WHAT A TRIP!
First I had issues combining a 63 year old Allstate light with a 31 year old Lucas electrical system. Whoda thunk? Then I ripped the exhaust off the overloaded MGB as I left the driveway which provided much entertainment for my audience of neighbors.
Delay after delay kept me in the driveway a good 6 hours past my intended departure time. The wife came home and said "You're still here?"
I said "No, I'm in Willows. Hand me that wrench. Please"
I finally got rolling as the sun went down and went over the Sunol Grade at 65mph with about 1/3 throttle. All seemed to be going well until I got to Suisun bay for a pit-stop and a burger, and discovered the tire was going flat.
@#$%^!!!
One $1.89 tube patch-kit and a herniated disc later I had a one wheel trailer sitting on a smashed campstove and ice chest and I had a semi-fixed inner tube that is holding air. Elapsed time after scheduled departure... 11 hours 35 minutes... for a 3 hour trip. The wife even showed up for moral support, bringing me a floor jack and extra cotter-pins.
45 minutes later and I'm on I-505 in the dark with a smoking and crumpled trailer tire. The wife texts "I just got home". Coyotes and dogs howl in the distance and big rigs seem to drift over right where I'm parked on a regular basis.
I nurse the trailer to the next exit (3/4 mile) and befriend a meth-head lady in a Honda hybrid who asks if I'm ok, thinks I'm "Fascinating" because of my funny trailer, big hair and little car, want's to know if I'm single and shares with me her love of lasers for the next hour and a half. At least she kept the wild dogs away and I got my first unrequested phone number in many years. "You're not going to call me are you?"
"Probably not" I smiled.
My adoptive teammates Judy & Paul of Stick Figure racing came to my rescue and chased off the wild dogs and coyotes. We loaded up the trailer onto their truck and made our way into Willows around 3:30am the next day. Elapsed time after scheduled departure, 15 hours, 30 minutes for a 3 hour trip. At this point I had about 3-4 hours of sleep in several days and was beginning to hallucinate. I know this because the top of the grain silos spoke to me and said "Parkay". There is NO way those things are full of margarine.
Friday morning I hit every tire and hardware store in town before finding replacement tube & tire (The last one) and got to change my very first split-rim.
Sunday the pressure had dropped to 10 PSI. Uh oh. Stick Figure came to my rescue once again and pumped me up, we crossed our fingers and they followed me as far as 505. I got lots of honks and waves from Lemons teams as they blew past, thus proving to me that I still have the slowest vehicles on the planet, both on and off the track. Smoking, missing, using oil and water as fast as I can put it in... it's my daily driver so I live Lemons every day. In fact, many of the parts that got the Killer ZomBee back on the road came off this car and are now back on it.
In Vaccaville I stopped to check the tire and discovered the cover was beginning to shred, and my ingenious brackets on the front wall were collapsing. One hour later I had mickey-moused the "camper" back to health with bungie cords.
By Suisun Bay the ingenious brackets had collapsed completely and suddenly failed. Another hour plus some wood screws later and I was back on the road yet again with no further surprises. I made it home by 11:30pm, this time making the trip in just one calendar day!
Was it all worth it? Most definitely! And the little camper was quite comfortable thanks to teammate Larry's spare air mattress.
Thanks everyone for a great weekend, and especially Judy & Paul (jkfoto & Bender) for going beyond the call of duty again and again. Pure awesomeness in people form!!
"Real ZomBees prefer Bacon"
IOE(x2) MGB/SAAB 96, Judge's Choice, Class C Win, & 2011 Hooniverse Car of the Year!
MRolla, Stick Figure/Animal House, Free Range MR2, SAAB Sonett, "The Death Flip"
2008 Exoskeleton Jag Fiasco, Concours d Lemons - Rue Britannia, worse British car.
