Thread: Going on a little road trip.

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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

Drat!!! I just got a phone call. My friend who I worked with at the marina called and offered me a job, so now I start back to work Wednesday. The marine business is still slow, so he can only offer me part time right now, which is ok. There is another situation I am really holding out for and that excites me more, but that might not happen for a little while, so this will at least put food on the table and chrome parts on the car in the meantime.

Vacation is over.

Don

Good score Don. Glad you made it through the heavy weather. I know the feeling of those radio alerts and realizing your there! We drove through several tornados in Arkansas that had me feeling pretty religious too! Nice load of parts, looks like a fun shop to visit. Those engines in the photos look very zooped up! Also congrats on the part time work! In this economy every penny helps! Nice of Dan to clean a space for you, after the white knuckle drive, you probably just wanted to crawl into bed!

Yep Steve, Dan took care of the old man on that one, I was dreading having to move stuff around when I got home. He did something else pretty cool too. When I was about 2 hours underway toward Georgia he called me and told me to look under the armrest of my car seat. He had stuck an envelope in there with $400 in it because he was afraid I was short on money and might need it in case of an emergency. Of course I chewed him out and told him he would get it back as soon as I got home, but the thought was really nice on his part. He and Don look out for me pretty well, I gotta say.

Haha, Dan just called me with a funny story. You know that stray cat we feed at the shop? Well it always amazed me that he could eat so much. I would put out a big sized can of food plus a dish of dry food, and he would eat it all and still eat one more can of food per night. I figured he was just storing it up in case he didn't eat the next night.

Well, last night Dan stopped and bought 6 cans of food because we were out, and when he went to feed the cat there were TWO identical black cats sitting there!! Evidently, we have been feeding two of them but only seeing one at a time. I also couldn't figure out their behavior, because one time the cat would come within 3 feet of me, or come in the shop, and the next time he would run like he was scared to death of me. Now I know why.

Dan said the little pigs ate 5 cans of food and lots of dry food too. I'm going to have to claim them as dependents if this keeps up.

Don