05-10-2007, 06:35 PM
when this all started, i thought it would be a really fun trip and that i would have a great time - turns out i did - most of you thought i was nuts for making the journey, and nearly 6000 miles is a long way to drive, but it was worth it - i got a chance to see some of the people i met last year, and meet many of those with whom i had spoken online and on the phone since then - i had a great time
a couple of months ago i set out to prepare for this - i wanted to finish all the new parts for the car (strut tower brace, new sway bar design, lower brace, heat sheild, etc.), prep the trailer, prep the delani, and have a nice leasurely time getting ready - well, life got in the way - there were huge delays on the trailer - the denali decided it needed some service - vendors dragged on finishing some of the stuff - then realizing that some things just weren't going to get done, i had to shorten my list - after a couple of weeks of feverishly working on prototype parts to have on the car for the show, and slamming the necessary things into the trailer and denali, i was "ready" - i worked right up until the last day (which is exactly what i did not want to be doing) but i had enough done to go - i was a lot more tired than i wanted to be, and i only had 5 hours of sleep going into the departure, but it was what it was
it was a beautiful morning - nearly 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky - i had planned to be on the road by 6am, but as things tend to go, i kept running back into the house and garage and didn't actually get going until 8 - i stopped every 50 miles for the first 200 to check the load, check torque on the trailer lugs, and all of that (this was the first time i had towed anything in this traielr after all) - keeping speed down to get the feel, the excitement of being on the road was well tempered with the nervousness of the caution of towing this trailer for the first time - finally i felt comfortable, and got on with the driving - the trailer towed great - the nose cone, airtabs, load equalizing hitch and sway control really worked - not a wiggle anywhere - i had made a few mods to the denali too, and the new etra 80hp resulted in having no issues with power at all
as i entered arizona, i looked ahead at what looked to be weather - very odd clouds that nearly touched the ground - by the time i got to flagstaff it was snowing - i was not prepared for snow - i had no chains, no snow tires, not even a jacket - luckily it was light (though i haven't actually seen snow in person in years, so any snow is silly to me) - it was danged cold though, and i have no idea how people live in that climate
back on the road and back into nice weather - i paused briefly for a nap at a rest stop and then i tooled on through new mexico and into texas - by the time i got into oklahoma, i was again looking at weather - this was ugly - easily the blackest sky i had ever seen - the storm hit in full force as i entered misouri - it chased me all the way until i finally had to get off the road - i had been driving pretty much straight for 2 days and my attention was waning - the rain was so hard that my wipers couldn't take it off even on high speed - this was not the time to run off the road, and with the roads in missouri being up and down and windy, it was definitely going to happen - i pulled off at a truck stop to buy new wipers and got soaked in the process - no change in visibility - tired, wet, frustrated and miserable, and still unable to see, i decided to be an adult and pulled off and got a hotel in lebannon at about 1am
by 5 am the storm had passed and i was back off and running - i made pennsylvania by nightfall, but slammed into heavy fog - i drove a few more hours and pulled off only 2 hours from my final desitination - i figured i didn't want to wake jay and his wife up at 3am, and i could use a decent night's sleep and a meal anyway
the next morning i was amazingly refreshed, though i had only spept a total of 10 hours in 3 nights - i made it to rs barn about 10am and jumped right into preparing for the show - pete timed my cams for me (we had talked about this previously) - it turns out they were retarded by 5 degrees from the factory - so much for porsche precision - very snappy difference - definitely not a job for your shadetree mechanic
after a brief little test drive, where i let pete drive the car (i'll let him tell you about how the new parts worked, but suffice it to say that he will be carrying them) we loaded it back up onto the trailer, and i was off to jay and melva's for the night - jay had asked me to drive his car back to his place, so i left the denali and trailer at the shop - i had to make a brief stop at a mall to pick up some things for hte colder weather i had not planned for - as i am there in one of the store's jay calls me - where are you? i told him i was at the mall, and he about lost it - i was cracking up - i had to assure him that i parked his baby way out in the middle of nowhere (i actually took a picture on my phone to show him, knowing that this was how he took care of his car) - his car runs VERY well - i was quite impressed with the setup - it took me a minute to get back to remembering what my car was like before i lost my mind and tore into it - i realized just how much fun these cars can be when set up like jay's
