The first one is the sign on the shop where Pauls car is located, and then there are some pictures of his coupe (now all naked and missing lots of parts that are now living in Florida! ) Last picture is Paul and Jerry, that's Paul on the right.

Don

Here are some cars in the shop. The quality of their work is fantastic. When you see how pros do it you really realize what a hack you are.

Don

And this little baby is a Cadillac something or other (I don't know one new car from another ) , but it is a 2005, and the tab for them to do it is $180,000.00!!!! And that doesn't include the motor. Must be a lot of money in Georgia.

Don

And finally, here is my trailer, all loaded and ready to make the trip. Do you think we have enough straps on it??

Thanks again Paul for the nice time, and for spending your Saturday tearing all the stuff off of your car, and Sunday packing it all up. I really appreciate it.

BTW, everytime I stopped for gas people were asking me what the heck that stuff was on my trailer!!

Don

Don wow lots of old goodies . Even though you have tied it down like Gulliver , I would have rented a U-haul with sides . My nerves would have rattled all the way home . I do that though no matter what i haul .

I just woke up, and feel like a train hit me Bobby. The trip was pretty good, but had it's moments. For example, going up I was getting torrential rain most of the way from the tail end of Hurricane Fay. There were places on I 75 where everyone was going 35 mph with their flashers on.

Kind of a funny thing now that I think about it (but not funny at the time) I was driving along with rain so thick you couldn't see the car in front of you. All of a sudden the National Weather Service came on the radio with that loud alarm and advised that 8 toronados were traveling at 35 mph near Lake City Florida. Two seconds later I see a road sign and it reads "Lake City Exit?!!!!!!!!!! Never saw one, but I fought headwinds all the way up.

Then coming back it was white knuckle time most of the way because of the heavy load on the trailer, and my Ford is not used to hills, and Georgia has lots of hills. For the first 400 miles I didn't go over 55 mph, then when I got into flatter Florida I was able to get up to 60-65. I still stopped every hundred miles or so to check the load, but Paul tied her down so good it never budged the whole trip. Somehow we also got the front to rear weight ratio right on the money, the trailer tracked perfect over all kinds of road surfaces.

One last thing. I was thinking I was going to have to clean a spot in the shop when I got home so I could put the loaded trailer inside, but Dan went over Sunday when he got home and cleaned it and moved the two roadsters up so all I had to do was back in and unhitch. I really appreciated that after driving for 12 hours. Tonight we can go over and survey our new stuff.

Don

Don,
Wow, you are going to need a bigger shop How are you going to keep yourself from at least mocking up your new build?
Sounds like you got pretty beat up with the weather, that must of been ugly.
Glad you made it safe, nice stuff.
Ken

Hello Don,

Glad you made it home without incident.

Again - I was MY pleasure & anytime your up my way.....please stop in.

Paul

Thanks Ken, yep, I did a lot of praying on the way back, and I'm not super religious. My knuckles were white most of the way because of all the weight on that little trailer of mine. You are right about me wanting to mock up the new parts. Tonight Dan and I are going to go over and look at all we have. Paul fixed me up good on this one, that's for sure.

Paul, thanks again for one of the nicest weekends I have had. I really appreciate you taking your Saturday and Sunday to make this happen for me. When I get the car built from your parts I might even let you sit in it. I owe you one Bud.

Don