Bill Ball

Got home at 1:30am. Did a little over 1200 miles today. Car ran great, but I forgot that I40 went right through the Mojave desert. It was 113 as I entered it in the afternoon, so I got off at Needles and spent a couple of hours in the local Denny's waiting for it to cool down to 110. After that it was mostly uneventful, although I did have a few challengers who wanted to test their cars against mine. No problem.

jcorenman

Yep, Texas state patrol even gave us a genuine "Too Much Fun" ceriificate, sutable for framing! (US-84 just north of Snyder). Such nice roads, so little traffic!

We're just past Pendleton OR, boring interstate but traffic is light which is nice.

Bill Ball

I may have lucked out on tickets. It all depends if anything shows up in the mail from the Arizona photo units. Never got over 122 on the trip, so I think I'm safe.

Here's my not-so-favorite road shot from the trip....

heinrich

Sorry to hear this Jim!!! Where was the V1??

jcorenman

Working perfectly. It was instant-on Ka band from the opposite lanes (4 lanes divided by a wide median). The V1 went nuts at the same moment that his lights came on. It was an absolute hoot watching his Crown Vic plow through the tall weeds and bounce over the divots in the median trying to get to the other side-- straight out of "Dukes of Hazard". We took a turnout and waited for him to extrIcate himself, nicest guy but not about to be dissuaded from his duty. 82 in a 70 he said, anybody know how to find a goood traffic lawyer in west Texas?

Ed Scherer

Ahhh... Pendleton... next time you go through there (it was probably too early for you for lunch this time), stop off at the Hamley Steakhouse. Really cool place, in a most unexpected location.

SeanR

Damn shame about the citation and I thought they just shot criminals on site in W. Texas.

Wish (glad I don't) knew someone that would help. Did all of you get the ticket or was it just you Jim?

Ed Scherer

Further proof that travel can be exhausting...

(Groan)



Edit: What I should have said is, "Yeah, those desert rattlers like sunning themselves on the side of the road like that. What did that one eat, though? One of your WSM volumes?"

dr bob

Bill, I was just a few hours behind you getting home this morning, after leaving FW yesterday (Monday) at about 8AM. Karen's sister was able to take over the MIL-sitting duty, so I watched them head off for eye surgery and motored off towards the future sunset.

I figured that I would just set the cruise at the posted limit plus one or two, and never worry about the mirrors. Then I figured out that every three MPH added to my average speed would trim an hour off the end time. I still kept it real reasonable, especially in AZ after all the photo ops we had coming east. I'll be watching the mail, but I should be OK if they understand 5 over and that they can't radar a whole bunch of cars at once.

Anyway, drove through to Kingman AZ all right, but at 16+ straight hrs of seat time decided to just keep cruising until I got tired. Got a verbal bashing on the phone from K about stopping but I still felt fine. I pulled up in Barstow at 2AM and napped for a couple hours before continuing on home.

Needles was still close to a hundred around midnight, Bill. I had planned to lay up in either Flagstaff or Kingman and get an early start to get across the desert before hell broke loose for the day, but the ride was so nice I just couldn't justify stopping so early. Barstow was 88º at 2AM. dropped to 68º a couple hours later when I left. Hottest part of the return ride east of Cali was the New Mexico hill country on I40. It was close to 100º until we passed through a front and temps dopped 20º in a matter of miles. Nipped the corner of a T-storm there but the cool was welcome.


The car performed flawlessly throughout the trip, including a few super-legal blasts around slower traffic with the group on the way to the event. Meter shows a 140 blast somewhere on the trip.

For those playing along at home, any doubts about the need for a V-1 when doing this stuff were put to bed. The two leaders were discussing where the patrol car was sitting and when he turned his radar on and off. My plain old detector didn't share anything at all until I was close enough to see an officer's smile. Would have better results just sticking my head out the window and listening for a siren. So a V-1 is on my expanding must-have list.


So the car is washed and back in the garage here. Short list of travel damage items will be pretty easily managed with some more cleaninig and a little more touch-up effort. Need to re-aim the headlights and the aux high beams particularly. Need to look at stuff and not at the road, especially when they are mounted so low. HID would be cool for both of the bulbs in the fog/main shell.

Also had a styling inspiration for using projectors rolling up in place of the main teardrop lights. Mock-ups first, probably this fall when we get a loaner Honda Odysee for hauling the TofR girls around. I'll inherit K's 4Runner for 5 months, to love and care for and recondition a bit. Who makes the best aftermarket HID projector headlight modules?


Anyway, to day will be a 'recovery' day after the marathon 21-hour return Grand Tour. Not tired from the driving at all, but I will need to catch up on sleep a bit later today.


Thanks go to all of the hardy travellers who made up our ragtag crew. Kevin from Lake Powell was a great touring partner. Darien and his wife let me bunk in their guest room on the way down. Bill Ball taught me that there's no such thing as too many ponies when leading a train of cars past any unsuspecting tourists in Texas. Darien removed all doubt as he went by. Jim and Sue Corenman were stellar driving partners too. It was funny watching them swap the driving duties, especially when Jim mentioned that the pictures he just took were already up on Rennlist just minutes after the shutter clicked. Always a great group!

jcorenman

Sean, our "too much fun" certificate was on the way home Sunday morning. I don't think they shoot out-of-staters, or maybe just 'cause it was Sunday. I have found that cops who catch the Sunday shift seem to have a higher devotion to duty.

Bill, Love that picture! And glad to hear that you had a good (and uneventful!) trip home. But 1200 miles in a day? That's over 10 hours!

Darien

Jim/Sue, let us know when you get back to the "Island".

Since I was running blind (no warning) after Kevin made his turn North in Artesia, NM, I was lucky enough to have someone flash their lights at me in advance prior to cresting a hill with the gun facing my direction

I owe a perfect stranger!

jcorenman

We got home on the 5pm ferry, tired but happy. The GT ran perfectly, covered 4460 miles round trip (Google map link) and used 227 gal's of fuel (19.9 mi/gal), a quart of oil and almost a full can of windscreen cleaner. The cheapest gas was Muleshoe TX (2.619) and the most expensive was today in Ellensburg WA (3.129).

We had a great time, and Roger, Jim M and the Texas gang did a terrific job. And a special thanks to you, Darien, for organizing the "Official Eastbound Caravan", it was great meeting you and Kevin, and fun meeting up with Bill Ball and Dr Bob again and traveling together. We couldn't pick better traveling companions!

Just after crossing the river from ID to OR:


Oh, and we also hit a few dozen bugs...

Darien

The pleasure was all mine...glad you guys made it home safely

I think that makes everyone in the caravan at home safe and sound...thank you all very much for being part of it

Until next time!!!!!

dr bob

Jim, I can shar some real-world experience with the factory bra keeping the bug damage down. It works. There was alittle trailing-edge turbulence noted above 120, and I'll guessthat the reduced cooling air flow cost about 20º of coolant temps at 100+ ambient and the seriously elevated speeds. I did make it a point to clean under the rear edges a lot so there was no paint damage at all. I know there are folks who don't like them, but short of the clear-bra treatment, it's the best way to cut down on front-end rock and bug damage on extended at-speed tours. JMHO, of course.

jcorenman

Bob, thanks for sharing your experiences. I've seen some nasty paint damage from bras on other people's cars, but I suspect that was a simple failure to clean things properly.

Our front end looked gastly but cleaned right up with no extra scrubbing, those black spots were bug debris and not chips. If there were any new paint chips I can't find them for the old ones