we went out to dinner to one of their favorite places (patagonia i believe) - the food was amazing - my glass was never empty, and the company was stellar - i stayed at jay and melva's and i have to tell you that they are the absolute best hosts - i got my first really good night's sleep in a week - i cannot thank them enough
friday saw big delays for us, as pete decided that was the day he was going to ruin his knee - it was raining in hershey anyway, and don had said that if it was raining they would push the judging to the next day - we figured it was no rush, and took our time - by the time we got there, they had decided to do the judging anyway - i was too late - no judging of my car - no worries - that wasn't why i came anyway
don's event was well organized, and the staff was great - i would have liked to have seen maybe a bit more time between events, as it seemed like we were always rushing, but oh well, there was a lot to do in a short amount of time, and it was probably necessary to get everything in - maybe i was just tired
saturday morning, i was up early to get the car out of the trailer - i ended up having to wait until the last minute as there was a heavy fog i was waiting to lift - finally it cleared enough and out she came - we all lined up and then took proabably the slowest caravan i have ever been in - don was trying to keep all the cars together, and there were so many that we couldn't get over 20mph most of the way - after having not driven my car in months, and being surrounded by 968s, i wanted to DRIVE - but, it was not in the cards
after all of the preperation and anticipation, we finally arrived at the show - i was singularly underwhelmed though by the show itself - the turnout was dismal by comparison to what i was used to - the swap meet was tiny - there were no major vendors, and even very little food - i was told for years that this was the biggest one of these in the country, but i have been to a few out here that are a LOT bigger - no worries - again, that wasn't why i was there - it was all about the 968s and their owners for me, and i was having a great time
after dealing with a broken 968 of one of the other members, and ultimately desiding to leave it there to be towed away the next day, i didn't stick around for the saturday dinner, and instead headed back to newtown
we had a very relaxed evening at jay's and a full night's sleep (i think i was unconscous by 9:30) and i was ready to go for the fun run - jay had again put together a beautiful course - we got stuck behind a nissan for a while, but it gave me a chance to take in the scenery - that area is beautiful - i highly recommend checking it out - there were some great stretches where we got to zip around a bit and we had a fun lunch and a fast drive home - when we got back to the shop to load up my car, i let jay drive it first - the look on his face was priceless - i wasn't sure i was going to get the car back - i'll let him tell you all about it
then came monday morning and time to hit the road again - i knew this was going to be more painful, and was dreading the drive, but was looking forward to being home - initially i had planned to take the northern route and stop in moab for the rocky mountain event, but decided at nearly the last minute that it was just going to be too hard on me - it was the right move
on the way back i again hit a storm - this time it was in new mexico - again i got chased of of the road by it - no worries - i had made it to cuba the first night, and now i was past albequeurque, so i was still going oto be home on wednesday
the next morning saw the storm gone - i was off and running again - ging from arizona to california saw temps of 95 degrees - i was worried, as i did not get around to improving the tranny cooling, but the rig ran like a champ - tranny temps never got above 230 and coolant never above 210, even as i was zooming up the mountain at 65 - i love that car
the entire trip was actually rather uneventful - one of my big soncerns was speeding tickets, ans i was trying to make good time - i didn't get a single one - then, as i was almost home (50 miles away) i got pulled over for being in the wrong lane - unbelieveable - this is a pet peeve of mine, and i am constantly yelling at people to stay in the right 2 lanes when towing - makes me nuts - i even see people towing in the commuter lane - arrrgh - anyway, i was at a place where freeways were merging, i had to merge from the left, and nobody would let me over - i saw him pulled over on the side of the road finishing his paperwork - obviously he saw me, but not that i had been trying to move over a lane for the last 2 miles - as i am trying ot exit the freeway so he can write me up, he tried to get me to pull back onto the freeway so he wouldn't have to get of and back on - this one i will fight
well, i made it back in one piece - i didn't take nearly as many pics as i wanted to, but then, you've all seen all the pics of the cars - i did manage to snap a few of interest though - here they are:
PACKED AND READY
SOMEBODY SHOULD CLEAN THAT SIGN - WAIT - THAT'S SNOW!
THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE'S LARGEST CROSS
I'M A LITTLE TEAPOT......
DID SOMEBODY CALL AHEAD?
OH GOODY - A NEW McDONALD'S OPENING UP AHEAD
WHAT'S UP WITH THE GIANT CROSSES?
WHY ARE ALL THESE GUYS FOLLOWING ME?
THEY LET YOU DO SOME CRAZY STUFF IN NEW MEXICO
a couple of months ago i set out to prepare for this - i wanted to finish all the new parts for the car (strut tower brace, new sway bar design, lower brace, heat sheild, etc.), prep the trailer, prep the delani, and have a nice leasurely time getting ready - well, life got in the way - there were huge delays on the trailer - the denali decided it needed some service - vendors dragged on finishing some of the stuff - then realizing that some things just weren't going to get done, i had to shorten my list - after a couple of weeks of feverishly working on prototype parts to have on the car for the show, and slamming the necessary things into the trailer and denali, i was "ready" - i worked right up until the last day (which is exactly what i did not want to be doing) but i had enough done to go - i was a lot more tired than i wanted to be, and i only had 5 hours of sleep going into the departure, but it was what it was
it was a beautiful morning - nearly 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky - i had planned to be on the road by 6am, but as things tend to go, i kept running back into the house and garage and didn't actually get going until 8 - i stopped every 50 miles for the first 200 to check the load, check torque on the trailer lugs, and all of that (this was the first time i had towed anything in this traielr after all) - keeping speed down to get the feel, the excitement of being on the road was well tempered with the nervousness of the caution of towing this trailer for the first time - finally i felt comfortable, and got on with the driving - the trailer towed great - the nose cone, airtabs, load equalizing hitch and sway control really worked - not a wiggle anywhere - i had made a few mods to the denali too, and the new etra 80hp resulted in having no issues with power at all
as i entered arizona, i looked ahead at what looked to be weather - very odd clouds that nearly touched the ground - by the time i got to flagstaff it was snowing - i was not prepared for snow - i had no chains, no snow tires, not even a jacket - luckily it was light (though i haven't actually seen snow in person in years, so any snow is silly to me) - it was danged cold though, and i have no idea how people live in that climate
back on the road and back into nice weather - i paused briefly for a nap at a rest stop and then i tooled on through new mexico and into texas - by the time i got into oklahoma, i was again looking at weather - this was ugly - easily the blackest sky i had ever seen - the storm hit in full force as i entered misouri - it chased me all the way until i finally had to get off the road - i had been driving pretty much straight for 2 days and my attention was waning - the rain was so hard that my wipers couldn't take it off even on high speed - this was not the time to run off the road, and with the roads in missouri being up and down and windy, it was definitely going to happen - i pulled off at a truck stop to buy new wipers and got soaked in the process - no change in visibility - tired, wet, frustrated and miserable, and still unable to see, i decided to be an adult and pulled off and got a hotel in lebannon at about 1am
by 5 am the storm had passed and i was back off and running - i made pennsylvania by nightfall, but slammed into heavy fog - i drove a few more hours and pulled off only 2 hours from my final desitination - i figured i didn't want to wake jay and his wife up at 3am, and i could use a decent night's sleep and a meal anyway
the next morning i was amazingly refreshed, though i had only spept a total of 10 hours in 3 nights - i made it to rs barn about 10am and jumped right into preparing for the show - pete timed my cams for me (we had talked about this previously) - it turns out they were retarded by 5 degrees from the factory - so much for porsche precision - very snappy difference - definitely not a job for your shadetree mechanic
after a brief little test drive, where i let pete drive the car (i'll let him tell you about how the new parts worked, but suffice it to say that he will be carrying them) we loaded it back up onto the trailer, and i was off to jay and melva's for the night - jay had asked me to drive his car back to his place, so i left the denali and trailer at the shop - i had to make a brief stop at a mall to pick up some things for hte colder weather i had not planned for - as i am there in one of the store's jay calls me - where are you? i told him i was at the mall, and he about lost it - i was cracking up - i had to assure him that i parked his baby way out in the middle of nowhere (i actually took a picture on my phone to show him, knowing that this was how he took care of his car) - his car runs VERY well - i was quite impressed with the setup - it took me a minute to get back to remembering what my car was like before i lost my mind and tore into it - i realized just how much fun these cars can be when set up like jay's
we went out to dinner to one of their favorite places (patagonia i believe) - the food was amazing - my glass was never empty, and the company was stellar - i stayed at jay and melva's and i have to tell you that they are the absolute best hosts - i got my first really good night's sleep in a week - i cannot thank them enough
friday saw big delays for us, as pete decided that was the day he was going to ruin his knee - it was raining in hershey anyway, and don had said that if it was raining they would push the judging to the next day - we figured it was no rush, and took our time - by the time we got there, they had decided to do the judging anyway - i was too late - no judging of my car - no worries - that wasn't why i came anyway
don's event was well organized, and the staff was great - i would have liked to have seen maybe a bit more time between events, as it seemed like we were always rushing, but oh well, there was a lot to do in a short amount of time, and it was probably necessary to get everything in - maybe i was just tired
saturday morning, i was up early to get the car out of the trailer - i ended up having to wait until the last minute as there was a heavy fog i was waiting to lift - finally it cleared enough and out she came - we all lined up and then took proabably the slowest caravan i have ever been in - don was trying to keep all the cars together, and there were so many that we couldn't get over 20mph most of the way - after having not driven my car in months, and being surrounded by 968s, i wanted to DRIVE - but, it was not in the cards
after all of the preperation and anticipation, we finally arrived at the show - i was singularly underwhelmed though by the show itself - the turnout was dismal by comparison to what i was used to - the swap meet was tiny - there were no major vendors, and even very little food - i was told for years that this was the biggest one of these in the country, but i have been to a few out here that are a LOT bigger - no worries - again, that wasn't why i was there - it was all about the 968s and their owners for me, and i was having a great time
after dealing with a broken 968 of one of the other members, and ultimately desiding to leave it there to be towed away the next day, i didn't stick around for the saturday dinner, and instead headed back to newtown
we had a very relaxed evening at jay's and a full night's sleep (i think i was unconscous by 9:30) and i was ready to go for the fun run - jay had again put together a beautiful course - we got stuck behind a nissan for a while, but it gave me a chance to take in the scenery - that area is beautiful - i highly recommend checking it out - there were some great stretches where we got to zip around a bit and we had a fun lunch and a fast drive home - when we got back to the shop to load up my car, i let jay drive it first - the look on his face was priceless - i wasn't sure i was going to get the car back - i'll let him tell you all about it
then came monday morning and time to hit the road again - i knew this was going to be more painful, and was dreading the drive, but was looking forward to being home - initially i had planned to take the northern route and stop in moab for the rocky mountain event, but decided at nearly the last minute that it was just going to be too hard on me - it was the right move
on the way back i again hit a storm - this time it was in new mexico - again i got chased of of the road by it - no worries - i had made it to cuba the first night, and now i was past albequeurque, so i was still going oto be home on wednesday
the next morning saw the storm gone - i was off and running again - ging from arizona to california saw temps of 95 degrees - i was worried, as i did not get around to improving the tranny cooling, but the rig ran like a champ - tranny temps never got above 230 and coolant never above 210, even as i was zooming up the mountain at 65 - i love that car
the entire trip was actually rather uneventful - one of my big soncerns was speeding tickets, ans i was trying to make good time - i didn't get a single one - then, as i was almost home (50 miles away) i got pulled over for being in the wrong lane - unbelieveable - this is a pet peeve of mine, and i am constantly yelling at people to stay in the right 2 lanes when towing - makes me nuts - i even see people towing in the commuter lane - arrrgh - anyway, i was at a place where freeways were merging, i had to merge from the left, and nobody would let me over - i saw him pulled over on the side of the road finishing his paperwork - obviously he saw me, but not that i had been trying to move over a lane for the last 2 miles - as i am trying ot exit the freeway so he can write me up, he tried to get me to pull back onto the freeway so he wouldn't have to get of and back on - this one i will fight
well, i made it back in one piece - i didn't take nearly as many pics as i wanted to, but then, you've all seen all the pics of the cars - i did manage to snap a few of interest though - here they are:
PACKED AND READY
SOMEBODY SHOULD CLEAN THAT SIGN - WAIT - THAT'S SNOW!
THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE'S LARGEST CROSS
I'M A LITTLE TEAPOT......
DID SOMEBODY CALL AHEAD?
OH GOODY - A NEW McDONALD'S OPENING UP AHEAD
WHAT'S UP WITH THE GIANT CROSSES?
WHY ARE ALL THESE GUYS FOLLOWING ME?
THEY LET YOU DO SOME CRAZY STUFF IN NEW MEXICO
94 Midnight Metallic Blue Cab Porsche 968 w/deviating cashmere/black interior and WAY too many mods to list - thanks to eric for creating www.968forums.com
"It isn't nearly as expensive to do it right as it is to do it wrong."
(This post was last modified: 05-10-2007, 07:17 PM by flash.)
